The ENA membership met on Thursday, May 15 at Central Lutheran Church for an update on neighborhood news.

Guest Speakers

We kicked off with a short appearance by DPD-NE Deputy Chief Patricia Mora, who summarized police efforts in the area and fielded questions on Eastwood crime, which is lower than average. She is spearheading efforts to identify and focus on crime hot spots in the NE district before the usual summer heat increase. She stressed calling in all suspicious activities and gunshots.

Warren Travis and his late wife Ginger were honored for their early efforts with Eastwood Riparian. Funny stories were shared about Warren’s VIP activities with his dog. Warren and his daughters were presented with a plaque and a collage poster of their activities. Michael Parkey noted that Ginger wrote a history of Eastwood that needs to be transferred into a PDF format and updated. Contact Michael.

Emory Blackburn, district 9 supervisor from the City of Dallas Code Compliance, answered questions. The most frequent complaint in District 9 is premature set-out of bulk trash causing windblown trash, plus litter caused by homeless encampments. (Don’t set out bulk trash because you see someone else doing it. Get the Dallas Sanitation app and have reminders and updates sent to you.) He stressed that the best way to file a code complaint is to use the Our Dallas app. ENA was given three signs to help remind people of bulk trash set out, which begins on Thursday prior to the second Monday of the month.

Dr. Greg Smith, executive director of White Rock Center of Hope, inspired attendees about the nonprofit located on Garland Rd. just north of Peavy. It serves more than 7000 people in need and many more through food distribution. Over 1000 volunteers help with operations sorting donations of food and items for the gift shop. The food distribution efforts, whose long line of cars is seen on the 1st and 3rd Saturday mornings, alone require 40+ volunteers. They recently received a donation of a refrigerated van enabling donations of dairy and meat, which can be applied for during the week.

Moving beyond covering basic needs, which include clothing, the center is expanding into training for job applications, work skills, and financial literacy. About 40% of their income comes from the thrift store, so please check there before going to department stores like Target. Visit this page to learn how you can help. Service hours are enabled for schools and businesses.

ENA Committees and Interest Groups

Reports from Eastwood’s fabulous committees and interest groups included:

Membership: Scooter Smith, stepping in for Brian Cade, spoke of the need to respond to auto-renewal notices to keep memberships current. Sometimes the problem is that a member’s credit card is no longer valid. Contact Brian to smooth out membership issues.

Volunteers in Patrol: VIP co-captain Darrell Wood advised that more folks need to sign up for the next VIP Patrol class to become VIP volunteers.

Eastwood Riparian: Michael Parkey made an appeal for someone he could train to take over the group’s efforts. He spoke of the great need for parents to get active in maintaining the playground area’s greenery.

Entry garden: Amy Martin spoke of the rebirth of the Eastwood entry garden — our neighborhood’s most public face to the community — through the efforts of volunteer gardeners Sharon Holmes and Francis Shaner, plus herself, Keith Marcom, and others. She described the plant sales held to raise money for the entry garden and outlined the plans for monthly weeding sessions this summer for the garden so that it does not get overgrown again. Contact Amy to get on the garden email list.

Do you live near Peavy and Creekmere? We need your help keeping the young plants in the garden watered through the heat of their first summer. Contact Amy to volunteer. Please consider donating to the entry garden campaign. Indicate on your donation that your gift goes to the entry garden.

Social: Catherine Depew celebrated the success of the Eastwood Spring Celebration and Easter Egg Hunt and spelled out plans to prepare for the July 4th Parade and Picnic. (Remember: Your membership dues make these events possible.) She shared ideas for other social events — end of summer block parties, neighborhood happy hours, block swaps, etc — but she will need more volunteers to pull those off. Contact Catherine.

Greenbelt: Amy Martin, author of Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas-Fort Worth, who has over 15 years of experience in wildlife habitat management, related the liberation by herself and other volunteers of an uncommon grove of rusty blackhaw viburnum from invasive shrubs. The grove of understory trees is located in the woods adjacent to the main meadow. She said her group of volunteers, informally called the Greenbelt Guild, will have a final workday to finish the project, on a weekday morning due to summer heat and her book schedule.

Martin also recounted her efforts to vanquish an invasive plant called Scabiosa atropurpurea in the meadow and cautioned that it has nearly consumed the north end of the Doran Park prairie remnant off Van Dyke. She spoke of plans to call a special workday after a rain to pull up hedge parsley along the meadow trails. The pleasant white flowers of this invasive plant turn into thousands of tiny burs that destroy socks and infest dog fur to the point they must be cut out. Eastwood also needs a donation of a riding mower to maintain the trails. Contact Amy to donate or get on the guild email list.

Communications: Amy Martin made an appeal for someone to step in and help with the newsletter, including writing features and laying out the newsletter. She also gave a tutorial on how to make Nextdoor a pleasant experience. Look for a recap of this on the Eastwood blog. She stressed that the EastwoodDallas website is the best place for current Eastwood news. She also urged Facebook users to join the Eastwood Neighbors group.

Warren Travis Collage