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Darryl Baker
Betty Culbreath
Rad Field
Rafael Rodriguez
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08/14/08 Your property
rights end where Angela's friends decide.
Since last year, I've been writing about what Plan
Commissioner Neil Emmons and former Councilwoman Veletta Lill did to
Woodard Paint & Body on Ross Avenue. Some of the articles:
Princess Velveeta
strikes from her political grave to put a 61 year old company
out of business.
Why is City Hall
doing Woodard Paint & Body wrong?
Will the Loser kill
another Dallas business?
| All this time, I thought Councilwoman Angela Hunt was the good guy in this
situation and would give the Woodard Family what they needed when their case got
to council. Silly me. |
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8/14 Bob Hosea:
When is the next opportunity to vote these fools out of
office?
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I did not support Angela Hunt in her first council race. She was way too into
conservation districts for my liking. Once she was elected, more often
than not, I liked the way she voted. I did not like the fact that she took
such a vocal support position for Ray Hunt's $6.3 million tax abatement when
then Mayor Laura Miller was making a power point presentation to show how much
Hunt
had already taken from taxpayer coffers.
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When Angela decided to get in front of the anti-Trinity Toll road warriors, I was
ready to be a soldier. She did a great job speaking to the issues.
Unfortunately, the other side had lots more bucks to spend on their message, and
the entire council on their side.
Not the only reason we lost. |
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8/15 Stan
Aten:
The same idea (cleaning up the neighborhood) is also taking
place along Ft. Worth Ave. I would guess that Davis Ave. in Oak
Cliff is next. It will put a lot of small Hispanic businesses out
of business. Some are legal and some are not,
but all will suffer.
The obvious question to ask
is where will people get their cars fixed?
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When everyone was so devastated on election night, I wasn't. We were
trying to stop a toll road from being built inside the Trinity River floodway.
That's not going to happen. Our campaign effectively killed that toll road by
exposing people to what really is planned and the costs involved. At the
watch party, I told the gloomers we only lost a battle, but we will win the war.
They were not convinced. Made me wonder then if they had only wanted to
win the election for the glory. Another
situation where I gave Councilwoman Hunt the benefit of the doubt.
Time
will tell whether she was just using that campaign to raise her political
stature. After what I heard from her during the August 13th discussions
regarding Woodard Paint & Body, my first opposition to her seems to be valid.
I'm sorry about that.
You can't call what happened during the August 13th council meeting a public hearing on the
Woodard request for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to continue operating their
business on Ross Ave. on their own land. There was no hearing.
There was some testimony, some questions, a few comments, but the deal was done
before the Mayor even convened the meeting.
Woodard
Paint & Body
Shop has
operated in
Dallas from
the days
when
automobiles
were just
starting to
fill the
city's
streets.
The
Dallas City
Council
decided
Wednesday,
however,
that the
time has
come to
close the
Ross Avenue
business
that's been
owned and
operated by
the Woodard
family since
1920.
In a
unanimous
vote that
belied deep
reservations
among
several
council
members,
the council
denied
Woodard a
special-use
permit that
would have
allowed the
shop to
remain open
through
2012.
"We are
trying to
change and
transform
this area,"
said council
member
Angela Hunt,
who made a
motion to
deny the
permit.
Approving
the permit
even for a
business as
reputable as
the Woodards'
would open
the flood
gates to
other auto
shops on
Ross, Ms.
Hunt said.
In 2005,
the City
Council
approved a
plan for
Ross Avenue
aimed at
changing it
from a
series of
body shops
and
warehouses
to a street
lined with
restaurants
and
multifamily
complexes.
...
Because
it failed to
win a
special-use
permit
Wednesday,
the shop
will have to
close in
2010, city
officials
said.
Bill
Woodard, a
member of
the family
that owns
the shop,
pleaded with
the council
to consider
his family's
history in
Dallas and
the
business's
reputation
around town.
...
"Ross Avenue
east of
Central
[Expressway]
is on the
way to
becoming a
gateway to
the new arts
district,"
said Sharon
Smith of the
Bryan Place
Association.
...
Several
council
members
seemed
hesitant to
follow Ms.
Hunt's
motion to
deny the
permit.
Council
member
Sheffie
Kadane was
particularly
concerned
about the
city turning
out a
longtime
business.
"These
folks are
pioneers in
our city.
They are the
folks who
started our
city. I
think we
need to give
them the
opportunity
to see this
area
develop," he
said.
Council
member
Steve
Salazar
wondered if
the city
wasn't
exercising a
sort of de
facto
eminent
domain
through its
actions.
...
Ultimately,
the council
followed its
tradition of
deferring to
the wishes
of the
member whose
district the
business
sits in.
