Reply With QuoteIt looks to me like 'East Dallas' includes a couple of different markets, among them Swiss Ave, Lakewood and the M Streets, Bryan St, and the low rent aparments and homes of Old East Dallas.
The Tipping Point article talked about home values in Dallas and how in general Dallas is doing worst than the suburbs. According to this map from the Dallas Morning News, home values in Dallas are higher than the suburbs. Look at Dallas, North Dallas $445,000 Far North Dallas $253,000 and Northeast Dallas $203,000. Only ONE other suburb had home values above $200,000 and that was Coppell at $225,000. No suburbs were higher than North or Far North Dallas and Coppell is the only suburb higher than Northeast Dallas. (Not counting the Park Cities- which is in a class by itself and not really a suburb and Sunnyvale because of only 9 home sales.)
Even places like Northwest Dallas and East Dallas who values are down are still higher than a lot of suburbs. Some of the suburbs include Cedar Hill, Garland, Mesquite, Sachse-Rowlett, Irving, and Grand Prairie.
Yeah, home values in South Dallas are low but everyone already knew that. The TP made it seem like people are leaving the whole city in droves for the suburbs. The TP made the whole city look bad.
“Booz Allen found that the overwhelming majority of units -- 85 percent -- consists of apartments or houses valued closer to $50,000. They're not likely to appeal to anyone who can afford a nicer home in the suburbs.”
Hummm??????? What did Booz Allen used to come up with this information? Looking at this even in South Dallas homes are more than $50,000.
It seems like it is cheaper to live in the suburbs than Dallas looking at home values. (Excluding South Dallas). . The city needs to work on South Dallas, but knew that for the last 30 years.
Last edited by LakeHighlands; 27 June 2004 at 03:32 PM.
"One of Dallas' strongest communities, Lake Highlands boasts a true sense of neighborhood spirit. Local stores reflect passionate support for Lake Highlands schools with school posters and signs. True to its name, the area features handsome traditional homes up and down rolling hills and charming, winding roads." --Lake Highlands People
It looks to me like 'East Dallas' includes a couple of different markets, among them Swiss Ave, Lakewood and the M Streets, Bryan St, and the low rent aparments and homes of Old East Dallas.
Last edited by Foucault; 27 June 2004 at 09:51 AM.
"There is much to admire, but little to deplore,—many things to enchant, but few to offend,—and for the people, and their institutions, there is a splendid future, behold what you may, see what you can, believe {what you} have a mind to. . .I have given you a very reliable description of the country in which I live and am unwilling to exchange for the frozen North."
—M. J. Mathis of Dallas County, writing to friends in 1859
www.haribon.org.ph
Yeah and even with some older homes in East Dallas, the area still manages to have a relatively high home value. Old part of LH is also in that area. I do see million dollar homes being built on the west side of White Rock Lake so I'm guessing that area and Lakewood bring up the values for the smaller houses in Old East Dallas.Originally Posted by Foucault
And these are homes that are already built. I know new homes in all of North Dallas are very expensive to build compared to building that same house in Frisco, Allen or Plano. Looking at least $400,000 more. I'm guessing that the same holds true for East Dallas. Mostly likely you have to buy a house tear it down and build a new one. I'm sure Lakewooder knows more about the area, what is the average price of a newly built home in Lakewood run?
Last edited by LakeHighlands; 27 June 2004 at 03:50 PM.
"One of Dallas' strongest communities, Lake Highlands boasts a true sense of neighborhood spirit. Local stores reflect passionate support for Lake Highlands schools with school posters and signs. True to its name, the area features handsome traditional homes up and down rolling hills and charming, winding roads." --Lake Highlands People
From page 120 of the Dallas Business Journal's "Book of Lists":
Most Affluent DFW ZIP Codes ranked by median home value:
1. 75205 (Highland Park/South Univ Park/Knox-Henderson- $616,515)
2. 75225 (North Univ Park, North Park Mall and west area- $488,692)
3. 75251 (Forest/Hillcrest/LBJ/Coit- $441,667)
4. 76092 (Soutlake Area- $374,583)
5. 75202 (West Downtown- $366,667)
6. 75201 (West Uptown- $344,091)
7. 75039 (Las Colinas area- $344,091)
8. 75093 (Willow Bend Plano area- $318,060)
9. 75230 (Walnut Hill/Central to tollway/up to LBJ- $318,060)
10. 76034 (Colleyville area- $288,104)
11. 75254 (Belt Line/Coit/Spring Valley/Tollway- $283,994)
12. 75209 (Area between Park Cities and Love Field- $261,237)
13. 75022 (Flower Mound area- $249,799)
14. 76226 (Argyle Area- $246,070)
15. 75019 (Coppell Area- $239,246)
16. 75001 (Addison- $231,397)
17. 75024 (Plano Legacy/Tollway Area- $230,032)
18. 75063 (Valley Ranch Area- $222,610)
19. 75025 (Plano Legacy/Central Area- $221,356)
20. 75013 (Allen- $221,257)
21. 75252 (Far North Dallas in Collin County- $219,657)
22. 75219 (Oaklawn/Turtle Creek: $218,774)
23. 75248 (Bent Tree area: $208,666)
24. 75082 (Richardson "panhandle" area- 75082)
25. 75070 (McKinney area- $202,636)
***Preston Hollow (home to people like Mark Cuban, Tom Hicks and Ross Perot) is in 75220, but it is not on the list because that zip also includes some very poor areas. (75220 ~ Northwest Highway and area to north from Tollway to Stemmons)
One big swath! Does that makes Hillcrest the "richest" street???
If I had to pick just one, I'd say Preston. Think of where is goes way up north, and it turns into Oaklawn Ave on the south end.
I would say Park Ln is the "richest" street
Speaking of Preston though, has anyone notice the behemoth going up on the east side of Preston @ Armstrong. That has to be one of the biggest homes I've seen in the entire metroplex. Is it a home?
Last edited by rantanamo; 28 June 2004 at 12:04 AM.
i would say strait lane.. i pulled 30 random homes off the street and did an average of their worth (appraisal), and it came out to a little over 3.8 million. Ross Perot's "home" is worth 14.8 million. I've seen that house, rantanamo.. i wouldn't live in that thing if my life depended on it. on a side note, wasn't that house that burned down forever ago $63 million? As much as anyone would like to contest it, at the time, it was the second-most-expensive-available-property on the market in the entire country. ooo.
