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Mountain View professor is a magician

Interview by RACHEL STONE Photography by YUVIE STYLES

The Linda and Mitch Hart Breast Center at Methodist Dallas Medical Center has earned recognition as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). biopsy. of our friends and neighbors. That’s community, why Trust Methodist.

Professor Geoff Grimes performs magic for children and families who attend the annual three-night close-up magic showcase at Dal las College Mountain View Campus.

Grimes formed the Mark Wilson Magic Club at Mountain View, named in honor of the Sunset High School alumnus who had a TV magic show that Grimes and his sister used to watch every Sunday as kids.

The club and the magic shows have brought joy to the campus for 24 years, but all this fun has roots in a dark place involving the Guatemalan Civil War and the murders of people he knew.

Grimes is the longest-tenured professor at Mountain View. He started teaching there in 1971, a year after it opened.

He’s taught freshman composition to three genera tions of kids from Oak Cliff and the suburbs, and he loves it.

“I’ve taught just about everything you could qualify with an English degree, but I really had a feeling for composition and working with students who are learning how to write,” he says.

He also taught the first dual-credit college course in Dallas ISD, a 6 a.m. “zero-hour” course, at Sunset High School in 1987, and he developed some of Dallas College’s earliest on line courses in the ’90s.

Grimes’ ties to Guatemala began with the 1976 United States bicen tennial. The City of DeSoto asked him to organize an art exchange with Guatemala City, which was also cele brating its 200th anniversary.

Art from children in DeSoto, where Grimes lives, and Mountain View students were sent to Guatemala.

Then a show of 100 “pictures” by children from all over Guatemala toured the U.S. and Guatemala for three years.

That began a lasting cultural exchange as well as a challenging life path for Grimes.

THE GUATEMALA CONNECTION

In 1980, Grimes participated in a conference in Guate mala City on how to start a community college district. There he met a journalist and literature professor, Rita Navarro, who had presented on non-credit courses.

A few months later, he found out Navarro had been murdered.

“She was shot 25 times by members of a para military death squad, and my life went a different direction,” Grimes says.

The Guatemalan Civil War started in 1960, between the right-wing government of Guatemala, installed by a U.S.-backed coup d’état in 1958, and leftist rebel groups. Over 36 years of war resulted in as many as 200,000 deaths and 50,000 “disappearances.”

But Navarro’s death marked the first time that war crimes touched Grimes personally.

He began volunteering for a nonprofit helping Guatemalan refugees, and he served as president of its board for several years.

“We started organizing Guatemalan human rights conferences all over the Southwest, and we would bring up people who were under attack by the mil itary, condemned as communists,” he says.

He became friends with a priest, Father Francisco Ortega, who left Guatemala under death threat. Or tega went to Washington, D.C., to consult on peace accords on behalf of four guerilla commanders.

This was the mid-’90s, and Grimes bought the priest the com puter he needed to do the work. The professor also printed, from a mailed floppy disk, the final draft of the peace agreement in his of fice at Mountain View. He had 60 spiral-bound copies produced and mailed them back for use in the April 1995 peace accords.

“In 1973, when we were trying to figure out international exchange, we had no idea where it would take us,” Grimes says.

ESCAPE TO MAGIC

Archbishop Gerardi, whom Grimes had known, was murdered in April 1998, two days after publishing an account of human-rights violations during the war. He was bludgeoned to death with a concrete block in the garage of his church.

Grimes couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Something snapped in me emotionally, psycho logically when that happened,” he says. “I fled into magic. I couldn’t do the work anymore, so I became a magician.”

The Mark Wilson Magic Club at Mountain View was organized the same year Gerardi was assassinated.

“Our first show was in 1998, and we’ve been doing

I fled into magic. I couldn’t do the work anymore, so I became a magician.

them every year. The first one was just me standing in front of the library on a little platform,” he says. “Then it was three nights of magic every summer until 2020. We brought it back this year, and we had about 300 people over three nights.”

Grimes also had a sideline busi ness in video production, making educational content for a compa ny out of Huntsville, and that’s how Guatemala came back into his life.

