A Tale of Two Streets
In the early 1900's, Gaston and Swiss Avenues were the premier residential addresses in Dallas. Stately expensive homes lined each street, all of them a mix of architectural styles, set back from the street on large lots. But in the 1940's, the homes on Gaston started to disappear, falling prey to bulldozers who knocked them down for large apartment complexes. Dallas city government actually advocated apartment builders to invest in Gaston Avenue back then. There was a need for multi-family housing and the city knew it could get more tax revenue out of a big apartment complex than a single family home. Swiss was spared this fate because more influential people lived there and had more pull with the city --- they didn't want to see their street pock marked with apartments. Now Gaston is a hodgepodge of grand old homes and apartments --- some of the complexes are renovated, others are deteriorating hell holes. Swiss Avenue has remained one of the best streets in Dallas --- it's home values increase every year.
So Dallas is considering a "tear down" ordinance. This ordinance is aimed at protecting the integrity of neighborhoods. It would give home owners the satisfaction that the quaint, attractive neighborhood will look much the same for years to come. It would also protect houses from being torn down and replaced by some huge apartment complex or the McMansions --- the large homes of dubious style that are almost always out of place in a 80-year-old neighborhood. In Dallas' classic attitude of let's tear it down and build something new attitude, the Zoning Commission has held up a vote on this ordinance. The reason is because the chair of the commission says she thinks the ordinance might "harm the tax base". This logic dictates that an old house is always going to be worth less than a big shiny new one. To refute that thinking, I'd cordially invite Madam Chairwoman to take a stroll down my street --- Gaston Avenue. Look at our house, it's pretty nice. My wife and I spent a lot of money to restore it. So did our next door neighbors. But are taxes are pretty low. Why? Because there's a lot of shitty apartment complexes across the street from us. Fights break out at the apartments on a regular basis. Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning, several cop cars are always in front of the apartments dealing with the mayhem. And those apartment complexes aren't worth very much tax wise either. That's because nobody wants to live and invest near them. Swiss has none of this ---- no apartments and no new houses. When you buy on Swiss, you're buying security --- it's been this way since 1905, and it'll be this way in 2055. And guess what? The taxes on these houses are massive because the homes are valuable.
So Madam Chairwoman, please pass the ordinance. You're a real estate agent for fuck's sake. I shouldn't even have to explain the impact of neighborhood integrity on home values.
So Dallas is considering a "tear down" ordinance. This ordinance is aimed at protecting the integrity of neighborhoods. It would give home owners the satisfaction that the quaint, attractive neighborhood will look much the same for years to come. It would also protect houses from being torn down and replaced by some huge apartment complex or the McMansions --- the large homes of dubious style that are almost always out of place in a 80-year-old neighborhood. In Dallas' classic attitude of let's tear it down and build something new attitude, the Zoning Commission has held up a vote on this ordinance. The reason is because the chair of the commission says she thinks the ordinance might "harm the tax base". This logic dictates that an old house is always going to be worth less than a big shiny new one. To refute that thinking, I'd cordially invite Madam Chairwoman to take a stroll down my street --- Gaston Avenue. Look at our house, it's pretty nice. My wife and I spent a lot of money to restore it. So did our next door neighbors. But are taxes are pretty low. Why? Because there's a lot of shitty apartment complexes across the street from us. Fights break out at the apartments on a regular basis. Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning, several cop cars are always in front of the apartments dealing with the mayhem. And those apartment complexes aren't worth very much tax wise either. That's because nobody wants to live and invest near them. Swiss has none of this ---- no apartments and no new houses. When you buy on Swiss, you're buying security --- it's been this way since 1905, and it'll be this way in 2055. And guess what? The taxes on these houses are massive because the homes are valuable.
So Madam Chairwoman, please pass the ordinance. You're a real estate agent for fuck's sake. I shouldn't even have to explain the impact of neighborhood integrity on home values.
posted by john clarke at 6:41 AM
3 Comments:
Amen to that!
This is a subject that really hits home for us, if you'll excuse the bad pun. Our block of Palo Pinto Ave is rapidly being taken over by evil real estate baroness Elizabeth Neumann. McMansions dominate the west end of the street. And the front line of destruction is now a mere two doors down from us. Resistance is futile.
When this first started to happen a year or two ago, I thought to myself, maybe I should voice my concern to the block captain. But wait...the block captain is Elizabeth Neumann!! Holy conflict of interest, Batman!
Every week we get letters from realtors chomping at the bit to buy our house. It is obvious that they don't care a whit about the condition, they just want to level it. It matters not that it was built in 1929, and is in excellent shape with a completely remodeled interior. Its just not big enough and fortress-like for the soul-less upper-middle class sons-of-bitches who are flooding into the neighborhood.
We had a pretty bad direct experience with a teardown also. One night we woke up to the sickening sound of tree limbs cracking. When I looked outside, I saw the neighbor's house being carted away on a giant trailer. The movers had misjudged the turn and were in the process of wiping out my beautiful Capitol Pear trees. I was furious! I ran outside to stop them, but they ignored me and continued the devastation. The whole neighborhood came outside to witness the mayhem. All the while the Dallas police were leaning on their patrol cars watching the scene. Damn if I couldn't get them to walk the 20 ft and take a look at the damage, which was considerable. The trees were literally sheared in half.
I spent the next several weeks researching the law (to verify that the trees are on my property...which they are...not City property like the movers claimed) and trying to get some monetary compensation. They agreed to pay for the damage with the treat of going to small claims court, but never actually paid. Bastards...
I am glad this teardown issue has finally been elevated and is getting some attention. But by the time anything is done (if ever) I fear that it will be too little, too late.
-K.
Nice end around, you got K to blog!! victory
I actually understand the other side of this debate. It's that classic frontier mentality of "you can't tell me what to do on my land because I own it." Property rights, fending off the Injuns, that sort of thing. Yes, it's your land, your hard earned money and you should be able to build whatever the hell you want. But there needs to be some controls on that. It's called "City Planning" something Dallas is famously bad at.
You should see some pictures of what Dallas looked like around the turn of the century. Ross Avenue, for example, was absolutely incredible. It was block after block of magnificent archetecture --- the kind of street that people would just drive around and gasp and the grandness of it all. Today, there is exactly one of those homes left --- it's a mansion that's now the Dallas Woman's Auxillery. They are all gone because in Dallas, very few people have the foresight to protect these buildings. Now Ross Avenue is home to used car lots and the occasional Church's Fried Chicken. Not exactly the street the city leaders like to show off.
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