Kathleen Matsumura

Yes, the city of Farmers Branch needs a lift, but does it need to be destroyed and rebuilt? Perhaps that is not the intent of Councilmember Tim O'Hare, but I got the impression that this was his idea for Redevelopment during the workshop held upstairs in the city hall conference room Monday evening. The mid-year budget talks were televised in the council chambers earlier, but when it came to Redevelopment, as with so much of our city issues these days, conversation was moved off camera upstairs.

I sincerely hope Mr. O'Hare is asking for the extreme in hopes of getting a compromise in the middle ground. I hope the city will not be spending up to a $1 million a year promoting the city to builders, real estate agents and businesses. We are a 60-year old city, and we have infrastructure that needs an estimated $52 million of investment in the next decades. Do we really have the budget to fund a full-time person to lunch with every breathing agent, business rep to promote our city? Do we really need this?

Mr. O'Hare feels we need to pick the brains of CEOs in area businesses, realtors, builders here and elsewhere. He seems to have overlooked the roomful of thoughtful citizens gathered at the recent Community Meeting. Why not convene another Forward Farmers Branch, uniting residents, staff, elected officials, businesses, churches, businesses, community leaders who could look together at who we are as a city and decide what we want to be? Why not revive the Community Watch groups to start the conversation?

Sure. Consult with others as to what we look like from outside our borders and what we should do to improve our image, but don't give the outsiders the last, the only say.

There was talk Monday night of having a parade, putting on an event that would help us draw attention to our community. In the old days, we had the Fourth of July on the West Side. We had a parade down Valley View. We had craft fairs on the Historical Park grounds. It's good to think about doing one or more of these again.

Council candidate Jim Smith suggested we try to entice the Shakespeare Festival to the Historical Park or to the acreage around Brookhaven College. This would be good, and it would not be a drain on our city funds. It would be a way to put our city on the map in the North Texas area.

Council candidate Calla Davis suggested the city use some funding to clean up what we have already in our city. Yes, we need to get the businesses, the shops in the "Four Corners" area at Josey and Valley View to keep their sidewalks washed and their windows attractive. We need to ensure our codes presently on the books are enforced.

Both candidates, when I left the conversation, seemed to want to start small to develop a bigger success over time. Mr. O'Hare seems to want to perform a magic act....presto, chango...old homes gone with the flick of an ordinance or two and big new homes built in their place. He is focused right now on the Branch Crossing area, but I can see the domino effect in our future. Once the teardowns re-start in great numbers in this area, they will occur throughout the city. Yes, the teardown headaches faced by Dallas, Austin, Atlanta neighborhoods could be ours.

How about building out the Courtyards first? How about getting a developer to start building in the DART station area? What about West Side development? Why must everything be torn down? Couldn't we support rehabs as well? Couldn't we encourage residents to take better care of what they have? Unfortunately, Mr. O'Hare sees the big dollars amassing in the city coffers as the big homes will net higher property taxes.

Outreach to the building and real estate community begins now. There will be a meeting with Realtor Gene Bledsoe and his friends. As I understand, some of the city staff will be on hand at the gathering on April 25. I imagine Tim O'Hare will be present as well.

Another thing at the top of the To Do list will be enacting changes in the parking ordinance. It was said that the council on May 1 will be reviewing the ordinance that would include changing the upper limit of five vehicles allowed per household. To accommodate the volume, circular drives were suggested! Why can't we in Farmers Branch be leaders of the 21st Century and develop more trails throughout our city that allow for bike riding, walking, rather than driving? Why can't we connect these trails to the public transit station, again to encourage alternates to our use of vehicles. Why must we increase our impervious surfaces with concrete just to accommodate more cars? More impervious surfaces, more storm water runoff.

We have a Comprehensive Plan. Nothing was mentioned about that this evening. Why not review the document, change it after we decide what our goals for tomorrow may be? For instance, why not look at changing the zoning in the area east of Midway to accommodate high rises with a mixture of condos, businesses and retail. This is beginning across the Tollway from the Galleria here in Farmers Branch. Let's do more of this. Or, at least look at this as an option.

Why not build on the mixed use we have now. For instance, each of the quadrants of the "Four Corners" is adjacent to residences. Why not begin to re-orient the stores, the shopping center as a whole to be accessed more easily by the nearby residences? Mixed use and public transit development are the ways consultants these days recommend that building occur to decrease the over-taxed roads, clean the air and improve quality of life in our communities. This will be done in the DART station area. Why not consider Four Corners for mixed use development too?

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is creating a Vision for the Region. Nothing was mentioned about this tonight while I was present. Why not look at it before going too far with city planning? Why reinvent the wheel?

Where do we taxpayers who live here fit in to this picture? With the system we have now, we have no say in selection of capital improvement projects. Fire Station #3 is a done deal according to all I hear. Now we seem to be left out of the discussion of what our city is and should be. Depending on where you live, you might be on your way out anyway.