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
Strait Ln, probably if you mean just any street. Park Ln though from Marsh to Preston is absolutely spectacular. Wouldn't be surprised if it has the highest avg. Or possibly Deloache(Cuban's St) It's pretty spectacular from Preston to Inwood.
The house that burned was appraised at $70,000,000. Someone bought it I believe after the fire. I think most of it was ok. Just certain parts burned.
Correction on the HP house. It's at Preston and Lorraine on the east side of Preston. Can't miss it.
Yea, I saw that one this weekend. The one with the columns in front. It's huge.
The DMN has put together more facts, findings, and recommendations. A five part series responding to their original reports.
Dallas at the Tipping Point: Part II
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
By VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/...rnsector2.html
You get what you pay for. You reap what you sow. Those lessons are coming home to the city of Dallas as it stakes its future on its southern sector – a panorama of blight whose ills are substantially of the city's own making.
There is no more room for development north of the Trinity River, and the city's economic growth has slowed to a crawl. City Hall needs desperately to grow Dallas' tax base, but it faces a terrible irony: The only place to do that is in the southern sector, an area it has befouled and neglected for decades.
"You're not starting out at ground level," said City Attorney Madeleine Johnson. "You're starting out by having to dig yourself out of a hole. You don't even see anything until you get out of the hole." Here's one indicator of the depth of the hole: A Dallas Morning News analysis found that taxable land values in the southern sector are, on average, one-sixth of those in the northern sector. City officials say they are determined to make the climb. The City Council this year made economic development its No. 1 priority, with emphasis on the southern sector. Neighborhood quality, particularly more vigorous enforcement of property codes, is another top-five goal.
"The city has to change the way we deliver services and the credibility that we have with our citizens and with the business community," said interim City Manager Mary Suhm. "That's a challenge that we face for the next several years." For much of the 20th century, money from one bond program after another was funneled to the northern, predominantly white areas favored by developers. Federal funds designed to help poor neighborhoods were left lying on the table in Washington.
At the same time, officials carved up southern neighborhoods with freeways and saddled them with legions of trash dumps, heavy industries, public housing projects and liquor stores. Anecdotal evidence of these so-called noxious uses is visible even to a casual Dallas observer. The News' analysis, though, showed how strongly they are concentrated in southern Dallas. When city leaders talk about reviving the southern sector, they aren't simply engaged in changing policy. They're fighting the weight of history. Boston-based city planner Antonio DiMambro, who is working with several southern Dallas neighborhoods, encapsulates that history in five words: "The city pulled the plug."
A call to action
The News began exploring the performance of Dallas city government this spring in "Dallas at the Tipping Point," a special report based on an analysis by corporate strategists Booz Allen Hamilton. That report showed how the economic vitality of Dallas' suburbs had masked a dramatic slowdown in growth inside the city. Booz Allen said the city's response must include a strategy for southern Dallas, a sprawling area that is home to nearly half a million people and whose northern boundaries are the Trinity River and Interstate 30.
To be sure, dramatic changes are happening in selected parts of the southern sector. New subdivisions are appearing for the first time in 40 years. City Hall helped spur the creation of new business parks at Pinnacle Park and Mountain Creek, which have brought thousands of jobs south of the Trinity. The University of North Texas is establishing a campus that should transform the nearby communities.
"Last year we had more residential building permits in the southern sector than in North Dallas for the first time ever," said Mayor Laura Miller. "So there is a whole lot going on." Even where there is nothing – the southern sector has 46 square miles of vacant, developable land, compared with 8 square miles in the north – the emptiness presents a remarkable growth opportunity. Still, individual residents and entire neighborhoods struggle under adverse conditions in much of the area. Tidy homes with trim lawns coexist with abandoned eyesores and weed-choked lots, often where the city itself tore down dilapidated houses. Piles of trash and old tires proliferate beside concrete steps leading to empty foundations.
The sure result of such neglect, Ms. Miller said, is "a completely demoralized neighborhood." In some areas, liquor stores and bars outnumber other businesses. Drug houses and hot-sheet motels operate openly in areas where the Police Department assigns its least experienced officers. Owners of derelict properties frequently go unpunished, despite flagrant code violations and years' worth of unpaid taxes. Last year, the city began identifying parcels it may be able to seize and sell at low cost to community development corporations. The list, which is restricted to properties with at least six years of unpaid taxes, runs to more than 2,000, virtually all in the southern sector.
Although bond money has been distributed more evenly since the advent of single-member council districts in 1991, The News' analysis found that some of the old inequities persist. In the last two bond programs, passed in 1998 and 2003, the average resident of the northern sector got $1.35 for every $1 spent on streets, alleys and sidewalks in the south. The analysis found that the level of spending on those items also correlates with the race of neighborhood residents. Generally, the whiter the immediate area, the higher the outlays. "The city has written off certain neighborhoods," said attorney Mike Daniel, who has successfully sued the city more than once on behalf of disadvantaged residents.
The price of living in forgotten neighborhoods is all too plain. But there is a serious financial cost to the city as well, as measured in lost property taxes. On average, the Dallas Central Appraisal District values northern sector land at $173,000 an acre. In the south, the average acre is valued at $27,000. Some variation between more- and less-affluent areas is inevitable. But if even one-quarter of Dallas' yawning gap stems from City Hall's actions – or inaction – the city has cost itself roughly $30 million a year in property taxes on southern-sector land alone.
Dallas is not unique. Dr. Elise Bright of the University of Texas at Arlington, an associate professor of urban affairs, concludes that blight is so pervasive in so many cities that "it's tempting to conclude that the killing of our original neighborhoods was premeditated murder." "But premeditated murder requires the ability to plan well and assess the impacts of one's actions," two skills she finds conspicuously absent among leaders in U.S. cities. "Thus," she concludes, "I am inclined toward a verdict of accidental homicide."
