|
Monday, March 26, 2012 at 12:42 AM
 I am deeply saddened to report that Saturday night, Dr. Julian “Bill” Peterson, District 14’s City Plan Commissioner and dear friend, passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home, after a battle with cancer.
Bill’s death is a great loss for anyone who was privileged to know him. We’ve lost a terrific neighborhood advocate, a tireless community volunteer, and a good, kind man. He is survived by his wife, P. Jay, and children and grandkids.
I visited Bill a couple of weeks ago in his hospital room at Zale Lipshy. At the time, there was a glimmer of hope that the cancer might be slowed again with some aggressive chemotherapy. The prognosis was still dire, though, counting his remaining time in months not weeks. Despite this, Bill wanted to discuss several upcoming District 14 zoning cases and finding a replacement for him on the Plan Commission. I told Bill we didn’t need to worry about that, that he just needed to get better, but he insisted – it’s what he cared about and wanted to take care of even as he lay in a hospital bed tied to an IV.
That was Bill.
I got to know him when we worked together for months preparing for a citywide graffiti clean up in spring 2006. He was a community volunteer who had worked to clean up neighborhoods and coordinate crime watch programs.
What struck me most about Bill was how thorough he was in his preparation for the clean up. He was documenting locations for clean ups across the city, and to say he was organized and thorough is a gross understatement. He had digital photos. He had interactive maps. He had a complex Excel spreadsheet with matching paint colors, property addresses, square footage, property owner names and contact info….you get the picture. As someone who also suffers from anal retentiveness, I was in awe. His hard work helped make that event one of the most successful the city has done.
I later learned that Bill was a biochemistry professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and that he was a very thoughtful, logical thinker. Sometimes people that smart and logical can come across as condescending, but not Bill. He was such a pleasure to work with, always listening and really thinking through others’ points of view, justifying his own positions with reason, and unafraid to change his mind when the evidence persuaded him. And he had a wonderfully dry sense of humor.
His heart was dedicated to making Dallas better. Not long after the graffiti clean up, I appointed him to represent District 14 on the Senior Affairs Commission. He did a great job, and when we had an opening on the Plan Commission, Bill asked to be considered. It’s a coveted, powerful volunteer appointment that is also a big commitment. Since Bill hadn’t really been active on zoning cases up to that point, I needed some persuading. And persuade he did. After meeting with several candidates, it was clear Bill was totally committed to the job and prepared to learn what he didn’t know.
After his appointment, Bill devoured District 14’s many complex planned development district ordinances, as well as our many historic and conservation district requirements. He reached out to the Oak Lawn Committee, a community group that evaluates zoning cases in the Oak Lawn area; his attendance at and contributions to their monthly meetings won him the group’s respect and admiration. He met with city staff regularly to understand the reasoning behind their zoning recommendations. He developed good relationships with the other plan commissioners and worked well with them. When difficult zoning cases arose (as they always do in District 14), Bill brought developers together with neighborhood groups to try to find middle ground. He understood the power of compromise but was also unafraid to tell developers “no” when that was the right thing to do for the surrounding neighborhood.
Bill didn’t do any of this for accolades or pats on the back. He didn’t do it to see his name in the paper or get credit for his work. He just wanted to make Dallas better, and that’s exactly what he did.
When he was appointed to the Plan Commission in 2009, Bill told the Dallas Observer that he wasn’t interested in the spotlight and had no desire to be quoted. “If at the end of my term on the plan commission, people say, ‘Oh, Peterson was a good guy, did his job, did his work and helped make things happen,’ that wouldn’t make me unhappy at all.”
We say all that and much more, Bill. Thank you, for everything. We were so very fortunate to know you. We will miss you, my friend.
| Share links to this article: |  | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 5:05 PM
The city’s investment in a new and revitalized Lower Greenville is paying off in a big way: Today, Trader Joe’s announced it will be building a new store on the old Arcadia Theater site, to be completed by the end of next year.
This announcement is proof that they city’s investment in transforming Lower Greenville is paying off with dividends. The new streetscape improvements look terrific – wider sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, crosswalks, benches, and bike racks (soon to be installed) have completely transformed this stretch of Lower Greenville. These physical changes, in combination with the new late-night permiting process, have created a neighborhood-oriented, pedestrian-friendly environment that is attractive to retailers, like Trader Joe’s.
I remember talking with several retail brokers and restauranteurs a couple of years ago who told me the reasons they wouldn’t relocate to Lower Greenville: the perception of high crime; the fact that it was primarily a regional late-night bar strip; and the run-down appearance of the street. We have changed that. The new late-night permitting process is reducing crime and helping rebalance the day-night business ratio. The street and sidewalk improvements have cleaned up the street and created a welcoming environment for the surrounding neighbors.
But the proof is in the results: Of all the places Trader Joe’s could have moved to in Dallas – the Park Cities, Uptown, Lakewood, Far North Dallas, and elsewhere – they chose to come to Lower Greenville. Without question, this is a direct result of the changes we’ve made, and I have no doubt that without these changes, they would not have come. And this is just the type of business we wanted to attract — a daytime business focused on serving the surrounding community. It’s also a perfect fit for East Dallas.
