Friday, March 29, 2024 Mar 29, 2024
71° F Dallas, TX
Advertisement
Publications

PUBLISHER’S PAGE

By |

Last month’s issue including 100 ideas to improve Dallas apparently touched a nerve: compliments, comments, criticisms and suggestions have been raining down on us like an April thunderstorm.



Jim Pratt’s excellent scenario for a redeveloped Fair Park accomplished a great deal, it seems, in awakening citizens to the opportunity our city has to transform a $91 million lemon into a great urban park.



Scores of readers, including State Fair President Bob Cullum, have called or written to thank us for stating the case with an even-handed mixture of blunt criticism and imaginative suggestions. The credit is due solely, I must admit, to Mr. Pratt, whose deep affection for Fair Park led him to bring the matter to our attention. In a series of conversations preceding the actual writing of the article, he converted us to the true faith. Later, when the staff was engaged in researching and developing background for the piece, our faith in Pratt’s vision was sustained: his plans are practicable. Now that the article has been written and published, we’re downright obsessed with the notion. You’ll be reading a lot more about Fair Park in the months ahead: its economics, its problems, its politics and its promise. If our readers will stick with us, we can establish a beachhead on the future: we can make Fair Park into a fair park.



Although the response to our other suggestions was generally glorious, some of the editors’ bright ideas didn’t fare too well. The mayor of Highland Park, we hear, didn’t take too kindly to our suggestion that the City of Dallas blackmail the suburbs into cooperating on such projects as mass transit, widening Mockingbird Lane, and other inter-municipality necessities. We were reminded that the Dallas sewer lines run through Highland Park, and at the slightest hint of provocation, the little town has the power to make a mess of things. On the same subject, one reader wrote that this suggestion “shows a gross dictatorial editorial concept lacking in morals” and cancelled his subscription, proving once again that a sense of humor is quickly becoming America’s scarcest commodity.



On the whole, readers have demonstrated considerable enthusiasm for the projects we recommended. In fact, we’ve been besieged with calls and letters from so many people who are willing to start work that I must inject a note of caution. Thinking of ideas is easy; it’s the implementing that tends to grind you down.



As an example of what you’re up against, I offer the case of Bill Lynch. Bill owns a three-story building downtown at 1710 Jackson. Being a constructive citizen, Bill decided one day several years ago to do his part for downtown beautification by planting some trees on the sidewalk in front of his small building. He called City Hall and was referred to the Park and Recreation Department. The fellow there was excited by the prospect and promised to help in guiding Bill through the maze. When Bill asked what maze he was talking about, the fellow replied that Bill would find out for himself soon enough.



And he did. First, he had to get clearance from the traffic department; they wanted assurance that the trees wouldn’t overhang the street and bother the trucks. Assurances made and clearance in hand, Bill went back to the park department. That’s great, he was told, all you need now is a building permit. It may seem odd to require a building permit to plant some trees, but consider, the city doesn’t want people with jackhammers tearing up the streets for no good reason. So, four months and many phone calls later, Bill Lynch finally began work on planting his three trees, which today stand on Jackson Street as living symbols of what a man can do to improve his city if he really sets his mind on it.



It’s the little things that count. While we’re all doing our part to help on the great projects -the solutions for downtown, Fair Park, the neighborhoods, the schools, the arts -it’s the little additions we can make as individual citizens that will make Dallas a better place. That’s where the fun is, anyway. Remember last month’s quote from Thornton Wilder: “The secret is to build a city, not to rest in one.”

Related Articles

Image
Arts & Entertainment

Here’s Who Is Coming to Dallas This Weekend: March 28-31

It's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Pencil in some live music in between those egg hunts and brunches.
Image
Arts & Entertainment

Arlington Museum of Art Debuts Two Must-See Nature-Inspired Additions

The chill of the Arctic Circle and a futuristic digital archive mark the grand opening of the Arlington Museum of Art’s new location.
By Brett Grega
Image
Arts & Entertainment

An Award-Winning SXSW Short Gave a Dallas Filmmaker an Outlet for Her Grief

Sara Nimeh balances humor and poignancy in a coming-of-age drama inspired by her childhood memories.
By Todd Jorgenson
Advertisement