The Claremont Addition is located about a mile and half east of White Rock Lake, near the intersection of Highland and Ferguson Roads. It is a small enclave of about 460 homes built in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
The homes are all single-family, single-story brick structures on pier and beam foundations. Most have two-car garages, three bedrooms, hardwood floors, two bathrooms and a den.
Being so close to White Rock Lake, the neighborhood is visited by dozens of species of wild birds throughout the year. They are drawn by the many trees in the neighborhood, several of which are over a hundred years old, and meandering Stonycreek, which is fed by White Rock Creek and runs through the neighborhood.
The trees and the creek give the neighborhood a park-like or almost rural feeling. Nevertheless, the Claremont Addition is actually only about 15 minutes from downtown, via either I-30 or Gaston Avenue.
In recent years, the neighborhood has been revitalized through the formation of a Crime Watch group and neighborhood association. In the fall of 1992, the neighborhood’s Crime Watch Group was re-organized after several years of inactivity. The first meeting attracted about 50 people. Now meetings regularly garner 75 to 100.
As a result of residents’ active participation in crime prevention measures, the crime rate has plummeted to one of the lowest in Dallas. Once again, residents feel safe.
A long-cherished goal, the establishment of a Volunteers in Patrol (VIP) program, will be realized in June as trained volunteers start patrolling neighborhood streets to monitor suspicious behavior and report it to the police.
The Claremont Addition Neighborhood Association (CANA) was started eight months ago in an effort to further enhance the community. Several block parties have been held to allow neighbors to get to know each other.
CANA has also participated in the annual Halloween Carnival at the local elementary school, hosted a Saturday morning coffee in November, and conducted a food drive for 30 needy area families this past Christmas.
The first annual neighborhood cleanup was held in April, and efforts are underway to start an after-school program at the elementary school to provide children with an alternative to drugs and gangs.
Another major effort of CANA is to develop a strategic marketing plan so that as houses in the neighborhood come up for sale, they can be sold at fair market value to people who will make a positive contribution to the community. The goal is to create a win-win situation for everyone concerned – the seller, the buyer, and the Realtor.
As part of this effort, CANA has joined forces with Preservation Dallas, a nonprofit organization that is spearheading a City-wide effort to market homes in neighborhoods within Loop 12.
Neighborhood Association members are also meeting with local Realtors to develop a list of preferred Realtors to recommend to people in the neighborhood who are about to put their homes on the market.
