Residents Worry About Neighborhood Becoming Too Commercial
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: February 17, 2013
"People were vocal, people were expressing their opinions," Hernandez said. "I thought it was great."
A very vocal crowd at Jackson Elementary where neighborhood residents met early Saturday morning.
"First of all we had approximately 120 people show up, which is fantastic," Hernandez said. "It's showing a high level of interest on this subject."
The subject City Councilman Victor Hernandez is talking about is what to do with the neighborhood if the land is developed for commercial use.
"What I was trying to do was bring some information to the neighborhood association and to the folks of this neighborhood of some potential street closures," Hernandez said.
Land in the area of 3rd and Avenue V has already been purchased by Marriott to develop a new hotel.
What residents wonder now is how to keep their neighborhood safe from unwanted visitors.
"My position and what I was advocating for was based on protecting the neighborhood," Hernandez said.
Some of those ideas include building a wall around the businesses.
"The way you do that is by street closures," Hernandez said. "And private developers who are building, for example the Courtyard Marriott, to put up walls for not only sound barriers and light barriers, but also to act like a deterrent for folks coming in and out."
Some residents were upset with that idea saying it would be inconvenient-but when Hernandez put it to a vote-the decision was split right down the middle.
"It was divided it, was closely divided," Hernandez said. "I think there were 34 folks who actually live in the neighborhood who would like to see some street closures and about 30 folks who would like to see the streets remain open."
