October 2022 issue of Preston Hollow

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.

HOW TO HALLOWEEN

Spirited activites for family outings

Halloween can be spooky-scary and just plain fun. Here in Preston Hollow fun takes first place. One Halloween highlight is the huge pumpkin sale beside the Royal Lane Baptist Church on the corner of Hillcrest. Take advantage of Instagram-worthy JJ Berrier’s murals, who’s celebrating his 39th year there. Proceeds from the sale of pumpkins, which average $8-$10, go to the church’s missions funds. Little kids with “allowance” cents in their pocket can buy grapefruit-size pumpkins for a dollar or 50 cents. Most of these small pumpkins and funky-shaped gourds will decorate local homes and gardens.

Visit the haunted house at Churchill Recreation Center’s carnival (Oct. 28), and the same evening, driving west, catch the familiar Boo Bash at Walnut Hill Recreation Center with booths and activities. At the ‘Y’ on Northaven, take a short break from exercising to enjoy its carnival Oct. 27.

Halloween kids’ books displayed at the Preston Royal Library are filled with colorful tales and ideas.

Most of the events and festivals have candy and cookies for the taking. Don’t grab too much! Few families will say “no” to Baskin-Rob bins’ tempting October special on Forest Lane.

A last word: when the grown-ups have time to drive farther away, head over to the Arboretum to visit the fairy tale coach standing amid 100,000 pumpkins trucked in from Floydada in the Texas Panhandle. The Arboretum is nothing short of magical at Halloween.

What happened to all those Halloween witches who flew around cackling? With so much traffic today, maybe their brooms were banned!

Story by JANE MANASTER | Art by JESSICA TURNER

When you plan ahead, the possibilities are endless.

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THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Story by ALYSSA HIGH

Thousands of children press their faces against the glass exhibits at NorthPark Center every year, eager to see their railcar pass by on its trip around the 1,600-foot track. The joy these trains bring goes far beyond the NorthPark walls.

The Trains at NorthPark exhibit is an annual project ben efiting Ronald McDonald House Dallas, a nonprofit that houses families whose children are receiving essential medical care. The house serves thousands of families an nually, paid for by donations and fundraisers such as the train exhibit.

Over the last 30 years, The Trains at NorthPark has raised over $18 million for Ronald McDonald House Dallas through the purchase of customized railcars and admis sion tickets to the exhibition.

“The Trains at NorthPark is such an important part of our year at Ronald McDonald House Dallas,” says Jill Cumnock, the nonprofit’s CEO. “We are once again oper ating at full capacity, but our expenses have risen over the last six months because of surging electricity and utility costs, and don’t forget, RMHD provides our services free of charge. Everyone who sponsors, purchases a railcar, or attends the Trains at NorthPark makes a real difference in helping to defray these costs.”

Purchasing a custom train for the exhibit is an annual tradition for some families.

“I have two kids, one is 14, and the other is 11. We’ve been going for many years and had a railcar for years,” says Lindsay Jacaman, who is chairman of the event. “I always felt proud to see it displayed with the exhibit, especially knowing that they’ve raised over $18 million.”

For many families, the decision to purchase a train is a personal one.

“My sister has cerebral palsy, very mild,” Jacaman says. “However, when she was younger she had multiple sur geries, and I remember sitting in waiting rooms and hos pitals, watching my mom try to juggle everything. Having toured Ronald McDonald House and knowing that it's the way to provide that home away from home, and families are going through these unspeakably difficult times, really connects me and draws me into the organization.”

The Trains at NorthPark is the largest miniature train ex hibit in Texas, drawing more than 50,000 visitors annually. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for children and senior citizens.

Purchasing a car costs $200-$350. The deadline to pur chase railcars in time for opening day is Oct. 4, but they can be bought throughout the season. Those who pur chase trains can take them home on the last day of the exhibit. Buy one online at www.thetrainsatnorthpark.com.

