Dallas Dweller

One of the families that have been targeted by the investors are Ramona Brodie and her son Woody. Ramona has Emphysema and has to have oxygen 24/7. Her son was in a motorcycle accident years ago when he was a successful roofer in the Dallas area. The accident caused him to lose the use of his right arm, his speech, his wife and his child.

I first met Woody when I was looking for someone to fix my Montgomery Ward tractor that I had the bad habit of running into things. A neighbor let me know about Woody and even though communicating can be tricky sometimes, I've begun to learn "Woody-speak" and he has kept all of my yard and garden motors humming ever since. he is a sweet, kind soul and I couldn't ask for better neighbors. So when Woody came out of his home one day and told me he was "going down the road" I was floored. Selfishly I hated to lose them from the neighborhood, but I was also worried about where he and his Mom would go.

After speaking to Mrs. Brodie I learned that one of these investors had talked Mrs. Brodie into selling them her home but telling her if she didn't the city was going to come the next week and tear it down. Terrified about what would happen to her and her son she agreed to sell it for a price that was much less than even the lot was worth. Mrs. Brodie had no idea what her property was worth and the investors weren't about to tell her.

Mrs. Brodie was very worried about the condition of her home -neither she or Woody can work and because of the physical limits both of them have the house has fallen into disrepair. Not knowing where to turn, they gave up.

The Brodie family needs help, and I'm hoping that we can come together as a community and find that help for them. No one deserves to be taken advantage of or to lose their home. The great news about all of this is that Oak Cliff is a wonderful neighborhood, and that finding out about the needs that Ramona and Woody have and sharing that story has helped me to meet some amazing people. Every neighbor that I have shared this story with have offered to help - unconditionally. We've started looking out for each other and the word is now out about the unscrupulous people who are preying on our neighborhood so that what happened to the Brodies won't happen again.