Power Outages
Neighborhoods within the Westhollow area of Dallas including Park Forest, Sparkman Club, Midway Hollow, and many others experienced numerous power outages throughout the year, most specifically and most recently this Fall/Winter Season.Some households went as long as 70 hours without power after freezing temperatures lingered for weeks shortly before and after Christmas.  Shortly after Christmas, there were power outages due to lines being clipped by sanitation trucks, transformers blowing as well as weather-related outages.  Even more outages occurred due to the abundance of large trees that Westhollow is known for being overgrown and falling on power lines.Several residents went to nearby hotels, stayed with family, or left town.  Others simply braved the freezing houses and continued to check with Oncor for ETAs on the power coming back on. Approximately 50% of Westhollow was affected by the outages.

Murder

Elderly resident of the Westhollow area of Dallas, also known as Northwest Dallas, was found slain in his home in May.The man, Harry Noble, of 3919 Deep Vally Drive near the intersection of Forest Lane and Cox Lane, was identified by police after being called to the residence. Apparently Noble was found by co-workers from his yard maintenance business.   Suspiciously, one of the items missing from the home was a lawn tool used by Noble. Noble’s wife was found safe in the home.

Ultimately it turned out that a disgruntled lawn maintenance worker that got into an argument with Noble about the quality of the lawn care was to blame. Murder is very rare in Westhollow so this was a very surprising incident.

Street Repair & Jennifer Staubach Gates

There was a News 8 (WFAA) report on the severity of the streets in District 13 earlier this year.   Our district has the most decrepit and poorly maintained streets in all of Dallas.   This was no surprise to me, living here for almost a decade and having seen absolutely nothing done to successfully rectify this issue.In May, Westhollow.net published an article regarding the election of Jennifer Staubach Gates as our new City Councilmember for District 13.   You can read the original article here: http://www.westhollow.net/district-13-dallas-city-council-race-produces-yet-another-preston-hollow-millionaire/ The article takes our city council members, past and present, to task for their continual lack of attention to the middle class and lower income areas of their district.

What has Gates done since she took office for the repair of the streets in our district?   Nothing, as expected.   The Westhollow Society, a non-profit group for the betterment of Northwest Dallas/Westhollow, has a petition that will be taken to the city in 2014 along with a presentation illustrating the severity of the issue.  You can find out more by going to http://www.westhollowsociety.org if you would like to sign the petition.
Our neighborhood continues to look shoddy and dilapidated due to the crumbling infrastructure and therefore continues to detract from perceived value.   Let’s hope 2014 will see some actual tangible progress.

Remodel Fever

Given the age of most homes throughout Westhollow are well over 50 years, it’s inevitable that people will begin to remodel.  Whether it’s a house someone bought that hasn’t been touched in 30 or 50 years that boasts shag carpet and an overabundance of paneling, or an existing resident that recognizes it’s time to freshen up their home, people all over Westhollow are remodeling.   

Marsh Lane has a conspicuous amount of new homes and remodels being built, one home will be worth close to a million dollars when it’s complete and others are modern new homes in keeping with the area’s history.  In the enclaves of each neighborhood from Park Forest with its plethora of mid-century traditionals and moderns, to Sparkman Club with its McMansions replacing the original mid-centuries,  to Northaven Park with its 60’s traditionals and mid-century eichler-esques, there seems to be remodel fever in Westhollow.

This, of course, is great for property values and for increasing the cache of Westhollow as we bring our old homes into the 21st century.

NextDoor

One of the biggest stories in Westhollow has to be NextDoor.   NextDoor.com, the social network for neighborhoods, has really changed the way our neighborhoods within Northwest Dallas communicate.  

I signed up for NextDoor in 2012 and was the founding member for my neighborhood.   Very few people were interested initially until they saw what it could do.  Once I started an initiative for sign toppers for our neighborhood, everyone wanted to have a say, and now about 1/2 of our neighborhood are part of it.   I learned of it from a neighborhood next to ours and since I started ours, it has spread like wildfire to neighborhoods adjacent to ours.

It’s a great way to communicate and stay in touch about issues that affect us all. I had hoped it would help foster a better community spirit as well but that has yet to happen in our neighborhood.  Other adjacent neighborhoods, however, have grown closer and many now know many of their neighbors they never once said hi to before.

Sign up your neighborhood for NextDoor for free at nextdoor.com 

Be sure and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter!

Check out Westhollowsociety.org for information on the non-profit and its upcoming projects for 2014.