Born in 83 and raised in Arlington in the early 90's and had recently went to visit after almost 2 years and I barely recognize it anymore. My old neighborhood has been completely transformed into an all Hispanic neighborhood. Arlington was always pretty diverse having really an equal amount of all races but now literally every store in East Arlington around Park Row/Collins/Pioneer Pkwy area have all been turned into Taqueria's & Lavanderias ect. I am sad that all of my old shops and restaurants that I enjoyed going to are no longer there. While out with my sis we got nasty looks from most of them like "wtf are they doing here?" I'm not a racist person, I am married to a second generation Mexican American and all five of my children are mixed White and Mexican so I'm clearly not saying this to be hateful at all whatsoever. But Goodness gracious this state is becoming unrecognizable very quickly. The housing is getting more and more expensive according to my sisters that still live in the area, the schools have classrooms that are overcrowded having most children unable to speak English, teachers have less time to spend on each child due to the special care needed to attend to the children just arriving from Mexico, Haiti, Honduras, Afghanistan ect. Before coming back to visit I had considered moving back but after seeing the once beautiful city, the city that raised me, turn into really the slums, it breaks my heart knowing my kids won't get to enjoy the once vibrant, diverse, safe City that I was raised in... I have since moved to Killeen but I would NEVER consider living in Arlington ever again. The city management has allowed certain areas to be neglected for far too long. I lived in S. Arlington near Mansfield my entire life until 2 years ago, but in those two years it has become a city that resembles a city in Mexico, not America. Very sad to see for sure.
Tori | Arlington, TX | Report Abuse