You Know What You Want Downtown. But What About What the Stakeholders Want?

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Feb. 25 2010 at 8:28 AM

Categories: News

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One of the maps marked up during MIG's "working group" sessions with downtown stakeholders in January

This afternoon at 2, the council's Economic Development Committee will finally get around to discussing the need for a downtown parking study that will supplement the Downtown Dallas 360 plan due to the council by summer's end. (The committee never got around to it last week, after bogging down on the subject of small business loans in South Dallas.) Which reminds me: Patrick Kennedy has boiled down MIG's 187-page January presentation to downtown stakeholders into this summation posted yesterday.

Long story short: He remains unimpressed: "off-the-shelf urban planning 101 boilerplate," nothing terribly Dallas-specific. Far as Kennedy's concerned, the planners ought to be thinking bigger -- like retrofitting for retail, for starters. Which reminds me: Look into whatever became of "Main Street District FOCUS Retail Initiative."

But perhaps more interesting than MIG's presentation are MIG's notes from its late January meetings with everyone from city and DART officials to residential developers and corporate tenants. That, more than the January presentation, gives you an idea what downtown denizens want and are thinking about. Such as, when it comes to transportation downtown, they want: "a long range streetcar network, representing desire lines for connecting downtown to surrounding neighborhoods within a 3 mile radius." They identified as the top two "Catalytic Sites/Projects" the Statler Hilton and the old Dallas High School/Crozier Tech. And then they said: How about putting athletic courts and skate ramps beneath highway overpasses? And how about jitneys and pedi-cabs? And how about we make biking a "viable commuting option"? And then and then and then.

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All I know is that a ChickFilA will not fill nor buy my million-dollar downtown property and I just can't afford to subsidize free parking downtown because after I sell my downtown property I won't care if anyone comes there, I'll be living in Key West... where we have a parking problem, and members of the Bass Family. Please help me out.
"The Bass Family is the reason parking is free in Sundance Square. Dallas, unfortunately, does not have that same luxury." Actually the City of Fort Worth is the reason there's free parking in Sundance. The city subsidizes the parking in the private garages, including the garages the Bass' own, to the tune of about 2 million a year.
Lakewoodhobo, Ditto about a Chick-fil-A or Whataburger on Main Street. In my mind, they should fill in the tunnel system or make it an underground water feature. Dannyboy, The Bass Family is the reason parking is free in Sundance Square. Dallas, unfortunately, does not have that same luxury.
All these studies, surveys, and magic projects (pedicabs??, skateparks??), yet the city can't seem to realize that free downtown parking evenings and weekends would be a huge start to getting people downtown. Hell, that huge trailer park to the west disguised as a city figured that out years ago.
Remember the Federal Grant for streetcars was designated for Oak Cliff whose plan and route for the streetcars changes from day to day. $25 million shot to hell on a line to nowhere Bishop Art's District and it's twenty five restaurants and bakeries. However,that much money spent in Dallas should provide a few jobs for a couple of years.
Amen to daylighting the tunnel businesses. Put that $1.5M into encouraging a Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's or Whataburger in one of those empty retail spaces at the Merc, and you'll see that street come to life.
They'll get around to those skate ramps,right after they fix all the pot-holes.........?
"They identified as the top two "Catalytic Sites/Projects" the Statler Hilton and the old Dallas High School/Crozier Tech. And then they said: How about putting athletic courts and skate ramps beneath highway overpasses? And how about jitneys and pedi-cabs? And how about we make biking a "viable commuting option"? And then and then and then." Those two proposed catalyst projects are so cost prohibitive, that they're virtually unrealistic until a fabric rises around them, producing higher values which begins to make the renovation of Dallas High and Statler Hilton "pencil." With a minimal City budget we should be focusing on cheaper wins, which is what my post alludes to (perhaps I should have spelled it out better). The rest of downtown stakeholders demands are...well, demand driven. If there isn't enough households downtown, the cost of those businesses (pedi-cabs/jitneys) or amenities doesn't make a lot of sense in the short term, unless we want to subsidize those until the housing comes. Frankly, I think there are other strategies which make more sense as immediate efforts, like daylighting the biz in the tunnels and catalyzing the intensification of surface parking lots as I discuss in the post.
hobo, dontcha know that nothing is ever gonna happen? Every few years, someone's brother-in-law gets a contract to do a study. A few million dollars are shuffled out of the city's piggy bank into the waiting hands of the well connected. Glossy reports and slide shows are presented. The powers that be proclaim this latest plan will be the salvation of Downtown/Oak Cliff/Redbird/Mass Transit/Farmer's Market/ You Name It. Nothing happens. We citiznes get stuck in traffic and forget about white water rafting on the Trinty Trickle and concern ourselves with getting home in one piece. Meanwhile, another well connected family in whispering in some council persons ear about how we should study how triple decking LBJ and charging tolls based on what level you're on will make our traffic problems go away over night. All we need is a $5 million study.
Whatever DID happen to the FOCUS retail initiative? Because the only retailers opening downtown in the last couple of years have been the AT&T store and 7-Eleven. I understand the economic conditions, but at the opening of the T. Boone Pickens YMCA, someone with the city said there was a big retail announcement coming. Someone needs to get on these people before we realize the $1.5 million went to pay for someone's hookers in Las Vegas.