Bridging Dallas' North-South
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Movement stalled Evidence of change The Mayor’s Southern Dallas Task Force made its proposals. We are pleased with the victories we’ve helped accomplish in Now City Hall needs to get moving. Editorial, 2P Points southern Dallas over the last year. Editorial, 2P Sunday, September 20, 2009 A look at the landscape two years into our project, BRIDGING DALLAS’ NORTH-SOUTH GAP MICHAEL HOGUE/Staff illustration Mechanics of INSIDE RESULTS A summary of our key findings out of research CHANGE commissioned by The Dallas Morning News. 2P Tackling decades of imbalances in southern Progress along Lancaster Road reveals PROGRESS Dallas may be harder during a recession — a hint of what’s possible in southern A recap of “10 Drops in a Bucket,” detailing items Tod Robberson Dallas, says Colleen McCain Nelson we’ve checked off our southern Dallas to-do list. 3P but it’s not impossible, says allas Mayor Tom Leppert was pushing a grocery UDPATE onditions have changed considerably since The Dallas How our five base neighborhoods are faring one Morning News introduced its campaign in late 2007 to cart. Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway was year later — plus detailed demographic profiles. 4P C bridge the gap between northern and southern Dallas. The D searching for oatmeal. economy took a nose dive. The Trinity River project stalled over Somewhere along the way, the city leaders picked up a COMMUTES engineering questions. Mayor Tom Leppert worked to win approval pig-tailed 4-year-old — as well as a cart full of food. And as Maps chart the average commutes in our five bases for a convention center hotel. the shopping race wrapped up, everyone was all smiles. — and how far residents are traveling. 6P Despite the focus often being elsewhere, signs of progress are Discount grocery stores don’t usually attract bold-faced evident that could be leveraged into much larger victories in south- names or prompt such rollicking affairs. But the arrival of a EDUCATION ern Dallas. But that will require a renewed sense of mission by the new Save-A-Lot on Lancaster Road in east Oak Cliff was A look at education levels in our five bases — and a city’s political and business leadership and vastly improved part- rightly celebrated this summer. report card on southern Dallas high schools. 7P nerships among those with influence in southern Dallas communi- The opening of a bright, shiny, new store in a long- ties. neglected neighborhood signified what’s going right in MAPS Late last year, The News commissioned a detailed study of south- southern Dallas. And it’s the most visible victory in a multi- The vast amount of property that is derelict or ern Dallas by the Institute for Urban Policy Research at the Uni- faceted effort to battle blight and spur economic devel- underdeveloped presents special challenges. 8P versity of Texas at Dallas. We hope this information, to which to- opment along the Lancaster Corridor. day’s Points section is devoted, will help City Council members, Replacing an abandoned, asbestos-filled theater with a CREATE customized maps of our five DISD trustees, business and religious leaders, interested citizens — much-needed grocery store was an indisputable upgrade. focus neighborhoods with data you most and our own newspaper — find concrete strategies to bridge the But the bricks and mortar — not to mention the milk and care about. north-south gap. eggs — didn’t tell the whole story. EXPLORE a sortable database of the For the 51 percent of Dallas residents who live north of Interstate Before Save-A-Lot’s doors swung open, city leaders statistics and demographic profiles behind this 30 and the Trinity River, the substandard conditions that most of made a commitment to bolster the neighborhood by tack- project. the southern half has endured for decades may not be top of mind. ling impediments to development. Attempting to lure developers to Lancaster Road would be a losing effort as TAKE a “helicopter tour” of the neighborhoods and But it’s in everyone’s interest to see southern Dallas move closer to see the developmental challenges each faces. the north’s level of prosperity. long as crime persisted, code violations lingered and unde- Companies that come looking for a new home in Dallas don’t sirable businesses dominated the landscape. dallasnews.com/opinion/northsouth just look at the economically healthy and vibrant north. The dis- During the last two years, this newspaper has advocated JOIN the discussion at our Gap Blog. parities are a business turn-off. When southern residents’ incomes for changes to the policies and practices that for decades gapblog.dallasnews.com See ROBBERSON Page 6P See NELSON Page 3P B0920SP001PCB0920SP001PM0920SP001PY0920SP001PK0920SP001PQ 2P _ dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News