In this
case, that
was Ms.
Hunt.
...
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Councilwoman Hunt said an SUP
for Woodard would "open the flood gates to other auto shops on Ross". That
is a flat out lie. She knew it when she said it. In the first place,
when they were "legal", there were only a handful of car repair places on Ross.
There were several seedy looking used car lots, but comparing the other car
repair places and the car lots to Woodard is like comparing ripe bananas to
oranges. They are both fruit and you get them both at the grocery, but
they are not the same.
The Woodard Family have maintained a beautiful business for 88 years, and in
their current Ross Ave. location for 30 years, long before the Bryan Place
dimwits were in the area -- because Woodard sold the land from their original
location to Dave Fox to finish Bryan Place. As they say,
no good deed
goes unpunished.
Several ingrates from Bryan Place spoke against Woodard Paint & Body, mentioning
their city board or commission positions - before saying they only spoke for
themselves. Here are some of their comments and rationale for closing
Woodard Paint & Body:
Wayne Smith, who said he wasn't speaking as a Park Board member but made sure
they knew he was a big shot, compared closing this long-time Dallas business to
the Board of Adjustment closing a crack house or a hot sheet motel.
Jeff Somebody said this was just about an "appropriate use of land, not closing
a business". Tell that to the 80 or so Woodard employees, most of whom are
minorities, who will be out of a job thanks to Czarina Angela Hunt.
One guy mentioned that Allen Woodard (the founder's grandson and current
operator of Woodard) lives in Garland. Does that mean we don't recognize
the property rights of non-Dallas residents? He also claimed on the back
side of the property there were high weeds and peeling paint and rotten wood.
Bull!
Adele Sullivan, who says she's an 8-year resident of Bryan Place, wants to be
able to walk safely to the Arts District. She wants a "safe and clean Ross
Avenue", just like it is in front of the Woodard property.
Ms. Smith wants fancy condos on Ross Ave. instead of businesses.
Bill Koch wants Ross Ave. to be pedestrian friendly.
Melanie Wester (lives in Bryan Place since 1997) called Ross Ave. the East
Dallas gateway to the Arts District. You know the area where average
people in Dallas can't afford to go, but get to subsidize with their taxes?
Wm. Brown identified himself as a developer who has big plans for Ross Ave. that
are being held up by Woodard Paint & Body, except there's already lots of vacant
land on Ross Ave. that no one is developing.
No one has approached Woodard offering to buy their land for re-development as
residential or anything else. We are going to lose jobs, a valuable
service and sales taxes on a million dollar operation so Woodard's land can sit
as a vacant lot and the likes of Wm. Brown can buy it cheap.
One Bryan Place dimwit claimed she's a long-time customer of Woodard, but she
said it's time for them to go. Being a mental giant and car repair
business expert, she said Woodard's customers would follow them to wherever they
relocated. That's just not true. People get their cars repaired
where it's most convenient, then they factor in quality. If you can drop
your car off near your work, that's what you consider first. There's also
the issue of available land in safe areas for Woodard to start over.
Certainly, there is no cheap land in East Dallas or near Downtown to duplicate
what Woodard has on Ross Ave.
Bill Woodard, the son of the shop's founder, has been in the business for 55
years of the company's 88 years of operation. He testified Woodard's
serves the needs of area and Downtown residents and workers. He said
Woodard is the only AAA rated repair shop anywhere near Downtown, and is
frequently mentioned by Frick & Frack on their PBS program.
Allen Woodard, Bill's son and the current operator, also spoke. He didn't
testify to what he should have told the council about how he was lied to by
Princess Velveeta and the lying Neil Emmons back before the Bryan Place PD was
approved in 2005. They promised him Woodard would be protected under the
PD, that it was just to rid the area of the used car lots and some seedy car
repair places. With that assurance, Woodard (not being a City Hall
insider) trusted them and kept quiet during the PD process. Afterwards,
when he tried to contact them for something in writing to protect his business
and his employees, they would not return his calls. He finally decided he
needed the assistance of a zoning consultant, who recommended he apply for an
SUP so he could continue doing what the family had done for 88 years.
A businessman should not have to spend all his time protecting himself from City
Hall and politically connected dimwits who covet his property.
The floral shop across Ross from Woodard has delivery trucks where they can be
viewed from the street behind razor wire topped fences. The Bryan
Place dimwits aren't threatened by the image of razor wire?
Victoria Johnson, a long-time Woodard employee, called it a crime to take their
service away from their customers. She referred to Woodard as an "oasis on
Ross", and it is. One Bryan Place dimwit claimed to be a small business
owner who had moved her company. Woodard is not a small business. It
is a million dollar operation where all the car repair work is done inside a
large building.