Blame river, rail
Among cities, geography is destiny. Most of them, including Dallas, sprang up along established trade routes. Within cities, topography is destiny. That is particularly true in a city such as Dallas, situated on a river with the capacity to deliver devastating floods. Large swaths of the southern sector lie within the Trinity River floodplain. Such areas are commonly pocked with gravel deposits, which, once mined, provide natural sites for landfills. Early manufacturing districts also tended to gravitate to creeks and rivers. The railroads that were the city's lifeblood sought higher, firmer ground. If you're looking for the original source of the southern sector's woes, said developer Bennett Miller, "blame the river; blame the MKT railroad."
Of course, America also has a social and spiritual topography, and its unit of measure is skin color.
Well into the 20th century, city law confined Dallas' black residents to certain neighborhoods, typically in the Trinity floodplain. After World War II, when African-Americans flocked to the city, violence met attempts to integrate some previously white neighborhoods. The dynamic changed dramatically in the 1960s and '70s, after federal courts directed the Dallas Independent School District to desegregate and later ordered busing. Whites stampeded to the suburbs and to northern reaches of the city served by suburban school districts. The developers followed the market, and the city followed the developers. A News analysis of appraisal district records found that of the roughly 20,000 middle-class homes built in Dallas since 1970, fewer than one-fifth are in DISD.
In Oak Cliff, subdivision construction stopped virtually overnight, leaving eerie stretches of streets and gutters unaccompanied by houses. Elsewhere in the southern sector, vast tracts were left without roads, water or sewer lines. What did get built, particularly in West Dallas, were sprawling, racially segregated – and politically invisible – public housing projects. The southern sector's fortunes "tipped a long time ago," said West Dallas council member Steve Salazar. "It tipped when we started segregating low-income housing in West Dallas. No one noticed because of the kind of people who lived there." Only a federal court order in a lawsuit filed by Mr. Daniel persuaded the city to make some investments in the poorest neighborhoods.
Over time, the southern sector's decline prompted black and Hispanic families to follow the whites, fleeing to better neighborhoods with better schools – inside or outside the city limits – as soon as they could. In the early 1990s, the city staff's response was to draft a rating system that allotted city investments to neighborhoods based on their perceived viability. Because of the way the ratings were calculated, "viable" appeared, to some, to be a code word for "white." And the policy seemed to say that black neighborhoods should be left to deteriorate until developers became interested in replacing them wholesale. The City Council, newly converted to all single-member districts and concerned that the policy had racial overtones, never adopted the staff plan. Still, it is the staff that continues to shape development initiatives and put together bond packages.
"The public disinvestment was every bit as bad as the private disinvestment," said Henry Lawson, executive director of the SouthFair Community Development Corp. "They weren't doing jack." "The city has been complicit" in the southern sector's woes, agreed council member Don Hill, who represents District 5 in the south. "But the private sector always drove development and drove the politics of development." Among the ways those developer-driven policies failed the southern sector, ultimately damaging the city's own interests, were:
•Routing of freeways and other highways. Between the interstates – I-35, I-45 and I-30 – and lesser freeways such as U.S. Highway 175 and State Highway 310, planners chopped some neighborhoods into isolated islands. Another example is the decision to route I-30 between Fair Park and downtown, dividing two of the city's greatest assets.
•Industrial zoning. Until recent years, huge swaths of the southern sector were zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses. Under the "cumulative zoning" policy then in place, builders could also put any "less-intense" type of development on such land, including housing. That's why some southern sector residents live cheek-by-jowl with industrial plants that are unpleasant or even dangerous. Even today, after substantial rezoning, some parts of West Dallas have more than 80 parcels of industrially zoned land per square mile. The northern sector is essentially devoid of industrial zoning outside the Harry Hines corridor. "You don't find many lead smelters at the corner of Preston and Forest, do you?" asked Don Williams, chairman emeritus of the Trammell Crow Cos., who has become a champion of the southern sector.
•Concentrations of alcohol-related businesses. Some areas in the southern sector, including Oak Cliff, are dry. In others, zoning patterns allowed a proliferation of liquor stores and bars that put adjacent residents under a virtual state of siege. South Dallas, in particular, became a purveyor of liquor to dry parts of town, with more than 300 liquor stores in a dozen square miles. "It was the zoning that did this to us," said Diane Ragsdale, who represented South Dallas on the council in the 1980s. The area has since been rezoned, but existing liquor businesses may continue to operate unless residents organize to petition for their closure.
•Landfills and illegal dumping. The tendency to use abandoned gravel pits for landfills means that most of the big ones in Dallas are in the southern sector. In addition, the city has failed to curb illegal dumping, which sometimes occurs on a staggering scale. In one instance, the city anticipates having to spend $35 million for the court-ordered cleanup of an 84-acre illegal dump off Jim Miller Road. A drive through the poorest neighborhoods in South and West Dallas reveals mounds of trash of every description. Residents say that repeated complaints to the city typically bring little action.
At a recent council meeting, Mr. Salazar described how he and his children made a game of guessing how many phone calls it would take to get the city to remove two abandoned tires – which they nicknamed "Ben and Jerry" – from Singleton Boulevard. It took many calls over several weeks. The code compliance department has undergone a shake-up in which more than 30 inspectors were fired for poor performance. Observers say the department is vastly improved, but Ms. Miller revealed that some fired workers have been reinstated after appeals heard by assistant city managers.
•Flood control. From at least the 1950s onward, plans existed to extend the city's levee system to protect southern neighborhoods such as Rochester Park and Cadillac Heights. However, voters repeatedly defeated bond issues for that purpose, leaving poor, minority residents at the river's mercy. After serious flooding from 1989 to 1991, the city built a levee around Rochester Park. In 1998, voters finally approved bonds to cover the city's portion of the funding for a levee around Cadillac Heights, which will be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
•Policing renegade property owners. State law does not require the city to pursue property tax delinquencies, and thousands were allowed to run for years. The extent of the problem is becoming evident as the city attorney's office compiles the inventory of properties that may be acquired for the land bank. On a map showing the eligible parcels, several parts of the southern sector look like Swiss cheese, pocked with holes where the neighborhoods' vitality seeps away.
•Support for private redevelopment efforts. The land bank is one example of the city working with nonprofit community development corporations to bring new construction to blighted areas. Compared with similar programs in other cities, Dallas' efforts have been spotty and sporadic.