He was asked to work on a video project called “The Death Squads of Guatemala,” which gathered testimony from survivors.

He once interviewed the pres ident of Costa Rica for eight hours. The same day he recorded testimony from a death squad survivor, at the Catholic Univer sity of America in Washington, Grimes’ house in DeSoto was shot up, he says.

Spooky things were happening, and Grimes again stepped back from the work, but he couldn’t let it go.

Under a pen-name, he published a 644-page novel based on the Guatemalan Civil War, Requiem Guatemala: A Story of the People.

“It’s a study of evil, is what it is,” he says.

Grimes still lives in DeSoto with his wife of 54 years, Pam. They have two sons and a daughter, grand children and great-grandchildren.

At one time a few years ago, three members of the Grimes fam ily were employed at Mountain View: his daughter Rebecca, a flute teacher at Duncanville High School, was teaching a dual-credit course, and his granddaughter Juliana Simon Falvia tutored in the writing center.

“That has to be one of the proudest moments of my life,” he says.

Pawlicious Cookies makes dog treats that are healthful by LUCY ERSPAMER | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

YOLANDA HERRERA NEEDED treats for her mini-Australian shepherd, Blue, in 2020.

“There wasn’t anything that didn’t have so many chemicals,” Herrera says. “If it doesn’t look like something I would eat, why would I give that to my dog?”

She wanted healthy, organic treats, and that was impossible to find, but she wasn’t going to settle for unappealing treats. She took matters into her own hands and began baking her own dog treats. Herrera has always been a baker, and she started by following recipes online, tweaking them with vitamins and supplements.

“This is where I came in and started doing research,” says Lola Rodriguez, Herrera’s daughter-in-law.

They began selling treats to neighbors, friends and people who found them through word-ofmouth. Their quick growth wasn’t completely unexpected.

“I knew it was going to do well because my dogs would just eat it up,” Herrera says.

They launched an Instagram account for Pawlicious Cookies about a year ago, and Rodriguez runs it.

She is a full-time teacher at St. Cecilia, and she and her motherin-law are Oak Cliff natives.

“We want to make sure people know that we are baking from home and baking with love for their fur babies,” Rodriguez says.

Pawlicious Cookies has participated in many local events

in the past year. They did a popup at Kendra Scott for an SPCA donation drive in April. Much of their success can be attributed to their involvement with other businesses in our neighborhood and the connections they make, they say.

When the business started, orders were placed through Instagram, but now, Pawlicious Cookies are carried at Everyday Works, a coffee shop and convenience store, and Pressed by Perla, a juice shop. Even at this larger scale, Herrera still bakes all the treats herself. Almost every morning, she bakes 800-1,000 treats, and they’re not frozen.

“It’s important that we make treats with natural fresh ingredients, and the treats are fresh wherever they’re

being sold,” Herrera says.

They’re currently in the market for a manufacturer and a distributor so they can continue growing.

Baking on such a large scale has never felt like too much work, Herrera says.

“I think baking is in our culture,” she says.

Pawlicious Cookies works with clients to produce custom treats. Whether that means modifications such as no bacon, adding CBD, or even stamping the dog’s name onto the treats, Pawlicious can do it all.

One of their most recent developments is packaging. Many in the pet industry use the same distributor, but Rodriguez and Herrera didn’t want to replicate everyone else. They traveled to Austin to find a packaging distributor they liked, and now all bags of Pawlicious Cookies feature an image of Herrera’s dog, Blue.

Herrera and Rodriguez recently purchased some land that they aim to turn into a commercial kitchen, where they can host events.

“Being a Latina-owned business is the most important thing,” Herrera says. “I want to host a big social event for all the women business owners. It’s not easy to start a business, especially during a pandemic.”

Herrera says Pawlicious Cookies had its doubters.

“All my friends are shocked. You know how you start something, and you never follow through with it? Or they say ‘Oh, she’s going to do this for a few weeks and then she’s going to drop it.’ I don’t think people believed us,” she says. “We poured our heart and soul into this, and it’s paying off.”

