Ft. Worth Protecting Vagrants from the Law

City Code Sec. 30-12 states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to enclose, build upon or make any other private use of any part of the street, sidewalk or other right-of-way, without first obtaining the express authorization of the city."

I have sent email to Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks, who represents this area of Ft. Worth, asking for clarification of the law and why the law is not being enforced here in East Ft. Worth.

To my knowledge, it against the constitution to segment sections of society and protect them from the law. Gosh, I wished I were wealthy, I could then hire many attorneys to process my arguments in court.

To make private use of city street(s) right-of-ways.....is, according the Ft. Worth Code, unlawful! If you are not going to enforce the law, get rid of it!! Or is it racial -homeowner profiling -- they only enforce it on white people who own homes.

(The Salvation Army shelter is in the picture to the left -- they hand out freebies.)

Ft. Worth City Politics affecting Animal Welfare

Most animal control calls/concerns/problems/issues come from the same zip codes with greatest release of x-cons, heaviest crime, poorest residents, and the most populated areas of black & brown residents. Those are statistical facts. So, when Animal Control enforces the animal laws in the those areas and the City Council Reps., who represent those areas, holler racism or 'you're picking on my people,' or 'you're picking on the poor,' or any of that nonsense, it is the job of a leader to stay the course and address the facts. Funny how those City Council Reps don't have a problem looking at the factual stats when there's a chance of them getting taxpayer money such as with home foreclosures and such, but boy, let it be something that is sucking money from our pockets and they want to turn a deaf ear and blind eye. HA! Time for some real change in Ft. Worth!! I hope it comes soon.

Ft. Worth needs a new Animal Control Director

It's time and it's overdue. Our elected 'officials' in Ft. Worth have been asleep at the wheel for far too many years. It's sad, disgusting, empowering and costly to the taxpayers! I won't go into details, just take my word for it.

Fort Worth Police Officer says, "I don't like your attitude" (because I wouldn't do his job for him). Another Central/West Meadowbrook Crime.

I told him I didn't like his attitude either. Is the police officer (Sargent) that stands on the side lines with his arms folded and doesn't bother to find out if any of us 3-4 people standing at the scene saw or heard anything related to the crime, worth his pay? You don't stand around and watch, you best get to work if I'm paying your salary! Even if you are one of 'Fort Worth's Finest,' you are still a paid employee of the taxpayers and you have a job to do, even if it is on the East side, even if it does involve another domestic violence case, even if it does involve another 4 year old endangered child!

I'll say it again, living on the East side, owning a business on the East side in Council District 8, I see more and hear more about the Fort Worth Police Department than probably any of you reading this blog site. I lay awake at night listening to police helicopters buzzing over my neighborhood more than probably any of you reading this post. Please don't discount my words as me just being negative, or me being a 'bitchy,' or anything but a concerned citizen, resident and business owner in Council District 8, East Fort Worth publishing my personal experiences while watching my neighborhood take a spiraling dive amongst all the beautiful historic houses, hundred year old trees hovering over our streets and backyards, well built houses from the 50's & 60's, and the elderly who have seen this neighborhood in it's best years and who now are being surrounded by criminals, irresponsible parents, people driving/walking the neighborhood eyeing their next target for burglary, high weeds, trash on their lawns from individuals who've been taught nothing about respect and values, streets filled with potholes and patches from the enormous amount of water main breaks, a corrupt City Hall and a career politician as a Council Rep and Neighborhood Associations who turn a blind eye to these truths and scream & holler if someone such as myself points them out. It's really bothering & sad to actually watch; however, I don't feel powerless and I will continue to do what I do.

Once again, the crime filled night ended in East Ft. Worth, Council District 8, Central/West Meadowbrook Neighborhood

Neighborhood 'leaders' downplay the crime in our neighborhood. Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks downplays the crime in the neighborhood -- however, I'm here to show you the pictures (evidence) of such crimes. This crime filled night for criminals ended right here in my neighbors side yard. Evidently, the criminals had stolen a car in west Fort Worth, completed 3 robberies in Arlington and crashed into this yard that you see above. Not good!! Come on, Hicks, whatcha gonna do? Come on, Don Boren & Wanda Conlin (hubby & wife team), Harvey & Dolores Roberts whatcha gonna do about the crime in Central & West Meadowbrook?

Ft. Worth Police Officer tries to trample on my liberties - says "You can't take pictures." What?

