It's time to get mad about Lower Greenville's future

After last Thursday's defeat of the CityVille rezoning proposal, things got kinda hot on the email and phone lines around Lower Greenville

It wasn't the vote itself - because to be honest, it was not unexpected - but it was the virulent lying and misstatements made by the residents on the west side of Lower Greenville.

It's time to get mad about Lower Greenville's future, and that means you!

BD will stop using the term LGWNA to describe this group of neighbors. The original LGWNA was founded by Bill Dickerson, and many of the current residents in this faux group were part of that group.

But after Bill came out in support of the original CityVille proposal in 2002, they kicked him out and created their own phony association, with the help of Mad Maxine of course. LGNA and this group are tied at the ----.

They are not a neighborhood association. They are neighborhood thugs.

This group has maybe 10 members, does not publicize meetings to their Hispanic neighbors (which make up most of the neighborhood they claim to represent), and are a bunch of professional hypocrites. Your correspondent spent many a Crimewatch night on their side of Greenville, when they were afraid to come outside and deal with the troublemakers. He now so regrets saving their collective butts from the whizzers, drunks and parking.

This group of thugs was not happy to find their lies blogged in real-time on the Internet. BD can already see a letter coming from City Hall, telling him he can't use the free wi-fi signal anymore (if they even allow him in the building, something that has been done before).

Just hours after the vote, the thugs were demanding the head of their own Plan Commission representative for having the unmitigated chutzpah to propose a denial without prejudice so that another proposal could be submitted (it was approved 11-0).

A denial with prejudice would have meant CityVille would be stuck with an empty storefront for nearly two years before they could apply for another zoning change.

This was not a fight just about CityVille. Look up the street and you will see three acres of land where the Arcadia Theatre once stood. According to a story in the Dallas Morning News -.

 Early plans call for a three- or four-story complex. Sixty residential units and about 18,000 square feet for retail shops would surround a parking garage [Cityville has 15,000 sf retail and 180 apartment units - BD].

"It's the thing to do these days – create a place where people can live and shop and eat," said Bill Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Dallas commercial real estate firm Dunhill Partners. "This is a good direction for Greenville Avenue to go."

Look across the street at Whole Foods. What's going to happen when they move to the old Minyard's location next year? Do you really think another supermarket will move in to take its place???

The fight was not about CityVille, it was about all of these developments and how we can finally see progressive uses of the area for really cool urban activities like pedestrian walkways, family-centric restaurants, cafes, furniture stores, and even - god help us - a bookstore???

It was about whether we want to see Lower Greenville move forward or stay stuck in the 1990's, complete with scumbars and drunks.

We can be sure that there will be no liquor sales at these locations - no one objects to that kind of zoning restriction. But if we continue to allow restrictions on the hours a business can operate (in the case of CityVille, staying open only to 4pm), then we are going nowhere fast.

The opposing residents told anyone who would listen they would accept a third-rate trashy restaurant or even a first-class tattoo parlor in the CityVille location before they would accept something like John's Cafe, Bakers Brothers Deli (which signed a letter of intent) or even an ice-cream parlor (which they rejected last year).

BD does not have any tattoos and has no idea how much they cost, but he sincerely doubts a tattoo service would be able to afford this lease. Nor would CityVille want to lease to that kind of tenant.

The fight was between people whose vision of Lower Greenville includes tumbleweeds and empty storefronts, versus people who want a decent place to live and raise their families and shop.

All their talk about traffic and density was just much smoke and mirrors, and they know it.

They have no logical reason to stop development and change, especially when a fire guts a million-dollar building, and they know it. We just wish they knew the deep secret reasons they oppose development projects like CityVille.

Do you really think Arcadia's owners will sit back on a muddy field for years while these thugs tell them what they can and cannot do with their land?

Consider these recent accomplishments on the eastern side:

For nearly 8 years, we have been fighting the scumbars and so-called restaurants that are just bars serving popcorn. We finally got the City to start auditing these businesses (the audits have not yet been reviewed).

We finally got the City to start looking at the screwy parking spaces situation; no real results yet.

We have been fighting - successfully - the noise coming off the rooftop patios every weekend during the summer. It's gonna be a little bit quieter this summer.

