No, this is not a day of "silent protest," as one Friend of Unfair Park asks below. Far from it -- thought it'd be nice just to let folks talk about the election results, without pointing out, oh, that Southwest Airlines is working hard to get your business or that Blockbuster's desperately trying to appeal to the kids by getting all up in your Facebook or that Time Warner Cable lost a larger-than-expected 83,000 basic video customers, most in new markets Dallas and Los Angeles. We'll get back to the torrent of posts in the morning; for now, well, it was a long night.
But there is one thing to which we do need to draw your attention, and if it's not The Next Big Battle in Dallas, it's only because it's been brewing for a long, long time: The Fate of Deep Ellum. As I've mentioned several times before, and as Jonanna pointed out yesterday on DC-9 at Night, the battle over the city's granting of specific use permits in Deep Ellum and Exposition Park is coming to a head. Several bars in the area are going before the City Plan Commission tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., among them The Amsterdam Bar, Fallout Lounge, Club Dada, Double Wide and Elm St. Bar.
The owners of those establishments, among many others, are calling for folks to attend tomorrow's hearing. They took one look at last week's results, during which two bars were denied SUPs (with Monkey Bar's fate still undecided), and have decided none of them are slam-dunks, by any stretch.
Notes Amsterdam Bar's owner, Mike Scheel, on the DEEP site:
"Though we are not anticipating any opposition to our request to the CPC, It would be better to be prepared than not should opposition arise. Case in point, Monkey Bar. Gerald [Stogsdill] underestimated the potential for opposition, and ran across some with his neighbors behind him. They had several letters & speakers opposing his SUP request. Gerald had nothing, as he did not think this was going to be a problem. The CPC gave him a week to see if there could be any compromise made, if not he's likely gone. The lesson I take from that is one of preparedness."So, see, tomorrow's a brand-new day. Or, maybe, just another of the same ol' same ol'. --Robert Wilonsky