But there are other, more subtle signs that our investment in Lower Greenville is paying off: Over the last two weeks I’ve seen some things that I’ve never seen on Lower Greenville: A dad with a baby stroller, relaxing on one of the new benches. Girls walking their dogs along the new sidewalks. An elderly couple taking a stroll. These are the types of things you see all the time in the surrounding neighborhood, but never on Lower Greenville. Now, Lower Greenville is once again part of the neighborhood.
It’s a great time to be in East Dallas. Welcome to the neighborhood, Trader Joe’s.
| Share links to this article: | | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 11:28 PM
In June, the Dallas City Council approved a sweeping bike plan update that envisions hundreds of miles of on-street bike lanes that will link neighborhoods with off-street trails, DART light rail, schools, the downtown business district, public parks, and major city venues. Bike ridership has spiked in cities that have invested in bicycle infrastructure, and the hundreds of people who turned out to the dozens of city meetings in anticipation of Dallas’ bike plan were a testament to the pent up demand for such options.
At more than one of these meetings, after the bold vision of new bike lanes, buffered bike paths, and cycle tracks were laid out, an audience member would invariably (and reasonably) ask, “So, all this is great, but how do you propose to pay for it?”
Our consultant team responded: Future bond funds. Grants. And a little something called “routine accommodation.”
“Routine accommodation,” the lead consultant explained at the May 2010 public meeting, would allow much of the bike plan to be implemented as part of our city’s regular street re-paving and re-striping process. By piggy-backing on Dallas’ already-scheduled (and -budgeted) street maintenance, we would see the bike plan implemented quickly at negligible cost, then implement the rest of the plan as future funding allowed.
Fast forward to today, and a different tune is playing at Dallas City Hall. Now we learn that “routine accommodation” ain’t so routine, or cheap. Or accommodating. In fact, it’s going to cost millions if we want to piggy-back onto regular street re-striping. According to city staff, it costs $871 per mile to stripe a typical four lane street. To paint a bike lane on that same street would cost$24,500. Yes, you did read that right.
I’m at a loss to understand why this is being explained months after the city council approved the bike plan. I mean, city staff attended every one of the bike plan meetings. Never once, when the consultants assured the audience that “routine accommodation” would allow us to quickly and cheaply implement the bike plan, never once did city staff jump up and say, “That’s not feasible, Mr. Consultant. By our estimates it’ll cost about 30 times more to put in bike lanes as we restripe, and we don’t have the funding so don’t give anyone false hope.”
Not once did any staff member pull me or my co-chair Sheffie Kadane aside and say, “Look, this ‘routine accommodation’ business is much more costly than is being explained here. We’ll get you the actual figures but the bottom line is, striping new bike lanes costs a lot of money even if we’re already restriping the road.”
Never during the city council approval process earlier this year did staff interject that “routine accommodation” was a farce. Nor did staff shed any light on the matter during this year’s budget process.
It wasn’t until Fort Worth Avenue was about to be restriped without its planned bike lanes — and several of us councilmembers questioned why — that staff explained how incredibly expensive and onerous it is to put in bike lanes as part of regular street maintenance.
Now, I’m being somewhat facetious here because I still don’t buy that bike lanes are quite as expensive as staff is claiming. But putting that aside, what really troubles me is the utter silence from city staff as we went through the motions of approving a robust and exciting bike plan, if they knew that they would ultimately object to “routine accommodation” as impractical.”
When I asked why no one spoke up during the bike plan process, the silence was deafening.
It seems to me, the city loves to plan, plan, and plan some more. It’s implementing we’ve got a problem with.
| Share links to this article: | | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 1:28 PM
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 10:05 AM
 Wow.
If you haven’t read D Magazine‘s most recent article on the Trinity Toll Road, go out and buy the August issue — the one with Dirk on the cover — right now. I’ll wait.
Ok, you’re too lazy (or cheap) for that, I get it. Go the freebie route instead: Head on over to D’s website and check out this bit of amazement: “Let’s Ditch the Trinity River Toll Road: It’s time to get on with a new plan for the park project we were promised.”
You read that right. You were expecting maybe “Let’s Keep Hoping and Wishing for the Trinity Toll Road: It Just Might Happen,” but no, D Magazine threw us all a curve ball. Instead we got four solid reasons to abandon the road and get moving on the park:
1. The Trinity Project’s funding does not depend on the toll road.
2. There’s no money to build it.
3. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is never going to approve it.
4. Highways are bad for cities.
The piece is very well written by new D scribe Michael Mooney. (And no, I don’t just say that because he wrote “Hunt has been right all along when it comes to the toll road.” But that particular line was particularly well written. Kudos, Mike.) The only thing missing was an acknowledgment that The Dallas Observer‘s Jim Schutze has been right about the road since it was first proposed, but that may have been too much to ask for.