One example: Years ago, the city demolished several blocks worth of drug- and crime-ridden apartments in the Jeffries-Meyers neighborhood, west of Fair Park. The land was to have been redeveloped by the SouthFair CDC, but the city put the deal on hold during its 2012 Olympics bid, earmarking the site for the athletes' village. Although the Olympics bid died three years ago, the city still has not conveyed the land to SouthFair.
"A CDC, try to get something through the city of Dallas? Are you kidding?" scoffed Mr. Williams, whose Foundation for Community Empowerment supports organizations such as SouthFair.
•Pursuit of federal dollars. Dallas not only skimped on investments in the southern sector, it generally turned its back on federal housing and anti-poverty programs designed to ameliorate conditions in blighted areas. City leaders feared the federal oversight attached to such money. City Hall, said Dallas architect and urban planner James Pratt, "became a sort of hunkered-down bunker against the black people." In recent years, the city has become friendlier to federal money – and such money has become scarcer.
•Political inclusiveness and power-sharing. Dallas fought the advent of single-member districts every step of the way, long after most major cities accepted them.
The political wounds have yet to heal. The 14-1 electoral system brought new voices to the table, but the city is still weak in what political scientists call "social capital" – politically engaged residents and robust civic organizations. Despite its many challenges, those who are working to better the southern sector say its potential is immense, and both nonprofits and private developers are beginning to turn certain neighborhoods around.
With just a few smart moves, they say, the city can unleash a torrent of pent-up energy among residents who want only a clear signal that City Hall is with them rather than against them. "I've seen it in two other cities," said Jon Edmonds, who came from Indianapolis to run the Foundation for Community Empowerment. "It's like building a bomb. Nothing feels like it is happening for a long time. Then an explosion happens that surprises even those of us who are building it."
E-mail vloe@dallasnews.com
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
^ Check the site. There is plenty of other info as well.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I called the 311 service yesterday about having a pothole repaired on McKee St by my new house, and I went by this afternoon and it was already patched. So obviously the city is paying some sort of attention to this area, but I agree that there is still a lot left to do. IMO, the city needs to crack down on the people not paying taxes.
Well, at least the DMN touched on one historical root cause for so many of the costly city council delays. There is a reason.For much of the 20th century, money from one bond program after another was funneled to the northern, predominantly white areas favored by developers. Federal funds designed to help poor neighborhoods were left lying on the table in Washington.
It really bothers me that for every dollar spent in the bond packages in the southern sector, 35% more was spent in the northen half of the city. The southern sector is older and has far more outdated infrastructure. Why in the world would we be spending more of our bond money in the north? Something I've been saying-pounding- for years is the worst form of abuse is neglect. It looks like, sadly, there might be some real institutionalized racism in here.
Would that be fair to the northern areas? They think they are paying property taxes in their own self-interest, not to redistribute money to the poor.
If the cost of taxes exceeds the benefit to be derived from taxes, people will try to avoid those taxes in every way possible. And the rich have many, many ways to avoid being economically exploited.
I have an idea that infrastructure development and gentrification of southern Dallas will have the unintended consequence of driving the poor from their homes in favor of the rich. That is what essentially happened in State-Thomas.
Yeah you're right- I should have remembered something else I've been saying for a long time- the southern sector only contributes 11% to the city's total tax base................
As far as a new urbanist theory goes, it doesn't have to be rich vs. poor. There can be a mixed choice of housing. Everything from cluster or garden homes, to townhowmes, to single family, to high ride mansion apartments, to residentail over retail in a entertainment cooridor. Poor State Thoms, they totally gentrtified it and now middle-income people find it hard to live there. I know a bunch of people who are maxed out and credit poor because they want to live in Uptown. I also know a lot of wealthy people who can afford to live in an area where they only drive their cars if they're going out of town. It shouldn't have to be that way. There should be a whole range of housing options for a whole range of income levels.
I agree, TG. I often think about someone in my position who would probably be making less than $30,000 a year and very likely couldn't afford to live anywhere near uptown, and it bothers me to no end.
There are rich people south of I-30. They may feel the same way about their tax money being spent up north.
There are three ways to get more people to live within the city limits of Dallas. Schools, schools and schools. People want their kids going to public schools that are perceived as good, quality and safe......and they will move where they need to move to find them. Private schools simply are not a financially sound alternative for most middle class parents. Businesses will relocate where their employees can have good public schools for their kids. It's the number one thing a major company looks at when looking for a city to relocate to. And before you ask, this is coming from a man with no kids nor plans to have any.
I'm sure there are neanderthals out there that don't want to share their schools with african or latin-americans. Let the suburbs deal with those "white flight" losers. We need a school district ranked in the top twenty nationally, and you will see every acre of available property in the city limits explode with people clamoring to get in. Existing neighborhoods will be reborn with the return of the middle class. All races would benefit from the investment. We need a strong school board and superintendent that can rally our students and parents, invest and monitor financials wisely, and be supported by the city council as needed.
^ Amen brother.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
By ANGELA SHAH / The Dallas Morning News
Ten years ago, Dallas City Council members sat around their horseshoe table at City Hall, agreeing with a consulting firm's advice to focus on redeveloping the southern sector. It was time, they said, for the city to finally take action. The result? Retail and other business activity in the southern sector remains anemic compared with the north. Per capita income north of the Trinity River is still twice that in the south.
Consider the Starbucks barometer: The coffee chain has 36 locations in Dallas north of the Trinity River, while the south is home to exactly one.
City Hall says it no longer ignores southern Dallas, and that's true. Economic development is at the top of the City Council's list of goals, with special emphasis on the southern sector. But a Dallas Morning News review of the city's economic development efforts shows few measurable results from a decade or more of talk. Notwithstanding the council's enthusiasm in that December 1994 meeting, Dallas still lacks an economic development plan for the whole city, much less its deeply troubled southern sector.
Mayor Laura Miller agreed. "We need to be more effective, be more efficient, deliver better customer service, triage our resources, set priorities, put things in writing, have staff accountability," she said. Asked why the city still lacks a plan to redevelop southern Dallas, the mayor said: "It's one of the great mysteries that exist" at City Hall. While city leaders trumpet southern sector improvements such as new business parks, restaurants and a scattering of new retail, The News' review of business activity, property values and other data suggests that any enthusiasm should be tempered.
