Reimagine the surroundings
Re: “Ignite downtown’s next era with 6 strategies — We can bring growth and vibrancy back to Dallas’ historic core,” by Jeff Ellerman, Monday Opinion.
It’s déjà vu time that we suddenly need to save downtown Dallas, and this time it features a David vs. Goliath civic story — those wishing to save Dallas City Hall as an ideal of our civic pride vs. the powerful downtown commercial real estate interests needing to be bailed out.
Ellerman’s piece offers six strategies to light downtown’s fire, but before touching on those strategies he gives us several paragraphs of commercial real estate boosterism like our region’s incredible growth and our business-friendly environment.
We’ve read all this before, but what seems to be missing is questioning what we lose with this rapid growth and when we give the farm, or City Hall, away.
Opinion
Five of his six strategies are in the playbook for making communities better. However, the strategy to “move city government to the heart” is obvious — to prop up empty, outdated downtown office towers and be damned our civic icon.
Instead, fix and keep Dallas City Hall right where it is but reimagine the surrounding city blocks and streets as hubs of activity from downtown’s core to the Cedars and Old City Park. Otherwise, Dallas residents need to vote on selling Dallas City Hall.
Robert Prejean, Dallas/Oak Lawn
A viable vision
Re: “Architects: Rather than abandoning City Hall, how about re-envisioning as a multiuse district?” by Duncan T. Fulton III, Tipton Housewright and Zaida Basora, Jan. 25 Opinion.
Kudos to the authors for this sane, sensible and viable vision of creating a lively city park around our iconic City Hall, rather than kowtowing to developers’ self-serving push for an occasionally used arena on city-owned (and paid for) property.
An active park with a restored City Hall and a nearby arena is a better solution to bring new life to downtown while enhancing the convention center’s appeal to visitors.
Paul E. Schmidt, Dallas/Lakewood
The rush to destroy
I suppose that by the time my grandchildren are my age, it will come to pass that city planners and big thinkers will all agree that the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center has outlived its usefulness, and that along with the rest of the Arts District should be bulldozed and repurposed for a casino or world wrestling venue.
When we think about destroying architecture we find inconvenient, we are holding up a mirror to our lack of regard for our heritage. With this thinking, Dealey Plaza, the West End, the Belo Mansion and the Winspear, among others, are all irrelevant.
The rush to destroy should be met with the rush to preserve. Look at San Antonio. Truly great cities of the world have figured out how to do both things well.
Dallas keeps saying it’s a world-class city, and the best we can do is take our out-of-town visitors to NorthPark Center, Southfork and the Sixth Floor Museum. It’s OK, but we should be able to do better than that. Remember the Alamo.
Ross Vick, Dallas/Oak Cliff
Same old cycle
Re: “Before anything else, we have to believe our downtown can be great,” by Ray Washburne, Jan. 25 Opinion.
Washburne claims the West End would be thriving had we located the American Airlines Center where the House of Blues stands. But that scenario would have required demolishing the 1913 White Swan Building. Does his vision always involve razing historic structures?
The Victory District has finally matured after decades, only to face loss of its anchor. Nor do Washburne’s arguments of property tax stand scrutiny. Venues are usually constructed on tax-exempt public land.
The American Airlines Center hosts fewer than 100 games a year. A basketball-only facility would cut that figure in half. While it could host other events, it would face competition from state-of-the-art venues in Arlington, Fort Worth, McKinney — even the planned Stars venue in Plano.
We have seen this cycle before: Reunion Arena was razed to protect the AAC from competition. Would we soon be razing the AAC to satisfy the Mavericks’ next demand?
If history is a guide, even a new arena won’t be enough. In 30 years, ownership will likely return to the table to request another one, thus leaving yet another dead zone downtown. We should know better than to forfeit our architectural heritage for a fleeting stadium deal.
Ken Duble, Dallas/The Cedars
Let developers try
One of Dallas’ most successful real estate developers and businessmen announced an alternative for reviving downtown Dallas.
The idea of relocating the convention center, moving City Hall and demolishing the I.M. Pei building to make way for a new arena and entertainment district is a good one — and something that should be seriously considered.
The mayor of Dallas, the City Council and all of the preservationists should disqualify themselves from this decision process.
After all, if the estimated cost to repair City Hall is close to $400 million, someone wasn’t doing his job.
Let private developers who know what they are doing — like Ray Washburne — do theirs.
Guy Mercurio, Dallas
Follow the money
I am disturbed by all the talk about the rush to ditch Dallas City Hall. It seems the developers are lining up saying, “Pick me! Pick me!”
I am a lifelong Dallas resident and retired real estate appraiser who wants to retain City Hall for the use by the city, but I am also a realist and recognize needs change with the times and we’ve had other City Hall buildings before this one.
It just seems like we have the cart before the horse. What does the city need? A real assessment takes time, more than a year and maybe three to five years to be thorough. Three months is a mockery. And a real assessment should be the first step.
The city’s track record with the building on Stemmons, Kalita Humphreys Theater, the Meyerson Symphony Hall, the skating rink in South Dallas that didn’t have heat, the lack of maintenance for many city-owned properties, the debacle with Fair Park, the potholes in the streets — all do not inspire confidence.
It smells like a deal has already been made and the city manager is just trying to cover her tracks. Following the money shouldn’t lead to a cesspool.
Ann Piper, Dallas/Lake Highlands
What about public restrooms?
The Dallas Morning News has published several opinion pieces lately regarding the revitalization of downtown Dallas and the steps required to accomplish this objective. Recommendations include keeping City Hall in the city center, renovation of the convention center, keeping the Dallas Mavericks downtown, a transportation loop connecting downtown, the Arts District and Uptown, reimagining older office towers, etc.
One essential element I have not seen included in the various attributes envisioned for a future, walkable destination Dallas is public restrooms. And I don’t mean a handful of port-a-potties.
Dallas, and any suburban city wanting to revitalize its downtown areas as a desired destination, needs permanent, clean, well-lit and safe public restrooms. This means allocation in the initial capital spending and ongoing operating budget for maintenance and security.
It is not fair to place this burden on the retailers and restaurants the writers wish to attract to this area of Dallas. Based on my experience in other large cities, Dallas would be a trendsetter in this regard.
Douglas Peck, Plano
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