Jennifer Gates

Nelson Out: Reverchon Park’s Future In Community’s Fundraising Hands

By Jon Anderson / October 1, 2020 / 4 Comments

After months of deadlines missed, at noon Wednesday, the Parks Department ceased negotiations with Donnie Nelson’s Reverchon Park Sports and Entertainment LLC. “Negotiation” isn’t the correct word as it conjures two sides working on a deal – a stage this deal never seemed to arrive at. City attorneys are saying the next steps for the […]

Jennifer Gates And Staff Handle Floods, Power Outages, and Tornados With Aplomb

By Jon Anderson / December 31, 2019 / 1 Comment

Some city council districts so rarely make the news, I wonder what their representatives get up to all day. Some, like Oak Lawn’s District 14 are top-heavy with an unending train of development-related decisions and brouhahas. But my old District 13 has had more than its share. It’s flooded, lost electricity for days, been gassed […]

PD-15 Update: Preston Place Back On Market While Provident Signs Royal Orleans

By Jon Anderson / December 19, 2019 / 5 Comments

It seems the years-long process for changing PD-15 didn’t end at City Hall, as expected. And the residents of Preston Place won’t have a buy-out check under the Christmas tree, at least not from Provident. Preston Place, which burned down to the parking lot garage, is the main reason the whole painful PD process occurred. […]

Pink Wall Neighborhood Association Stacks Deck with CARDS

By Jon Anderson / November 5, 2019 / 2 Comments

Members of CARD (Citizens Advocating Responsible Development), the group that was against changes to PD-15, has taken over the Preston Hollow South Neighborhood Association. The stacked deck appears to be an attempt to gain leverage with a city government that’s moved on. At the end of the City Council vote on PD-15 redevelopment, University Park […]

PD-15: Revisiting My Plans and Predictions in The Aftermath

By Jon Anderson / September 18, 2019 / 0 Comments

“And that’s my fear. A city that is more lenient than the neighborhood, resulting in even more being built. Many think of the towers as being an aberration in the neighborhood. They’re not — they’re a harbinger.” I wrote those words in December 2017 after having resigned from the first PD-15 task force. The quote […]

Dallas City Council Ends 30-Month PD-15 Saga With 240-Foot Height

By Jon Anderson / September 12, 2019 / 15 Comments

Dallas City Council unanimously passed city staff’s plan for PD-15, which compromised on height, topping out at 240 feet. Some small changes were made to the plan. The general wisdom is that any city council vote requiring a supermajority due to opposition will be a nail-biter. And while certainly many a nail was chewed to […]