{"id":221907,"date":"2026-03-26T19:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/221907\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:48:15","slug":"whats-not-to-love-about-red-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/221907\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What\u2019s not to love about Red Bird?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Morning News hosted several events in the Red Bird neighborhood in March as journalists worked from a pop-up newsroom. <\/p>\n

It was part of The News\u2019 ongoing effort to build trust with communities across North Texas<\/a> through engagement and dialogue.<\/p>\n

The turnout was strong, with committed residents, nonprofit groups and business leaders offering thoughtful ideas on how to enhance and safeguard this vital southern corridor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Breaking News<\/p>\n

Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first person I met was Sandra Alridge, president of the Singing Hills Neighborhood Association. She distributes bulletins to about 800 people in the neighborhood on topics ranging from highways and crime watch groups to sales at local stores.<\/p>\n

Alridge has spearheaded projects like the southern Dallas community\u2019s fight over Shingle Mountain<\/a> and advocated for the demolition and excavation of the former Lane Plating Works site<\/a>. <\/p>\n

She talked about her opposition to the proliferation of low-income housing units that developers are incentivized to offer in the community, \u201cAs they always say, we need affordable housing. Well, it\u2019s widely concentrated over here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally won that,\u201d she said of the vacant hospital property.<\/a> \u201cNow the developer is going to build townhomes there… But I\u2019m getting old, so someone else needs to step up and start getting in everyone\u2019s business,\u201d Alridge said, with an infectious laugh.<\/p>\n

Terrence Maiden (left) grew up in Oak Cliff and is the CEO of Russell Glen, a real estate development and investment company in the area. Bill Chinn (right) is the CEO of The DEC Network, a nonprofit organization that helped develop a 20,000-square-foot innovation center at the Shops at RedBird location, which acts as a start-up for small businesses, aiming to revitalize the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWhat\u2019s<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you support this community, they will support you right back,\u201d Chinn said.<\/p>\n

Anga Sanders is the founder of FEED Oak Cliff,<\/a> a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending \u201cfood apartheid\u201d and bringing fresh, healthy and affordable food to underserved areas in southern Dallas. <\/p>\n

In 2014, Sanders was grocery shopping in Uptown Dallas when she had a revelation. Standing in front of a salad bar filled with fresh greens and crisp vegetables, she noticed something striking \u2014 not many stores like it existed south of I-30.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cMy<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

The Oak Cliff area contains several food deserts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines these as \u201clow-access communities,\u201d where at least a third of residents live more than a mile from a supermarket. Sanders spoke about a recent disappointment after Tom Thumb canceled its plans to expand to the Shops at RedBird.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another slap in the face,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cAm I disappointed? Absolutely. Am I surprised? Absolutely not.\u201d <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Albertsons Companies Inc., Tom Thumb\u2019s parent company, said the decision was made \u201cafter discussions with the City of Dallas and a thorough economic evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oak Cliff resident Flor Blanco is a single mother of six children and a cancer survivor. Through an interpreter, she talked about her childhood in El Salvador, where she never had the opportunity to eat at a restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWhen<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

She also grows vegetables, which helps her family access healthy food. \u201cThat has helped me provide organic food to feed my six children on my own and beat cancer,\u201d Blanco said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, has led the historical Black college in southeast Oak Cliff <\/a>for nearly 19 years. He talked about how his university has hosted several athletic tournaments \u2014 and how the feedback he\u2019s received from people who worry about visiting southern Dallas confounds the people who live there.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

The accomplishments during Sorrell\u2019s tenure have been extensive, including the demolition of dilapidated buildings, the construction of the first new building on campus <\/a>in 40 years, the conversion of a football field into a farmers market, <\/a>the arrival of both a charter school and a Dallas ISD school on campus<\/a> and the creation of numerous paid internship opportunities<\/a> for students. Graduation rates have increased by more than 30% during his tenure, according to the college.<\/p>\n

