I have a particular fondness for the Lochwood neighborhood in East Dallas because I spent most of my childhood there and my parents still live there. The neighborhood is woodsy and quiet, and the people who live there have seemed relatively rational when it comes to dealing with certain issues that easily work some neighborhoods into a tizzy (probably why you don’t hear too much about them on this blog).
These days, problems reportedly stemming out of a nearby apartment complex has Lochwood neighborhood association leaders reaching out for help. Lochwood/ Dixon Branch HOA president Scott Robson and other homeowners have met with the owner of Easton Hills Apartments to discuss ways they could work together to keep both apartment dwellers and neighborhood homeowners safe. They are also working closely with Northeast Division’s Deputy Chief Tom Lawrence, who knows a thing or two about dealing with multi-family complex crime, neglect and related problems.
Fortunately for my Lochwood friends and family, the Easton Hills owner appears to be cooperative, but that’s not always the case. As Deputy Chief Lawrence and other neighborhood leaders dealing with irresponsible landlords would tell you, there are a lot out there who don’t care what goes on in the units they own. A patrol officer in a Northeast Dallas crime hotspot recently told me that “the decisions and actions of an apartment owner can greatly affect the level crime within the complex and the surrounding neighborhood.”
For a story I’ve been working on in another neighborhood, one anti-crime activist told me that "behind each of these high crime, run down apartments is a human being running things. If you can find that person you can appeal to them and hopefully work with them. Sometimes they don’t cooperate, and then you just have to stay on them," he says.
(Be sure to read about the new Lochwood Library in our upcoming October issue.)
