Where I Live: Finding peace, quiet and park space in Fort Worth’s South Hills neighborhood

By Don Wheeler

I grew up on the Close to Southside, and my mother and father and I might exit to Benbrook Lake by means of South Hills. We’d be sitting at that visitors mild, and I’d see Kellis Park, and I’d say it is a nice park.

I lastly acquired the chance to purchase a house right here, and I’ve lived right here on the park for 17 years. The neighborhood is about 75 years previous, and I believe it’s the nicest neighborhood in Fort Price.

My house is small; I don’t want a giant dwelling. It’s simply me and my canine, Blue. He’s 10 and a mixture of pit and blue heeler. I discovered him right here. I noticed a black SUV pull up, open the door, push the canine out and velocity off. The canine noticed me and got here up. He didn’t have a tag. He didn’t know what was occurring. I stroll him right here on the park daily.

I just like the open house of the park; there’s tennis courts, playgrounds. Later within the afternoon, there’ll be pickup basketball video games and other people strolling their canines. I like to scrub up the creek within the park so the youngsters can hunt for fossils.

It’s a various neighborhood. It’s folks of various ethnicity, colours and ages. It’s working-class folks and retired folks. There are some college students right here. All of us get alongside.

There’s not lots of industrial entities; it’s just about a bed room neighborhood. I prefer to experience my bike, and you may get to the Trinity River in 10 minutes. There’s a bus cease; I’ve taken it as much as TCU.

The neighborhood association is lively. There was a degree six or seven years in the past the place we couldn’t discover sufficient officers. Then-Metropolis Council member Ann Zadeh got here to a gathering and stated it’s troublesome to get an affiliation reestablished as soon as it dies out. Some folks volunteered.

We acquired zoning modified from duplex to single-family to stop multifamily. We had one thing like 4 trash cans on the park that have been simply sitting round; typically, the youngsters would roll them into the creek. I might complain to town parks division; ultimately, we acquired some posts to repair the cans in place. A few years in the past, I discussed to council member Elizabeth Beck that it could be nice if we might have a a lot wanted water fountain and a short while later the parks division put in one.

The town closed the pool a number of years in the past. I believe we might use a pavilion on that website. I haven’t requested for any park benches. I’ll purchase some myself and simply put them in place the place I would like and hope no one notices them. Apart from benches and a pavilion, I’m just about content material.

I need to say the neighborhood remains to be reasonably priced. My home in 17 years has tripled in worth, which was sudden. You may have completely different home types. There’s some midcentury trendy, and there’s some ranch-style houses.

Folks trying to purchase houses are beginning to look on this space. I don’t know if the costs have affected folks or not. However the final 12 months, there weren’t any houses on the market. Now I’ve seen greater than I’ve seen in the previous few years.

I nonetheless work. I’m 71 and a panorama architect and irrigation guide, and I’d deliberate on retiring, however a few of my shoppers needed me to maintain working. I’ve since discovered you possibly can by no means have an excessive amount of cash. I’ll maintain working for so long as it’s enjoyable and individuals are prepared to pay me.

I’m capable of work my very own hours. I prefer to rise up round 10 within the morning and eat a light-weight breakfast and feed the canine. I examine my e-mail and ensure there aren’t any fires that must be put out. Then I sit down and get some work accomplished. I work till 4 within the afternoon, then round 5 or 6, take the canine for a stroll.

It’s quiet. I’m actual near the practice tracks. I’ve been round that practice for 70 years. To me, it’s white noise.

Don Wheeler, a panorama architect, has lived in South Hills for 17 years.

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