Joel Kotkin Jason Roberts is an effective urban advocate because he works in images: ‘I like cities that look and feel like this, and Dallas doesn’t. Why?’ It’s that “why,” like a four-year old pestering his or her parents to explain the world, that is so effective and annoying to the bureaucratic status quo. Today on Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, Roberts cracks open the Dallas Development Code and finds that many of the street pleasures enjoyed in other cities are either forbidden in Dallas, like fruit stands, or levied with huge fees ($1,000 per awning, canopy, café table, or flower stand). Why?
This is all a lead-up, of course, to Roberts’ urban performance piece this coming weekend, “The Better Block Project,” in which a stretch of Tyler Street will be transformed into the kind of place we would like our city to look like, this time asking, “if only. . .”
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Tip of the hat goes to fellow BFOC’er Scott Griggs for penning that post.
I know this makes me sound old, but I remember in the early 80’s, when Dallas had little in the way of outdoor dining, especially in the front of a restaurant. The city hall hoops one had to jump through were absurd. I sat with the owners of the Grape one night, listening to the horror stories.
Instead of promoting the concept and writing guidelines designed to make it work, the city seemed intent on throwing up as many roadblocks as possible. They were like Republicans, the party of “No!”….even though many other cities at that time were already basking in sun and moon-kissed diners.
It’s all mindset, and the historic loneliness of too much of downtown is the upshot.
My compliments to Jason, Scott and BFOC.
We are currently addressing other code barriers in our neighborhood – no sidewalk chalk art (considered graffiti in the code), pedicabs (the concept of multiple location pick-up/drop-off sites is new) and hot food trucks (trucks like the Green House Truck currently operating in the Park Cities are currently not allowed downtown according to the Development Code).
I truly appreciate the willingness of city staff and elected officials to work with us -but how did we get there in the first place? Why did we create ordinance after ordinance that impedes those things that enrich the urban fabric.
Forget hotels or tollroads, cleaning up our code would do more to increase business and quality of life in Dallas.
But how did we get here in the first place? Good intentions. See window signs and businesses.
it’s like the when the people from Porta Di Roma at Main & Ervay complained about Vinny’s hot dog cart being outside using the scare tactic of “the homeless,” which was a lie. The City should’ve told VDR “tough luck,” but the code allowed that to happen the way it did.
Vinny is now a block down the street with no problems. I made a decision to never eat at Porta Di Roma again. In addition to the code, restaurants downtown also need to keep an open mind for the betterment of downtown and our city.
My guess, people considered them trashy. Dallas wasn’t the only city to throw-up similiar roadblocks. But we’ve been a little slow in realizing our mistakes.