FRI creates a destination for recreation

By Judy Babb

White Rock Hills Park at 2229 Highland Road will be rocking Saturday, Nov. 6, as the long-needed city park opens to much fanfare after years of the space being an eyesore and worse. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the park will be full of fun, food and performances as it celebrates From Blight to Delight.

Activities include the Dallas Fire and Rescue Flag Corps, Dallas Mounted Police, jugglers, art activities, bulb planting, field games, African dancers and drummers, a mariachi band and more. KSCS radio DJ Hawkeye in the Morning will emcee the event. A COVID-19 vaccination tent will also be there.

Ferguson Road Initiative (FRI) executive director Vikki Martin, who has been involved in improving the area for more than 20 years, is ecstatic about the park’s opening. “The fact that this park got built is a miracle,” she said. “I was flabbergasted at the kind of financial support I got for the opening.”

The city put $740,000 into the park, which has two playgrounds — one for small children and another for older children, featuring a climbing area. A pavilion and playing field rounds out the area.

 The non-profit’s mission is to engage and empower a community of advocates to advance a safe, beautiful, prosperous and proud community in Far East Dallas. The group takes that mission personally and has more projects on its list. One of the things FRI has done is encourage organized neighborhood associations and crime watch groups. In 1998, five such organizations existed. Now that number is 37.

Martin’s FRI was founded in 1998 with area neighbors Bill Coleman, currently secretary, and Bobbi Bilnoski, a pro bono consultant. 

Bilnoski coached Martin, helping her to understand how long things take. She told her if she wanted to have a library and a rec center, it will take 20 years. She taught her how to keep moving a project forward. 

“FRI is unique,” Bilnoski said. “It’s not about programs and services. Its role is to convene partners and to stay relevant to community needs.”

Dan Ortman, FRI president, agreed. “FRI works on relationships and has for decades. Things are just coming to fruition,” he said. “It’s a magical time. For years, it was like pushing a rock uphill.”

Martin talked about the community, calling it one of the most diverse in Dallas both socially and economically. The area around the park speaks to that. Martin remembers a run-down apartment that stood on the park’s grounds before it burned. The neighborhood called on the city to tear it down, which it did. But Dallas then ignored it as it became an illegal dump. 

“I remember every time I came home, I looked at this horrible area and dreamed of something better,” Martin said.

That something better is the park, and Martin calls it a destination for recreation that will continue to grow. A recreation center should be funded with the next bond for about $15 million.

The area surrounding the park is what Martin says is an example of a community working to create a mixed-income community. There’s a David Weekley gated community of 37 houses — all sold. Other areas include workforce housing and affordable senior housing. Another unit is Heroes House, a non-profit where homeless veterans live. The rec center and playing fields will be next to the Weekley development. “This is really the first phase of the recreation center,” Martin said.

The area suffers in many ways, some of which are solved by the new park and the completion of Highland Road Complete Street, which will allow people to get to White Rock Lake easily and safely.

“The thing that is so great is to see the connectivity being created,” Martin said. “Before, no one could get to the lake unless they had a car. There were no sidewalks, no bike paths, nothing.”

Another dream in the making is the Trinity Forest Spine Trail, which will be a part of the 50-mile loop of hike-and-bike trails. Currently 37 miles of the Loop is completed. Once the Trinity Forest Spine Trail is completed, students from the two area elementary schools, Bayles and Alex Sanger, and from Uplift Charter School will have safe ways to get to and from school.

FRI works to provide much that is missing. Martin believes economic growth in the area will help solve the challenges the community faces. She explained the area is a USDA grocery desert, a health desert and, until the creation of the park, a recreation desert. In the past 10 years, the area lost a Minyard Food Store. Fiesta Mart moved in but moved out about five years ago. That left Claremont Village on Ferguson Road with a Family Dollar and a pizza store. 

FRI has hopes for the vacated grocery. The group would like to make it into a senior center. “We feel that would bring in some health opportunities as well as energizing that shopping center,” Martin said. 

Martin bragged on District 7 and 10 city council persons Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon for their ongoing support. “This is the first time in a decade that we have two council people who are not saying Ferguson Road is a boundary and I’m not putting money over there,” Martin said. “[The council people] were saying ‘We’re here to serve the citizens and make Dallas a better place’.”