District 5 Served Best By Councilwoman Vonciel Jones Hill

I have lived in District 5 (Redbird area) since 1973 and have come to love the area. I have seen the ups and downs of what has taken place and certainly have not always agreed with the elected officials (when I started to take note of the representation) from Dr. Charles Tandy, Don Hicks, Don Hill and now Vonciel Jones Hill. Before living there, I lived in the District 4 area(Lancaster-Kiest) and watched the slippery slope of retail development and housing stock start to decline in the area prior to my moving further south in 1973.

While there are complaints by haters about what is not happening in the Redbird area, I can say that my street has been repaved, my trash is picked up, I recycle, I rarely see trash along the streets in my neighborhood (only when bulk trash is being picked up), a walking trail has been put in with park improvements, there have been neighborhood beautification projects and other initiatives. I am fully aware that the District stretches from Southwest Oakcliff to Pleasant Grove and that there are different neighborhood needs.

I am disappointed that more senior facilities are not available, but I also understand the part of District 5 that I live in, there are few places to put those facilities and I would like to see the surrounding districts 8 and 4 do more in collaboration to get more in the area. I know that Southwest Center Mall (former Redbird Mall) is in District 8, Lancaster-Kiest Shopping Center is in Distrait 4, the Inland Port is in District 8, and that they border on District 5. I am aware that these development opportunities outside of District 5 effect my area.

I have not called Councilwoman Hill's office one time and not received a response from Ms. Hill or her staff. In fact, when I call her office, I mostly need to talk with her staff because they are there to take the information and assist the voters of District 5 on a daily basis.

What I am most worried about are thing that cost taxpayers that are outside of one councilpersons control like the budget, taxpayer owned hotels, increasing cost of the Trinity project, foreclosure rates, crime rate, senior concerns (transportation, housing repair, etc.) and public transportation within the city limits.