SAN ANTONIO — Bobby Del Bosque’s elderly father owns a home and yard on Ward street. He regularly brings his father back to the property to walk around and pick up pecans.
But then, in April of 2023, Del Bosque found a large tree collapsed across his back fence from a neighboring property which took up the whole back area of his yard.
“I can’t even cut the grass or anything over here. I just want it gone!” Del Bosque said. “If (the tree) was all on my property I would pick it up.”
The tree belonged to a neighboring property owned by Royal Public Schools which is a charter school system. Del Bosque said he had already contacted the charter school at their main number multiple times.
“I’ve been calling this school since May. Right away they told me ‘we’re working on it. We’re working on it.’ Every few months I kept calling them and it was the same thing. ‘Someone’s going to call you back.’ It just fell on deaf ears.” Del Bosque said.
Del Bosque said this continued into January. Then, he said, another part of the tree collapsed and bent his fence. Del Bosque said he then visited the school in person and spoke with a director about the issue. He said the director claimed to be getting bids to get it done.
Then another month went by. Del Bosque called KENS 5.
KENS 5 reached out to Royal Public Schools and visited the High School near Del Bosque’s property. A director called back the same day and told us to contact the charter school’s CEO, Dr. Soner Tarim. KENS 5 sent Tarim an email and video of the situation.
Three days later, KENS 5 received an email back from Tarim which stated, “The fallen tree limbs were cleared from Mr. Del Bosque's property.”
Tarim also told KENS 5 the school district had already been working to improve the surrounding neighborhood.
“The school and the entire eight acres of land were in horrible conditions with safety concerns. Specifically, the back area, which is close to Mr. Del Bosque's house, was a jungle; the area was covered in dense vegetation and nearly impenetrable. Many drug addicts were using the area,” Tarim said in the email. “We invested in our neighborhood and cleared the area to make sure our neighborhood was safe. We added over 1,500 ornamental iron fences.”
Del Bosque checked his property the day after the email and found the tree was, in fact, removed. What remained of the tree was stacked neatly on the other side of his fence.
“They did a good job. All the debris is next door and there is nothing in my yard,” Del Bosque said. “It’s amazing.”
Del Bosque said he appreciated the charter school taking responsibility. He said it only happened after he called KENS 5.
“KENS was extremely helpful. No one was listening to me but apparently they did listen to KENS. Definitely someone you want to call,” Del Bosque said.
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