Purchasing a train at NorthPark’s exhibit benefits critically ill children

Claire Stanard starts her work day at 8 every morning, and she often finishes after midnight. Her days are filled with conversations with developers of all kinds, from hotels to daycare facilities to liquor stores across the entire city, as well as chats with community members. This job is not paid.

That is the life of a Dallas City Plan Commission member.

The 15 members are appointed by City Council and the Mayor to oversee and make recommendations for land use and development in Dallas, enforcing zoning rules or deciding when it’s OK to break them. Stanard represents District 13, which includes Preston Hollow, on the commission.

“Even though we are unpaid, the upside is that we can be independent of political influcences and make our determinations based solely on the merits of each project,” Stanard says. “I am not running for office or looking for a job, so I am able to make objective considerations.”

This is just the latest of many careers the 72-yearold has collected. She started out as a professional singer in her teen years, traveling across the United States and abroad. She participated in Eurovision and sang in pubs in Europe.

She left her folk singing career to work as a press secretary for U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke, a Democrat from Indiana who served from 1959-77. She continued working in politics and became the director of the Women’s Division of the National Democratic Party.

In her 30s, Stanard obtained her master’s and worked as a marriage and family therapist for over 20 years, but her career collection wasn’t over yet. She obtained a master’s in Education and taught English at Faith Family Academy and Christ the King schools.

Those experiences prepared Stanard for her current position, she says.

Presenting to the commission comes naturally after a singing career. Politics taught her some things about law and negotiation. And she’s always educating people on the nuances of development and zoning, especially when they have grievances.

“One of the things that constituents need to do is get in on the ground floor,” Stanard says. “Don’t wait until the meeting happens in front of the City Planning Commission. Have a community meeting and organize your opposition.”

Because the commission handles zoning and development, affordable housing is a topic Stanard knows well.

“There is confusion between ‘affordable housing,’ which is low-income housings, ‘attainable housing’ which is workforce housing, and ‘mixed-income housing’ which is having slightly below market rate renters combined with other multifamily lessees,” Stanard says. “The bottom line in Dallas right now is that working-class people are being uprooted by the lack of attainable housing and rising rental rates.”

Dallas’ biggest problem is that we have very few working-class rentals, she says. Though affordable or low-income housing is a huge need, even attainable housing for the workforce is lacking.

When making zoning decisions, Stanard has to take into account median income, transportation, proximity to a park and other factors. However, she’s found in many instances that rent prices exceed affordable or attainable.

“Dallas, Texas, is the ninth-largest city in the United States, and it promised to have workforce housing within the city limits,” Stanard says. “But they are being pushed out, and I don’t know where these displaced families are going to go.”

Though Stanard doesn’t have an answer to this crisis, says she believes more people need to be aware that this is a citywide issue which needs to be addressed with a comprehensive plan to slow gentrification and address rampant displacement through community engagement.

“The shame of it is that we need young people on the city planning commission, but young people are working,” Stanard says. “This is not part-time; this is a whole job.”

Some days, Stanard is reminded that the long hours and lack of paychecks are worth it, like when the owner of apartments in Vickery Meadow’s refugee relocation area donated apartments for children to get tutoring after school while their parents worked, calling it Heart House.

For 20 years, licensed teachers volunteered to help refugee children at Heart House acclimate to life and schooling in the U.S. That is, until the February 2021 winter storm, when firefighters went into the building to inspect for damage. They shut the child care center down because that use wasn’t allowed in the apartment complex’s zoning.

Heart House received a Specific Use Permit to qualify as a child care center, and Stanard spoke to the commission to share their story. The horseshoe at City Hall was left in tears as they granted the permit, allowing the Heart House homework club to continue to serve refugee children in the area.

“That is what makes this job worthwhile,” she says.

FELIZ DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

Hughes Family Tribute Center’s celebration features music, art and dance

Story by ALYSSA HIGH

BLACK CLOTHES. Wet eyes. Most funerals in the United States are somber experiences. However, in many cultures, funerals are celebrations of the lost life. One North Dallas funeral home celebrates life amid death every day, and the community is invited to join with their annual Day of the Dead celebration.

