Enclosed by four major roads is Southern Orchards. Like some other inner-city neighborhoods its residents are working to address low ownership, crime, and lack of attention from the city. There is a Southern Orchards Civic Association, but they’re lacking an online presence. First time I came here I encountered an angry motorist and an angry drunk which was kind of unpleasant. I went back months later to document the neighborhood and no sooner do I get a handful of pics before I hear gunshots between police and gang members during a raid. My luck hasn’t been the best here. Regardless, the homes here are very notable brick homes and wouldn’t look out of place in any number of revitalized neighborhoods and has a very intact commercial stretch of Parsons. The good news is that you can see there are some residents who take pride in their homes and the city has renovated the high school. Aside from that it’s going to take more efforts between residents and the city to kick out criminals and continue taking back the neighborohood.
Sigh… where do I start? I just discovered your site and was disappointed to see your comments about my neighborhood (Southern Orchards). I think you did hit the wrong day, although those things do occasionally happen in the inner city. I just want to say that so many of us work hard at creating a better neighborhood and preserving safety so that we may attract more ‘investing’ residents to our area. What disappoints me is that when someone might research our neighborhood, your page may come up seriously dissuading them from relocating here. It seems like rather a disservice more than anything. On the topic of our (maybe former, I am not sure) President, Katie Radford, she is a self appointed President who does not share the ideals of so many in our neighborhood and it should not be considered to be the norm here.
Unfortunately, our neighborhood has not been going in the right direction for the past couple of decades. Our area was once heavily owner occupied, and now has many rentals scattered throughout. However, the devasation that has happened to say, Old Towne East, has not yet happened here, and we are hoping to prevent that from happening. Most of the homes (not all of them) are still in very good shape structurally, we have very few empty lots, and we need new owners and residents.
My point is, I hope you take the video off of the Southern Orchards section, revise your comments and maybe take another visit in the Spring. Hopefully you will see something that tells you better story of our neighborhood.
I appreciate your response to my request. Hopefully we can continue our work here and you will see better and better things coming out of Southern Orchards. Thanks again!
I could have swore I entered a reply, but I guess not. But yes, the description was more negative than I’d prefer, since I do want to see forgotten neighborhoods like this get some momentum. From the pictures alone it’s clear that this neighborhood has great housing stock, much better than people would think on *that* side of Parsons. I think that the intact stretches of Parsons are a great asset for the neighborhood. Perhaps if a partnership can be formed with neighboring Schumacher Place to the west some favorable changes could occur on Parsons.
Feel free to provide any updates or historic tidbits on the neighborhood here. I’m also all for getting an insider’s view for more insight on the neighborhood, so if you’re interested in an interview/local tour/etc on the neighborhood I’ll just send you an email so that you can contact me.