I was driving through my neighborhood in West Meadowbrook early one Saturday morning and noticed yet another crime scene at an East Lancaster bar in City Council District 8, East Ft. Worth. Stopped and spoke with some neighbors who were looking over at the scene. I asked what happened, they told me someone was murdered. I drove around to take pictures so that I could post it here on Morning Coffee, Evening Wine blog site. I got out of my car and started snapping shots to prove that no matter how much Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks and the leaders of West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association like to ignore the fact that this neighborhood is crime filled, crime does happen here more than any other Council District in this great City of Fort Worth! The Fort Worth police officer says, "Hey, what are you doing, you can't take pictures, this is a crime scene!" I said, "Yes, I can, what law says I can't! What is your badge number?" Since I live, and own a business, in one of the worst areas of Fort Worth, I deal with the Fort Worth police force probably more than any of you reading this blog post. I see the side of the Department that not many see. I feel it is my duty and purpose to report what I see and experience. It is wrong for any police officer to abuse their power and I have seen it more than once or twice and everytime I see it, it makes me wish that my business could afford the luxury of a manager so that I could run for office and speak up for the taxpayers who pay the salaries of the entire police force and who continue to elect people to office who aren't doing their jobs well. No matter what people call me, I think the truth should be dealt with in an effective, open, efficient manner. It Fort Worth politics, I feel the truth is hidden, covered up, ignored and unspoken. I did report this officer and to my knowledge, the officer has been questioned and taught a lesson.

Another "forced rape" in the highest crime filled Council District in Ft. Worth - We need Change -- Vote Suzette for Council!

My opponent and her supporters like to shake their head no when I mention that District 8 carries the highest amount of total crime in the entire City of Ft. Worth and has every single year that my opponent has been in office. Kathleen Hicks likes to say, "violent crime is down," I'd like to see her tell that to this victim of what the police department label as "forced rape!" You can find some of the crime stats here http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/issues.html. Forced Rape, Forced Sodomy, theft from building, vandalism of property, drug/narcotics, trespass of property are all crimes that are UP in District 8.

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1332805.html

My way of dealing with crime in this District would be to do the following:

1. Use my people skills, tenacity, belief in accountability of City Departments, reviewing of 911 calls in the District on a weekly basis, working with residents, providing more street lighting in areas that need it, enforcing the Class C Misdemeanor laws, holding offenders accountable, advocating for jail/prison reform that serves its purpose of deterring crime and changing people's way of thinking about how & why they make the decisions they make, holding parents accountable for being involved in their children's education and lives, holding neighborhood associations accountable for their missions -- involve and inform more residents of crimes in the neighborhood, etc. Basically working my butt off in an effective and efficient manner to better this District and rid it of the position of #1 in Crime!!

http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

(Political Advertisement Authorized by Suzette Watkins)

My opponent & I at forum in East Ft. Worth

Fun time had by all. I am so appreciative to Historic Southside Neighborhood Association and Mr. Al Piper, for stepping up to the plate and holding this forum for the voters. It's a lot of work to do, many hours of prep and organization. I thought is was well done! Food, drinks, laughter, community....it was all good. More Neighborhood Associations should do this for their residents and/or members.

Ft. Worth's City Council District 8 - Highest crime rate in entire City and has been for last 3 - 4 years.

Always a good feeling when you wake up to a Crime Scene truck and police car sitting in front of your house! What would I do as a Council Rep to fight against crime? Look at police records every single week from my District, ask questions of and work closely with the FWPD, find out where the calls are coming from, hold everyone involved accountable, including, but not limited to, the apts who serve as a nuisance for the neighborhood, FWPD including NPOs, Code Dept., Neighborhood Associations, etc.

Vote for Change in District 8! Vote for a New Beginning in District 8! Vote for Solutions in District 8!

Vote Suzette Watkins for City Council, Saturday, May 9th! www.suzetteforcouncil.com

www.youtube.com/suzetteforcouncil

(Political Advertisement Authorized by Suzette Watkins)

Another West Meadowbrook Murder on East Lancaster, Council District 8 East Ft. Worth

"The pair had been smoking crack late Tuesday and got into an argument at the Luxury Inn, 2108 E. Lancaster Ave., said Sgt. Pedro Criado, police spokesman"

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1203824.html

Please help me unseat the current City Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks. She is too busy seeing how many Boards of Directors she can add to her resume while the crime in our neighborhoods and business districts go untouched. Her District has had the highest crime of all the Council Districts in Ft. Worth her entire tenure of 3+ years on the Council! Shame on her!

I can do better! I can work harder, smarter and with better results!

