Why Does the City Have it Out for Lee Harvey’s?

Late Friday night, I dropped by Lee Harvey’s for a quick drink. It’s on my short list of favorite local watering holes, but I hadn’t been there for a while; it’s been like the playoffs lately, and I’ve been going with a tight rotation. I’d heard they’d had some problems with noise complaints, which mostly turned out to be the doing of an Avi Adelman protégé who should have known what he was getting into. A lot of smoke, not much fire.

But I didn’t know what else has been going on over there. Apparently, the city has zoned the bar out of its use of two nearby grass parking lots. So when I pulled up, the street parking situation gave the impression of a red-carpet opening rather than a pretty run-of-the-mill Friday night. (I parked in a spot so far away, I was almost offended I wasn’t mugged.) Plus, the bar’s fire pits, which always made a winter evening nice enough to spend outside, have been similarly pinched.

Listen, Lee Harvey’s is the only worthwhile thing in that neighborhood. It has almost single-handedly made the run-down neighborhood that it’s in halfway decent. So, city of Dallas, you are on notice: get off its back. Or I might actually learn something about petition drives and run for office again. Don’t make me do that to my wife.