October 2022 issue of Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate

Turn Over A New Leaf

The change of seasons can bring about a desire for a change of scenery, too. If cooler weather turns your thoughts to football-watching parties, outdoor living and nights by the fire, but your home isn’t conducive to those things, consider this: the inventory of homes available has improved and interest rates, while a bit higher, are still at historic lows. Speak with one of our experts to determine if a move this fall makes sense for you.

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Contributors: George Mason, Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Sam Gillespie, Lucy Erspamer, Matthew Ruffner, Eric Folkerth, Betsy Swetenburg

Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Emil Lippe, Corrie Aune, Yuvie Styles, Shelby Tauber, Azul Sordo, Johnathan Johnson, Sylvia Elzafon

Chief Revenue Officer: Rick Wamre 214.560.4212 / rwamre@advocatemag.com Advocate (c) 2022 is published monthly in print and daily online by Advocate Media - Dallas Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Dallas and first published in 1991. Contents of this print magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements and sponsorships printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject ay editorial, advertising or sponsorship material in print or online. Opinions set forth in Advocate publications are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the Publisher’s viewpoint. More than 180,000 people read Advocate publications in print each month; Advocate online publications receive more than 4 million pageviews monthly. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate print and online publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one print copy per reader. For information about supporting our non-profit mission of providing local news to neighborhood readers, please call 214-560-4212 or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

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Flags and a fence outside a home on Prospect Avenue.

Photography by Jessica Turner.

DIVORCE IS COMPLICATED

No Matter Where You Live

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Derek has a tough, aggressive and compassionate style that community residents have found reassuring during the most stressful time of their lives. Derek Bragg is here to help simplify the divorce process and make a difference to his community, one case at a time. Contact Derek Bragg today.

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taste in fashion

Story by ALYSSA HIGH Photography by JESSICA TURNER TURNING COFFEE-SHOP MERCH

INTO OUTFITS THAT WORK

dolled-up is out, and effortless effort is in. The biggest celebrities from Pete Davidson to Jake Gyllenhaal are rocking “delicore,” or merch from local delis, coffee shops and bodegas. While we might not be New York City or Los Angeles celebs, Lake Highlands is full of worthy delicore finds.

la la land kind cafe

might be delicore elite. The coffee shop’s trendy drinks aren’t all they’re known for. From trucker hats encouraging kindness to butterfly-laden sweatpants to tote bags in La La Land’s iconic yellow color, one could build a whole wardrobe around their merch.

TRIM: 4.5"w x 7"h n/a COLOR: CMYK

It’s not just a house. a Bella Vista home. house is a big financial investment, so don’t get stuck with the best of what’s available. Give us a call and let us help you build the home of your dreams. Bella Vista BELA-22-001

PUB: Advocate Lakewood/ Lake Highlands CONTACT: Catherine Pate cpate@advocatemag.com 214-560-4201 9/9/22 October PM

white rock coffee

is a local coffee staple with plenty of trendy merchandise.

From athletic shirts to sweaters to hats, White Rock Coffee has branded outfits with logos full of Texan pride. If you’re looking to get into the coffee game at home, the shop also sells beans, grinders and filters to get you started.

Next time you pop into White Rock Coffee for a drink, rep their graphic tee with Texan pride.

houndstooth coffee

on Henderson Avenue is hard to miss, with its green exterior and woodsy elements akin to its North Dallas location. Their mugs don trademark houndstooth and fedora logos and the state of Texas, and so does their merch, which ranges from water bottles and mugs to shirts and hats.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

By SAM GILLESPIE

SHORELINE SHORED UP

Mixed-use development gets thumbs up from City Plan Commission

The developer of the Standard Shoreline, the mixed-use project proposed for the Shoreline church site at Garland Road and Centerville, received unanimous approval from the Plan Commission.

The development plan calls for 282 multifamily units in four stories wrapped around a parking garage. There will be 18 townhomes, 3,000 square feet of creative office space and an art park fronting Garland Road.

Nine months after Ojala’s initial planned development submittal to the City of Dallas, all Plan Commission members present supported District 9 Commissioner

1 22

Michael Jung’s motion to approve at the Sept. 15 meeting. Four members of the Ojala team and 14 others spoke in favor of Standard Shoreline, most of them in one way or another citing a lack of affordable housing in Dallas as the compelling reason to approve the project. Speakers supporting the project included Mike Nurre of Greater Casa View Alliance, D’Andrala Alexander, founder of More Neighbors Dallas, and Leslie Whitmore, owner of a Montessori preschool on Garland Road.

Fifteen speakers opposed the project. After nine months of meetings and social media, there were no surprises. No speakers objected to the affordable-housing

component, although a few tossed barbs at the tax treatment Standard Shoreline will receive under the new Dallas Public Facility Corporation program. Traffic, stormwater runoff and potential school overcrowding were raised, but building height and density remained the primary objections from the Lochwood residents in attendance.

Scott Robson, president of Lochwood Neighborhood Association, wanted to see less “mitigation” of the building height through fences and trees and more “elimination” of the fourth floor.

Bruce Parrot, a Yorkmont Circle homeowner, and Neil Felder, owner of Eastlake Medical Office,

have properties that sit directly south of the project; both spoke in opposition. Parrot did not like the idea of his home near a four-story structure, and Felder foresaw traffic problems affecting his medical tenants.

Thomas Buck, communications director for the Lochwood Neighborhood Association, said 2,000 people had signed an online petition opposing the project, and 150 more had mailed their signatures.

