by Mick Dumke
Article Reprint
State representative La Shawn Ford is trying to stay hopeful. “I love Austin,” he says on a recent drive through the west-side neighborhood at the heart of his district. “If only we could get it right and allow opportunities to be here. Otherwise . . . “
He doesn’t finish the thought before a couple of buildings on Chicago Avenue get his attention. “There were two banks here when I was growing up,” he says. “And now there are no banks.”