For every $1 in business sales in Dallas last year, only 14 cents were spent in the south. That ratio is unchanged from 1990. Nor have the first new southern Dallas subdivisions in a generation done much to lift property values. The median value for single-family homes in the southern sector was $58,000 last year, compared with $150,000 in the north, according to The News' analysis of tax roll data. All of Dallas has a stake in the outcome. With nearly 500,000 people, southern Dallas isn't just a neighborhood. It's nearly half the city, more populous than Atlanta or New Orleans, and holds nearly all of the developable land.
Repair southern Dallas and the city grows and prospers, experts agree. Otherwise, Dallas will be mired in decline. Even as the region continues to thrive, Dallas' tax base has grown anemically, at best. And the property tax burden falls increasingly on homeowners. Southern Dallas consumers spend an estimated $1.5 billion outside the southern sector annually, according to a review of the latest available census data by the Dallas-based Foundation for Community Empowerment. Some of that money undoubtedly flows to Dallas merchants to generate tax revenue for the city – but some of it leaves to fatten suburban treasuries instead.
More southern sector residents are earning paychecks at jobs outside the city, too. In 1990, 71 percent of those workers had jobs within the city of Dallas, according to U.S. Census data. By 2000, that number had fallen to 62 percent. Interim city manager Mary Suhm lamented the inability to move from words to deeds. "There's like five or six plans sitting around here how to address southern Dallas, and they were too broad and too general and they never happened," Ms. Suhm said. Think of the southern sector as a collection of neighborhood-sized building blocks, suggested Don Hill, the deputy mayor pro tem.
"What we're going to have to do is, in 10 years, not call it the southern sector anymore," said Mr. Hill, who represents a southern sector district. "It's going to be called Wynnewood and it's going to be called Cedar Crest. It's going to be called South Dallas/Fair Park. We've got to create some successes. The key for us is we've got to create some real success stories." The consulting firm McKinsey and Co. noted the hopeful economic signs in the southern sector and across the city. But "significant challenges remain," it cautioned the City Council last month. "Many of the city's competitors at suburban, regional and national levels are rapidly improving and aggressively working to bring development to their areas," McKinsey advised.
"Growing the city's economic base will not be easy." One reason: Businesses, community leaders and residents share the widespread sense that the city is not only halfhearted about redevelopment, but that it sometimes gets in the way. "Many external stakeholders view the city as unfriendly," the McKinsey consultants said gently. Sonny Otutu, owner of a hip-hop fashion boutique on Martin Luther King Boulevard, offered a street-level variation of that analysis. "We never hear from the city," he said. "There are businesses closing up. No one cares."
Poverty on the rise
So which southern Dallas is real?
Is it the one that shows a poverty rate nearly twice as high (24.6 percent) as the rate for northern Dallas (13.6 percent)? Or is it the place where you could rent a loft apartment at Southside on Lamar with an up-close view of downtown, enjoy a short commute to work at SBC Corp. at Pinnacle Park, and end the day with fried green tomatoes and pecan-crusted catfish at Hattie's in the Bishop Arts District? In fact, it's both. But it is still much more the former than the latter. The Foundation for Community Empowerment calculated the disparity in poverty levels using 2000 Census figures. More recent citywide census numbers essentially rule out the idea that any improvement has occurred since then in the south: Dallas' overall poverty rate increased from 2000 to 2003.
One of the positive changes since the 1994 presentation by Maryland-based Hammer Siler George Associates is the building of suburban-style business parks in southern Dallas, as the firm recommended. There are eight of these parks today, in varying degrees of occupancy, scattered near or along Dallas' boundaries with its southwestern suburbs. The city spent $16.6 million in bond money for basics such as roads and waterlines to help the parks get going. Each has a 90 percent tax abatement on real property taxes. Bring in some job generators, the thinking went, and more businesses would follow.
"The idea was to get retail in the north Oak Cliff area," said Ryan Evans, the city's assistant city manager for economic development. "We're starting to get smaller service stores. Home Depot's in there as well." Norm Bagwell, Bank One Dallas president and Greater Dallas Chamber chief, said those business parks can be a spark. "The southern sector is uniquely positioned for this," he said. "It's a great transportation hub of the United States. Ninety percent of the U.S. population is within 48 hours with a truck."
City leaders tout the parks as signs of momentum toward a southern sector breakthrough that, this time, won't fade into another decade of pocket-size triumphs that simply mask more decay:
• The City Council's recent decision to ramp up spending on economic development reverses the deep budget and staff cuts made just as the last downturn set in.
• Outside planner John Fregonese of Portland, Ore., is leading the city's efforts to draft its first comprehensive plan. He was hired over the summer.
• City Hall is assembling a land bank of properties that are in arrears on taxes for at least six years. The rationale is to pull together enough parcels for sale to one buyer so that make-a-difference development is possible in troubled neighborhoods, not just on vacant land. Southern Dallas will figure prominently in both the comprehensive plan and the land bank – because the south is where the empty land is, and where most of the tax-delinquent property is, too.
• City and community leaders also see a victory for new thinking and for redevelopment in City Hall's 2002 decision to create five areas called "neighborhood improvement zones." Dallas is spreading $22 million in federal community development block grants to beef up dilapidated infrastructure in western and southern Dallas. The improvements include building blocks such as better streets, sidewalks and curbs. Pooling funds to target just five areas is a turnabout, some say, for politicians used to divvying up the spoils evenly among council districts regardless of need.
Little evaluation
The News' review found evidence of a one-step-forward, two-steps-back pattern across many of Dallas' southern sector initiatives. When corporate strategy firm Booz Allen Hamilton studied city governance earlier this year for The News, it concluded that Dallas officials often lacked critical information about the effectiveness of their own actions. The McKinsey consultants reached a similar judgment specifically about economic development. "No system exists to manage the city's performance in reaching its economic development goals," they wrote.