At Hughes Family Tribute Center, one of the few familyowned and operated funeral homes left in Dallas, funerals are highly personalized. Some families have handed out margaritas and chips and salsa during celebrations of life.

“I said, ‘What was mom passionate about?’ And they said, ‘margaritas,’” says Stephanie Hughes, the center’s funeral director. “The casket was up here, and the margarita machine was in the back. Everyone loved it.”

Others have set up booths with memorabilia such as cars or Dallas Cowboys ephemera. Once, they even set up a boxing ring for legendary Dallas boxing club owner Gene Vivero.

Hughes, a graduate of W.T. White High School and Southern Methodist University, uses icebreaker-style techniques to engage families and make the most of the funeral experience from beginning to end. When families choose cremation, the center has an in-house crematory designed with floor-to-ceiling marble, and families are invited to participate in the experience.

“We’re trying to get the five senses of the funeral involved to make it the most healing,” Hughes says.

This same celebration style is demonstrated in the center’s Dia de Los Muertos Celebración. The eighth-annual celebration at Crown Hill Memorial Park and Mausoleum, 9700 Webb Chapel Road, has events from Oct. 22Nov. 2.

El Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a two-day holiday celebrated Nov. 1-2 that reunites the living and dead through ofrendas, or offerings, to honor departed loved ones. Traditionally, the first day is to celebrate the spirits of the children, and the second celebrates adults. The celebration is full of smiling skulls, Mexican marigolds and colorful papel picado.

The Hughes Family Tribute Center’s celebration, which is free and open to the public, includes a two-week art installation called Los Espiritus del Bosque by Ricardo Alarcon, plus a live concert by the band Alebrije, Mayan dances by Grupo Pakal, mariachi performances, family art activities, children’s entertainment and food and beverage concessions.

The center hosts several other community events throughout the year, including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, crawfish boils, a candlelight service of remembrance, Wreaths Across America and movies in the park at the mausoleum.

Traditional dancers entertain the crowds at previous Día de los Muertos celebrations. Photography courtesy of Hughes Family

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, resolved to tackle a citywide shortage of accessible homes, met last year to consider the construction of multiple Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments, drama ensued.

The thorniest proposal was for a 200-unit development near Central Expressway and Forest Lane.

It looked promising on paper and garnered support from around the horseshoe. However, District 10 representative Adam McGough, echoing residents’ concerns, said, “no way.”

Following McGough’s impassioned dissent, the Council voted 9-6 to advance the project. (A few weeks later, angry neighbors took the fight to State Rep. John Turner, D-Dallas, who by law was able to override the City Council’s decision. The apartments were never built.)

The neighbors’ and councilman’s opposition drew criticism from fellow councilors and City staff, who are under pressure to build homes and reduce what researchers at Up For Growth say, as of 2020, is an 87,000-unit deficit.

As home 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.

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

If we cannot strike up more constructive conversations, promising

developments will keep croaking in infancy, and our city’s housing demands will go unmet, say those inside the city planning world.

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 — 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. 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.

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 a misunderstanding of what affordable housing is, he says.

“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.”

But in some cases purported concerns about traffic, parking, 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 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 a term we will hear more as our city strives to build enough homes to accommodate a population that, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve, grew by almost 100,000 in 2020-2021.

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 up front 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% 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 census tract, for example, or proximity to transit and medical hubs.

When a housing project contains “affordable” or “tax credit” in its description, that does not mean voucher housing, transitional housing or a homeless shelter, Noguera says.

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

Councilman McGough acknowledges that when people associate affordability with crime and vagrancy, it gives ammunition to critics who would call our neighbors 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 that is not my experience with the majority of people in this community. We have had a lot of thoughtful, not

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

ignorant, discussions, and people here genuinely want to help figure this out. ”

That 2021 Council meeting where members debated an HTC project near our neighborhood exemplified what happens when we do not have constructive ways to discuss housing.

