SAN ANTONIO – People are calling for a partnership between homeowners and tenants in the Northeast Bexar County neighborhood known as the Glen. They say you can rid streets of trash, fix up homes and deter crime but it will take more for parts of the area to overcome a long-standing negative reputation.
“All you have to do is live here and open your eyes and you can see it,” Glen Terrace resident Dennis Osborne said.
He’s lived on the street for seven years and said he’s seen the good, bad and ugly. In 2008, his street was buried in trash and squatters occupied vacant homes.
The same year, investors Scott and Dawn Hagler arrived on the 7100 block of Glen Terrace with a dream. They intended to clean up more than just houses and said they worked with Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputies to push out drug dealers and prostitutes.
“Our grand vision was to repave everything,” Scott Hagler said. “We wanted new parking lots. We needed to do stuff to dress up the place a little bit more, and to do that, we needed cash.”
The couple started a home owners association named North Pointe Village, hauled out mounds of garbage, restored five buildings and built a community center, all while hoping to change the area’s long-standing image.
“Irrespective of how the street looks ... at the end of the day, it all boils down to what’s going on on the street,” Hagler said.
By April 2014, the Haglers said they couldn’t go on because they saw what they called "slum lords" returning.
“If the owners aren’t working together and if they’re only out here to make a dollar, it won’t work,” Hagler said.
The married couple sold off their properties and hadn’t been back until KSAT invited them to see what’s going on. They were surprised to see trash in the alleyways again.
“You know ... this neighborhood just isn’t as clean as it used to be. It’s not,” Osborne said. “There’s not a day that don’t go by that there’s not a sheriff car parked somewhere.”
He said he sees the neighborhood returning to its old ways and wishes property owners and tenants could be more invested in their community.
The North Pointe Village Homeowners Association still exists, according to President Andy Delafuente. He said it now has four members and they have done two cleanups on Glen Terrace since the Defenders first filmed in the neighborhood. Delafuente said the dues have been lowered to $250 a year. If any Glen Terrace property owners would like to contact him or join the HOA, he asked they e-mail him at andysmobileservice@gmail.com.