The consultants didn't mention the South Dallas-Fair Park Trust Fund, but they could have. Created in 1993, it offers loans for small businesses around Fair Park. The first audit of the program was just completed. Ms. Suhm declined to discuss the findings in detail but described them as "bookkeeping issues, keeping up with the loans, did you get all the money you were supposed to get." "We've had any number of initiatives in that part of the city and not much to show for it," said City Council member Lois Finkelman. For all of the positives behind the idea of neighborhood improvement zones, this particular push to put in infrastructure may not yield all that it could. Ms. Miller said dividing the money evenly among five areas was too many. Pick two, she suggested, and the investment would have a bigger, faster effect.
Council sentiment is running in the other direction, some members say. Some want one in each district. Others are upset with restrictions on how the money is spent. A number of best practices common to other cities still aren't in place in Dallas. The Police Department, for example, hasn't been brought into the economic development loop despite southern Dallas' well-known problem with violent crime. "I don't see housing, code, police and planning working together to ensure you have a comprehensive plan," said former council member Diane Ragsdale, who represented part of the southern sector and runs a community development corporation there now.
That's true, city officials acknowledge.
"We had a lot of plans but not a lot of comprehensive planning," said Theresa O'Donnell, Dallas' director of development services. Nor has the city even had enough information to sell the southern sector. "You need to market. You need to be able to tell somebody what kind of money is in that area," said Ms. Suhm. "You need to be able to talk about what kind of housing is there. You need to talk about what kind of opportunities for transportation for the people you're bringing in, the education, the whole nine yards. Have we looked at holistically before? No. Do we need to? Yeah."
Keeping perspective
A couple of big things. Lots of little things. Those are the ingredients for a successful turnaround, private experts say. One little thing is to learn how to celebrate small victories without declaring them a turnaround. Rebuilding neglected inner-city neighborhoods is hard – really hard, as McKinsey observed. The hard part sometimes gets glossed over. Dallas' stated priority of southern sector development wasn't exactly highlighted in the spring, when city staffers briefed the council on economic development. The PowerPoint presentation contained one slide – of a total of 80 – regarding the south.
The Foundation for Community Empowerment also notes that the new subdivisions and new retail are springing up mostly on vacant land along Dallas' border with southern suburbs. There's not nearly as much activity in the more populous, distressed areas closer to downtown. Ms. Suhm said there's an argument to be made for pushing new development first: It's easier to get off the ground. "Then you start with the redevelopment," she said. City leaders understand the importance of keeping the hopeful signs in perspective, she added: "I do think there are a lot of things that in place that roll forward that are really, really good. Is it enough? No."
Another little thing is recognizing what private sector investors are looking for. "You can't force developers to go where they don't want to go," said council member Ed Oakley. Actually, developers say, you can, within certain limits. What do they want? Infrastructure: street signs, filled-in potholes, working streetlights. "So it looks like a nice area people want to live in," said Jeff Dworkin, president of the Dallas operations of KB Home, which is building hundreds of single-family homes, mostly along Dallas' southern periphery.
But some big things need to happen, too.
One, obviously, is finding money. That gets easier, though, if there's a plan to guide how the money's spent. Marty Jones, a developer with Boston-based Corcoran Jennison, which is involved in several redevelopment projects across the country, looks to be sure that a city has a strategy for investing in its targeted neighborhoods. "I care about a one-mile radius," she added. "Parks, bike trails, the retail environment." James Grauley, director of community development for Bank of America in Atlanta, said it comes down to one thing: vision. "If you are a developer or a lender, you need something to tie into that gives you a degree of predictability," he said. "When you show a vision ... you reassure funders and investors. A deal in isolation doesn't work."
That's where a coordinated approach to economic development comes in. It may seem like a bureaucratic nicety to outsiders, but the best-run cities use their plans to decide what to do – and where and how to do it. That's still a work in progress in Dallas. As some city staffers work on the comprehensive land-use plan, seeking input from residents and business owners, the community development department – which administers neighborhood revitalization efforts – isn't in on the discussion. The city also has relied on the Greater Dallas Chamber to recruit business relocations while city staffers focus on retaining companies already here. That creates opportunities, but not always for Dallas.
Take the chamber's recent tour of the southern sector. A crowded busload of business executives motored from the Infomart to Interstate 30 and headed west to see a handful of locations, all close to the freeway or the Dallas-Grand Prairie border. The stops included Pinnacle and Mountain Creek parks. Toward the end, the chamber's representative introduced someone eager to entice new business investment south of the Trinity: the economic development director of DeSoto. No one from Dallas' economic development office was on board.
E-mail ashah@dallasnews.com
Merchant's lament: Crime saps business
Dallas leaders talk big about municipal projects to improve the city's southern sector.
Sonny Otutu thinks small.
"Crime is my biggest challenge," said Mr. Otutu, the owner of four shops along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Thieves have robbed him or tried to rob him – several times in broad daylight – when he was behind the counter.
Once, as a robbery was in progress at his hip-hop fashion boutique, he dialed 911. It was 40 minutes before the police showed up. Day to day, he complains of inadequate lighting outside and the presence of homeless people who sleep and urinate on the sidewalk in front of his stores. Mr. Otutu, 48, has struggled to build a clientele for 12 years. "It's hard to attract customers when you have that," he said. Still, he added, "my customers, they need me; they want me here."
Peggy Anschutz, president of St. Philip's Community Development Corp., which is replacing dilapidated housing stock nearby, wants MLK to regain its status as the neighborhood's grand boulevard, like "Lemmon Avenue or Oak Lawn." But that will happen only if the city addresses basic needs, she added. "Or we're going to be back here in 10 years, and Martin Luther King is going to look the same that it looks now."
Angela Shah
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Interesting point about I-30. I've never thought about Fair Park as being part of Downtown, but if you look at a map, they would be clearly linked if you didn't have I-30 as a physical barrier. Even I-345 (Julius Schepps, the US 75 - I-45 connection) isn't as bad -- it's cleaned up nice.?Routing of freeways and other highways. Between the interstates ? I-35, I-45 and I-30 ? and lesser freeways such as U.S. Highway 175 and State Highway 310, planners chopped some neighborhoods into isolated islands. Another example is the decision to route I-30 between Fair Park and downtown, dividing two of the city's greatest assets.