One Preston Hollow resident said she “spoke for the whole neighborhood” in opposing the project due to its proximity to a “homeless camp.” The next agreed and spent the rest of her time testifying about drug deals and public nudity near the site. A homeowner complained that developers of lower income apartments would let just anyone live there, and another said the area already has plenty of diversity.

Councilmember Adam Bazaldua said he was “blown away” by the “disturbing” citizen comments.

“I 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.”

Lee Kleinman, who then represented North Dallas, said what happened at that meeting was the result of built-up frustration over a neglected part of the city where drugs and crime historically have run amok. While the two things are not connected, he says, those conditions breed skepticism.

“The lack of trust is strong in those two or three neighborhoods surrounding the proposed site, and when you piss off a neighborhood, they are going to rally when they have the opportunity for their voices to be heard,” he says.

And after Rep. Turner quashed the project, local media weighed in.

“It turns out, in Texas, angry neighbors can override their city council,” WFAA’s David Schechter reported at the time. “All they need is a letter of opposition from their state representative.”

The case typified “the kind of implicit bias and unfettered antagonism” that will make it impossible to build adequate affordable housing, Central Track reporter Doyle Rader wrote.

How do we get to a place of less anger, more 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 single-family homes, a repair program to preserve single-family homes and a downpayment assistance program, says Kyle Hines, assistant director of Dallas Housing & 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, and more residents are pushed out of rental opportunities.

“I don’t want the conversations to be pigeonholed into discussing housing for a particular group of people, because our city needs more housing at all price points,” Noguera says. “It’s critically important that whatever we’re investing in as a City serve a mixture of incomes.”

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.

“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 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 subsidized housing receives more attention

The average annual income for Dallas households is about $60,000, he says, while the average for-sale home is about $340,000 and the average 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.

Councilman Chad West who is on the City’s housing committee 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

“Apartment complexes are driving our murders.”

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 housing 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 communicate with the neighborhood, identify changeable pieces, and you do your best to honor the community.”

The developer is responsible for “effectively communicating” with the people, he says, and while some City officials have said the same, others including Kleinman say 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.

Long ago, areas such as Vickery Meadow and ForestCentral Expressway began suffering the effects of too many apartments with too little oversight. A 2004 article in a Texas paper called Dallas “one of the nation’s deadliest cities” and focused on apartments in Northeast Dallas. It read like “The Wire” and labeled multifamily communities “killing fields.”

As recently as a few months ago, a police spokesperson, referring to the same area at a safety committee session 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 “affordable housing crisis”

HOUSING WAGE BY ZIP CODE

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 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.

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

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 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 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.”

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 Preston Hollow, a person needs to make about $28 an hour or $55,000 a year in order to afford something in the neighborhood.

Based on house and rent prices from Zillow

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 lowerdensity 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.

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.

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 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.

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IN THE THICK OF ITIN THE THICK OF ITIN THE THICK OF IT

Preserving history and minimizing displacement in Elm Thicket-Northpark

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Art by JYNNETTE NEAL

Jonathan Maples doesn’t call what’s happening to Elm Thicket-Northpark gentrification.

“It is a hostile takeover disguised as gentrification, wrapped in racism,” he says.

Maples has lived in the neighborhood adjacent to Love Field Airport his entire life, nearly 60 years. His grandmother was the first person in his family to buy a home there, in the 1960s. Maples’ family owned it until 2002, and this year, it was torn down and replaced with a two-story home.

Elm Thicket-Northpark was settled as a Freedmen’s Town — composed of formerly enslaved people — in the late 1920s, when Love Field was still an air base. The neighborhood was mostly farmland, with no paved streets. Everyone paid a few cents for water at the local well. Hilliard Golf Course, Dallas’ first municipal course for Black people, was established there.

