Residents see the writing on the wall, however, and they realize their own walls will eventually come tumbling down in a heap of red bricks and cinder blocks. The Fort Worth Housing Authority vows to build new and improved projects somewhere out of the way, or integrate Ripley Arnold residents into the community by subsidizing their rents. Nearby homeowners and business owners lower their voices when they talk about how real estate prices will soar once the housing projects are gone. Many don't want to speak on record. Ripley Arnold's 500 residents are generally elderly people or hard-working families who stay out of trouble and do the best they can on small incomes.
Nobody wants to hurt their feelings.
More importantly, nobody wants to piss them off, because people with their backs to the wall often come out fighting. The front porch is slowly deteriorating. The house is missing boards in places. Old pipes, rotted boards, bricks, and empty soda cans litter the yard. Inside, though, the house is clean and orderly, except for the kitchen, which Espinoza is slowly remodeling.