Plan Commission members inquired about guest parking, an oral tour of the property by Ojala describing ingress and egress, and establishing certainty that the project met the residential proximity slope requirements. The residential proximity slope requirement in the development code is meant to protect residential areas from adjacent tall buildings.

Plan Commission protocol is the commissioner where the subject site is located makes the initial motion. Commissioner Jung motioned

for approval, subject to staff’s recommendations and two minor amendments to the planned development and site plan.

“This is the end of a long road that began for me in January, and I’m ready for it to be over,” Jung said. “The original plan for this project has changed radically based on the comments, desires and suggestions of the public, the staff, the Garland Road Vision Task Force and several members of this commission. The project is a much better project because of that participation.

“The project will provide much-needed housing, will serve as a catalyst for improvement to this part of Garland Road, which is sorely in need of investment and renewal,” Jung said. “It will make a small but important move toward greater pedestrian orientation in this corridor in the form of the art park and the creative office.”

Jung stressed that the opposition to the tax benefits Ojala is receiving is not a landuse consideration, and “concerns

City Council could approve the Stan dard Shoreline development as soon as this month. Here’s what’s in the plan so far, as approved by the City Plan Com mission recently.

• 264 apartment homes wrapped around a parking garage, plus 18 townhomes.

• Four-story apartment building with maxi mum 60-foot height.

• 51% of units will be set aside for residents who earn no more than 80% of the area median income, or about $48,300 for a single person. In ex change, the developer would receive long-term property tax breaks.

• Developer Ojala Holdings proposes to enter a Dallas Public Facility Corp. agree ment with the City of Dallas where the City would own the property and lease it back to the developer. Ojala would not pay property taxes on Standard Shoreline for up to 75 years as part of the agreement.

• 3,000 square feet of creative office space and an art park are also part of the plan. There would also be space for a dog park and playground, as well as electric vehicle parking.

• The 7.26-acre property was the original home of Garland Road Church of Christ, built in 1955.

• Surrounding properties are zoned for multifamily, single-family, retail and office uses.

This is the end of a long road that began for me in January, and I’m ready for it to be over.”

Standard Shoreline. Rendering courtesy of Ojala Holdings.

about that aspect of the project should be directed elsewhere.”

“To turn down that proposed use because of what might potentially someday otherwise might go there is to invoke the principle that the perfect is the enemy of the good,” Jung said.

He addressed the height issue, citing that he had asked the developer to approach the church about a reduction in land sale price to make three stories economically viable. Jung said the applicant did that but was unsuccessful.

“So the question is not four stories versus three stories,” Jung said. “The question is four stories versus denial.”

“We have an extraordinary package of height intrusion protections, far greater than we normally see in a typical case and sufficient in my view to adequately protect Yorkmont Circle from the height intrusion of the project.”

District 14 Plan Commissioner

Melissa Kingston was the only other commissioner to speak and supported Jung’s motion “enthusiastically.” She provided some reassurance to the opposition from her personal experience with an eight-story project near her single-family community and that “it really isn’t as bad as it may seem today.”

Kingston also said that communication to her office from supporters was “significantly more” than communication from the opposition.

Buck said those opposed to the rezone were not shocked by the commission vote.

“But, their assessment was from a certain, narrow perspective, and much narrower than the gaps between the proposed townhomes, revealing the sight lines that will appear into our neighbors’ properties from a fourth-floor viewpoint,” he said. “Commissioner Jung mentioned our aim to be perfect is ‘the enemy

of good.’ We are not looking for perfection, but simply better. We do not want to settle for ‘good.’ ‘Good’ to the Commission does not seem to include finding a more compatible, appropriate and suitable solution when developing next to a neighborhood.

Lochwood neighbor Jessica Mannon said the commission should have decided on the best, not the easiest, land use.

“We feel this process fell short of the rigorous examination we would expect from our commission,” Mannon said.

Daniel Smith and Matthew Vruggink, who have navigated this course for Ojala, declined to comment, presumably letting the unanimous vote for approval speak for itself.

The final step for approval will be another public hearing and vote, this time at Dallas City Council. No schedule has been set, but it could appear on the agenda in mid-to-late October.

Site rendering courtesy of Ojala Holdings.

Local chef Keith Cedotal is a pastry one-man show

Story by ALYSSA HIGH | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

KEITH CEDOTAL practically grew up in the kitchen. Between his French grandmother and Mexican parents, Cedotal was exposed to many different cooking styles and flavors. Far from the gadgets found in the high-end eateries in his portfolio, Cedotal learned to cook by eye and taste.

“I just remember watching them cook and I was always

amazed by the flavors of their dishes,” Cedotal says. “They both inspired me because they were both so humble and confident in their skills.”

Cedotal brings these blended cultures and experience in Dallas’ top restaurants to his own “bakeaurant,” called KEESH, or Keith’s Epic East-Side House.

“I’m a Texas native,” he says.

“But I got to visit my family in France this past year, and I thought that I’d kind of make it (KEESH) a Texas bakery on tour and give it a French twist.”

These inspirations are evident in his pastry menu, with current items like a breakfast taco “KEESH” with housemade salsa or a chocolate pecan eclair with brown butter custard. The menu

A quiche made with spinach and goat cheese.

rotates regularly to keep up with seasonal trends.

Cedotal was also influenced by his history as a chef in many of Dallas’ top restaurants. He started his career at The Art Institute of Dallas, before working as a pastry chef for venues like Hotel ZaZa, the Adolphus, Craft, Uchi and the Joule Hotel.