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, drama ensued.

A proposed project along Central Expressway enjoyed the support of housing advocates who said it would have provided 200 homes, half of them at an affordable rate, in a “high-opportunity area.”

Oak Cliff representative Chad West, pointing to a consolidation of low-income housing in Southern Dallas, voiced enthusiastic support for building more in northern sectors.

But a number of Lake Highlands residents and their Council representative Adam McGough opposed. Dissenters cited homeless camps, drug deals and public nudity already happening in the area.

City Council representative Adam Bazaldua admonished those who conflated people earning less than the median salary with criminals. He figured those objections were, “frankly, about race,” he said.

Following the combative session, the Council voted 9-6 to approve the project. But neighbors took their fight to State Rep. John Turner, who had the ability to override the City’s decision, and those 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 neighborhoods’ desires and concerns. They would be out of a job if they did.

“We have a responsibility to make sure we represent everyone,” West says. “But certainly we have to keep in mind who’s putting us in office and who can take us out.”

Pressure to construct more homes is only going to increase, and negative public opinion about affordable housing can be a big barrier to meeting Dallas’ mounting need, urban planners say.

Unaffordability can lead to housing

insecurity, homelessness and a host of societal problems that affect every socioeconomic bracket, says David Noguera, director of the Dallas Department of Housing and Revitalization.

Ensuring our city is a place where people 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, or we can let them figure it out themselves,” he says.

The problem with the latter is sprawl and the loss of valuable members of society, he says. 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,” Noguera 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 underproduction trends can improve lives, economies and the planet,” said Mike Kingsella, CEO of Up for Growth, a nonprofit committed to solving the housing shortage and affordability crisis.

HOUSING WAGE BY ZIP CODE

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.

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

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

“I have heard things at these meetings that make my jaw drop,” he says.

A HOT-BUTTON TYPE OF HOUSING

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit is the City’s most essential financial tool for producing 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 something we will hear more about as our City and the surrounding area strives to build enough homes to accommodate a population that, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve,

The National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes a report each year show ing 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 Oak Cliff, a person needs to make about $21 an hour or about $42,000 per year to afford something in the neighborhood.

grew by almost 100,000 in 2020-2021.

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

Through this program, banks and other corporations put cash into a development 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% of area median income and a third at 60% of median income, for instance.

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

West, not speaking in specifics, said he has been in his share of infuriating meetings related to LIHTC.

“I have heard neighbors who don’t even live very close to a project come up and equate people in affordable housing to people defecating on public streets,” West says. “With LIHTC, we are talking about providing affordable homes for essential workers, bus drivers, sales associates and educators.”

When a housing project contains “affordable” or “tax credit” in its description, that does not necessarily mean voucher

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 multi-family 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 low-income 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.

housing, transitional housing or a homeless shelter, he says.

DAMAGING DIALOGUE

Councilman McGough, who has seen his share of divisive meetings related to affordable housing, says when people associate affordability with crime and vagrancy, it gives ammunition to critics who would call any concerned neighbor NIMBY or worse.

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

That 2021 Council meeting where members debated a housing tax credit project in northeast Dallas exemplified what happens when we do not have constructive ways to discuss housing.

Councilman Bazaldua said he “heard a bunch of NIMBYs who were not only saying to people — people like cooks and front line, essential workers, people 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.”

How do we get to a place of less anger, better understanding and collaboration 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 singlefamily homes, a repair program to preserve single-family homes and a downpayment assistance program, says Kyle Hines, assistant director of Dallas Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization.

Homeownership remains the primary driver of household wealth.

But when people give up on homeownership, 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.”

An “affordable dwelling” costs 30%of a person’s gross income, whether you are at the lower or upper-mid point of the income spectrum, Noguera says.

for Dallas households is about $62,000, he says, while the typical for-sale home is about $340,000 and the rent is approximately $2,500 a month.

“That is the issue. Those gaps,” Noguera 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.

Neighbors opposed a 50% affordable 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.

“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 insurance and healthcare.”

