As mentioned yesterday, the Deep Ellum Town Hall Meeting at the Sons of Hermann is two weeks away -- but it's very top-of-mind amongst the residents of the neighborhood that's referred to as Dallas's "wetlands for [the] creative class and entrepreneurs" in the 31-page presentation the Deep Ellum Association gave to Mayor Tom on Tuesday. Mark Roberts posted his lengthy thoughts about the meeting yesterday in the comments to the original item; among his impressions, "[Leppert] seems to carry similar thoughts of Deep Ellum as an authentic, definable neighborhood which needs to keep its unique flavor in order to build a well-rounded city."
Tiffany Kieran, a Deep Ellum Association board member and Preservation Dallas member, also attended yesterday's meeting with the mayor; after the jump, her optimistic news and notes concerning the history lesson Leppert received about the endangered assemblage of storefronts. Also worth nothing before we jump, Cindy Chaffin will help Unfair Park stream a live video feed from the town hall meeting on June 27, since, as several Friends noted yesterday, some folks gotta work, dig? Dug. --Robert Wilonsky
Notes Kieran:The meeting with the mayor went much better than could have been expected, and he very clearly stated that the city wants live music in Deep Ellum, that it has an identity and history that most areas in Dallas can not claim and that he got that. And that he gets it should not be West Village Part Two or 12. We can't well tell property owners what to do with their property, but this is a turn in a good direction.
We need very, very specific points brought up on action items the city can take to assist live music, retail, restaurants, historic properties. He wanted specific to-do lists.
He seemed to feel the [specific use permit] issue was really about crime. They did not get that it scared the crap out of venue owners or that it was not well informed to the area, that parking is a nightmare for reopening Trees, but now they want to know how to amend that.
Alan [Govenar] gave the Mayor a copy of Deep Ellum and Central Track and brought up the Pythian Temple a number of times as one of the most significant historic buildings in Dallas. The mayor also seemed very impressed also with the Blind Lemon Blues musical's national and international success. ... And he went into all the history of the railroad, the blues, jazz, migrant populations, the crossroads of diverse populations.