“I took a little bit from everybody, the good and the bad,”

he says. “After working with so many people, you get to a point where you’re like ‘I can do this,’ and I’ve learned a lot from their knowledge and education.”

The “bake-aurant” serves more than pastries and token keeshes.

Cedotal handmakes a seasonal fruit jam (currently fig), granola, pickles, hummus and hot pockets.

While Cedotal started the business baking the pastries in

his home kitchen, the pastries soon took over, and he began baking in a ghost kitchen downtown. He then delivers them himself to ZIP codes 75206, 75214, 75218, 75223 and 75228 every weekend. But he’s on the hunt for an East Dallas building to turn KEESH into a local spot.

“We live in East Dallas, and I love Dallas,” Cedotal says. “It reminds me of San Antonio’s vibe, so I wanted to focus on the community and the east side.”

Customers can order by 1 p.m. Thursdays and receive their pastries and other foods hand-delivered that Saturday or Sunday from 8-11 a.m. for a $4 delivery fee. From order to delivery, Cedotal is KEESH’s one-man show. Some of the eggs used in the pastries are even from his own backyard, where he has seven pet chickens.

Cedotal named his first three chickens after the Golden Girls, and after two of them died, he got two more: Heckle and Jeckle. Four chickens later, (Stevie, Amy, Plum and Violet) Cedotal’s husband said, “enough,” and Cedotal was left with seven bakery helpers.

“It helps with egg production,” he says. “It’s weird and they’re a weird animal, but I love it.”

KEESH, keeshbakery.com, keith@ keeshbakery.com

“I took a little bit from everybody.”

A savories and pastries box is available for delivery.

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HOUSING

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IT (AND WHY IT MATTERS)

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

NOTHING POLARIZES AN ASSEMBLY OF CITIZENS and civic leaders like a discussion about affordable housing.

So when the Dallas City Council, determined to tackle a metro-wide shortage of accessible homes, met last year to consider the construction of multiple Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments near our neighborhood, drama ensued.

A proposed project along Central Expressway enjoyed the support of most Council members and several housing advo cates who said it would provide 200 homes, half of them at an affordable rate, in a “high-opportunity area.”

But a number of neighbors and their Council representa tive, Adam McGough, opposed the project. Dissenters cited homeless camps, drug deals and public nudity already hap pening in the area.

City Council representative Adam Bazaldua said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He admonished those who conflated people earning less than the median salary with criminals. The objections, he said, were “frankly about race.”

Following the combative session, the Council voted 9-6 to approve the project. But the neighbors took the fight to State Rep. John Turner, who had the right to override the City’s decision, and the apartments were never built.

The case drew criticism from local media and City leaders, who are under pressure to build homes and reduce what researchers at Up For Growth say, as of 2020, is an 87,000unit deficit.

As house prices and rents increase and conversations about housing become more fraught, one might wonder who is right — homeowners demanding a say in neighborhood planning or those who argue we need to build more housing at every opportunity?

The answer, of course, is both. And neither.

Policymakers cannot ignore the neigh borhoods’ desires and concerns. They would be out of a job if they did.

But pressure to construct and reha bilitate more homes is only going to in crease, and negative public opinion about affordable housing can be a big barrier to meeting Dallas’ mounting need.

If we cannot strike up more construc tive conversations, promising develop ments will keep croaking in infancy, and our city’s housing demands will go unmet, say those inside the city plan ning world.

Unaffordability can lead to housing insecurity, homelessness and a host of societal problems that affect every socio economic bracket, says David Noguera, director of the Dallas Department of Housing and Revitalization.

Ensuring our city is a place where peo ple of varying incomes can rent, finance or purchase a home begins with public support for all types of housing, he says.

“We can help create and preserve affordable places for people making

around $50,000 a year — bear in mind this means some teachers, your delivery drivers, post office personnel — or we can let them figure it out themselves,” he says.

The problem with the latter, he says, is sprawl and the loss of valuable members of society, as residents move farther out or leave Dallas for somewhere more affordable.

“Dallas is going through a level of growth we have not seen in years,” Nogu era says. “We are not building enough housing fast enough. Take the word affordability out of it altogether — we need more, period.”

Research from Up for Growth, in a report titled Housing Underproduction in the U.S. 2022 , backed that up.

“Spotting and responding to under production trends can improve lives, economies and the planet,” said Mike Kingsella, CEO of Up for Growth, a non profit committed to solving the housing shortage and affordability crisis.

He attributed underproduction in more than 200 metropolitan areas to “NIMBY-ism (not in my backyard) and exclusionary zoning.”

Noguera has seen examples of people who say they support affordable housing but don’t want it in their neighborhood.

That’s often due to misunderstanding what affordable housing is, he says.

“When people hear ‘affordable

HOUSING WAGE BY ZIP CODE

The National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes a report each year showing the “housing wage.” That’s what a person/household needs to earn working full time in order for a two-bedroom rental unit to

be affordable by the official government standard. For example, in East Dallas, a person needs to make about $30 an hour or $62,000 to afford something in the neighborhood.

Dallas is going through a level of growth we have not seen in years. We are not building enough housing fast enough. Take the word affordability out of it altogether — we need more, period.”

Based on house and rent prices from Zillow

housing,’ they think it is going to attract undesirable neighbors,” Noguera says. “I think, from one perspective, we need to educate our residents on what it means and on the impact of our decisions.”

But in some cases purported concerns about traffic, parking, building height, property values, the environment or character of the neighborhood mask biases and racist attitudes, he says.