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

The median annual income

West points to the way Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn handled introducing 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

“The lack of trust is strong in those two or three neighborhoods surrounding the proposed site.”

“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 insurance and healthcare.”

and improve the public perception of affordable housing developers.

FIXING WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE

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

Dallas Police have pinpointed “hotspots” where they record the most violence. Clusters of apartments in the Bonnie View, Overton and Illinois areas of Oak Cliff topped the list. In each violent-crime category, micro-level data show the glut of Dallas’ violent crime happening in multifamily residential communities.

A police spokesperson at a recent safety committee meeting said, “apartment complexes are driving our murders.” So it is easy to understand why folks are not clamoring for more.

ALL HOUSING CONSIDERED

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

Many see differences in housing quality as an inherent feature of the market, as inevitable, she explains. 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 as Dallas’ well-documented history of redlining, segregation and unfair housing practices — they might better accept the need for structural solutions.

The more we learn, the more enlightened our discussions about homes and the health of our housing ecosystem, the better and stronger our city can be, says 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 problematic, hurling insults at them can be just as harmful, because it impedes much-needed communication and understanding, McGough says.

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

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

MAPPING MORTGAGESMAPPING MORTGAGES

How decades of underinvestment leads to displacement

Lifelong Oak Cliff residents Christopher and Lauren Lewis paid about $250,000 for their Glen Oaks home in 2018. Four years later, homes in the area were selling for about $450,000 — some as high as $500,000.

Glen Oaks was settled in the post-World War II period by white families, says Christopher Lewis, a Skyline High School alumnus. They gradually moved out of the area, and Glen Oaks became a predominantly Black neighborhood. But that’s changing.

“Certain groups are being priced out, and I think that’s leading to the change in the areas,” says Lauren Lewis, who attended Bishop Dunne Catholic School.

In Glen Oaks, white and Asian families who can afford higher prices are starting to move in, the Lewises say. At the same time, there’s an exodus of Black homeowners. House flippers with no connection to the neighborhood contribute to change.

“You lose that camaraderie, that neighborly engagement,” Christopher Lewis says.

The look of Oak Cliff neighborhoods is changing, the Lewises say.

Custom-built traditional and contemporary homes made to be unique are being replaced with rustic ranchstyle homes. Brick is being painted white or gray. The homes popping up look standardized, like in the suburbs, Lauren says.

Gentrification began hitting Oak Cliff over 20 years ago as wealthier people moved into historically poor neighborhoods. Now home values in our neighborhood are higher than ever, with cold consideration for neighborhoods that have been unfairly treated by redlining and financial disenfranchisement for nearly a century.

What’s happening in Glen Oaks and throughout Oak Cliff is gentrification — a kind of displacement where wealthier people gradually move into historically poorer neighborhoods, pushing out established residents who can no longer afford high property taxes or their rent.

Along with that, gentrification can make neighborhoods feel safer. And newcomers may advocate for street improvements and bring in businesses.

In some cases, gentrified areas are the same places where redlining occurred.

Redlining dates back to the 1930s, when the federal government began insuring mortgages as part of New Deal programs to prevent foreclosures following the Great Depression.

Properties were appraised and potential buyers vetted based on federal guidelines. Color-coded maps showed which properties in more than 200 cities across the country were worthy of being granted loans.

The Federal Housing Authority ranked neighborhoods by risk. Those marked with “D” and lined in red were considered “hazardous,” unworthy of receiving loans. Many of these areas — such as the Tenth Street Historic District — were also predominantly Black neighborhoods.

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

Barriers such as highways, hills and parks could prevent the “adverse influences” of business and industrial facilities, as well as “lower-class occupancy and inharmonious racial groups” from entering an area, according to the Federal Housing Administration’s Underwriting Manual , which was in effect in 1938. In other words, some 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.

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Art by JYNNETTE NEAL

The manual explicitly directed underwriters to examine the surrounding areas of a location 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.

The manual laid out instructions for underwriters at the administration when evaluating how risky a mortgage was, and thereby which loans should be insured.

