The doors of Pleasant Valley Elementary School were opened once again on Thursday evening, March 26, when the Pleasant Valley / River Road Neighborhood Revitalization Group met to go over some new plans and events and also some news on new programs from the Amarillo City Transit (ACT).
Amarillo ISD gave the group permission to hold the meeting at the school, which was closed last year due to low attendance, according to the school board.
At the group’s meeting, the school’s cafeteria was bright and cheery and seemed ready to host some residents.
City bus transit options becoming available
Jim Hillwig, Transit Planner for the City of Amarillo, told the group that the city has a new program called ACT Connect, which used to be known as Spectrum.
“It is available for anyone 65 or older or with a disability,” he said. “You do have to do a qualification test, so that requires an application and coming down for an interview, but after that process, we can pick you up from your house and take you where you want to go and then bring you back later.”
“I know Pleasant Valley and River Road have been left out of Amarillo (routes) for a long time, but we’re trying to change that,” he said.
As part of the ACT Connect program, all the participating vans will have tablets where they can call a person if they fail to come out and see if anything is wrong. In addition, the passenger can send messages to the driver, such as, “I’m running a few minutes late.”
“We also have another program called Rideshare Voucher program. It’s run by the same service, which is also for senior citizens in the city, those with disabilities and women with dependent children,” Hillwig said. Although the voucher program is only six rides a week, they’re trying to do that all over Amarillo, so it’s facing some limits. The group’s community could purchase 50 passes and give them to clients that really need the rides. The cost is $1 each for the community, which they can then hand out.
Those interested can apply by phone at (806) 378-6919 from Tuesday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For ride assistance, call (806) 378-3095 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or go to the Amarillo Multimodal Transfer Station at 509 S. Bowie St.
For the Act Connect program, people will need to fill out a form, with a doctor filling out part of the information, unless applicants are older than 65. Once the interview portion is done, the process can be approved that day, according to Hillwig.
He explained that to qualify, a person has to be referred from an agency such as the Department of Human Resources, but once you’re referred, you can start scheduling rides immediately. “We have 21 days, if you file an application for ACT Connect, to get you in and interviewed and go through the process,” he explained. “The services go all the way to Cherry Avenue.”
People who qualify can get rides into the city, and it’s curb-to-curb. “They pick you up at your front door, like Uber, or wherever you are and take you to the front door of where you’re going — unlike a bus, whether it’s a doctor’s appointment or for groceries, or to see a movie,” he said.
Hillwig added that they offer about 250 rides a day on that service. It runs from 6:20 a.m. to 6:20 p.m., Monday through Saturday. As of yet, they don’t handle Sundays.
There is new software called Spare, where people can pay through the app or on their phone, or they can still use checks or cash to pay. Those needing the transit service can schedule a ride on their phone or see where their bus is. It will send alerts, emails or auto alerts. The new app is available for Android phones but not yet for Apple, but they should have it soon.
On a personal note, Hillwig said there was a couple off East Central who use the service once a month to go to a doctor and come back when they’re finished. He said the service also pays for another person to go with them. Hillwig said that he had a couple on the other side of Hastings who goes out to eat once every two weeks, and ACT takes them there, drops them off and then goes back and picks them up to go home. “Because the husband’s in a wheelchair, he can’t walk, so we help them for only $2 for each way.”
The program is a partnership between Amarillo City Transit and the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission and is supported through federal transit funding. The program will last for six months but will hopefully be continued, Hillwig said.
“It’s a service we want to use, so once you see it, you can give us suggestions about what would make it work better,” he said.
Bus service to start in October
Hillwig said he was working on a plan to get the city bus to come out as far as Hastings, but that is still in the planning stages.
Also, with the new software, they have the capability to do some zones, which could affect the Pleasant Valley / River Road group because they might have a Northwest East zone out in their area, but by request only. Hillwig said that the stop might be in front of the closed Pleasant Valley Elementary.