“I have heard things at these meetings that make my jaw drop,” he says. “Those kinds of comments make it difficult for everyone involved in trying to get something done.”

A HOT-BUTTON TYPE OF HOUSING

The housing tax credit is the City’s most essential financial tool for produc ing affordable housing. It’s not the only one, but it is a good place to start as we learn about what affordable housing is and is not.

It is a term we will hear more as the Dallas area strives to build enough homes to accommodate a population that, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve, grew by almost 100,000 in 2020-21.

The housing tax credit has been around since 1986. (Texas removed the words “low-income” in 2005.)

Through this program, banks and other corporations put cash into a de velopment that includes affordable units in return for 10 years of credits against their taxes.

“The term is a very loaded one, and it attracts attention from all sides of the housing debate,” Noguera says.

People often conflate housing tax credit projects with slums, poverty and crime, but in reality, the developments he’s looking at all involve mixed-income housing, he says.

A good project might include a third of its units at market rate, a third at 30% area median income and a third at 60% median income, for instance.

The City scores housing tax credit projects based on various components — crime rates in the surrounding cen sus tract, for example, or proximity to transit and medical hubs.

When a housing project contains

AFFORDABLE HOUSING, A GLOSSARY OF TERMS

LIHTC/HTC: Low Income Housing Tax Credit or, in Texas, Housing Tax Credit, is the City’s most essential financial tool for producing affordable housing. Written in 1986, the program allows banks and other corporations to put cash up front into a development that includes affordable units in return for 10 years of credits against their taxes.

SECTION 8: Named for Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, this housing choice voucher program is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled to afford decent and safe housing in the private market.

WORKFORCE HOUSING: Urban Land Institute defines workforce housing as housing affordable to households earning between 60% and 120% of area median income. That’s about $36,000-$72,000 a year in Dallas. The term aims to conjure images of young teachers, mail carriers and health care workers.

ACCESSIBLE HOUSING: As housing proponents try to scrub affordable housing’s image, they try other words that mean essentially the same thing, and this is one of them.

MISSING MIDDLE: Architecturally, between apartments and single-family houses, are lower-density multi-unit or clustered housing types, such as duplexes, that are closer in scale to houses. The term also is often used to describe the population who would live in these dwellings.

NIMBY: Not in My Backyard. Coined in the 1970s, according to Oxford Languages, it is a person who objects to the sitting of something perceived as unpleasant or hazardous in the area where they live, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere.

YIMBY: Yes in My Backyard. Pushing back against the NIMBYs, these supply side advocates are pro-development activists in pursuit of equity, or they’re gentrifying tricksters, depending who you ask.

GENTRIFICATION: When an influx of more affluent residents and businesses change the neighborhood’s character.

EXCLUSIONARY ZONING: These ordinances place restrictions on the types of homes that can be built in a particular neighborhood with the intent of restricting housing for low-income residents. Common examples can include minimum lot size requirements, minimum square footage requirements, prohibitions on multifamily homes and limits on the heights of buildings.

SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: Temporary, long-term or permanent, supportive housing combines affordable housing with intensive coordinated services, or wraparound services, such as medical or mental health care.

NOAH:Naturally occurring affordable housing is available on the regular market, open to anyone and not subsidized by a government or nonprofit, but it falls within the budget of many families.

MARKET-RATE HOUSING: Housing that is available on the private market, not subsidized or limited to any specific income level.

DPFC: Created in 2020, the Dallas Public Facility Corporation is a public nonprofit that partners with private developers to build affordable housing. It has been used successfully in other municipalities, and Dallas staffers say they are learning best practices by watching for problems and successes in other metros.

DHA HOUSING SOLUTIONS:Formed in the 1930s as the Dallas Housing Authority, the agency oversees voucher programs and other programs to find homes for lowincome residents.

WALKER ET AL. VS. HUD: In 1985

Dallas resident Debra Walker and six other women sued HUD, the City of Dallas and Dallas Housing Authority over segregated and inferior housing and won, forcing the DHA to change its practices and spread affordable housing throughout the county. It’s one reason many City leaders are pressed to develop affordable housing outside of South Dallas.

“affordable” or “tax credit” in its de scription, that does not mean vouch er housing, transitional housing or a homeless shelter, Noguera says.

Sharon Grigsby wrote, following an April session to discuss the project, that it was “the ugliest town hall (she) had ever attended.” Citizens reportedly trashed hypothetical Shoreline resi dents — a bunch of “drug addicts and prostitutes,” bashed the church that owns the property and harassed City Council representative Paula Black mon.

The president of Lochwood Neigh borhood Association, Scott Robson, when introducing the developers at that meeting, said, “they will be do ing their dog and pony show about their concerns for teachers, nurses and firefighters.”

Grigsby concluded there were val id concerns about the project buried beneath the hateful rhetoric, but that the way it was delivered was “hard ly the way to do what’s best for your neighborhood.”

The Shoreline forums have been emblematic of what happens when

Those are things we as a community also have to address, he says, but when people conflate those things, it does nothing to advance the creation of more homes for Dallas residents.

DAMAGING DIALOGUE

HTC projects are not the only ones to rile up the neighbors.

Developers of a proposed mixeduse project in East Dallas, Standard Shoreline which would include 50% “attainable” housing, have held meet ings with neighboring residents in hopes of explaining themselves.

“Attainable” units at this develop ment, which would occupy the former Shoreline City Church site on Garland Road near Centerville Road, would be for people making about 80% of the area median income, Daniel Smith, a managing director at Ojala Holdings says, which would mean housing for educators, healthcare workers and mail carriers, for example.