Say someone wanted to buy a home in a low-income or minority neighborhood. According to the manual, those neighbors would, over time, cause the buyer to lose interest in the property. So that buyer should be given a lower rating.

No mortgages meant no homeownership. So while white and wealthy families purchased properties 80 years ago, creating generational wealth, many minority populations were robbed of that opportunity.

In 1977, to begin to rectify decades of discriminatory lending, the U.S. government passed the Community Reinvestment Act. It requires banks to create assessment area maps to show where they do business. Among its stipulations is that assessment areas can’t exclude lowor moderate-income communities.

The act intended to end redlining. But a 2020 investigation by WFAA found that 20% of the banks in Dallas County omit from their assessment areas all or parts of Southern Dallas, the area below Interstate 30.

Even 10-15 years ago, it was difficult to get a loan in the Bishop Arts District, says James McGee, the president of Southern Dallas Progress Community Development Corporation.

“Gentrification wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have areas that are underinvested in by City government and

by the banks,” McGee says. “The underinvestment leads to high crime, lower property values.”

McGee is a former compliance manager who helped banks follow Community Reinvestment Act regulations. The nonprofit he represents focuses on small-business development, financial education and housing in Southern Dallas. They have been trying to convince the City to implement a displacement policy and look more into inclusionary zoning — which would disperse lowincome housing options throughout the city, rather than concentrating it in a handful of places, like Oak Cliff.

The development corporation has also been working with Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas to file complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, encouraging regulators to hold banks accountable.

James Armstrong, the president and CEO of Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation, says redlining created pockets of diverse neighborhoods that are now placed at risk by private and public investors, who see the areas as “prime property.”

“Gentrification wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have areas that are underinvested in by City government and by the banks. The underinvestment leads to high crime, lower property values.”

The look of Oak Cliff neighborhoods is changing. In Glen Oaks, white and Asian families who can afford higher prices are starting to move in, along with house-flippers, who repaint home exteriors in neutral colors. Photography by Julia Cartwright.

“It’s a classic case of, how do we secure and preserve existing homeowners while developing and redeveloping — or some would call revitalizing — a neighborhood to improve the quality of life,” Armstrong says.

His organization is a nonprofit that helps address the needs of communities and develops affordable housing focusing its efforts mostly in West Dallas, Oak Cliff and Pleasant Grove.

They are working to develop an anti-displacement toolkit to help the City of Dallas address gentrification.

Before any housing developments begin, Builders of Hope assesses what neighborhoods need. They also finance developments through subsidies and grants from local partners, which means homeowners have tens of thousands of dollars of equity in their home from the

beginning, Armstrong says. Sale prices for Builders of Hope developments are 30%-40% below market value.

Ordinances and regulations are already available to help neighborhoods prevent gentrification and preserve affordability, but many residents aren’t aware of them, says Christopher Lewis, a former Dallas City Plan Commission member and current member of the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation.

“If residents’ priorities and resident voices and neighborhood self-determination are not prioritized above developers’ desires, we will always see these neighborhoods that make up the fabric and the identity of our city be run over with private investment,” Armstrong says. “We have to bring equity to that in order to fix the inequities of the past and to build strong, thriving communities in the future.”

When Emily Joseph bought her first house, in the Kidd Springs Park area earlier this year, she expected the annual property tax to be about $4,000, based on 2019 valuations.

But by the time she closed on the purchase in May, the annual tax had doubled to about $8,000, adding $300 more than expected to her monthly house payment.

“I didn’t think it would be exactly the same number, but it doubled in three years,” she says.

The 29-year-old, who is a bartender and marketing director, says she’s now looking for a roommate to help afford the home’s property taxes.

Property tax valuations in Dallas County totaled almost $40 billion more in 2021 compared to 10 years previously, despite moderate increases in population and housing in the same timeframe. That contributes to the affordable housing crisis by causing house payments and rents to become less affordable for many Dallas residents. Even though the City is expected to reduce its property tax rate this month, ever-increasing property valuations mean Dallas residents pay higher property taxes each year than ever before.

Homeowners who take the time to challenge their Dallas Central Appraisal District valuations can sometimes get their home’s value lowered, but that yearly ordeal only helps so much.

