Oak Cliff Activists Say Dallas Can Keep its Slogan. They've Got a Better One.

Says Bike Friendly Oak Cliff and Go Oak Cliff, the slogan you see above is intended to counter the more familiar Dallas motto: "Live Large. Think Big." It's precisely that kind of thinking, writes Jason Roberts, that got the city where it is today, for better or worse. Hence this new slogan, presented in advance of this weekend's Better Block art installation-slash-political statement that'll take place during the second annual Oak Cliff Art Crawl. Writes the BMOC at BFOC:

It's the "Think BIG" campaigns which brought us underground mall-tunnels, giant inhospitable concrete plazas in front of City Hall, multi-million dollar signature bridges, and half-billion dollar hotels, that do nothing to create a sense of community, and a neighborhood which people value and want to live, work, and play in. Dallas deserves more than simply having a skyline that looks great in an airport snowglobe. We recognize that $125 Million dollars is being spent to get us a great looking suspension bridge, while little over $2 Million Dollars was spent in 2000 to create the infrastructure improvements to the small Bishop Arts District block in North Oak Cliff, which has truly created a sense of place and driven real economic change in the area. You could say the exact same for the Katy Trail in Uptown...it's cost was exponentially less than the Cityplace project built nearby (which promised the creation of a "lively neighborhood"). The money spent on a single mile of highway could create 10 Bishop Arts Districts. That's the key to "THINK small", and the reality to creating a city worth living in.