Audio By Carbonatix
Tomorrow we’ll get back to bond-package and alley-repair city council briefings and the business community’s interest in fixing the DISD; meet the new year, same as the old. But here’s a nice way to kick off 2012 — with Boston Globe features editor Katie McLeod‘s recap of her recent visit to Dallas, where a healthy diet of low expectations created by reality and revival television led to “a hefty helping of pleasant surprises.” Among them: Javier’s, Bread Winners, the Arboretum (above, natch), the Meyerson … and Cowboys Red River. McLeod apparently whiled away much of her stay in Uptown, where there exists “plentiful dining out and night life options” — as opposed to, say, the long-walk-away downtown.
But I also toured a sprawling arboretum where I got lost in a fairy tale world of pretty pumpkins and gorgeous gourds (even the gourds were glamorous), and ventured to the symphony. I walked from downtown through uptown, and drove a few miles north of downtown to check out Southern Methodist University with its tasteful brick buildings and manicured campus. The nearby Highland Park neighborhood was jaw dropping. … We spent much time in uptown, a strip of restaurants, bars, shopping, hotels, and condos with droves of young people. Most Eligible Dallas unfolded before my eyes. But I saw no big hair. Jeans? Yes. Boots? Yes. Dressed to the nines? Oh yes. But no big hair. I was at least in the clear in the locks department.
Alas, McLeod didn’t make it to Lower Greenville, where, a year from now, she’ll find that Trader Joe’s first announced Thursday. Which reminds me:
Council member Angela Hunt posted to her blog a sort of toldya-so celebrating the Big News as proof that the being–litigated Lower Greenville Planned Development District Ordinance and those recent street improvements really are working:
I remember talking with several retail brokers and restauranteurs a
couple of years ago who told me the reasons they wouldn’t relocate to
Lower Greenville: the perception of high crime; the fact that it was
primarily a regional late-night bar strip; and the run-down appearance
of the street. We have changed that. The new late-night permitting
process is reducing crime and helping rebalance the day-night business
ratio. The street and sidewalk improvements have cleaned up the street
and created a welcoming environment for the surrounding neighbors.But the proof is in the results: Of all the places Trader Joe’s could
have moved to in Dallas — the Park Cities, Uptown, Lakewood, Far North
Dallas, and elsewhere — they chose to come to Lower Greenville.
Without question, this is a direct result of the changes we’ve made, and
I have no doubt that without these changes, they would not have come.
And this is just the type of business we wanted to attract — a daytime
business focused on serving the surrounding community. It’s also a
perfect fit for East Dallas.
