Last night, District 14 Dallas City Council Member David Blewett held a town hall meeting to discuss Streetlights Residential’s proposal for a residential tower at Lemmon and Oak Lawn avenues. You’ve seen it before, so I won’t belabor the point (to catch up, skip the first listed story and you’re there).
In reading those older columns, you know what I think. I’d like more parking underground and I’d like the ass-end facing north Lemmon returned to its original, thinner profile. Kinda done. These sentiments and more were raised during the meeting.
The meeting was less vicious than expected, although the same elements that trail all zoning cases were in attendance. Speaking of attendance, while this meeting was posted on every social media light pole, about 100 attendees crammed into the Methodist Church’s meeting room – not a stellar turnout given the ubiquitous notification and density of the local neighborhood. Near the end, Blewett asked a series of leading questions to gauge the room. Who supported, who was drop-dead opposed and who was on the fence depending on some specific issues being managed. In other words, “who’s there?”, “who can get there?”, and “who’ll never get there?” To cut the suspense, somewhere between a quarter to a third of the room were drop-dead opposed. Again, not a stellar turnout given the level of static this project has engendered.
Another telling metric came when Blewett asked the attendees how far away they lived. As Blewett closed the circle down to areas that might actually feel an impact, representation was sparse. Once the lack of local-locals was noted, attendees piped-up that they crossed the Lemmon and Oak Lawn Avenue intersection regularly. That’s a pretty shaky position. Are commuters’ opinions about development along their route a new bellwether? Construction would cease.