But Ojala’s neighborhood meetings have been intense.

Dallas Morning News columnist

we do not have constructive ways to discuss housing.

That 2021 Council meeting where members debated an HTC project at Central Expressway and Forest Lane was similar — neighbors opposed a 50% affordable housing complex due to its proximity to a “homeless camp,” they testified about drug deals and public nudity near the site, complained that developers of lower income apartments would let just anyone live there and said the area already had enough diversity.

Councilman Bazaldua said he “heard a bunch of NIMBYs who were not only saying to people — people like cooks and front-line, essential workers, peo ple who make around $30,000 a year — that we do not want them, and then going even further and comparing the working class to criminals.”

Councilman McGough, who has seen his share of these types of meetings in his district, says that when people associate affordability with crime and vagrancy, it gives ammunition to critics who would call all concerned neighbors NIMBY or worse.

“There are going to be outliers and people who say things that they’ll in terpret as racist and other things,” he says. “And it absolutely kills me when it happens, because the majority of people, in my experience, genuinely want to help figure this out.”

How do we get to a place of less an ger, more understanding and collabo ration to more smoothly bring housing to all Dallas neighborhoods?

EDUCATION — WHERE WE STAND

We need all types of housing — from expensive houses on large lots to townhomes and condos to multifamily buildings.

The City also has Community Block Development Grants to build sin gle-family homes, a repair program to preserve single-family homes and a downpayment assistance program, says Kyle Hines, assistant director of Dallas Housing & Neighborhood Re vitalization.

Homeownership remains the prima ry driver of household wealth.

But when people give up on home ownership, because of high prices or too much competition, they enter the rental market, explains West. Then there is less supply and more demand in the rental market. “People who could pay more and cannot find a place go down to the next level and it can trickle down until the people in the lowest AMI category are out of luck.”

Noguera says it is critically important that whatever the city is investing in serves a mixture of incomes.

“I don’t want the conversations to be pigeonholed into discussing hous ing for a particular group of people, because our city needs more housing at all price points,” he says.

An “affordable dwelling” is often

“They will be doing their dog and pony show about their concerns for teachers, nurses and firefighters.”

For the Advocate’s ongoing coverage of the Standard Shoreline proposal and rezoning case, visit lakewood.advocatemag.com and search: Shoreline.

Photos courtesy of SWOON, the studio

defined as costing 30% of a person’s gross income, whether you are at the lower or upper-midpoint of the income spectrum.

“At all levels, if you’re spending more than a third of your income on housing, it impacts your ability to pay for the basic things like food, gas, car insur ance and health care.”

Affordable housing is not just for poor people, he says. However, those with lower incomes have a tougher time obtaining housing, which is why affordability for lower-earning house holds receives more attention.

The median annual income for Dal las households is about $62,000, he says, while the typical for-sale home is about $340,000 and the rent is ap proximately $2,500 a month.

“That is the issue. Those gaps,” Nogu era says.

KEEPING NEIGHBORS IN THE LOOP

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has a running list of housing tax credit projects across the state and their status.

But homeowners in the vicinity of any proposed project should be hearing about these things before they even land on a list like this.

While council members don’t agree on everything, many have said the only hope of gaining neighborhood support for most multifamily projects, much less affordable ones, is to bring neighborhood stakeholders in on plans from the start.

Councilman Chad West, who is on the City’s housing committee, points to the way Councilwoman Cara Men delsohn introduced a homeless shelter to her district. After the Council agreed to place one in each of 14 districts, she went to her constituents right away, explained the situation and got their input, effectively letting them decide where it would go.

“I wish I would have done that,” West says, and it demonstrates a way we might gain neighborhood support and improve the public perception of affordable hous ing developers.

In his 16 years working for Dallas,

McGough says he’s learned one thing for sure.

“The No. 1 thing you do, is you com municate with the neighborhood, iden tify changeable pieces, and you do your best to honor the community.”

The developer is responsible for “effec tively communicating” with the people, he says, and while some City officials have said the same, others said it is also a responsibility of the Council member.

FIXING WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY

Another barrier to public support in dense areas is the condition of existing multifamily communities.

In December, the Dallas Police De partment began pinpointing “hotspots” that record the most violence in the City. A stretch of Ferguson Road in East Dallas, where there are multiple aging apartment buildings, was near the top of the list.

In each violent-crime category, mi cro-level data show the glut of Dallas’ violent crime happening in rundown multifamily residential communities.

At a recent safety committee session Dallas police Maj. Paul Junger said, “apartment complexes are driving our murders.”

So, it is easy to understand why nearby residents are not clamoring for more.

ALL HOUSING CONSIDERED

The stories we tell about the “afford able housing crisis” often “fail to explain why housing is increasingly out of reach for many people or the societal benefits of creating and preserving affordable housing,” writes housing researcher Tiffany Manuel, in the Stanford Social Innovation Review

Many see differences in housing qual ity as an inherent feature of the market, as inevitable, Manuel says. They believe differences in affordability and access indicate that the market is healthy.

“Those notions allow us to rationalize disparity,” she says. “This idea allows us to justify the fact that so many live in unstable situations.”

Once people understand structural causes of inequity — such historical

redlining, segregation and unfair hous ing practices — they might better accept the need for structural solutions.

“If we do not explain the systemic causes and consequences of lack of af fordable housing, we allow the view that the housing market is beyond human control to go unchecked,” Manuel says.

The more we learn, the more enlight ened our discussions about homes and the health of our housing ecosystem, the better and stronger our city can be, says Councilman West, who is working on a “more visionary” housing document to complement the City’s Comprehensive Housing Policy.