Ramiro Luna Hinojosa, co-founder of Somos Tejas,<\/a> is working to engage and inform voters in the Latino community every step of the election; from providing education, registering voters and turning them out to vote. They\u2019ve done door-to-door canvassing at over 120,000 homes, along with text messaging and social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you address the nature of voter turnout, the knee-jerk reaction is voter apathy,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to run campaigns for a living, and the Latino vote is often an afterthought because the turnout wasn\u2019t as high as other communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Texas was a state, it was Tejas. It\u2019s a name that connotes ally and friendship,\u201d Hinojosa said. \u201cWe\u2019re intricately a part of this state and we\u2019re allies. Don\u2019t criminalize us. Don\u2019t see us as a nefarious force. We are the opposite of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friendly Dallas Police Department officer spent some quality time at the pop-up newsroom. Over the past 20-plus years, he has served in neighborhoods across Dallas, including the last seven years in the Red Bird area. I asked if he had any stories to share from his time in the community.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cI'm<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes later, the officer introduced Jeanette Berry, founder and president of Operation Community Care<\/a>, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing life necessities to youth, families and the homeless or displaced.<\/p>\n

She discussed some examples of working hand-in-hand with the DPD and how they live up to the motto \u201cto protect and serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA few months ago, we got a call about a mom who didn\u2019t have a car seat \u2014 and that\u2019s a ticket,\u201d she said. \u201cThey [DPD] called to say, \u2018We have a mom that needs a car seat, is there anything you can do?\u2019 So we made sure that mom got a car seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThey\u2019ve<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know us, we know them and we help each other as a community,\u201d Berry said of the DPD.<\/p>\n

Milette Siler (left) and Dr. Jaclyn Albin (right) spoke about a unique model of culinary medicine cooking classes that UT Southwestern Medical Center at RedBird<\/a> is sponsoring for neighborhood residents. <\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe\u2019re<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Following the \u201cfood as medicine\u201d philosophy, the program aims at making delicious, nutritious food accessible to everyone, preventing and treating chronic disease, and improving people\u2019s relationship with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just doing a cooking class. We\u2019re connecting it to health care so it\u2019s a part of someone\u2019s health insurance,\u201d said Dr. Albin.<\/p>\n

Arrie Jackson took part in the UTSW culinary medicine program.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Concord Church is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the Rev. Bryan Carter has served as pastor for the past 22 years. The congregation began in 1976 with around 250 members and has grown to roughly 9,000 today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege for us to be one of the many churches that are part of the fabric of the Red Bird community,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThe last three years have been exciting for us because we\u2019ve welcomed around 5,000 new members to our church, and many of them are around the median age of 35.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

The church partners with multiple organizations <\/a>focused on civic engagement, food pantries, housing assistance, free counseling sessions, tax preparation assistance, career pathways, scholarship programs, economic empowerment, health screenings, aging services and other support to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast month, we hosted 80 Black-owned businesses and helped them raise around $70,000 for their businesses,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWe give out about $100,000 each year in scholarships to individuals. … Last fall, we were able to give $400,000 to members of our congregation who were furloughed during the government shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Freeland spearheaded an initiative to provide transportation to underserved communities in southern Dallas. \u201cI wish people would write more about this,\u201d she said of the on-demand, curb-to-curb ride service that began in 2021.<\/p>\n

“No car? No problem!” is the slogan of the service, <\/a>which partners with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, STAR Transit, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Texas Department of Transportation and the GoLink Inland Port Connect. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have small buses that pick people up at their door,\u201d she said. \u201cIf a bus is not available, we\u2019ll call an Uber for them, all for the cost of a DART fare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Near the pop-up newsroom is Breakfast Brothers, a restaurant that delivered delicious food to our staff and visitors. It began in 2017 as a small food trailer parked behind a nightclub in Dallas. Now, there are three Breakfast Brothers<\/a> locations, two in Arlington and one in the Red Bird neighborhood. <\/p>\n

I sat down with restaurant co-founder Rickey Booker at the jam-packed Red Bird location. \u201cWe took some bumps and bruises in the beginning, and we never thought that it would turn into what it has turned into,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\""Cultures<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy around here is great. You don\u2019t feel unsafe, people are not breaking into things around here,\u201d Booker said. \u201cThis is a community that people love.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Morning News hosted several events in the Red Bird neighborhood in March as journalists worked from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1500,69871,102,104,103,163,291,1881,6246,6636,223,86374,9244,111,8090,1883,840],"class_list":["post-221907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-affordable-housing","tag-building-trust","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-education","tag-equity","tag-faith","tag-food-insecurity","tag-healthy-living","tag-news","tag-news-commentary","tag-philanthropy","tag-real-estate","tag-redbird","tag-southern-dallas","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}