When the council started speaking, Czarina Hunt went first. She had the
audacity to thank the Woodard family for investing in East Dallas and being a
good business. "Thanks, but I'm shutting you down -- because I can and
this council won't stop me."
She compared Woodard to two used car lots that were shut down by the Board of
Adjustment this week. She talked about precedents and that of the 30 or so
run down and seedy businesses on Ross, only Woodard had asked to stay and be
treated differently. Well, yes!
Woodard Paint & Body is very different from other auto-related businesses on
Ross. It's different from almost all car repair places anywhere in Dallas.
Very few are AAA rated. Very few are family owned and operated for 3
generations.
Councilman Sheffie Kadane said all the right things about letting Woodard stay
until the non-existent development actually started happening on Ross, that we
were thanking Woodard for their investment but saying "we don't want you
anymore". He said all the right things, but courageously voted with
Czarina Hunt to shut them down.
Steve Salazar asked some great questions:
Any developer looking at Woodard's property? No!
He asked what could go there when Woodard leaves under the current zoning?
One allowed use, a bar! Just what East Dallas needs - another bar.
Councilman Salazar correctly said this was effectively an eminent domain action
to close down a business and lower the value of their property. He also
courageously voted with Czarina Hunt to shut Woodard down.
Councilwoman Linda Koop asked more good questions, one of which was the number
of the other 34 auto-related businesses being forced to leave where the operator
owned their own land. Never heard that answer, but it would only be one --
Woodard. Those guys Czarina Hunt criticized for asking to be treated
differently from the tenant operators and fly by night used car lots.
Councilwoman Koop also courageously voted with Czarina Hunt to close down
Woodard.
The most offensive council member was Elba Garcia who called land use "a
footprint to the future". Because she was not a part of our history, she
is very dismissive about Dallas' history and past. She's not even a Texan,
much less a Dallas native. That's why it's so easy for her to kill off an
88-year old Dallas business and rename Ross Avenue for a union organizer from
California.
This was a very bad day for Dallas. We can look back August 13, 2008 as
the day when property rights became non-existent in Dallas. Arlington
showed us what city councils can do when some rich guy wants your land.
This is different. Nobody wants the Woodard land. This is about
taking one family's land and business for a land use study that may or may not
result in change.
Planning Director O'Donnell compared Ross Ave. to Lemmon Ave. in Oak Lawn, and
how it has improved over the years since the Oak Lawn PD (from the 80's).
Is it all that improved? It has more trees, and that's good. It has
more restaurants that come and go. There are still car dealerships.
There are fewer affordable places to shop. There's lots of vehicular
traffic and very little pedestrian traffic on Lemmon Ave., which is what the
Bryan Place dimwits claim they want for Ross Ave.
Got news for Bryan Place dimwits and Czarina Hunt. Criminals hang out near
fancy condos and coffee shops, too. Ask the Uptown/Oak Lawn residents who
shell out big bucks to live in their fancy digs how safe they are on the streets
or even in their residences. Criminals go where the money appears to be,
where there is a concentration of potential victims. One Bryan Place
dimwit claims she walks to the Meyerson now, wearing her tennis shoes.
Good for her! Hope she isn't carrying a lot of cash or wearing jewelry she
wants to keep.
The Woodard Family wanted to keep their business.
This is not about building some damn sports arena for an Arkansas freak.
It's about closing down an 88-year old business to see if a land use study can
materialize into more apartments and coffee shops. Right now when there is
a glut on the market from over-development and shady loan deals, Czarina Hunt is
closing down a million dollar sales tax producing business to make way for more
condos that will force out many current East Dallas residents. Right now
when Starbucks is closing stores all over town and on Greenville Ave., we are
shutting down a needed, AAA-approved service so Bryan Place dimwits can walk to
another coffee shop.
It's a simple thing for me -- Dallas property owners have no rights with ward
politics at City Hall under the likes of Czarina Hunt! Not for average
people.
If you are a billionaire, you have property rights and politicians will take
other people's property so you can have it for less than it's value to the true
owners.
For a regular business owner who is not part of a council person's inner
political circle, your land and business are at risk in this city. No one
will stand up for you.
Without going into the partisan aspects of this land theft being perpetuated by
Czarina Hunt, it would not be happening to a rich Democrat. It would not
be happening to one of Czarina Hunt's supporters.
I don't know how the Woodard Family votes. They run a great business.
They pay their employees well. They take care of their customers.
They have always been big supporters of East Dallas in general and the Ross Ave.
area in particular.
To all of that Czarina Hunt says, "Thanks, but get the hell out of East Dallas".
sb
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