First: Thank you! This petition continues to grow and your support is what keeps this moving forward.

We've taken action — and have the receipts.

Two formal letters have now been sent on behalf of this community. The first was addressed directly to Total Finance, Inc., the Mississippi-based lender currently in foreclosure proceedings against the property, holding them to their own public promise from April 2025 to improve the mall once they take possession. That letter is en route and should be in the hands of a decision-maker any day now. You can read it in full here: https://filebin.net/6q56cuw4k41mlzyw

A similar letter was sent separately to Fort Steuben Mall Holdings / Flamengos Investments, the current legal owner, reminding them that a pending foreclosure does not pause their duty of care to this community.

On the mall closure — a word.

We know many of you have seen the news. The city has condemned large portions of the mall interior and businesses have been given 30 days. That is genuinely hard news for this community, for the employees affected, and for anyone who has memories tied to that building. We don't take that lightly.

But here is what hasn't changed: the parking lot will still be there. Walmart, Texas Roadhouse, Eat N' Park, and other businesses surrounding the mall are still open and still drawing hundreds of visitors to that lot every single day. Those businesses have no legal authority to touch the pavement. The owner does. That obligation doesn't go away because the mall interior is closed — if anything, it becomes harder to ignore.

To those who feel like 'nothing will ever change':

We hear you. People have been complaining about these potholes for years. It's easy to feel like posting about it is shouting into a void. But here's what's different now: we have documentation. We have measured potholes. We have formal letters on record. We have a petition with hundreds of signatures. We have the city manager on record acknowledging the potholes exist. And we have public records requests filed with the city asking for copies of the specific violations issued to this property and the contents of the city manager's formal notice to the owner — which we're told explicitly mentioned the parking lot.

No reply yet on those records. We'll follow up and we'll share what we get.

This is not a complaint thread. This is a paper trail. And paper trails get things done.

Stay with us. Keep sharing the petition to different groups— Your voice means everything!

— Fix Fort Steuben Mall Community Action — 
— FixFortSteubenMall@proton.me —