A Barking Dog Wants to Take a Big Ol' Bite Out of That Lower Greenville Avenue Ordinance

• @ J. Erik Jonsson Your comment - Avi's never lifted a finger to improve the neighborhood, and he spends a truly pathetic amount of time impeding the work of actual neighborhood activists. has been floating in my ears since it was first posted. Let me point your attention to a concept which you might even abhor - Resident Parking Only. No, I did not write the legislation so long ago (1998?) but I sure know how to use it. As of today, there are 27 RPO zones in Dallas, listed here - www.residentparkingonly.com. Of that 27, 12 are within the BelmontNA boundaries from Belmont/Greenville/Ross/Skillman Avenues. Most were secured in 2007 and 2008. I did more than lift a finger to get RPO into MY neighborhood. I helped bring the first RPO zones here in 1999 and 2000. Then, after the Arcadia Theatre fire, I was able to get - and sell - the marquee sign for nearly $10,000, which went to the BelmontNA RPO fund. I then walked all the streets in MY neighborhood to get the residents to sign the petitions needed to start the survey process. The association paid out nearly $8,000 to cover petition fees, sign expenses and buy the first round of RPO passes for residents who signed the petitions. There are two more streets - 5600 McCommas and 5500 Alta - which while not in MY neighborhood needed RPO, so I found some local businesses who agreed to pay the RPO fees for those streets. There are at least three more RPO zones in other areas - such as the one near the SprayPark north of Mockingbird Lane - which asked me to help get their RPO process started. There are two more RPO petitions in process that I have helped guide. Now, I have no idea if you live in MY neighborhood or not. If you do, then it's obvious you were not among the 66% of your neighbors who wanted RPO and signed the petitions. If you don't live here, then it's likely you are upset at the loss of free parking in our neighborhod while you go to whatever bar / restaurant you desire and are forced to pay $10 for parking on a Madison or Andres owned property. I have done my share of finger lifting and pointing to cover me for a while. I don't care what you think about these efforts, and trust me, most of my informed neighbors don't care what you think either. I know that it's a small thing to ask, but since you and your uninformed cohorts insist that I have my facts straight, it would only seem fair that you check yours first.

• "Avi's never lifted a finger to improve the neighborhood" sounds like an accurate description of any activist

• Because reporting on LGNA and LGWNA meetings is about as fun as staring at a sack of rocks.