Please donate to my campaign at http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

(Political Advertisement authorized by Suzette Watkins)

Why would you hang out all day & night at a Convenience Store?

The Good Neighbor friendly owner of this corner store has gone to the trouble to put up those shiny metal plates on the black post in order to keep vagrants from sitting there and passing the time, dealing drugs, drinking beer, smoking crack, loitering, and various other past times on his property. He also does not sell the 40oz. fortified alcoholic beverages which greatly helps the habitual drunkards from hanging around his business which greatly helps this intersection of E. Lancaster & Riverside from looking as filthy, unsafe & infested with criminal activity as it has looked in the recent past.

Another City Council District 8 - East Lancaster/East Ft. Worth/West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Crime

"A woman was sexually assaulted in an east Fort Worth parking lot by a man who supposedly was going to help her after her car broke down, police said."

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1170884.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=5581276#Comments_Container

When we allow Crime Activity to continue...this is what the neighborhood looks like

This is in City Council District 8 East Ft. Worth, Texas -- the District with the most crime of all the Districts in Ft. Worth for at least the past 3 years. Hence, I'm running for this seat and I sure hope I am able to boot the current seated member out! I can do a better job! I have new ideas, I have a proven record. I'm not afraid to speak up. I'll move this District along faster. I'll address the issues. I will work hard in an effective manner. I will not take criticism as personal attacks. I will not request that you call me "The Honorable anything" or "Councilmember" or any of those other undeserving titles....my name is Suzette and you can call me Suzette, I won't be offended in any way, shape or form. I'm no better than the next person and see no need for the uppity titles/names.

http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/ http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/donate.html

Murder in West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Today

Shame on the current City Council person (my opponent) for not caring enough about the crime in the neighborhoods of District 8 to do more than dog & pony shows about the safety of District 8. The entire time, 3 years & 7 months that she has sat on the City Council, crime has not gone down in District 8 and District 8 has won the prize for having more total crime than any other Council District in the City of Ft. Worth.

Nor has my opponent pushed for the CFW to take aggressive action on places of business that habor criminals and criminal activity (like the Motel next door to the gas station where this murder took place).

Please bring me garage sale items for my Garage Sale fundraiser by Jan. 23rd and/or come to my $20 fundraiser on Feb. 18th, Rahr Brewery, 701 Galveston Ave. Ft. Worth, Texas and hear my plan for improving the safety & scenery for East Ft. Worth's Council District 8.

More information here: www.meetup.com/suzette-watkins

Campaign website here: http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

Donate here: http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/donate.html

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1125511.html

Neighborhood Politics Getting in the Way of Progress in East Ft. Worth, District 8

I went to the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association meeting this past week. The President, Don Boren told me that he doesn't reply to my emails because my emails "aggravate him" and therefore, go in his junk mail. When I asked him what it was about my emails that aggravated him, he replied, "Suzette, YOU aggravate me!"

I asked him what kind of leader are you if you ignore or brush off someone who "aggravates you?"

Don Boren, Wanda Conlin (married couple, both in leadership positions of WMNA), and Louis McBee - all long time activists in East Ft. Worth, do not like it when someone asks questions, especially questions that question their leadership or lack thereof. Very ironic that I have heard Wanda Conlin (and Louis McBee) beat down Mayor Moncrief for not listening to them and not handling City business in the way that they think he should, and yet they promote someone who can't return emails because the sender aggravates him/them. I wonder who it is that I aggravate more, Don Boren or his wife, (the unofficial Co-President of West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association), Wanda Conlin. Don Boren tells me that I could "come by his office" but don't email him. Some say that he doesn't like emails because he doesn't want a trace of his words to be on paper. Appears this may be a fact.

People wonder why the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood does not have one nice, clean grocery store, Starbucks coffee shop, a few nice restaurants and has some of the highest number of code violation calls, highest number of Animal Control calls, record # of water main breaks, streets so in need of repair that it's difficult to drive through the neighborhood, residential streets and neighborhoods being used for Industrial Business access & egress, street projects taking months on end to complete, more and more people littering the neighborhood streets and disrespecting the neighborhood properties, Urban Village zoning taking ten years and more to complete, etc.

Perhaps West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association's boundaries are way too large since they have no interest in representing residents and/or business owners who reside on certain sides of streets w/in the neighborhood. Nor do they have an interest in upsetting their beloved friend at City Hall, Kathleen Hicks who also serves as a representative of West Meadowbrook Neighborhood. Furthermore, when the neighborhood demographics show large black and brown residents & business owners and those numbers are not represented at the Association meetings, you know there is a disconnect between the Association and the people.

