Preserved

With Dallas City government, the chances for incredible idiocy are always high. Take last night when my neighborhood association went before the City Planning Commission for a critical vote on our historic district proposal. What we wanted was a very loose set of guidelines to protect all of the homes in our neighborhood --- a really cool collection of turn of the century craftsman bungalows, two story prairies and tudor homes. The proposal was not the overbearing kind that makes people go before a board of snobs before you can plant pansies in the front yard. However, it would prevent people from painting their houses flourescent orange, ripping off the front porches and most importantly, keeping developers from bulldozing houses and putting up McMansions.

We worked for nearly 5 years to get to this point. There had been over 20 public meetings about the proposal. After a petition drive, 70 percent of the people in the neighborhood supported the proposal.

So it's the big day before the commission. We presented the members with all of the fundamental reasons for why historic districts are a good idea; they stablize neighborhoods, property values and tax revenues for the city increase, and other historic districts in other parts of Dallas had unanimously changed neighborhoods for the better all over the city.

Then we get questions from the commissioners like the following:

"Well what about the 30 percent of the people in the neighborhood who voted against this? That's a pretty large percentage?"

The code requires we get a majority of signatures from within the neighborhood to pass this. I'm not good at math, but I think 70 percent is a majority --- a really big one. But he's right. We really need to get a 100 percent majority. Aren't most presidents elected by that margin? Americans usually agree on everything after all.

"What about the rising property values? There are poor people who live in the district. Aren't they going to get priced out of the neighborhood?"

Well, you have a point there. We thrive on diversity where I live. But it would seem to me if you're poor, you're no different than any other American --- a house is the biggest investment you have. If all of the sudden your home is worth $150,000 more than it was a year ago, that's a little less than tragic. Sell the house and you're no longer poor. But commissioner, you've really got us there. It's probably in everyone's best interest to protect blight.

"I'm really concerned about the process here. Process, process, process. This proposal seems a little rushed."

Yeah, five years in discussions, 20 meetings, a lengthy petition process and a second balloting process is really jamming this thing through --- a smoke-filled backroom deal if I've ever seen one. But you're right commissioner. Maybe we ought to keep working on this for another five years. By then, as suburbanites who keep moving closer to downtown Dallas bringing their monster sized houses with them to replace the homes we moved here for, we'll no longer even need a historic district. There won't be anything left to protect.

Luckily, I didn't get a chance to speak during this meeting. I sat quietly on the front row, sticking my fist in my mouth for much of the meeting.

The vote? 12-2 in favor of our proposal. I almost had a Fred Sanford "This is the big one Elizabeth!" heart attack.