• I am going to try to answer (and settle) some of the issues raised not only here but in other story comments. 1 - This line was added to the site before I read this blog posting - As of Thursday morning 12/31/2010, nearly 250 protests to this proposal have been submitted to members of the Dallas City Council using this website by Dallas residents. [All submissions are checked before being forwarded to the Dallas City Council.] The count will be updated every day. We are using the website and the paper petitions to start the database, and from each entry a letter goes out to each Council Member. We think once the problems and lack of transparency in the proposal (eg - How can Angela Hunt promise bond money from the 2012 bond, when the bond has not yet been written and Mary Suhm, per our own high placed sources, says the bond will be meat and potatoes (public safety and Trinity River repairs), then the other council members will not support this proposal. We are not letting all emails just fly to City Hall. We screen each one to make sure Donald Duck is not signing it, then send an e-stack out late at night to avoid blowing up email servers. I have copies of all the signed petitions and sent them to City Council as proof of the validity of the petitions submitted. 2 - The protest is being organized by an informal group of residential property owners (like me), commercial property owners, and businesses. The only fees are for printing the paper petitions that have been out at places like Good Records since this crazy idea was first proposed. We DO want to see changes and improvements, but we don't think Hunt's proposal is the right way to do it. Putting long-term historic places like Winedale or Big Wong into the PD, and imposing large fees on them to get a permit, when they are not even part of the problem, is like hitting a table with a 50 pound mallet just to kill five flies. The City has the tools to shut down a bad business - even before it opens - by requiring confirmed Certificate of Occupancies, audits, and more. Ms. Hunt has the power, as a City Council member, to take those businesses in locations that already have variances, eg Eight Lounge (which just closed) and ask the Board of Adjustment to revoke the variance after presenting evidence in her favor. Instead of targeting these locations, she went for the big picture press conference and lots of media coverage route to screw the whole area. For the businesses that don't have variances, there's always Code Compliance. 3 - If I made as much money from the Lower Greenville businesses as everyone thinks I did, I would not be living down here anymore. I have designed/printed some biz cards for good and bad bars, and just redesigned/printed the menu for a restaurant (but I won't take on his website work). I do admit - proudly - that I work for the Greenville Avenue Restaurant Association, which organizes the Taste of Greenville Avenue and other events. When someone says they have a problem with that, it's usually someone like Bruce Richardson who thinks this area (south of Belmont) should be tumbleweeds only - no bars, no restaurants, no nothing. He will get his wish in a year there will be no only two or three viable (read: still open) restaurants south of Belmont. TOGA has been invited to look at two very large spaces north of Mockingbird Lane (> 100,000 sf) for next year's event. We will consider these locations, and the number of businesses still active after the PD takes effect, before we make a final decision. 4 - Much has been made of the support of local neighborhood associations to the proposal. Lower Greenville NA is working to support it since closing restaurants in the PD at midnight increases the business for their favored locations up north (that give them food and money for St Patrick's Day activities), while Lower Greenville West NA (Bruce Richardson) wants the tumbleweeds. I originally supported the concept of permits nearly a year ago when Ms Hunt presented it to GARA members, but only after Ms. Hunt finished the sentence with 'required for all businesses that are located south of Belmont Avenue' did I realize how bad it was. Remember that her original draft included all non-SUP'd businesses to shut off their exterior signage after midnight - she may be a good attorney, but she is not a good zoning attorney. Looking over the paper petitions, I see that 75% of the signatures are in the neighborhood - which means all the NAs including mine (but I abstained on the BelmontNA vote due to the TOGA connection) missed what their own residents think - It's a bad idea. Our goal is to have a large number (have no idea how large) of signatures in the system by the day the proposal comes up for a vote. Maybe we can put the proposal to a quick and 9-6 vote of death by then. I can only hope.

• The amount of attention that the Observer gives to Avi Adelman is just bewildering. I've seen him called a "neighborhood activist" in these pages. Avi's never lifted a finger to improve the neighborhood, and he spends a truly pathetic amount of time impeding the work of actual neighborhood activists. I've seen him called a watchdog, but we've learned that he only adds to the violence on Lowest Greenville. Now, for some reason, the Observer amplifies his ranting on the PD issue. First, let's quickly examine his claims. The PD didn't shut down Deep Ellum, the DPD did, and it happened before the PD. Property values in LGNA, VPNA, and LGWNA aren't dependent in the slightest on commercial activity on Lowest Greenville, but the shootings probably aren't helping us. But the bigger question here is why would this publication give this blather the time of day. If Lower Greenville Avenue Business Association issued a press release with these statements, would it make Unfair Park? Well, this is the same thing. Avi's income is derived from bars on Greenville. He's a mouthpiece, but for reasons unexplained, he gets free media. The Observer is such a valuable resource, and I couldn't be more thankful that it covers stories that DMN ignores or distorts. That's why it's so hard to see it damage its credibility on neighborhood and Greenville issues by associating with Avi.

• I've simply become confused now as to which side everybody is on, including Mr. Adelman, who I assumed would be for the plan. And he's not? Mr. Marc Andres was against it -- but now is? (And what exactly *is* this plan?) At this point, maybe the easiest solution would be for the "good" bars (ie.g. Libertine, Billiard Bar, and a few others) to start looking into the feasibility of re-locating to Ellum. Then after the area remains an economic dead zone for several years (thus, bringing down the residential property values), they'll tear down all the buildings and line the streets with fast food joints.

• Im confused, I thought the place was already an economic dead zone bc of all the thugs and slum bars, at least thats what some neighborhood people said? Oh thats right, people were spending money down there, just not the people mr barking dog wanted

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