Just as closed-minded homeowners who oppose everything are problem atic, hurling insults at them can be just as harmful, because it impedes much-needed communication and understanding, McGough says.

Three years of research by Stan ford on strengthening the affordable housing sector’s public image reflects the limitations — yet the significant role — of language.

“Changing how we talk about af fordable housing for all will not, in itself, rewrite the future,” Manuel says. “But it is an important part of reaching that dream.”

The estimated area median income (AMI) for an individual living in Dallas is $62,300 or, for a family of four, $89,000.

Most tax-credit housing in Dallas targets families earning between 30% and 80% of the AMI.

A development with units for families earning 30% to 80% AMI would serve, for example, a household of four earning $26,700 to $71,000.

SAVING MOUNT AUBURN

SAVING MOUNT AUBURN

How development is displacing longtime East Dallas residents

Lisa Ramos-López’s eyes were opened to what was happening in her Mount Auburn neighborhood as she spent time at home during the pandemic.

“You had to stop and see what your life was like,” she says. “That’s when we noticed some of the houses that were already in the process of going up slowly. We noticed people moving out — neighbors who had been here for years.”

She learned that high property taxes were pushing longtime residents out of the East Dallas neighborhood. Costs were increasing, but incomes weren’t.

a nonprofit that develops affordable housing in West Dallas, Oak Cliff and Pleasant Grove.

“What we’re seeing today is private investors and speculative developers realizing that the neighborhood that these Black and brown families were pushed into years ago was actually prime property to live,” he says.

A problem with this in Mount Auburn, Ramos-López says, is that new neighbors haven’t developed trust with established residents.

“The person who was there for 40 years, we knew them since we were growing up, and we trust them,” Ramos-López says. “How are you going to trust in a new neighbor coming from out of town that you don’t know?”

Instead of the single-story frame homes built in the 1920s — the ones common throughout the neighborhood — the new structures were two-story modern houses and duplexes, which don’t match the existing properties and are more expensive. Ramos-López paid less than $100,000 for her home about 10 years ago; today, houses are being listed for at least three times that amount.

Ramos-López says she can see why the family-friendly neighborhood close to Downtown is attractive to newcomers. It’s a point echoed by James Armstrong, president and CEO of Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation,

What’s happening in Mount Auburn, along with several other places across Dallas, is gentrification. It’s a kind of displacement where wealthier people gradually move into historically poorer neighborhoods, pushing out existing residents as the cost of homeownership increases beyond what they can afford. Gentrification and the newcomers can make neighborhoods safer, advocate for street improvements or bring in businesses. In Mount Auburn, Ramos-López says she has noticed streets and alleys being repaired more frequently than before.

But gentrification changes the character of neighborhoods, in part by bulldozing historical homes and replacing them with what meets the preferences of wealthier families and investors.

There’s an older woman who lives down the street from Ramos-López’s home. It’s getting harder for the woman to afford her property taxes because she’s

“How are you going to trust in a new neighbor coming from out of town that you don’t know?”

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Art by JYNNETTE NEAL

on a fixed income, Ramos-López says. And she, like Ramos-López and her husband, is contacted frequently by people wanting to buy her home.

“I just tell her, don’t do it, don’t do it,” Ramos-López says. “If you see that big white house on the corner, if that’s what you want to happen to your memories of where you raised your kids and your grandkids, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Just as trust is a key part of building community in the Mount Auburn neighborhood, it helped facilitate homeownership as well, Ramos-López says.

Residents like the Williams family, who originally owned Ramos-López’s home, each had a handful of properties they leased to families. They knew and trusted their tenants to do everything they could to make rent each month. And the landlords might, after a few years, give renters the opportunity to buy their homes.

That’s what happened in Ramos-López’s case. She and

WHAT IS “REDLINING”?

In Dallas, some areas experiencing gentrification are the same places where redlining occurred. Redlining dates back to the 1930s, when the federal government started insuring mortgages as part of New Deal programs to prevent foreclosures following the Great Depression.

Guidelines were added to help appraise properties and vet homeowners applying for mortgages. Color-coded maps showed which properties in more than 200 cities across the country were “worthy” of being granted loans.

Areas were ranked by riskiness. Those marked with “D” and lined in red were considered “hazardous,” unworthy of receiving loans. Many of these areas were predominantly Black neighborhoods. Mount Auburn was labeled “declining,” just one grade above hazardous.

The “best” neighborhoods were given “A” ratings.

The Federal Housing Administration’s Underwriting Manual, which was in effect in 1938, laid out instructions for underwriters at the administration when evaluating how risky a mortgage was, and thereby which loans should be insured.

Barriers such as highways, hills and parks could prevent “adverse influences” of business and industrial facilities, “lower-class occupancy and inharmonious racial groups” from entering an area, according to the manual. In other words, a physical barrier should separate white neighborhoods from minority neighborhoods, wealthy neighborhoods from poor ones; otherwise, the rating of a location would be lowered, making a mortgage riskier.

The manual explicitly directed underwriters to examine the location’s surrounding areas to see whether “incompatible racial and social groups” are there. To maintain “stability” and property values, according to the manual, neighborhoods had to stay segregated.

Borrowers themselves were also rated. Let’s say someone wanted to buy a home in a lowerincome or minority neighborhood. According to the manual, those neighbors would, over time, cause the borrower to lose interest in the property. So that borrower should be given a lower rating.

