The “shovel line” of almost 30 distinguished and disparate leaders at the recent groundbreaking for the $75.215 million project didn’t happen by accident....
The 24-7 booze shop is gone. So are the gambling house and Dead Man’s Curve. How a neighborhood transformation is done right.
Only Wattley knows what it took to get to this point. The “shovel line” of almost 30 distinguished and disparate leaders at the April 4 event didn’t happen by accident. Nor did funding magically land in Forest Forward’s lap.From day one, Wattley was intent on putting to work every possible dollar, especially public dollars, on behalf of her community.
When she moved to the poverty-fighting CitySquare nonprofit as director of strategic initiatives, “Larry taught me about honing in on relationships — seeing what he was able to build because of those relationships.” “It was the pride of South Dallas.” “It looked like New York City.” “It was the Forest Theater, not Fair Park, that was our special place.”
A pedestrian pathway will connect the complex to the nearby MLK Arts Academy, which has become a pipeline campus for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and will send a handful of students there in the fall. With a $20 million DISD bond investment underway at the arts academy, Wattley expects it to be a magnet for families.
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