I know Jim and Buzz at The Observer are not as enthusiastic about this article as I am — noting that it didn’t come from publisher Wick Allison hisownself and there was no mea maxima culpa – but that didn’t bother me and here’s why: This position represents a profound sea change for D Magazine. D has long been one of the primary cheerleaders for this road and a good barometer for the powers-that-be. If D is confident enough to take this unequivocal stand, that means the support for this road has all but evaporated.
Now, according to D, we should look at modern transportation alternatives and get moving on the park:
Scrapping the road won’t speed up the parks and the lakes. Nor will it delay them. And there’s good news: because the original bond involved so many aspects of development, the money that remains can be redirected to other parts of the project. It can be used to get a fresh, 21st-century take on better transportation options.
History will show that the vote to build this toll road was a mistake. An expensive error, sure, but hardly the city’s worst. Now it’s time to move on.
I couldn’t agree more.
| Share links to this article: | | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Yesterday, the Dallas City Council approved the members of the city’s gas drilling taskforce, which will evaluate the environmental and safety concerns related to urban gas drilling and craft an ordinance to recommend to the Council.
Six months ago, it didn’t look like we were going to get a taskforce. Luckily, after some discussion and persuasion, the Council agreed that a taskforce was necessary. So after debate, we agreed on the composition:
- 3 subject-matter experts;
- 3 environmentalists OR citizens affected by the issue;
- 3 representatives of the industry OR people with experience working in the industry such as oil & gas attorneys;
- 1 chair (former councilmember Lois Finkelman);
- 1 Park Board representative (unfortunately, much of the public land leased for gas drilling is parkland)
The selection committee was chaired by Linda Koop and included councilmembers Neumann, Natinsky, Medrano, Davis, Kadane, Margolin, and me.
Councilmember Koop did a great job ensuring the application and selection process was open and transparent — posting the application online and encouraging the public to apply (as opposed to a closed process where interviewees had to be nominated by councilmembers).
A little over a month ago, we had an open call for applications. After receiving 68 applications, we narrowed down the field to 18 interviews. At the request of then-councilmember-elect Scott Griggs and Councilmember Delia Jasso, we added John McCall, an Oak Cliff resident, to the list of interviewees, making it 19.
After interviewing everyone, each councilmember voted for their nine picks, and that was tallied to get the nine taskforce members. There was a tie for one of the environmental/citizen positions (Louis McBee and John McCall), and at Scott Griggs’ request we selected John McCall.
Finally, the council had to vote to approve the taskforce. The vote was originally scheduled for our last voting meeting of the council term (last week), but at the request of then-councilmember-elect Scott Griggs, we moved the vote to our Inaugural meeting so that he could participate.
Yesterday the Council voted to approve the recommendation of the selection committee.
Councilmember Griggs had proposed adding a person from the Mountain Creek area since it is most affected by this issue due to its place above the Barnett Shale natural gas formation.
I agree with that sentiment, and wish it had been made earlier in the process so they could have been included in our original 9-member selection rather than added as a proposed 10th at the end. Unfortunately, there were not enough votes on the council to add only one person. If we had added another citizen/environmentalist, the majority of the council also wanted to add another industry representative (“for balance”). The selected taskforce is very well-balanced and isn’t too industry-heavy, and if we began deviating from the selection process that the council had agreed on for several months, we risked a pro-industry taskforce.
In the end, I’m very pleased with the members on the taskforce. They are:
SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS
- Former Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher, who now servers as executive director of Texas Business for Clean Air (they fought the region’s coal plants)
- Terry Welch, an attorney who advises cities in drafting strong gas drilling ordinances
- Dr. David Sterling, chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center
BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY REPS
- Professor Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University
- David Biegler, chairman and CEO of Southcross Energy Group
- Pat Shaw, an oil and gas attorney who has represented both landowners and gas drillers in crafting gas leases
ENVIRONMENTALISTS/CITIZENS
- Cherelle Blazer, a Yale-educated scientist and director of the environmental group You Can’t Live in the Woods
- John McCall, an Oak Cliff attorney and past president of the Oak Cliff Conservation League
- Ramon Alvarez, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund
| Share links to this article: | | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 12:35 AM
The following op-ed originally appeared in the June 10, 2011 edition of The Dallas Morning News.
 In 1998, Dallas voters embraced a bold, visionary plan to transform the Trinity River floodway into a vibrant urban park. But 13 years later, a torturous federal approval process combined with a significant funding gap have conspired to stop the project in its tracks. Add to that the recent revelations that local and federal officials were less than forthcoming about the Trinity toll road’s viability during the 2007 referendum, and it’s not an overstatement to say the public has lost faith in the Trinity River project.
We can reclaim this project and win back the public’s trust, but only if we’re willing to change the way we do things at Dallas City Hall. The grander, long-term vision for the Trinity park is incredible, but it’s still years away. We must give the public a Trinity park they can enjoy today, and we must do it as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. That means no high-paid consultants; no elaborate, full-scale models and enticing watercolor pictures; and — most importantly — no multiyear timelines. MORE….
| Share links to this article: | | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
Today at 1pm Dallas time, the federal government is conducting a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System in cooperation with local authorities. The three-minute test will run simultaneously on all radio and TV stations. You will also hear the outdoor emergency sirens.
