Aldredge House: The Power of Video, Bad Employees, and Big Closets

Update: Precious Jo North, friend and fellow Alliance member, tells me that we made a lot more than $30,000 on the home tour. Co-chair Sandi Ciarochi and the team brought in $112,000, the second highest fund raiser in DCMSA history! (I just don’t have a head for numbers.) The Prescription Texas Luncheon with then-Governor Rick Perry brought in more than $150,000. That’s the kind of power we need to sustain Aldredge House, and I bet we could figure something out…

As you know, I am very torn over the Aldredge House dilemma. We have not been good neighbors RECENTLY on Swiss Avenue. That wasn’t the Alliance’s fault, necessarily. It was a sub-contractor’s fault. Once we became aware of the problem, we rang bells loud and clear. It’s like having a bad employee who does things behind your back, and once you discover what’s going on, there is a whole lot of clean up to do. It makes you think you should just do everything yourself. It’s not your actions, but whatever he or she did reflects poorly on you.

I wanted to say a word about the neighbors recent offers to host a gala fundraiser for Aldredge House — very kind offers. In 2007, I chaired a Home Tour on behalf of the Alliance, for Aldredge House. It was months of work and preparation, and we ended up raising about $30,000. I was proud of my team’s work, but it was time-consuming and EXHAUSTING. And I have a lot of energy. The problem with limiting Aldredge House support to a gala here and there is that it quite simply won’t be enough. It takes a LOT to maintain and preserve a home. We need to make sure we have options to support it in the future. When the economy turns, as it will someday, people won’t be digging into their pockets for a gala ticket to preserve an old house. They will dig deep for cancer research or hungry, homeless children, and there are plenty of wonderful organizations in Dallas that cover these needs.

Then too, Swiss Avenue is a unique street. Don’t buy there if you are expecting a country-like existence. There are home tours, fund-raisers, and religious events happening every week. In most Dallas neighborhoods, you find a tossed beer bottle or two come Sunday. Panties? Perhaps. But most of those contrabands didn’t come from the wedding guests. It’s a pretty rough neighborhood still beyond Swiss. I just can not imagine why the neighbors cannot balance their anger with the positive things the Alliance and Aldredge House do for the community. But then, I’m not living next door when outside noise wakes a baby.

Did SOME of the weddings get out of hand? Perhaps, but the Alliance has taken great strides to fix that. Besides, weddings may be waning: I understand Millennials are not finding them quite so necessary.

In the end, this is a real estate story. What rights do you have in your own home?  Can you run a business in your home? (Lots of those happening on Swiss Avenue.) Cities all over the U.S. are grappling with the Airbnb phenomenon. But with limited funds — we cannot even fix our roads in Dallas — how are municipalities going to enforce all this? And Swiss Avenue is an historic District we want to preserve and protect.  This is a challenge even David Dean encountered a few years back living on Swiss Avenue when he wanted to enlarge his own master closet to 450 square feet:

Dean’s case was an ugly one. In August of that year, the Landmark Commission denied his request for the add-on, which his Swiss Avenue neighbors detested and protested vehemently. (Fact is, the Dean case damned near tore apart the Swiss Avenue Historic District Association, from all accounts.) As Rose reported, the commissioners didn’t think the closet was in keeping with the historic character of the home and the neighborhood–and “worse, they thought, approval of the closet would set a dangerous precedent for the district, where significant alterations to the exteriors of homes are a no-no.”

I am going to the Board of Adjustment hearing today, so I’d best be on my way. But I just wanted to say how sad I am that this has become what it is — a nasty public battle. What hope is there for the world if highly educated, civilized, well-meaning people can not sit down and work out their differences?

I am furious that a vendor got us in this pickle, too. While I’m no longer on the DCMS board, I have a LOT of questions about Culinaire.

See you at the hearing.