Another Blue Sky October Day In Texas Thinking About Fort Worth's Dangerous Neighborhood, Homeless People & Being Chased By Day Workers

As you can see, it is another blue sky morning, this 7th day of October in Texas. A chilly blue sky morning. Going swimming is being very refreshing. This morning it was warmer than yesterday morning by a degree or two.

I am ready for Daylight Savings Time to come to an end so that the sun lights up the place before 7 again.

The past couple days Fort Worth has been basking in the dubious glory of earning the distinction of having a neighborhood that was somehow determined to be the 15th Most Dangerous Neighborhood in America.

The Tandy Hills Natural Area is in that Dangerous Neighborhood. I feel quite safe when I am hiking on the Tandy Hills.

There is an area in Fort Worth's Dangerous Neighborhood that does look a bit dangerous when you drive by. I am talking about the section of Lancaster Avenue where homeless people collect, with incredibly large numbers of homeless people milling about.

When I first moved to Fort Worth I experienced quite a bit of culture shock. I remember checking out the Fort Worth Water Gardens. At that point in time Interstate 30 was still overhead above Lancaster Avenue. As I was leaving the Water Gardens I saw a statue on the south side of the street, and I believe south of the overhead interstate.

I parked my van and got out to inspect the statue. Next thing I knew dozens of men were running towards me, with looks of desperation on their faces. What fresh hell is this, I wondered?

Then, suddenly they stopped running towards me, looked disappointed and turned around and walked back to their shelter under the freeway.

The statue I was stopping to look at was a monument to the Fort Worth Texas Spring Palace tragedy. When I mentioned the guys running towards me incident, to a local, it was explained to me that these were "day workers" desperate for work. People wanting to take advantage of real cheap under the table labor would pull up in a van or truck and haul off some guys to do some odious task.

I was appalled. I already knew I was now in a different country from the one I had been living in, but this seemed way too different. I believe after the freeway came down those "day workers" were moved to the location on Lancaster Avenue where you now see a lot of people milling about.

I think I'll likely be going to Fort Worth's most dangerous neighborhood to do me some hill hiking later today, likely late in the afternoon. I will hike armed with my whacking stick, now that I know I'm in a dangerous place.