Look at what Fort Worth did with their stretch of I-30 -- forced TxDOT to relocate it, and now they've opened up downtown to include the formerly isolated Art Deco Post Office and T&P Depot buildings. What if you could do the same thing in Dallas? Here's a very rough concept, which has several highly insurmountable problems with residential and business displacements and environmental concerns. Imagine eliminating not just the obstacle between Downtown and Fair Park, but the Canyon too... unite Downtown with the near South Side!
Just in case this is worth discussing in detail, I'm going to cross-post over in the Transportation category.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Wow, never thought about that. Has the freeways hampered development in CBD and the south?
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
USGuy, I agree that middle class families will only repopulate Dallas when they get the schools they want.
I disagree, however, as to what those schools are.
There's no such thing as a "good school". There are only collections of good students. Or collections of poor ones. Or collections of those in between.
Harvard University is not a better school than, say, UNT. It does not provide an educational technology that is more advanced, it is not good enough to make a genius out of a mediocre student. What it does have is first pick of the most brilliant and likely-to-succeed undergraduates in America.
Apply that distinction to schools of all kinds. Some schools have collections of bright upper-middle class students to work with, others have to make do with the dull and stupid... and there seems to be a correlation between income, social class and proficiency as a student.
So, there's no such thing as a good school... it's futile to think that an increase in quality can take place in the DISD, can be applied to the general population of inner-city students, and will attract the suburbanites. Only with specialized schools like the arts magnet highschool will that happen.
Why? The middle class want to settle where they can place their children in a middle-class school environment, with cultural and social values similar to their own. To get them into Dallas, they need to find a similar population in the DISD, which is not likely, at the moment.
I'd kill to get into a Dallas ISD magnet school.
Ace refuses to believe that there are upper-middle class kids who attend schools in DISD, particularly in East and North Dallas...which of course is not South Dallas. But then the Townview magnet in North Oak Cliff does attract some of this crowd. Until just a few years ago, Sunset and Kimball High Schools in Oak Cliff had these types as well.
I find it very difficult to believe that property owing more than 5 years of taxes has not been seized...
There are upper-middle kids that attend, but you have huge amounts of these people in north Dallas and the DISD demographic doesn't reflect the city at all. Not even close. These are hundreds of thousands of intelligent, highly motivated people who have children that would do well in whatever district they are in. I'd challenge these people to take the 1 year challenge. I dare them.
Lakewooder, do you have any statistics on the income breakdown of DISD families versus Plano or Frisco families? I don't see DISD having a comparable income-social class breakdown as Plano ISD. Do You?
Yes, I refuse to believe that the DISD is demographically similar to Plano ISD. Although there may be a relatively small percentage of the upper and middle class in certain schools or neighborhoods, the DISD is skewed to the bottom of the income distribution. And its policies and practices are geared toward rescuing children with marginal learning ability.
As I've said, the so-called "quality of schools" statement is just a politically-correct pretext for "schools of the right social class". Most middle class people are not willing to put their children in an environment that does not mirror their own social class. And why would you expect them to?
^I do. I expect people to have more social responsibility than they do or at least more common sense and tolerance than they. That's probably asking too much 99% of the time.
Aceplace, not really sure where you're going with your argument. The majority of students going to Harvard have been reared in private schools all their life. That was the case in 1950, and will be the case in 2050. That is because of money available only to the upper class. My comments were not directed to the upper class.....they have always had the option of living in any city or suburb they want, and still getting the best schools for their children, deservedly or not.
My comments were directed to the middle class, who dont have the money for private school tuition, and are just looking for a public school with decent test scores for their children. I believe that if DISD could get their test scores into the top twenty nationally, that would encourage a lot of middle class families to look at Dallas as a home again.
You said above that, "There's no such thing as a "good school". There are only collections of good students. Or collections of poor ones. Or collections of those in between....Some schools have collections of bright upper-middle class students to work with, others have to make do with the dull and stupid... and there seems to be a correlation between income, social class and proficiency as a student." hmmmmmmmmmmm. I'm not buying into this. There are bright and dumb kids all over the econnomic scale. The correlation between income and proficiency as a student is that lower-income students have to deal with dilapidated schools, and over-worked, under-paid and short-staffed teachers. Students are students....it is the tools you give them that can inspire them to excel.
Don't forget, though, that one of the aspects of a private school is that they're not obligated to serve students who disrupt the experience for the rest of the school. I went to a prestigious Tulsa private school, and I remember the boy who was always causing trouble. A classic bully, in 6th grade he lit an unpopular girl's hair on fire just for a laugh. His family lived across from the school, IIRC, in one of Tulsa's most exclusive neighborhoods. But despite the size of his parents' bank accounts, he was given the boot by our Freshman year.
Where did he end up? I don't know, but the default option is that these cases end up in the public school system. And they can't kick 'em out. Just another complicating factor to consider.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Sorry, but there are well published correlations in the United States with income and adolescent school performance. You think it is a coincidence that this happens basically 95%+ of the time? No, its not an accident. In the United States, our supposed meritocracy, the intelligent, the smart are usually going to be rewarded financially. They usually marry intelligent. They become more independently mobile(meaning one can move when and where they choose). Whether intelligence is environmental or inherited, you have created an environment for both. The child has advantages of being around more of society's intelligence and a more nuturing, comfortably environment. Of course some fall through the cracks. These things are no coincidence. It is the way our society has set itself up(socially engineered that way. nothing natural about it.) It is by this environment they have the best in tools. It has been proven that educational tools have nothing to do with this. Computers, graphing calculators etc, are mere supplements to what a child learns. I had very little access to either and turned out fine. Looking back, environment was much more of an obstacle than anything I physically used or even wore.
This is not to say their aren't intelligent poor. There are plenty that didn't grow up in environments that cater to higher education. There are those that had to drop out for the family. There are those who've been laid off, or simply choose to live a much more simple life. Then there are just plain intelligent kids who understand how to navigate their environment. Notice that the later seems to happen much less frequently.
To say short-staffed and underpaid, or over worked is a big myth. Every teacher I've known in DISD has taught in other districts and chose to go to DISD. DISD is one of the highest paying school districts around. Many of the teachers are former professionals.