Established October 1, 1885 Publishers James M. Moroney III Publisher and Chief Executive Officer George Bannerman Dealey 1885-1940 John C. McKeon President and General Manager E.M. (Ted) Dealey 1940-1960 Robert W. Mong Jr. Joe M. Dealey 1960-1980 Editor James M. Moroney Jr. 1980-1985 George Rodrigue Vice President, Managing Editor John A. Rector Jr. 1985-1986 Keven Ann Willey Burl Osborne 1986-2001 Vice President, Editorial Page Editor Sunday, September 20, 2009 EDITORIALS BRIDGING DALLAS’ NORTH-SOUTH GAP MIKE SMITH/Las Vegas Sun Task Force Deferred City Hall needs to get moving on group’s proposals LETTERS GOP is open to discussion Keep your size 10s to yourself… hen Dallas leaders committed to re- can’t find a way to include funds in this budget, Re: “Disappointed with Congress,” by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s insult to President vitalizing the southern half of the they must move quickly to begin studying the Otis Carroll, last Sunday Letters. Barack Obama during his address to Con- W city, they went big. task force’s proposals and to lay out plans for As a result of the Democratic leadership’s gress was the moral equivalent to hurling a More than 200 movers, shakers, activists implementation. Otherwise, Dallas leaders’ partisan and outrageous abuse of the legisla- shoe at him. and residents were assembled to serve on the talk of making redevelopment in the south a tive rules and process that has excluded con- Scott Mashburn, Dallas Mayor’s Southern Dallas Task Force. Tom priority starts to sound like empty rhetoric. sideration of Republican health care ideas, Leppert tapped City Council member Tennell Last week, Bob Stimson, president of the Ralph Hall, other members and I used our Atkins to steer this super-sized group, and Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce and vice chair only opportunity to show the president solu- … not that Congress would care both men touted the importance of inclusive- of one of the southern Dallas teams, wrote to tions that he falsely stated we did not have. Congress voted on a resolution of disap- ness and community buy-in. council members, telling them We violated no rules. proval of U.S. Rep Joe Wilson, who hollered Mission accomplished: The Key UTD findings how disappointed he and other Our action was to inform him that we out to Obama, “You lie!” business and neighborhood task force members were to see have plans and are ready to take him up on Certainly Wilson made an intemperate leaders who signed on have do- Today’s Points section and their hard work and ideas ig- his claim that “his door is always open.” The remark at the wrong time and in the wrong online component offer details nated thousands of unpaid nored during this budget cycle. president came into the House chamber as place, but the remark itself was not incor- on southern Dallas showing: hours and have lent their ex- “The lack of responsiveness an invited guest and made the accusation rect. pertise and ideas. But a year � Explosive growth in the from this council to those is- that those of us who have been critical have But now I ask where was Congress’ out- later, some are wondering Hispanic population, as African- sues sends an incredibly sad not engaged in “honest debate” and are using rage when Muntadher al-Zaidi launched his American and Anglo numbers what they have to show for it. message to those that volun- “scare tactics.” He said that many of his hosts shoes at our nation’s president when he trav- fall. In June, the task force’s 13 teered their time and to the ar- made “bogus claims,” engaged in “dema- eled to Iraq last year? Will Congress vote a teams detailed priority projects � Huge amounts of vacant and ea that they represent,” he said. goguery,” “distortion,” “acrimony” and are resolution condemning him for incivility? that could be accomplished in underutilized land in most of Atkins continues to counsel “cynical and irresponsible.” He even used the Hardly. our focus neighborhoods. the short term and could make patience, reiterating his com- L-word before anyone else in the House did. Lyle Paul, Dallas a difference in southern Dallas. � Links between the high mitment to finding the needed That’s no way to act when you’re invited into The multimedia presentations percentage of noncontiguous funds. But he must bring a someone else’s House. at City Hall were accompanied vacant land and depressed sense of urgency, lest this ambi- Ralph and I have just been trying to let ‘Crackpot’ is a compliment property values. by some fanfare, drawing a tious effort start to unravel. the president know that when he’s ready to Re: “Patriots or Pinheads? Tea party who’s who of Dallas leadership � Poverty overlapping with At the top of everyone’s to- discuss instead of fuss, we are ready with al- movement must contain its extremes,” to the big reveal.