South of Interstate 30, vacant lots with “No Trespassing” signs scar the Dallas landscape. Some are overgrown with weeds. Others serve as dumping grounds, littered with tires, debris and discarded couches. They adjoin old homes and new construction sites on potholed streets with few streetlig hts, sidewalks and drains. Many of these lots have sat neglected for decades in disinvested southern parts of the city. As of early July, about 62% of over 26,500 vacant land parcels across Dallas are in southern Dallas, which is predominantly Black and Hispanic, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis of data published by Southern Dallas Progress. The nonprofit tracks the use of real estate in the city on a dashboard, pulling information from the city of Dallas. Despite an economic boom in Dallas-Fort Worth, the persistence and volume of these vacant lots signal urban decay. Left to fester, research shows these neglected patches bring blight, rising crime rates and plummeting real estate values instead of growing families and community well-being. Click here to read more on this report from our partners at The Dallas Morning News. ...read more read less