Virginian-Pilot editorial writer, Michelle Washington, wrote an article about the continuing crime in Denby Park and the KaBoom! park that is so crime ridden that it is considered by some to be unsafe for their children. Read the article here.
But they [LaCrystal Locks and Melissa Torbert] are not willing to accept a Denby Park without a place for kids to play. They focus on a future when the renaissance blooming near them at Wards Corner and further up Little Creek at the Walmart shopping center finally engulfs the streets named for Texas cities that evoke the opposite of its wide open spaces.
When that day comes, they hope Denby Park can once again host a playground, a real park with plenty of green fields for little ones to run, picnic tables for watching parents, and yes, a brightly colored jungle gym.
Despite all of the great news lately about the redevelopment of Wards Corner, we must continue to focus on the substandard housing in Denby Park that breeds and attracts crime. That is why the recommendation of the Wards Corner Taskforce continues to be that the City Manager purchase and demolish more of the apartments in the 300 blocks of E. Little Creek Road, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
Sounds good to be wipe out that whole side of the street between Southern and The new Harris Teeter. Doing it a little at a time is better than nothing but they are like roaches and just move from one building to another…
This is the cities fault. They did the same thing in Ocean View. They tear down the apartments with no plan for the people that live there. They all moved from OV to Little Texas. Where will they go when these apartments are gone? Titus Town? Bondale? The problem is not being fixed. Its just being moved.
This is the cities fault??? It isn’t about having low income housing, it’s about crime. That is a personal choice to go that route in life, not the fault of the city. Nobody would have objected for one single moment about those apartments and the dwellers there based soley on the low income status if the criminal element hadn’t been not only tolerated but fostered. And yes, if an area gets run down due to crime and the tenants go that route, not helping the police or pushing out the criminal element themselves, then don’t complain when the issue is addressed and the end result is having to move elsewhere. There are still plenty of apartments there. If the citizens don’t want to move, then be a force and stop the crime. Problem solved, won’t have to move….
Being poor and being a criminal does not have to go hand in hand. There must be good, upstanding citizens in these areas and they need (with the help of the city) to take hold and not put up with the criminal element. Perhaps the “tipping point” has been reawched and it is too overwhelming to do this. For the sake of the law abiding people, the city does need to do something. In some states, they have built apartment complexes with a percentage of them being for low income instead of having all the apartments low income which creates criminal projects. Florida has a very active program for this and the tax payer does well because they finance it but get paid back.
As a member of Oakdale Farms/ Denby Park Civic League, I am concerned about crime where we live. It is not because we don’t do anything about it. Lacrystal and Melissa and many others have worked hard to fight crime. We would a nice park for kids. One bright idea would be to provide lighting at the park to deter crime after dark. Our park is not lit, the city said that lights would promote criminal activity in the park. But the rest of the city is encouraged to light up to prevent crime. Make sense?
Provide lighting in the darkened areas, buy up the damaged apartments, get reasonable housing for lower income citizens, put the criminals in jail. Those would be my wishes for my community. Oh, and come to National Night Out, In August 2013 , and see regular people working hard to make our neighborhoods safer.
i am also a member of oakdale farms .
i have lived in this area of norfolk for 24 yrs and all thats changed is the types of crimes / from homicides and drugs being the most prevalent to now burglaries.
i had my apartment broken into 2 times in 15 yrs when i lived in oceanview and just last month here in oakdale farms .
the only thing that was taken this time was a video game , which tells me that its juveiniles. ( idid have to spend 200 on a new door )
which the police detective has told me “well you might as well forget it” ”
We need to have somthing for these young people to do around here and get rid of these lousy apartment houses .
this is my house i have to live here its what i can afford
im voting out all the incumbents this time ,no more self entitled polititians just strong leaders !
Its about to get worse. The cameras on the Texas streets are coming down, and will no longer be funded. We hear gun shots nightly (live on munden).I hope they tear it all down and I really don’t care where they go as long as its “away..far away”.