Here we go stirring up trouble in a sleepy little town

San Angelo is a town with many wealthy individuals, and many, many poor ones. As with any other community, the wealthy have much more political clout than the poor, who often do not know where to turn for help. Blackshear, a poverty laden community in San Angelo with many housing projects, is trying to build itself up. A nearby steel company called Hirschfeld Steel has been making very loud noise late into the night and keeping people awake. The company has been asked to park its fleet on the side of its substantial piece of property furthest from the homes in order to reduce noise pollution. It has been asked repeatedly to build the fence it is required by city ordinance to have in order to reduce noise and caliche dust that makes some roads of the neighborhood practically impassible. These requests have been ignored. This company would not be behaving in such a manner were it located near country club estates, so it should not be allowed to behave this way near the projects. So, a local community organization, West Texas Organizing Strategies (WTOS), has decided to organize a petition drive in the area, and people like me, president of the ASU Young Democrats and student researcher for the Community Development Initiative (CDI) on campus, have been asked to participate. Always up for healthy civil uprising and improving downtrodden communities, the entire executive board of the Young Democrats and most of the CDI workers will be assisting.

Update: The petition drive was a wonderful experience. We met some amazing people, including a woman who had literally lived in the same house for seventy years! The point is, for years the city ignored this neighborhood, and it is finally being revitalized, rather than gentrified as happens in many cities. Livable homes are being fixed up, and unlivable ones are knocked down and replaced with low income rent-to-own housing. The neighborhood looks completely different than it did just a few years ago, thanks to several community organizations. Kudos to all the WTOS members and Young Democrats who joined in the struggle for the rights of San Angelo's poor today! Hopefully we'll be doing much more work together in the future.