No mortgages meant no homeownership. So while white and wealthy families were able to purchase properties 80 years ago, many minority populations were robbed of that opportunity. Many of them haven’t been able to pass down assets — properties — and accumulate generational wealth, at least not to the extent of their white counterparts.

In 1977, to begin to rectify decades of discriminatory lending, the U.S. government passed the Community Reinvestment Act. It requires banks to create an assessment area map to show where each one does business, and it sets regulations on the maps. One of the rules is that assessment areas can’t exclude low- or moderate-income communities.

EDUCATION

her husband, both lifelong East Dallas residents and Woodrow Wilson High School alumni, started renting their home more than 20 years ago. After about a decade, they decided to purchase the house, and their landlord helped with financing and acquiring the proper documents. He also helped them file for a homestead exemption to pay a little less in property taxes.

Mount Auburn homes aren’t protected by a conservation district zoning ordinance, as are the residences in nextdoor Hollywood/Santa Monica. So it’s up to neighbors to share resources and advice with each other to preserve their homes, Ramos-López says.

Along with noticing new construction around her during the pandemic, RamosLópez noticed the problems with her home. The roof needed repairs. The foundation was in bad shape. Window units weren’t keeping the house cool enough in the summer or warm enough in winter.

“All home repairs have always been on hold because family comes first,” she says, noting that her family has been saving for college payments for their three children.

Scrolling through her Facebook feed one day, Ramos-López saw a post about the City of Dallas’ Home Improvement and Preservation Program, which offers funding for low- and moderate-income homeowners to make repairs and even rebuild their houses.

Ramos-López and her husband applied for the major rehabilitation program; if selected, they could receive up to about $73,000 in the form of a forgivable loan to make home repairs.

After submitting the application, RamosLópez received emails saying her family was approved for the program. Worried the notifications were a scam, because she hadn’t received emails from the City before, she ignored them. Finally she was told that

Hope. Health. Happiness.

if she didn’t respond, she would lose her spot in the program, so she called to verify the email was legitimate.

Once her questions about the program were answered, RamosLópez and her husband continued with the process. Again with the help of their former landlord, they compiled and submitted documents such as a deed, insurance, pay stubs, tax returns and more.

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They were approved for a $63,000 loan to pay for foundation and plumbing work, electrical rewiring, HVAC systems and energy-efficient windows. If they live in and maintain their home for 10 years, their loan is forgiven.

Ramos-López is working to educate neighbors on homestead exemptions and initiatives like the HIPP to help them stay in their homes. But there’s more to be done, she says.

“How do we stop this train that’s coming, and it doesn’t have brakes? It’s coming,” she says. “It’s just, how are we going to coexist? And that’s going to be hard when it’s literally running us out of our neighborhoods, running us out of our homes.”

“How do we stop this train that’s coming, and it doesn’t have brakes?”

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

By PATTI VINSON

Film fanatic

This East Dallas resident has done every job in the movie business

East Dallas neighbor Chaselyn Wade knows the film industry. She’s worn various hats during her 20 years of movie-making: IMDb.com lists over 40 titles for her, in cluding actress, costume design and makeup. But she can now add to the list director and star of her first full-length feature film. Not too shabby for a girl from a small town in Kentucky.

Just in time for the creepiness that is October, Wade’s film, Dr. Kim Hunter and the Apparition , will premiere on the big screen on Oct. 13 at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas on Technology Boulevard. The event will be hosted by Justin Chavez from the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show, and a Q&A will follow the screening.

Bonus: The premiere raises funds for Legacy Cares, a Dallas organization that provides mental health care, substance abuse treatment, housing services and education to people who are impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Wade’s path to this moment reads like some thing you’d see in, well, Hollywood. Growing up in the tiny, rural community of Carlisle, Kentucky, Wade was an artsy type and member of the LGBTQ community.

“I never fit in,” she says.

She found her escape on the silver screen.

“Movies would give me a different perspective or outlook, or just take my mind off of the monotony,” she says.

The year 2000 rolls around, and Wade is saying goodbye to a friend moving to Dallas. Believing the city would be a good fit for Wade, he encourages her to move with him and his boyfriend.

“You’re too fabulous to be here, honey,” he said to her. “You need to go bigger.”

A week later, the group hit the road for Big D.

“I only had $141 in my pocket,” Wade says.

Wade supported herself as a makeup artist for still photography until fate stepped in.

“I was approached to do makeup on a very small-budget film. At that time, I said, ‘Yes, I can

do special effects,’ but of course I couldn’t,” she recalls of her gutsy response. “So off to the library I went. Remember there was no YouTube at the time.”

Her foot now in the film in dustry’s door, she began working in the world that had given her so much comfort as a youth. Over the years, she directed and acted in several episodes of TV series Detour ; served as lead makeup artist for the se ries Big Rich Texas ; and was a wardrobe breakdown artist for the film Freedom’s Path , which is currently making the festival rounds. She has acting credits in 18 films and has shared the sound stage with another East Dallas neighbor, Burt Gilliam.

But it was her work as direc tor and actor in the short film Hunting Love — filmed entirely in East Dallas — that got the attention of ITN distributors.

“They offered to fund my full-length feature with built-in worldwide distribution,” she says.

Dr. Kim Hunter and the Ap parition is the tale of a celebrity medium who gets pulled back into her past and her home town when someone she knows seeks her help with an “apparition” plaguing their family home.

“The story revolves around her finding the truth about the ap parition and herself,” she says.

Though written for the screen by frequent collaborator Joseph Herrera, the concept is by Wade

Photography by Jessica Turner.

herself. And she chose to give Dr. Hunter a trans identity.