I think Allen Wilson said it best after a few days at Carter. He was asked how different it was being at Carter than at Tyler John Tyler. His quote was something to the effect that you have kids there that have to deal with going through a "minefield" just to get home or to school. You have kids that have to worry about eating before school even comes to mind. Its a much more difficult thing than I could have foreseen for the kids. I'll search for the exact quote, but it was pretty eye opening that this veteren, multiple state championship winning coach, who came from an IB school thought there might be something to the notion that learning is a difficult thing to simply get to for many children. Of course there are exceptions with any situation, but the majority speaks for itself.
And when you speak of Harvard or Yale, or any Ivy league school, this stuff goes out the window. The world of the super wealthy is something different all together. Doesn't matter what school they go to, if they are going to Harvard, they are going to Harvard. They basically have the advantages of the upper-middle class, with more of a choice to choose the college. The Harvard's of the world aren't all just wealthy either. They are big on getting other people in. Again, exceptions.
If you come from an upper-middle class family, don't take this as a diss. Its not. Its not an indictment. Getting advantages for your children is a great thing. This is more of a telling tale of the many myths we have created because we like to look at ourselves too much. Narcissistic if you ask me. As I've stated many time, DISD would be considered as good as any school district is 80% of the parents in Dallas sent their kids to school in DISD. Facilities would get better overnight. Parent involvement would immediately increase. Obviously this isn't happening. I just hope the new urban pioneers of Dallas will be much more daring and confident.
Just looking at this from afar, I find it puzzling. Its either a dazzling endorsement for a lack of self confidence of the middle and upper middle class or its just self segregation. Which one do you think it is?
Cascia Hall? I went there for my junior year of highschool.
2001 COLLEGE BOUND SENIORS TEST SCORES: SAT
Approximately 1.27 million test-takers, of whom 53.6% are female
Verbal Math Total
Ethnic Group
Amer. Indian or Alaskan Native 481 479 960
Asian,Asian Amer., orPacific Islander 501 566 1067
African American or Black 433 426 859
Mexican or Mexican American 451 458 909
Puerto Rican 457 451 908
Other Hispanic or Latino 460 465 925
White 529 531 1060
Other 503 512 1015
Familiy Income
Less than $10,000/year 421 443 864
$10,000 - $20,000/year 442 456 898
$20,000 - $30,000/year 468 474 942
$30,000 - $40,000/year 487 489 976
$40,000 - $50,000/year 501 503 1004
$50,000 - $60,000/year 509 512 1011
$60,000 - $70,000/year 516 519 1035
$70,000 - $80,000/year 522 527 1049
$80,000 - $100,000/year 534 540 1074
More than $100,000/year 557 569 1126
Gender
Female 502 498 1000
Male 509 533 1042
ALL TEST-TAKERS 506 514 1020
source: College Board, College-Board Seniors Nat'l. Report, 2001
http://www.fairtest.org/univ/2001SAT%20Scores.html
Does that mean rich kids are smarter than poor kids, boys are smarter than girls and whites are smarter than blacks?
You get what you pay for.
Holland Hall, actually. I went there *through* my junior year, when I decided to see what would happen if I turned in all my English papers 10 days late. I was "invited" to repeat my junior year, at full cost of course, but my parents declined the invitation. Which means that next year, I can look forward to the 20-year reunion of the Hominy High School class of '85. Go Bucks!
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
I know you're kidding, but it points out the flaw with all statistics: correlation does not imply causation. Just because two events seem to be correlated does not neccesarily mean there is a cause-and-effect relationship. That will be an important point to keep in mind through this discussion (if it hasn't been pointed out already).
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
It means that accomplishment runs in families. Norah Jones-Ravi Shankar, for example. The father raised in poverty a non-western third world country, the daughter raised in a first-world suburb, with little or no social interaction between father and daughter. And the daughter still inherits the musical genius of the father.
So the economic destiny of the children will be similar to the economic destiny of the parents. Not entirely, of course, But there is a strong likelihood.
School districts like DISD have very little influence on this process... there's not really much they can do to alter a schoolchild's destiny.
BTW, do you really get what you pay for when you spend money on a school like Harvard? No. If Harvard picks you out as being one of the top students in America, it doesn't matter if you actually attend Harvard, or transfer to UNT. Your life will be pretty much the same.
For example, Bill Gates. Harvard decided he was a rising star and admitted him. After a few months as a Harvard freshman, he dropped out and went out to start Microsoft.
And in general, all that a prestigious university does for a student is to identify him as destined to be a winner. They don't add anything he couldn't get anywhere else.
the stats reflect what I've said.
You're right. High family income and high SAT scores are caused by something else.
That something else is not, however, the DISD.
I hope people don't look at such stats and say, damn, those kids are poor, lets get rid of em or get away from them. That is no solution. Part of the solution is environment. If kids aren't worried about things like food and crime, then you've fought a lot of the battle. Our society as a whole has to change before this changes.
Before we identify the solution, we have to identify the problem.
At what economic level does the problem exist? $50,000 per year and below? $40,000? I think middle class people are underprivileged, they should aspire to better themselves to live a decent professional class existence. I wish I could rescue middle-class children from their cycle of squalor. And fast-food malnutrition.
Basic aptitude is not uniformly distributed through a society, but in fact, some are smarter than others. The smarter and more capable you are, the more succesful you are in meeting the expectations of your society, in providing what your society values. And the better you are at meeting your society's expectations, the more money the society returns to you.
Is a dollar spent on a dull student a better social investment than a dollar spent on a genius? Lets assume that available money for education is not infinite, it needs to be rationed. And lets assume that it is spent in order to benefit society, not to entertain an individual. Do you invest a limited educational budget on slow learners or fast learners? On the dull or the bright?
Well, at least in the caste system, you *know* that you'll be cleaning up cow crap for the rest of your life...
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
It's even more unfair than that.
Not only are the smart richer than the dull, they're usually better-looking. And not as obese.
They say that good-looking women tend to marry rich men, and this skews the homely-beauty gene pool distribution in favor of the higher incomes.
Life is not fair.
Great questions. I love this type of discussion. Bottom line, no school district is better than the next because of its name. DISD easily could be a great school district, but that's up to the citizens of Dallas.
In this town, they don't get much better looking that Tom Hicks and Jerry Jones.
Dallas uber alles
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