Casie Pierce
                             

05/29/03 Mayor Miller and Councilman Oakley team up for Community!

A couple of weeks ago, Lord Palmer failed to force another District 14 neighborhood to bend to her will.  Part of her failure was because she was dealing with some wealthy and determined people who could afford to and were willing to fight to protect their property rights.  The tag team effort of Mayor Miller and Councilman Ed Oakley on this particular zoning case was an equal part in Palmer's flameout on the Greenway Parks Conservation District.

Miller and Oakley were impressive and effective!

In the previous DallasArena.com report on the 5/17 council "hearing" on this case, Ward Politics, there should have been more history on the rocky relationship between Ed Oakley and Lord Palmer, Neil Emmons and Veletta Lill.  We will get to that later.  DMN's Laura Griffin does not quote Lord Palmer in her piece cited below.  Griffin also fails to quote the two persons most responsible for getting the Greenway Parks Conservation District done -- Councilman Ed Oakley and Mayor Miller.

Greenway Parks gets conservation status; Compromise calls for a floor area ratio of 55 percent or less 05/29/2003 By LAURA GRIFFIN / The Dallas Morning News

The Dallas City Council on Wednesday turned the 75-year-old Greenway Parks neighborhood into a conservation district, but only after neighbors bitterly divided on the issue agreed on a last-minute compromise. . . .  Ms. Lill brought the two sides together again when it was clear two weeks ago that the animosity that had been building over the issue threatened to divide the neighborhood for a long time. . . . At the heart of the controversy is a restriction that limits house size based on lot size ? the so-called the Floor Area Ratio. . . .  "It took a lot of hard work to get to this point," said Carole Hogg, who worked on the proposal and the compromise. "It's a little more lenient than we would have liked". . . .  The neighbors who fought the conservation district said they thought the process was flawed, that they never received the impact study they were promised and that the original restrictions violated property rights. . . .   58 percent of homeowners voted in favor of a conservation district and 42 percent against it.  . . .  with the compromise, most of the opponents, if not happy, were satisfied that some of their concerns had been addressed. . . .   But there are still a few residents in the neighborhood who don't buy it.     "People acquiesced because they figured half a loaf is better than none," said Nikki Garza, who says she's going to keep fighting it. "I was appalled by what they came up with." . . .  Neil Emmons, who represents the district on the Dallas Plan Commission, had proposed an even more restrictive ordinance when he voted on the issue.  . . .   he said. "I am so glad these people came together in the end for the protection of their neighborhood. Now they can start healing."

Neither Neil Emmons or Veletta Lill brought the two sides together.  

Laura Miller and Ed Oakley got the proponents to meet the opponents half way and convinced the opponents to accept "half a loaf".  Lill intended to ram this CD right down the community's throat because on most days WARD POLITICS trumps property rights and fair play at the Horse Show.  At least, that's the way it was under the reign of That Former Mayor.

Aren't you glad Laura Miller is our Mayor?

Neil Emmons talking about a community healing is the ultimate in hypocrisy.  His tenure as president of the Oak Lawn Committee was the most contentious period in the organization's history.  He pulled one particular trick that was so unethical he lost all credibility.  Emmons allied himself with the control freaks and found himself presiding over a group of people who did not like or respect him.  As a reward for selling out Oak Lawn during redistricting, Councilwoman Lill put him on the Plan Commission.  She knew Emmons would always do as she and Lord Palmer instructed.

Besides getting to spend more time with my cats and dogs and getting caught up at work and my front yard looking more tended, another good thing about Steve Salazar winning District 6 is not having to make nice anymore when crappy stuff happens at City Hall.  A reporter friend did not want me to run in the first place, but something happened toward the end of the campaign that may lead to a conclusion that will justify all the hard work.  Anyway, now I can just write and vent.

This Emmons-Palmer-Lill alliance is worrisome.  There is no hearing as required by state law when the council representative tells the plan commissioner what to do even before both sides are allowed to make their case.  Nikki Garza is absolutely right to keep fighting against what was done to her neighborhood without due process.

No one ever does a conservation district with 42% opposition!  CD's are tough enough to make work when the neighborhood is united.  When almost half the homeowners are adamantly opposed, it is almost certain to fail.  

When so many in Greenway Parks went South on the CD, Lill and Emmons should have dropped it.  