We finally have real restaurants like (recently opened) Libertine Bar, Gezellig, and K-Tokyo Sushi, old-timers like Daddy Jack's, Simply Fondue, Sevan's and Nandina's; and soon, John's Cafe will be back. If we don't get more family-oriented restaurants to replace the scumbars, the good guys will pack up and move out.

And what about the thugs on the other side of the street? They hide in their bedrooms every weekend, could care less about the drunks and noise, and only come out to fight when someone wants to improve the area. Even their website has not been updated in nine months.

They won't do interviews on local news stations to explain their positions. They are afraid of being recognized by neighbors who don't know why they claim to be speaking for them.

BD may not have met a camera he did not like, but he is absolutely not afraid to be recognized on the street so people can talk to (and yes, argue) with him about the issues.

And that is what makes a neighborhood - lively, active public debate of the issues! These thugs treat you like emaciated mushrooms, keeping you in the dark and not even bothering to feed you any "information".

An Oram Street resident sent us this letter over the weekend, which absolutely nailed how many of us feel. She writes -

I'm just a simple girl trying to live in the cool world of Lower Greenville and sitting here hopeless, wondering if others like me in the future will have the same opportunity.

Who in the world constitutes the other side of Greenville that is so staunchly against having like a juice bar, an ice cream parlor or maybe a hot dog stand within walking distance of their homes in CityVille? I just cannot fathom how these people are thinking and that they prefer CityVille to remain dark and empty.

There's a great idea to ward off an increase in crime/vandalism - leave pefectly fine space dark and empty?!?!

I'm just renting while in an engagement with my male friend who has a home in Lakewood, so perhaps I am lazy. But I am interested in taking names and stirring up the pot a bit here - it's ludicrous.

I don't care all that much for big new building with bland architecture, but we got what got built in CityVille so why not garner some tenants and make the space useful.

Feel free to blast me back some links, some past discussion, etc. I've had it with these boneheads on "the other side of Greenville."

Now what?? That's easy. It's time to get organized at the most basic levels. You know the thugs and their friends in LGNA are doing it, so we need to be ready too.

And we are not talking just about development issues. We are talking about crime, noise, traffic, resident only parking, and more! During the recent CityVille debate, nearly 50 BNA-area neighbors sent letters to the City in support of CityVille. We made sure almost every property owner within the 200 foot circle of influence surveyed by the City signed their card YES for CityVille. None of this made it to the hearing due to the lack of a real debate, but they still count for next time.

And we need to be ready for the next time.

If you live within the boundaries of the Belmont Neighborhood Association (check map), then you need to join the association. Belmont NA is using the Arcadia Theatre marquee funds to pay the $2 membership dues of the first 100 new members to join starting this month.

BNA is building a network of neighbors using the Internet to support not just development issues - the ones that meet our goals - but crimewatch, Resident Only Parking initiatives (which they will also pay for) and lots more stuff.

If you live within the boundaries of the Belmont Neighborhood Association, then fill out this membership form and fax / mail it in (link here).

If you live on the west side of Lower Greenville between Belmont and Ross, McMillan and Greenville, send BD your contact information (use the BD Feedback page). We will contact you when a new CityVille proposal has been presented and make sure the developers and City Hall hear from you without any thug filtering.

If you are a member of LGNA and do not agree with their support of neighborhood thugs, then you need to tell LGNA's Board of Directors. Find one of those ugly yellow flyers in the recycling bin and call every single one of them. Tell LGNA to withdraw their support of neighborhood thugs or, come election time, they might find themselves sitting in the back of the meeting room.

If you can't find the LGNA flyer, click here to send an email to the association's president, Kathryn Willison. Be polite, but be firm!

If you live within LGNA's boundaries but are not a member, then send your information to BD using the Feedback page, and we will make sure your voice is heard at the next hearing.

By the way, does anyone really know how many people are paid LGNA members??? You would think the largest (geographically) association in town would be bragging about this number. Instead, they treat it like it's some kind of state secret. Inquiring minds want to know!

The next round of debate belongs to the residents who care about the future of Lower Greenville, not the thugs and their cohorts.