Perhaps if more of the true closed door & telephone conversations between Don Boren, Wanda Conlin & Kathleen Hicks were exposed and more people started asking more questions, we could get some visible and tangible progress going on in West Meadowbrook Neighborhood.

Hey this is America; all of us are suppose to be able to voice our opinion, ask questions, expect complete transparency. True leaders will welcome different opinions, suggestions, & more transparency, that's my personal belief and that's what I will continue to expect, push for and work towards.

NOTE:

"Projection, like all defense mechanisms provide a function whereby truth about a part of themselves that may otherwise be unacceptable is shielded."

""People attribute their own undesirable traits onto others."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection

When Government doesn't listen to the people this is what happens

it ends up taking much longer for things to improve, much longer for businesses to thrive, much longer before the tax revenue is increased to its potential, many more lives lost and on and on and on. I know for the past 3 years I, along with Mike Phipps, Flora Brewer and others, have been pleading with my City Council representative, Kathleen Hicks and Mayor Moncrief to do something about the drug business and criminal activity along E. Lancaster by the homeless shelters and on down into the neighborhoods of East Ft. Worth. Asking that they provide more treatment beds, accountability and stop the revolving door in the jails. Finally, as their re-election season is slowly coming around and they are hearing the same words from people in the influential political circles to do something about it, seems that may be taking some action.

On another note, yesterday at the joint meeting with the Gas Drilling Task Force and City Council, we heard several times, experts tell the members, and members admit, that time is not on their side with cleaning up the environmental damage that they have, and are, allowing the gas drilling operators to do to our air quality. Perhaps if our local government, including Neighborhood Associations, would have listened to the concerned citizens about environmental issues with drilling that were raised years ago, studied the issue like they study other things such as Modern Street cars, our air quality would be much better and we could wholeheartedly believe Mayor Moncrief when he so emphatically says that "Quality of Life has always been a top priority here in this City and will continue to be."

http://westandclear.com/2008/10/01/joel-burns-streetcar-blogging/
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/974464.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/968503.html

We Could Revolutionize the World........

if it were politically correct to be transparent in our being -- if people allowed their feathers to be ruffled before reacting --if we could look at things from the big picture point of view rather than from the limited and personal point of view only -- if we could truly understand the meaning of appreciation, toleration, effective communication and love.

How's that for a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Ft. Worth? Life is good and I love Ft. Worth.

Tax dollars still going down the drain in East Ft. Worth

Because our City Council members of the recent past and present (supposedly representing the people of the Meadowbrook Neighborhoods) haven't made the case of the need for infrastructure dollars be spent in prevention and maintenance of our aging water pipeline system. We are watching millions and probably billions of gallons of water going down our drains every single day due to pipe breaks in the neighborhood. Today, once again, the taxpayers of Ft. Worth are paying for another expensive band aid type fix it to our water problems in East Ft. Worth, District 8. If City Hall was a business it would not survive. We need some new members of the political system in Ft.Worth.

This is what happens when City Government is allowed to turn a blind eye

You have water main break after water main break after water main break after water main break after water main break. You have big money being spent on quick fixes which includes overtime staff hours, weekend staff hours, etc. Someone in the neighborhood told me they stopped counting at 60 water main breaks. The count is enormous!! And Ft. Worth wonders why we are in such a budget crunch. It's simple. Our government officials are not working for "tha people." They are working for other things such as big money, big developments, big companies, big campaign donors, and who knows what else. Today, I counted two more water main breaks. Picture are above. One picture looks the same as the one a few posts earlier, but it isn't. Same street but further down. I don't see much different in Washington and Ft. Worth. Smaller group of people, but still politicians who stay in the middle of issues, don't stick their necks out too much and don't really care about the average taxpayer.

Surprise surprise...another water main break in Meadowbrook

Water bubbling up from the seams of a previously broken water main. I wouldn't drive over this one....as I couldn't afford the risk of being delayed by my vehicle getting stuck in a sink hole. Business as usual in Meadowbrook. How about your neighborhood? Do you have this many water main breaks? Where is our tax money going from East Ft. Worth? Who is looking out for us up at City Hall? Who has been speaking out for the neighborhoods in East Ft. Worth in the past few years to make sure that East Ft. Worth gets their fair share of the benefits from tax dollars? Where is the money that was suppose to be spent on infrastructure?