My Day: One-on-One with Mayor Rawlings

What is going right with Grow South?  What in your opinion is going wrong? How do we strengthen neighborhoods?  Where are the homeowners associations? We want to publish them.  Let me hear from you. And most importantly,  how do we encourage homeownership in the southern neighborhoods?  We. . . can easily do this… one block at a time.

As you can see, the City of Dallas is changing. . . we are experiencing a major facelift and the mayor is front and center of the faceoff.   Last week  Mayor Rawlings sat down with southern sector media to hear candid, unfiltered feedback on what’s  going right and what’s  going wrong.   His most poignant message was about building neighborhood associations and listening to people that live in these areas …..those who best understand what is needed.  So, ok. . . Oak Cliff folks. . . where are your voices?

Back in 2012, The Dallas City Council laid out a roadmap for targeted areas outlining expectations for potential growth.  The bar of the Grow South Initiatives were already  up ; now being raised to  core investment areas divided into three categories.   Today, we stand witness to these patterns of growth, the  promise  and the splendid orchestration of their successful  finale.

Briefly, let me remind you of the three most watched focus areas.  The Pinnacle Park Expansion  adds a core project in The Canyon at Oak Cliff, a mixed use development adding office, retail and residential growth in the area.  In this focused area of North Oak Cliff is the Bishop Arts District, the iconic Dallas Streetcar and the cosmetic  changes of Jefferson Boulevard.  The Riverfront Boulevard is getting a new look and may be near the proposed Texas Central Railway “high speed” rail station.  (Stay tuned for any changes on the high speed ‘bullet’.  Rail station still under discussion)

The second most watched area is the Education Corridor, adopting  the Inland Port of Dallas, an international economic  engine. With the  University of North Texas at Dallas anchoring the massive  industrial and warehousing  districts,  this vision is powerful.  It tempers tremendous potential  because it offer jobs, job training, diversity and mass transit with the new DART line.  Most importantly, it has its own traffic channel, i.e., Interstate 20, ready assess to the Texas Horse Park, aka, River Ranch and/or DFW Airport.

We are watching the third focus unfold daily before our very eyes.  The Lancaster Development, being the most famous, is the address of the Dallas Veterans Administration ongoing extension, one of the largest in the nation, along with the $30 million dollar Lancaster Urban Village, completed with public and private investments, which is one of three residential, office and retail developments.

To be quite honest, Southern Dallas really has it going on.  And I did not even mention the Southwest Center Mall, Dallas Executive Airport and their neighborhoods.  We have to mention the West Dallas Gateway (welcomed by the  new graciously beautiful Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge) and the row of restaurants at the base of the Ron Kirk Walkway Bridge overlooking the Trinity River.

Ok, Oak Cliff folks.  Ball is in your court.  The Mayor of Dallas wants to hear from you.

Speak Up!!   Change is here.  Hope is at the door.  Greatness is coming.

Ester Davis can be reached at

214.376.9000 or www.esterday.com