Melissa Wynne, a mortgage loan officer, bought her house in Wynnewood in 2019, when it was valued for tax purposes at $365,000.

In 2020, the taxable value jumped to $415,000. The latest valuation was $485,000. By protesting the property’s value and citing comparable sales in her neighborhood, she convinced the appraisal district to lower the taxable value to $445,000.

The 2,000-square-foot house, which she shares with her husband and their 19-month-old daughter, has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“A half a million dollars is just insane,” she says.

Valuations are based, in part, on comparisons to nearby properties, and

Wynne says her house doesn’t compare to the fully renovated, large square-footage Wynnewood homes the appraisal district stacked up next to hers. That argument, along with evidence of structural damage to their garage, helped her win a lower valuation, though she thought the ultimate taxable valuation should have been even lower. She says she kept pushing until her only remaining alternative was to sue the appraisal district.

“That’s when you have to say, ‘Is the decrease in value worth the time and expense it’s going to take to fight this?’” she says.

High property taxes can cause buyers to lose out on purchasing homes and sellers to lose out on selling them, she says.

“They’re in such a tight debt-toincome ratio that the increase can make them not qualify for the home they’re buying, and we’ve definitely seen that happen,” she says. “Or they can’t afford to live there anymore.”

That is the struggle for middleclass people. In low-income neighborhoods, high property taxes

threaten displacement.

“Most neighbors in West Dallas have fallen behind in taxes and are at risk of displacement,” says Shellie Ross, executive director of the Wesley Rankin Community Center, which has offered workshops on protesting property taxes.

“The West Dallas area has really skyrocketed in its costs, and for many, their jobs aren’t paying more to cover it.”

THE LANDLORD’S DILEMMA

Higher taxes also mean higher rent. Those living in homes they own at least can take a homestead exemption to reduce their property tax somewhat and put an annual cap on valuation increases. Not so for commercial property, though: Renters shoulder the burden of tax increases on rentals.

AJ Ramler of Proxy Property says his company owns about 50 rentals.

The company bought a duplex in 2015, when the property taxes were $2,700 a year, or about $225 a month. Back then, the combined rents for two units was $1,400, and

taxes ate about 16% of that amount.

For the same duplex in 2021, the taxes cost $8,500 a year, or about $700 a month. The two rents now total $1,900, and 37% of that goes to tax.

The duplex is now operating at a loss, and income from other properties absorbs the difference, he says.

“I know this guy can’t afford to pay $1,100 a month rent, but I know I can lease it for $1,100 a month,” Ramler says. “So I have to operate at a loss or increase the rent.”

Rent hikes can be difficult decisions for small landlords because long-term tenants who pay their rent on time and don’t cause trouble are worth keeping. And turning over a rental can be costly, with renovations and lost rent between tenants.

Ramler’s dad, who lives on Social Security retirement and income from three rental homes, recently took a $10,000 ding on higher property taxes, cutting his rental income in half.

The property tax for Proxy

“That’s when you have to say, ‘Is the decrease in value worth the time and expense it’s going to take to fight this?”

Photography by Julia Cartwright.

Property’s office on Singleton Boulevard increased 782% in a single year, 2021, Ramler says.

“It’s a punch in the gut when they come back with that,” he says. “That’s a heck of a bump.”

HOW THE STATE COULD REDUCE PROPERTY TAXES

Property valuations are increasing, in part, because the prices people are willing to pay for properties in Dallas are increasing. “Prices for homes in Dallas are accelerating faster than almost anywhere in the United States, despite recent interest-rate hikes,” according to data released in September from S&P CoreLogic.

There doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight, according to Texas state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, a Democrat whose district includes central Oak Cliff.

Gonzalez’s 2018 campaign included promised efforts to reduce property taxes. She filed several bills in the Texas House of Representatives, including a joint effort with fellow Southern Dallas Democrat state Sen. Royce West.

Those proposals would have allowed property taxpayers to enter deferred payment plans before falling into delinquency and also would have expanded homestead and over-65 exemptions.