Emmons-Palmer-Lill and former PZ Chairman Hector Garcia did a number on Oak Lawn with the last amendments to the Oak Lawn Planned Development District (PDD 193).  So, this trio must have thought they were unstoppable; particularly after they blocked Wal-Mart last year.  Then there's the dissection of Oak Lawn that Emmons-Palmer-Lill supported during redistricting.

Their Machiavellian schemes during redistricting and Palmer's highhanded treatment of Ed Oakley over a decade ago played as big a part in today's outcome as anything else.   

After his huge win over Mark Housewright in the District 3 race, Councilman Oakley said people always underestimate him.  He and I became friends when we ran against each other in 1993.  I and others worked hard in his campaign to represent District 6, but he worked harder.  I honestly thought Housewright would win District 3 race because Kessler Park and Stevens Park residents vote so heavy.  It seemed like an uphill climb for Ed, but we did underestimate him -- big time.

As council representative for District 2 (which became current District 14), Lord Palmer forced a compromise on Oak Lawn regarding Cedar Springs gay bars and nightclubs.  I was not happy with the compromise because it would have permitted some clubs to open in a building fronting on Oak Lawn and backing into my neighborhood (between Oak Lawn and Turtle Creek), but we made a deal.  Ed Oakley and others related to the bars worried that as soon as they accepted the compromise amendments to PDD 193 that Lord Palmer and Cay Kolb, et al would come right back and try to put more restrictions on them, which is exactly what Palmer and Kolb and their minions tried.

Ed Oakley is like a snapping turtle.  Leave him alone, and he won't bother you.  Ed went back to his big house in Oak Cliff and built a political base.  Former Councilwoman Barbara Caraway put him on the Plan Commission.  During that time, Neil Emmons was disrespectful to Oakley who continued to attend Oak Lawn Committee meetings.

Against all odds, Ed ran for council from a predominantly African-American district and won -- only to have Redistricting Commission appointees of John Loza and Veletta Lill do a number on him.  Mad Max Aaronson and Joe Thug May not only drew his home out of District 6 into District 3, but drew his warehouse property into District 2.  When Ed went to Lill for help, she was particularly short and hurtful.

Ed Oakley was not supposed to win his District 3 race.  All of us underestimated him.  I liked the way Housewright voted more often than Ed's votes pleased me, but my personal affection for Ed and Housewright's endorsement of Joe Thug May really made the District 3 race a toss-up for me.

Ed Oakley has nothing to prove, and isn't going to let Lill push him around anymore.  Lill's opponent (a relative unknown) was out of town much of the campaign to be with his mother who was undergoing chemo, but he got 29.74% of the vote (2,426).  Both of Ed's elections were real battles.  

Ed felt an empathy with those Greenway Parks homeowners who were being abused and bullied by Emmons-Palmer-Lill.  He saw a way to do something good and settle some old scores at the same time.  Ed came out of his shell snapping.

Emmons and Lill are wearing their respective "happy face" and making "happy talk", but they both know that Laura Miller and Ed Oakley just kicked their respective rears. 

It was Mayor Miller expressing concern about the community division over the CD that encouraged opposition homeowners and opened the door for Ed Oakley and other council members to talk with them directly to seek a compromise.  Lill was not interested in compromise.  She wanted control.

Looking back over District 14 zoning cases, Lill's track record has not been stellar.  She could not save St. Ann's or Crozier Tech.  David Dean has his closet on his Swiss Avenue house.  

Veletta Lill did not bring "the two sides together" in the Greenway Parks Conservation District fight.  It was Laura Miller and Ed Oakley who gave the community a chance to compromise.

This was a risky move on the Mayor's part.  It was the right thing to do!

This was a daring move on Ed Oakley's part, but the guy has already shown he can tilt at windmills and win the battle.  When I charge those windmills, I can't even stay on my horse.

I am proud of my two friends for ignoring the new order at City Hall which is to defer to the council representative in all zoning cases -- WARD POLITICS.  

Mayor Miller and Councilman Oakley may have saved the city another couple of million in legal fees because there was ample evidence before Wednesday's council meeting that the fix was in on the Greenway Parks CD and the opposing homeowners were being denied their property rights without due process.

Hopefully, Roxan Staff wins this weekend in the District 9 runoff.  She will never be intimidated by Ward Politics and will truly consider zoning cases on the merits, not the dictums or whims of council representatives.

Good Guys carried the day at City Hall on May 28, 2003.  

Lord knows when (or if) it will ever happen again.