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NO ONE SHOULD PROTEST IN FRONT OF MAYOR’S HOME (Monday, December 15, 2008) I saw on Dallas Morning News’ City Hall Blog that some folks who want to see Jenny the Elephant moved to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee plan to stage a protest in front of Mayor Leppert’s home in the coming days. I may not see eye-to-eye with Mayor Leppert on every issue, but this kind of invasion of privacy crosses the line. It reveals a lack common courtesy and is an embarrassment to those of us who advocated for Jenny’s move to Tennessee. I heard from Margaret Morin, founder of Concerned Citizens for Jenny, a group that has been reasonable and thoughtful about this issue. She tells me her group has nothing to do with this and thinks the people planning this protest should abandon their plan. I agree. It’s one thing to air disagreements with city officials at City Hall or other public forums. It’s quite another to confront an elected official at their home. There are plenty of productive ways to communicate one’s concerns without resorting to this kind of invasive tactic. Elected officials and their families should not be accosted and harrassed at their home. I hope whoever is planning this "event" thinks the better of it. Surely they can find a better outlet for their concerns than this misguided stunt. COUNCIL BROADCAST FEED IS BACK ON (Wednesday, December 10, 2008) I asked staff to please turn the feed back on. One person, even the Mayor, can’t unilaterally make a decision to cut the feed, especially after so many of us expressed our displeasure with his decision last week. Especially when we are going to discuss this as a council in January. The feed’s back on. ANOTHER REASON WE CAN’T MUZZLE SPEAKERS AT COUNCIL MTGS. (Wednesday, December 10, 2008) We’re finishing up our "afternoon" speakers at 7:30 p.m., and our first two speakers were smart, articulate, and had legitimate problems they wanted the City Council to know about, and hopefully, resolve. But I was just told that their concerns were not aired publicly, and the TV broadcast was cut off when our speakers began. I am not happy. SMOKING BAN STRENGTHENED (Wednesday, December 10, 2008) On a 10-5 vote, the Council just approved an expanded smoking ban, prohibiting smoking in bars, billiard halls indoor workplaces, and within 15 feet of their main entrances. We exempted tobacco shops (which get more than 90% of their revenue from tobacco sales) and currently operating cigar bars (bars that get 15% of their revenue from tobacco sales). Violators will face a $200 fine, and the ordinance goes into effect April 10, 2009. I voted in favor of expanding the ordinance (see my reasoning in a previous blog on this issue). Also voting in favor: Mayor Tom Leppert, Councilmembers Elba Garcia, Dwaine Caraway, Pauline Medrano, Dave Neumann, Carolyn Davis, Jerry Allen, Linda Koop, and Ron Natinsky. Against: Councilmembers Vonciel Jones Hill, Steve Salazar, Tennell Atkins, Sheffie Kadane, and Mitchell Rasansky. FORM-BASED ZONING VOTE DELAYED (Wednesday, December 10, 2008) Today, the Council voted to delay consideration of the proposed form-based zoning ordinance. We will be briefed on the issue at the Council Housing Committee meeting on January 29. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, take a look at this great editorial by former Councilmember Sandy Greyson that explains form-based zoning and its impact on our community. Then come back.) I support the neighborhood-developer compromise, rather than what some are calling the staff-Natinsky plan. The neighborhood-developer compromise resulted from two years of work of a diverse, city-appointed taskforce working in concert with a city-employed consultant. The City Plan Commission unanimously approved this version of the ordinance. The difference between the neighborhood-developer compromise and the staff-Natinsky plan is the extent of neighborhood protections. Representatives from the development and realtor community, as well as neighborhood advocates from across the city, are advocating for the inclusion of six specific neighborhood protections. The three most important protections are: (1) Including a statement of intent (not a requirement) that form-based zoning districts be part of a larger area plan that is at least 25-40 acres in size. I’ve been reading a lot about how these types of zoning districts are used across the country, and no city does it lot-by-lot because that is antithetical to the primary purpose of FB districts (creating dense, self-contained, walkable mixed-use communities that reduce car usage). More troubling, lot-by-lot FB zoning districts create scattered density, which is much worse than no density at all. There’s good density and bad density. Shoving a bunch of people into a small area, as lot-by-lot FB zoning would do, isn’t by itself good density. It doesn’t reduce or mitigate the additional traffic burden that that density places on a city’s infrastructure. Good, well-planned density requires a large area to provide all the convenient, neighborhood services that folks can walk to, reducing their dependence on cars. Doing lot-by-lot form-based zoning would also overburden neighborhoods: due to the parking reductions allowed in these FB districts, overflow parking would be pushed into our neighborhoods. (2) Preserving residential proximity slope. All other "straight" zoning districts require a residential proximity slope (Multi-Family, Commercial Retail, etc.). When single-family homes are adjacent to a dense zoning district, current zoning prohibits a tall building from being built right beside a home; instead, the building’s height must be stair-stepped back based on its proximity to the home. This provides some breathing room for homes and preserves their light. We don’t need to move to "height maps" that must be negotiated with the developer and provides no certainty to a neighborhood. (3) Create a 1/2 block residential transition zone. This would provide a buffer zone between neighborhoods and dense, FB districts. A similar buffer was created in the State Thomas Historic District in Uptown, and that buffer has worked well. I’ve seen the conflict that can come up when a dense district abuts single-family homes, and the transition zones will help mitigate this tension. Home | Blog | District 14 | City Council | Photos | Biography | Contact
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