But the Texas Legislature is bogged down with issues such as abortion and trans rights, she says.

The biggest contributor to high property taxes are public schools, she says.

“The Texas Legislature isn’t funding public schools the way it should, even though we have this surplus fund,” she says. “Taxes have to be raised to fund schools at the local level.”

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June threw open the door to allowing public funds to pay for religious private schools.

Gonzalez says she expects the defunding of education to deepen with proposals for private-school vouchers that would poach funds from public schools.

“People are going to continue moving to Texas, and Dallas is a popular place to be,” she says. “Unless the state puts in their fair share for public schools, it’s going to continue being a problem.” 000.000.0000

Volunteering keeps seniors active and connected with a sense of purpose. We will highlight the many fulfilling opportunities we offer to serve our community.

We’ll match you with the perfect volunteer opportunity for your time, location, skills, & interests.

When: Tuesday, October 25, from 10AM - 12PM & Tuesday, November 29 from, 10AM - 12PM

Where: The Senior Source, Richardson Senior Center, and WellMed Senior Activity Center at Redbird Square

By MATTHEW RUFFNER

Who are you, and what are you doing here?

Being loved can change the course of your life

Many years ago, a rab bi walked home after dinner with friends. He was full in every way and was in a joyous mood. When he came to a familiar fork in the road, he was lost in the joy of the evening, was not paying atten tion, and took the path on the right. The rabbi knew this road and had traveled it for many years. He knew his home was to the left.

Naturally, he was quite startled when a voice boomed from over head, “Hey you! Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

The rabbi shot to attention, only then realizing he had taken the wrong path at the fork in the road. His path had led him to a Roman military base, and he was just under a watchtower.

The Roman guard yelled again, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” The rabbi began to laugh, much to the chagrin of the guard. The guard asked, “Why are you laughing?” The rabbi replied, “How much do they pay you to stand up there and startle people in the middle of the night?” The guard replied, “They pay me 50 denarii a month. Why?”

The rabbi said, “I’ll pay you dou ble if you follow me around for the rest of my life and twice a day ask me those same two questions, ‘who are you, and what are you doing here?’”

Who are you, and what are you doing here?

I wonder how you would answer.

I’ve come to learn these two ques tions can define a life. I’ve also come to learn that without maturing in faith, we can answer these questions out of order. The early parts of our lives are spent believing we are what we do. What we do is defined by what we accomplish, achieve, make, or even what party we vote for.

Therefore, we can believe who we are is what we do. All wisdom tra ditions are interested in growing us up, maturing us as people of faith. If we orient ourselves on that path, we come to discover the core of who we are is rooted not in the titles we have accrued but in our belonging to God. Henri Nouwen teaches us, “God claims us as beloved. For we are the beloved sons and daugh ters of God.” We are simultaneously claimed as beloved and commanded to be loved. Allowing ourselves to be loved is perhaps the most difficult part of the journey.

The invitation for us is to begin by allowing ourselves to be loved. So beloved, may you begin to sink more deeply into your belovedness today. May you find a way to allow yourself to be loved by God. For God has loved you from your first breath, and there is not a time in your life that hasn’t been true. For it is who you are and what you are doing here.

MATTHEW RUFFNER is the Senior Pastor at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. You can follow PHPC on Instagram @PHPC_dallas, and you can also visit phpc.org. Call 214.560.4212 or email sales@avocatemag.com for advertis ing information.

WORSHIP

BAPTIST

GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST Come to a Place of Grace! Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30am / Spanish Service 11:00am 831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

CATHOLIC

ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC PARISH / StCeciliaDallas.org / 1809 W Davis St. Saturday - Bilingual Mass 5PM; Sunday – English Masses 7:30AM & 11AM; Spanish Masses 9AM & 1PM

DISCIPLES 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

EPISCOPAL

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METHODIST

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KESSLER PARK UMC / 1215 Turner Ave./ 214.942.0098 I kpumc.org 10:30am Sunday School/11:00 Worship /All are welcome regardless or r ace, creed, culture, gender or sexual identity.