There is also a plan to build a nicer bus stop at the United Supermarkets on Jason Avenue, and the bus comes by every hour at a certain time and would make traveling easier to downtown Amarillo or the next stop. “People could park at United and wait until the bus comes under shelter,” he said.
Hillwig said that he wanted to have a ride-around on a Saturday to give residents a chance to see the different routes that people can take.
Mural planned for Pleasant Valley area
A mural is in the works for the long, fenced area near the Pancho Villa restaurant. The property in which the fence is located is owned by Bobby Wilson.
“The mural is to create pride in the community, tell a story about who we are and when we were started,” said Ron McNabb, “like this school which was started in 1927.”
“River Road used to be the only throughfare from north into Amarillo,” he added. “You had to come up from Highway 87 to River Road, take a right past Wonderland Park, and right on to Amarillo. So now we’re going to put that on the map through that mural for the community and the history of the school; we’ve got some drawings from the Class of 2025 that we’re trying to incorporate.”
He said that in 1927, the school mascot was the Chipmunks, but in 1977, it converted to the Bulldogs. He presented some photos of the renderings done by students to the crowd for some rough ideas for the long mural, which will have to be done in phases. He said that the mural would include Route 66 and possibly a cowboy with a horse praying, and other memorable parts of the community that need to be preserved.
McNabb emphasized the need for volunteers to get the mural process completed. He added that the final artwork would have an anti-graffiti coating to protect it from vandals.
The neighborhood group’s President Lynn Coe said that they have applied for a WT grant through the Amarillo Area Foundation and mentioned the upcoming cleanup campaign, pancake breakfast and other possible fundraisers.
Great-great-granddaughter of neighborhood’s founder present at meeting
Rose McKinney, the great-great-granddaughter of the founder of Pleasant Valley, was on hand at the event with some historical pieces she shared with the group.
She had an old newspaper clipping from the Amarillo Globe-News written by Max Albright, and photos of her great-grandfather, Quincy Ford, who founded the community in 1922 and subdivided it for settlement.
Other events, action in the works
The group is also be seeking volunteers to help with the next clean up days on Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12. Pleasant Valley will have roll off dumpsters situated at Pleasant Valley Park at Central and Sherill streets, and they may seek assistance from city employees. Light refreshments will be served, and attendees will have a chance to win a free Tommy’s Car Wash.
Another event in the works is the Flatter than a Flitter Pancake Breakfast, to be held from 8 a.m. to noon on April 15 at Pleasant Valley Methodist Church at 316 Valley Road. The breakfast will include sausage, eggs and pancakes with plenty of coffee, for a donation. All money raised will go to the group to further projects for Pleasant Valley and River Road. If food is left over, people will be free to take some home.
For more information, visit www.PVRRNRG.com or call 806-678-5150.
After the announcement in December 2024 that Pleasant Valley Elementary School would be closing, Katrina Emerson started a petition to keep the school open, and Hope McCoy joined the crusade. They also worked on getting handwritten signatures for becoming a Recognized Neighborhood Association (RNA), according to McCoy, a member and advocate for the group.
“When we posted our situation on Facebook, Potter County Commissioner John Coffee reached out and said that we should file to become an RNA and that he was on the committee that helps pick those. He gave me City of Amarillo contacts of Emily Koller and Shari Kendall to reach out to for more information,” McCoy said. Meanwhile, looking on the city website, they found a Neighborhood Association Toolkit, which they followed.
“We’ve done it all: elected a board, set up an email, created a logo, designed a website, we have a Facebook site, and adopted bylaws,” she added. “We have also received certificate of formation paperwork, opened up a bank account with money in it, gotten our 501(c)(3) number and EIN for IRS, attended meetings at the Amarillo Area Foundation, created a projects-in-motion … we are continuing anyway on our goal to make our community better and prettier.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Pleasant Valley gets new transit options, community projects
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