In the late 1960s, Love Field Airport was expanding, and the residents — who decades earlier were pushed to live in that area — were pushed out, along with the businesses they established. Many of them worked at the airport. The new neighborhood boundaries became Lovers Lane, Inwood Road, West Mockingbird Lane and Lemmon Avenue.

Growing up, Maples says, three values defined the neighborhood: community, unity and pride. Residents founded churches. They took pride in their children and their homes. Many group activities were centered around K.B. Polk, which became Dallas ISD’s first

Talented and Gifted Vanguard school.

But recently, developers have been coming into the neighborhood, buying up properties, tearing down old homes and replacing them with new ones that don’t match the existing single-story cottages.

“I don’t get the whole concept of: We’re going to come into your neighborhood, we’re going to do whatever it is we want to do, we’re going to build whatever it is we want to build, and you can’t have anything to say about it,” Maples says.

He may not call it gentrification, but displacement is occurring. Wealthier groups are entering a historically working-class neighborhood, and their newer, bigger, pricier homes are driving up property values and taxes. For some existing residents, especially those on fixed incomes, this process is making living in Elm Thicket-Northpark more and more unaffordable.

“They were done paying for their houses in the late ’60s, early ’70s,” Maples says. “Now they’re afraid they’re going to be taxed out.”

As property values are increasing, the demographic makeup of the neighborhood is also changing. In 2000, Black residents made up 60% of the neighborhood; 14 years later, they only comprised 30% of the neighborhood. During the same period, the number of Hispanic residents rose to 42% of the total population, up from 26%, and white residents accounted for nearly 20%, up from 11% in 2000.

It’s not just the increasing property values and differences to the look of the neighborhood. For residents including

Maples, the development is eliminating the neighborhood’s history.

And for years, residents have been standing up to development they see as threatening their neighborhood.

“I am not my grandfather’s grandfather,” Maples says. “We don’t live in fear.”

In the past, longtime neighbors have opposed proposed zoning changes that would allow what many of them see as unwanted structures. Elm Thicket-Northpark was also selected as the target area for District 2 in the City’s Neighborhood Plus program, and neighbors ultimately created an action plan to work toward goals regarding safety, stabilization, preservation, beautification and more.

For the past several years, neighbors have been meeting with City staff and council members to discuss zoning changes for the neighborhood overall. The latest in the process came during July’s City Plan Commission meeting, when commissioners voted in favor of Elm Thicket-Northpark residents opposing development plans. The proposed changes include limiting the lot coverage and building height of new developments, balancing historic structures with new builds. Effectively, the zoning amendments would prevent new construction from towering over old cottages.

Maples says he hopes the City Council will vote along the City Plan Commission’s recommendations.

“For the most part, we just want to be heard,” he says. “We don’t want to be run over.”

redlining explained

Redlining is one factor that could have contributed to the decades of affordable real estate in Elm Thicket-Northpark. That redlining process 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 and vet properties and homeowners who would qualify for the 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 — including part of Elm Thicket-Northpark — were also predominantly Black neighborhoods.

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, helping determine which loans should be insured.

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

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

Borrowers themselves also were rated.

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

No mortgages often meant no homeownership. While white and wealthy families were able to purchase properties 80 years ago, many minority populations were robbed of that opportunity. As a result, many minority families 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 rectifying 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 prohibits assessment areas from excluding low- or moderate-income communities.

According to the redlining maps from the 1930s, only a section of what’s now known as Elm Thicket-Northpark was redlined. The rest of the area was mostly farmland, so it wasn’t redlined, and a neighborhood developed. As the population grew, residents opened businesses and restaurants, forming a kind of self-sufficient community.

PERMANENT HOME, BUILT-IN COMMUNITY

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE experience homelessness in the City of Dallas, many of whom are disabled or elderly. Catholic Charities of Dallas and the Catholic Housing Initiative aim to aid as many of them as possible with St. Jude Center, which provides supportive housing for over 300 people across two campuses in our neighborhood.