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd. “Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.” 10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

TRINITY CHURCH OAK CLIFF / Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples. Sundays 10:00 am / Worship & children’s Sunday School 1139 Turner Ave. / trinitychurchoakcliff.org

PRESBYTERIAN

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

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Together we will inspire them to become extraordinary.

At St. Philip’s, we believe in nurturing the WHOLE child, fostering a lifelong commitment to service, scholarship, individuality and spirituality. We develop students who are Christ-centered, culturally aware and intellectually driven by providing an educational foundation that far exceeds academics and prepares them for life after St. Philip’s.

For 75 years, St. Philip's has delivered unparalleled education to students beginning with PreK2 and now through 8th grade. This expansion through middle school further extends our academic program and aligns with the tenets of our Graduate Pro le.

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CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001

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WANTED: BOOKEEPER

Experienced in Quick books for general construction and home flipping. Send resume or call Ricky:(512) 554-6084 R.Moises.Garza@gmail.com

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G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

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GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

PRO WINDOW CLEANING prompt, dependable. Matt 214-766-2183

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

ANDREW'S HOME REPAIR Big/Small Jobs 214-416-6559

DANHANDY.NET Repairs Done Right For A Fair Price. References 214-991-5692

HANDY DAN The Handyman. ToDo’s Done Right. handy-dan.com 214-252-1628

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HANDYMAN WANTS your Painting,Repairs, To Do Lists. Bob. 214-288-4232. Free Est. 25+yrs exp.

HOME REPAIR Small/Big Jobs. Int/Ext. Sheetrock, Windows, Kitchen, Bathroom 33 yrs exp. 214-875-1127

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ONE CALL WEEKEND SERVICES Contractor & Handyman. Remodels, Renovations . Paint, Plumbing, Drywall, Electrical.469-658-9163

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BLAKE CONSTRUCTION CONCEPTS LLC

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Residential/Commercial.30Yrs Exp. 214-724-3408. Rodriguez_tile@att.net

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. dallastileman.com 214-343-4645

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PEST CONTROL

HOUSE PAINTING

TOP COAT 30 Yrs. Exp. Reliable. Quality Repair/Remodel. Phil @ 214-770-2863

RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

MAYA TREE SERVICE Tree Trim/Remove. Lawn Maintenance. Resd/ Commcl.Insd. CC’s Accptd. mayatreeservice.com 214-924-7058 214-770-2435

MONSTER TREE SERVICE DALLAS Certified Arborists, Fully Insured 469.983.1060

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PLUMBING

AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943

Locally

RESPONSIBLE TREE CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Firewood/Cooking Wood Full service trimming & planting of native trees. 214.946.7138

LEGAL SERVICES

A WILL? THERE IS A WAY! Estate/Probate matters.maryglennattorney.com 214-802-6768

PEST CONTROL

MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL Prices Start at $85 + Tax For General Treatment. Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident

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PLUMBING ISSUES? We’re the Experts! of Excellent

ANCHOR PLUMBING Your trusted Oak Cliff plumber for 30+ years. 214-946-1638. Master Plumber License M-17697 972-379-4000 staggsplumbing.co

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POOLS

CERULEAN POOL SERVICES Family Owned/ Operated. Weekly maintenance, Chemicals, parts & repairs. CeruleanPro.com 214-557-6996

REAL ESTATE

ESTATE HOME NEEDS TO BE SOLD?

Facing forclosure? IG Heron Homes Call Ricardo Garza @ 469-426-7839

NEAR WRLAKE 2/1 DUPLEX. Hdwds, Appl. Yard Serv. CHA, 1/carport. $1,400+Dep. 469-879-2977

OFFICE SUBLEASE In Bishop Arts. Cool, Quiet. 1,179 Sq ft. 4 rooms + kit / bath, parking. $2,950 + NNNs. 713.302-7722.

REMODELING

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Complete Full Service Repairs, Kitchen & Bath/Remodeling, Restoration. Name It- We Do It. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

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ROOFING & GUTTERS

BERT ROOFING INC.

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