What will happen to Fort Worth’s Northside as our city grows? Tell us what you think.

You have to be careful defining Fort Worth’s north side, says former city council member Sal Espino.

The collection of neighborhoods stretching from downtown to Loop 820 are steeped in history, each with its own history and culture.

“Never tell someone from Diamond Hill that they’re from North Side,” Espino quipped.

Many residents are decedents of immigrants from northern Mexico, but Poles, Greeks and Serbs once made the area home after finding jobs at the nearby Stockyards.

The area also holds significance for Fort Worth’s Black community with the first Juneteenth celebrations held on the southern end of what will be Panther Island in 1881, and the Fort Worth Black Panthers, the city’s Negro league baseball team, dominating their competition in the 1920s at the site of the shuttered La Grave Field.

Yet despite generations of rich history, the north side neighborhoods are changing.

As developers flood the city with luxury apartments, upscale restaurants and trendy shopping destinations, residents find their historic section of Fort Worth on the brink of transformation, as the Stockyards expand and the long-awaited Panther Island finally takes shape.

Some worry that rising home values will force out longtime residents, and Fort Worth’s north side will lose the character and community that make it special.

Tell us what you think about your neighborhood’s future

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wants to help ensure that residents’ voices are heard as their neighborhoods face so much change. A team of our reporters and editors will spend part of the week of Nov. 13 at north side locations to meet residents and hear from them directly what issues matter most to them.

We’re calling it our Star-Telegram “mobile newsroom,” open to anyone who wants to stop by to chat with our journalists. We will be at Northside Community Center, 1100 N.W. 18th St., on Monday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Then on Saturday, we’ll be at Casa Azul coffee shop, 300 W. Central Ave., from 9 a.m. to noon.

There is no formal agenda for these events. We simply want to hear from you, and give you an opportunity to tell us what you think of our coverage of north side neighborhoods and city issues. We especially would love to hear suggestions for how our news coverage can better reflect what’s important to you and your family.

Thinking of coming? Not sure you can make it? Take this quick survey to tell us what's most important to you on the north side.

What’s special about north side?

While once concentrated to the Marine Park neighborhood east of North Main Street, the north side’s Hispanic community blossomed with cultural venues like the Rose Marine theater and events organized by All Saints Catholic Church, where the late Rev. Stephen Jasso was an influential voice on education and immigrants’ rights.

Richard Perez, a teacher at Polytechnic High School, described the north side as a hub of Hispanic and Mexican culture surrounded by families who have lived in the neighborhood for generations. His family has lived in the Marine Park neighborhood since the 1940s.

People come to places such as Joe T. Garcia’s and The Original because they want to experience that sense of Hispanic culture and family, Perez said.

It’s a place with a lot of longstanding working class families, some of whom have strong connections to their faith, said former council member Espino.

He pointed to the influence of All Saints Catholic Church, a cultural and political organizing force on Northwest 20th Street.

“I would put together these festivals, and that would allow you to go into the community and see what the needs were,” Espino said.

It’s been a landing place for a lot of immigrants coming to Fort Worth, said UT Arlington professor Dennis Chiessa, who moved to the north side from Honduras with his family when he was 9.

There’s an authenticity to the culture of the north side because of the contributions of those immigrant communities, he said. He pointed to the Azle Avenue corridor near Northwest 25th Street that is largely made up of businesses owned by people who live in the neighborhood.

For development on Panther Island to reflect that culture, existing north side residents need to be involved, Chiessa said.

“Otherwise it’s just going to feel disingenuous, which is not what Fort Worth is and is not what the north side is,” he said.

What’s coming to the north side?

The biggest development coming to the north side is Panther Island. The project will create a 338-acre island by connecting two sections of the Trinity River.

There was some concern among north side leaders that the area was being overlooked in discussions about the development, however, the city’s consultant HR&A Advisors held a series of meetings this fall to get ideas from residents.

While fears about the development are understandable, it’s important the investments be shaped for the benefit of the community, said Fort Worth city council member Carlos Flores, who represents the area.

Being able to pass down a home among the generations important, so that families can stick around without worrying about being priced out, he said.

There’s also new development coming to the Stockyards. A 420-unit apartment complex and company headquarters are being built on the eastern edge of Exchange Avenue, and a 27-acre mixed use development is planned for Northeast 29th and North Main Street.

The area north of 28th Street still needs a lot of street and sidewalk improvements, but that will open the area for more economic development, Espino said.

What’s worrying the north side?

Housing values have risen more than 60% between 2016 and 2021, according to a city of Fort Worth study. While the rapid rise has led to increases in property taxes, values are still lower than other parts of the city, which makes the area attractive for investors.

Over half the homes in the north side were built before 1949, and over 80% of them are single family homes, according to census data.

Perez, the Polytechnic teacher, pointed to the Linwood neighborhood along the West Seventh corridor as a cautionary tale for the north side. His mother grew up near Carroll and Weisenberger streets, which at the time was mostly populated with smaller single family homes.

Most of them have been replaced with apartments or boxy three story duplexes, Perez said.

“They squeezed, I think, five of them on my mom’s property,” he said.

While there has been some discussion of an overlay zoning district to protect the look and feel of the north side’s homes, it can make housing more expensive to maintain, Espino said.

The city has created a neighborhood conservation plan in hopes of adding affordable housing.

The city tried to create a housing trust fund while Espino was in office, but it got put on hold because of the 2008 financial crisis, he said.

The city needs to make sure any development that comes to the north side is inclusive for the people who live there, Chiessa said.

He noted a lot of north side residents don’t visit the Stockyards due to the cost of parking. He said that sends a signal to residents the area is not meant for them.

We hope to hear from you.

The Star-Telegram has reported a great deal about all of these issues. But we know we can always do better.

That’s why we hope to meet you this coming week at our “mobile newsroom,” at Northside Community Center on Monday to Wednesday, and Casa Azul Coffee on Saturday, Nov. 18.