St. Jude Center Forest Lane

provides housing for over 100 formerly homeless people. Services including case management, vocational training, job placement and community activities are also provided. The building is zoned for senior-citizen housing, and the campus serves chronically homeless individuals over the age of 55, many of whom are disabled.

Since its opening in 2018,

residents have built community and relationships through activities, such as monthly cookouts and bingo sponsored by a local church. For many elderly residents, St. Jude Center will be their last home. About 94% of residents never return to the streets. Either they remain at the center, relocate to other independent housing or move in with relatives.

St. Jude Center houses the for merly homeless at two centers in Preston Hollow

Story by ALYSSA HIGH

Photography by EMIL LIPPE

This is not achieved by Catholic Charities alone.

CitySquare, Metrocare and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing offer onsite case management, along with Catholic Charities. Assurance Wireless provides free phones. The Dallas Public Library offers movies, book clubs, computer classes and tax prep to those at the Forest location. Stylists provide haircuts. Bread Ministry delivers leftover

breads and pastries. Integrated Psychotherapeutic Services provides onsite therapy.

Residents pay a portion of their rent based on income, whether from jobs or Social Security. Besides rental income, St. Jude Centers obtain funding from Catholic Charities, local churches, the City of Dallas and private donors who subsidize vouchers for each tenant.

To serve those under 55, the St. Jude Center opened a Park Central location last year. The multi-phased homelessness and housing project serves atrisk populations by providing temporary emergency shelter, intensive case management, three meals daily and crisis assistance.

Survival is not the only priority for residents of the center. St. Jude Center calendars are filled with social events, fitness classes, Bible studies, table talks and birthday parties. Often, the residents bond like a family.

“For those that pass away, we have a funeral home that donates their services,” says Jari Mema, St. Jude’s chief services officer. “Although we make every effort to get in touch with relatives, some of them don’t have relatives, and the family

became their community and friends around here.”

Neighbors can volunteer to participate in community activities, get involved in other organizations that benefit the center, sponsor vouchers for residents or even just learn more about homelessness in our area to help St. Jude Centers.

“Take a different route when you go home. Drive around Downtown Dallas at noon and see the impact of the folks living on the streets,” Mema says. “COVID has caused more people to lose jobs and more people to be evicted because they cannot afford rent.”

Stigma surrounding homelessness comes from misconceptions, Mema says.

“It’s rare that I’ve run into a homeless person that was lazy or didn’t want to be housed,” Mema says. “Most of them have ended up on the streets because they lost their job. Their marriage broke up. They’ve lost contact with friends, family and relatives and don’t have a support system. Or they lost their home and lost their job after because they couldn’t get to work on time, couldn’t shower and it just snowballs and they end up on the street.”

The Kessler School is accreditied by AdvancED/SACS and is a member of TPSA and NAIS. Applications are currently being accepted. Please visit The Kessler School’s website or call to schedule a tour.

When learning is fun, it lasts a lifetime.

Learning is exciting, and your child is built to learn with a natural curiosity that knows no bounds. Through a balance of play and nurturing guidance, Primrose school teachers foster that curiosity and help your child feel a sense of pride and accomplishment that lays the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

Primrose School of Preston Hollow 12727 Hillcrest Road Dallas, TX 75230 214.369.7774

PrimrosePrestonHollow.com

Primrose School at White Rock 718 N. Buckner Blvd., Suite 200 Dallas, TX 75218 214.321.7797

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Each Primrose School a privately owned Schools a School Franchising SPE, LLC. ©2022 School Franchising SPE, LLC. All

exceptional universities AND HAPPINESS.

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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 rabbi 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 attention, 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 overhead, “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 double 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 questions 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 traditions 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 daughters 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.

With great hope, Matthew

REV. MATTHEW RUFFNER is the Senior Pastor at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. He is a husband to Sarah Ruffner and a father of two. You can follow Matthew on Instagram at @thisismatthewruffner and visit PHPC.org to watch the church’s live stream and listen to sermons.

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

ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809

Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m. Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org

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PRESBYTERIAN

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