How Can an Empty Lot in Cypress Park Become a Community Asset?

The Builderz Members
Citlaly Rodriguez
Vanessa Castro
Ruben Alvarez
Marcos Saucedo
Jessica Recendez
Ramiro Avalos

What is something you want to improve in your neighborhood?
The empty lots around the neighborhood, specifically, the one on Division & Cypress. We believe we can make that lot into something that will benefit the teens at Sotomayor Learning Academies.

Why is it important to improve this aspect of your neighborhood?
We believe it is important because we can grow as a community by starting with the youngest generations.

Where would you go in your neighborhood to investigate and document this issue?
The people that live around there can fill us in on the history of the lot and give us feedback about what they want the lot to look like so that they are happy with it as well. Our vision is to be able to come together as a community in one location where we can all share our input and if we start off now we can build up to something greater.

How do you plan to advocate for this issue and get people on board with your goal?
First we can walk around the neighborhood to collect other peoples opinions on what they want the lot to be so that the changes can be made to benefit them as well.
After that we can host a community meeting with our local councilmen to discuss the goal.

If anything was possible, what would you do to improve this aspect of your community?
I'd create a cafe or a franchise because those seem to get the most attention and because this little community doesn't have anything big to offer besides Burger King or McDonalds. Maybe it can be a place to work out or a healthy food court.