San Antonio is getting national coverage, and it’s likely not what you’re thinking. Anyone who followed the Northside city neighborhood battling a newcomer over an unsanctioned – and code-violating – “wall” may have though the story ended when the court battle ceased, but HBO is keeping the drama going.
Yes, San Antonio is getting a cable shoutout on a series produced by HBO called “Neighbors,” a docuseries tracking the “chaotic and complicated disputes of neighbors – and the extreme lengths they’ll go to defend what’s theirs.” It’s from the same producers that brought us Timothee Chalamet’s Oscar-nominated performance in “Marty Supreme.”
The series is set to air on HBO Max February 13, but a trailer is already stirring the pot with clips of angered neighbors and the targets of their frustration. In the case of San Antonio, the documentarians, with a comedic tone, turned to residents in the Oak Park-Northwood neighborhood on the Northside of San Antonio.
“I would like to think we were kind of an example of how when there’s an issue in the neighborhood, we all pretty much come together in Oak Park-Northwood and try to be good neighbors,” Oak Park-Northwood Neighborhood Association President Gine Eisenberg told MySA, accepting the humorous tone of the impending series saying you sometimes need to just laugh about things. “This is an example of what not to do if you’re going to build a big old wall.”
It’s not surprising interest over this prolonged back and forth over a fence, or wall depending on who’s describing it, has escaped the borders of the city. It sparked a heated and tumultuous back and forth pitting the homeowner against city officials and outraged residents.
In a nutshell, a new resident snatched up a property along Country Lane – a relatively quiet, treelined residential area considering its proximity to Loop 410 and busy roads like Nacogdoches – and disregarded city ordinance restricting front-yard fence heights to 3 feet. Instead, she began erecting a solid 7- to 9-foot wall (the height varies depending on who was measuring) before asking the city for permission.
Residents upset their sense of community was under attack deemed it “cartel”- or “prison”-like, and they began reporting the construction to code enforcement. Thousands of dollars in fines delivered daily at times and stop works orders later, the property owner filed a lawsuit against the city to try and push forward. Eventually, an agreement was struck and the portions of erected wall came tumbling down into compliance.
Now, this slice of San Antonio drama gets to play out on the national stage alongside other neighborhood disputes. Come February 13, you’ll catch Eisenberg and other key players hashing it out, likely, one last time, but you’ll also hear from a notable name who was at the forefront of the opposition – former Texas Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio).
This article originally published at San Antonio neighborhood’s ‘prison-style’ fence is now an HBO show.