“I’m proud to tell a story where the lead character is trans and it’s not a major issue,” Wade says. ”The story is not based around her being trans; she just is.”

The actual filming, all of which took place at locations in Dallas, took place over about two-and-a-half weeks. But Wade put in the work to get to that point.

In the year or so leading up to film ing, Wade cast the project, scouted locations, choreographed fight scenes, managed props, did special effects makeup, catered food and generally stepped in wherever needed. All this was in addition to starring in and directing the movie.

“I love the entire process of film-mak ing, but I definitely enjoy directing the most,” Wade says. “I love being able to tell the stories that I want in the way I like. Call me a control freak if you will, but having the power to say yes or no to a camera angle, lighting, wardrobe, etc. is great! Being on many film sets, there have been moments where I said, ‘Why would you shoot that scene like that,’ or, ‘I would’ve done this or that differently.’ So I said to myself, ‘Well then, do it! Make your own film. Use your knowledge.’”

Wade has traveled far from that small Kentucky town where she felt like a square peg. She’s hard at work on her next project, another full-length feature that she will star in and direct.

“The most rewarding aspect is the final product, sitting back and knowing that everyone involved did what they could with what we had to work with,” Wade says. “And in the end, we have a watchable film with humor, horror, suspense and maybe a few lessons and insights along the way.”

PATTI VINSON is a guest writer who has lived in East Dallas for more than 20 years. She’s written for the Advocate and Real Simple magazine.

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WORSHIP By BETSY SWETENBURG

Another kind of fair frenzy?

When the question of fairness turns to justice

It’s officially fair season, and I feel like I must admit that I have not actually attended the State Fair of Texas yet. I am a pandemic trans plant, so I’m still catching up on all the must-dos after arriving when so many things were shut down. I did, however, stand in a too-long line in the parking lot of Lakewood Village shopping center soon after I arrived here to try one of those Fletcher’s corny dogs that I kept hearing about. And I have been here long enough to witness the fair frenzy that overtakes our city as professionals take off work to go to the fair, children obsess over the various rides, and restau rants roll out themed menus. It is quite the spectacle to an outsider.

arguments, I hear a desire for objectivity and neutrality and a hope for policies that relieve populations equally. As a middle child, I am well acquainted with the love of fairness. I spent my childhood proclaiming “that’s not fair” and offering my own suggestions about how my parents could create fairness. My faith has cured me of that love, though, and replaced it with a love of justice. Fairness and justice are related but not the same.

The Bible is filled with scriptures about justice. The prophets, who are usually the ones calling for justice, don’t care much for the objectivity and neutrality we associate with fairness. Instead, they are driven by compassion for those who are suffering. They seek out those who are hurting and compel communities to offer hope. Justice can’t be neutral because it begins not with an objective concept or an idea, but with a person or a group of people. Justice begins with the question “who is suffering?”

WORSHIP

BAPTIST

PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org

Bible Study 9:15 / Worship Services 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500

WILSHIRE BAPTIST CHURCH / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Open to all / Worship at 11 a.m. Sunday School at 10 a.m. / wilshirebc.org

DISCIP LES OF CHRIST

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Acting Senior minister Rev. Allison Drake / edcc.org

LUTHERAN

CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

A Welcoming & Affirmation Church / Rev. Robert O. Smith, PhD, Bridge Pastor Sunday School 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am/ centrallutheran.org

FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA) / 6202 E Mockingbird Lane Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule. 214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

METHODIST

LAKEWOOD UMC / 2443 Abrams Rd. / 214.823.9623

Sunday Morning Worship 10:30 am / mylakewoodchurch.org Messy Church for Children and Families Sunday 5:00 pm

MUNGER PLACE CHURCH / Come & See Sunday: Morning Worship: 9:30 & 11:00 am Evening Worship 5:00 pm 5200 Bryan Street / mungerplace.org

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

LAKEWOOD FELLOWSHIP / Sundays 10:00 am / White Rock YMCA / 7112 Gaston Ave LakewoodFellowship.org / Lakewood@LakewoodFellowship.org

As the fair frenzy descends on us yet again, I can’t help but wonder if another kind of fair frenzy has cap tivated our nation. The last months have been chock-full of broad legisla tion and rulings that have reaffirmed the polarization of our nation. And as opposing sides respond to the myriad of issues, the concept of fairness echoes loudly through arguments. “It’s not fair,” opposition usually begins, as if fairness were the value by which we measure all else. Is our nation in its own “fair” season, albeit void of corny dogs but still just as frenzied?

When fairness is at the center of

I wonder what could happen in our neighborhood and in our city if we begin asking “who is suffering” and “where does it hurt?” How would our conversations change? And how would it change our response to things that don’t seem fair? In my experience, knowing the suffering of others is the best starting point for more generous and compassionate relationships, and who doesn’t want to live in a neigh borhood defined by those things?

BETSY SWETENBURG is pastor of Northridge Presbyterian Church and a regular contributor to the Advocate’s Worship Column. To help support the Worship Column, email sales@ advocatemag.com.

PRESBYTERIAN

ST. MARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 9999 FERGUSON RD. saintmarkchurch.org / Sunday School 9:15am / Worship I0:30am/ 214.321.6437/ Rev. Rick Brooks

NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. / 214-827-5521 northridgepc.org / Regular skd returns Sept 11th. 9am outdoor & 11am sanctuary service. A community of people dedicated to doing life together

PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org

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Justice begins with the question “who is suffering?”

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