8 June 27 - July 3, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents In May, there were just over 500 code vi- olations recorded in Kleberg-Rylie, Doyle Lawhon, a code officer with the city, told the group. They mostly have to do with high weeds, littering and illegal land uses. “Illegal dumping is a huge problem,” he said. “It’s a nationwide problem.” If there are incidents of illegal dumping on someone’s property, but they don’t have any evidence of who did it, it’s on the property owner to clean it up, he explained. That’s why he en- courages residents to get cameras for their properties to catch people in the act. Marcus Wood, 83, a Dallas resident who has advocated for Kleberg-Rylie over the years, had a question for Lawhon: “Why are we not seeing any progress?” “I’m going to be honest, probably too honest,” Lawhon replied. He then gave an example from South Dallas to explain how hard it can be to get things done. A code offi- cer called him about a car blocking an alley. “He’s like, ‘Well, who do I call?’ Lawhon said. He told the code officer to call parking enforcement. Parking enforcement came out and said it wasn’t its job to deal with this car blocking the South Dallas alleyway. So, he called DPD. The department said that’s not its job either. “So, I said, ‘Both people are giving you the runaround. Send an email to manage- ment,’” Lawhon recalled. “That was two or three weeks ago, and I have yet to hear back.” He continued: “Unfortunately, there’s just issues, and they need to be resolved. That’s why I tell people, man, send an email. Send an email. Make someone pay attention, some- one higher up.” He said it took about six or seven months just to get a couple of leaky fire hydrants in the community fixed. But, he stayed on it and made sure it got done. A bit of progress for the community can be found in a lawsuit recently filed by the city. It’s going after an auto scrap yard that the city says has been operating illegally for some time. The scrap yard is operating without a certificate of occupancy on land zoned for residential and agricultural purposes, but that didn’t stop the owners from crushing and storing cars there. A waterway cuts through the property, and vehicle parts, de- bris and chemicals from vehicles have all ended up in the water. Part of the property is in the city, and the rest is in the county. This has made it more difficult to go after the business, another common issue in Kleberg-Rylie. But the city goes beyond alleging illegal land use. It says in court filings that the property is being used to store, dismantle and crush stolen vehicles. The dismantling and crushing process causes large amounts of spillage of gas, oil and possibly other haz- ardous liquids that have discolored the soil. Recent storms left the property saturated with large pooling areas of water mixed with gas, oil and other unknown pollutants. The city is asking the court to shut the business down. The owners of the property have not yet addressed the allegations in court and didn’t respond to a request for comment. For some, the actions by the city are too little, too late. Carranza said he’s been trying to get this property dealt with for the last four years. About a month ago, six people gathered at a picnic table outside the Kleberg-Rylie Recreation Center. Carranza, Wood and Freeman were joined by Theodore Wojtow- icz, 72, Jessica Ramirez, 30, and Monica Guardado, 48. Wojtowicz and Ramirez are residents of Kleberg-Rylie and Guardado’s late father used to live there. They have a hard task: getting anyone they can to care about Kleberg-Rylie. A stroll through the community reveals many mobile homes, some fixed up, some breaking down, along with single-family houses and ranches with cows, chickens and horses. The area has some big development creeping toward its doorstep. A Once-Booming Community The community is just south of Balch Springs, southeast of the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway and U.S. High- way 175. Kleberg-Rylie was born in the 1840s, as two neighboring farming commu- nities. Kleberg boomed after the Texas Trunk Railroad made Kleberg a stop in the 1880s. It was platted in 1899 and later served as a home to people attempting to build locks on the Trinity River. In 1908, a devas- tating flood washed away the locks on the river, and the project was withdrawn as un- feasible, according to the Texas State His- torical Association. The town grew to have two steam saw and grist mills, a cotton gin, two wood deal- ers, two livestock dealers, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, two general stores and a news- paper called the Kleburg Pigmy. (The spell- ing of the town’s name changed over the years until it finally settled on Kleberg.) The downtown area of Kleberg was destroyed by a fire in 1920, and only portions were rebuilt. The community’s population varied from a few hundred during most of its existence to more than 4,500 just before being an- nexed by Dallas. The town incorporated in 1956, when it started providing water and fire protection to its residents. At the time, it was the largest town in the state without a property tax. But increased rates for electricity and other ser- vices crippled the town. In October 1977, the mayor of the town threw his support behind joining Dallas, and the question was put to the voters the fol- lowing year. The final tally was 559-342 in favor of merging, and Dallas annexed Kle- berg-Rylie in April 1978. Back then the area had a mostly white population. These days, it’s made up mostly of Hispanic, Black and Native American residents. As of 2020, there are about 25,867 people in the ZIP code in which the Kleberg-Rylie Recreation Center sits, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2022, the area median in- come was just over $51,642. Wojtowicz moved in 11 years after Kle- berg-Rylie became a part of Dallas. He’s a utility contractor who wanted some land where he could store his machinery. He started with 20 acres and today has about 13. “It’s a lot to take care of for me,” he said. “I’m getting older.” But Wojtowicz is there to stay, despite the problems. “We made it ours,” he said. “We made life work here. “All my neighbors, I get along with really good,” he said. “I don’t have any problems. In fact, we’ve said if there’s problems, call me, I’ll come back you up, you know, if you got a criminal or something there, because the cops take too long to get there.” Wojtowicz is hoping that as the area be- comes more developed the city will decide to put a police substation there so response times can be quicker. The nearest substation is about 8 miles away. One of the worst things about Kleberg- Rylie is the roads, he said, and they’re not getting any better, even with more develop- ment. “They’re building houses to meet de- mand, and they’re not building the roads to meet the traffic they’re going to be loaded with,” Wojtowicz said. “In fact, the roads are so bad, you’ve got to drive at 20 miles an hour on some of them or you’re going to wreck your undercarriage.” Wojtowicz and others believe there are too many mobile homes in Kleberg-Rylie. Some locals estimate that 85% of the mobile homes in Dallas County are in Kleberg-Ry- lie, although the Observer can’t confirm that figure. Wojtowicz said these homes don’t count as traditional rooftops when develop- ers consider building stores or other busi- nesses, so they never get built there. Carranza often drives to Balch Springs or Seagoville to do his grocery shopping. Wojtowicz said that when he and others, like Freeman, were more active in the com- munity, they got things done. But since City Council member Tennell Atkins was elected, Wojtowicz said he’s felt disenfran- chised and neglected. (Atkins said that’s not the case at all.) Freeman has lived in Kleberg-Rylie for decades. His house is 104 years old and was owned by the last mayor of Kleberg before the community was annexed. “We just love it out here,” Freeman said. “This is our home, our community.” He used to own a little weekly newspaper called the Suburban Tribune that would cover all the happenings in Kleberg-Rylie and the surrounding area. The publication could sometimes build momentum around getting things done. As Freeman and Wojtowicz Unfair Park from p06 >> p10 Mike Brooks Bill Freeman, 83, Jessica Ramirez, 30, and David Carranza, 60, are among Kleberg-Rylie residents seeking more city support for their part of town. Dallas code officer Doyle Lawhon tells Kleberg-Rylie about the code violations in the community. Mike Brooks
