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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Hollywood Overhead Doors becomes target in White Rock Lake development
City Councilmen Bill Blaydes and Ed Oakley not looking so good.
DALLAS — Sharon Boyd at DallasArena.com takes a look at the May 23 City Council hearing where they discussed rezoning the land on which veteran White Rock Lake business Hollywood Overhead Doors has operated since 1936.
The bone of contention is that Hollywood Overhead Doors sits on the other side of the creek from the $100 million Prescott development. Councilman Bill Blaydes claims that the current zoning that allows Hollywood to stay in business could also allow sexually oriented businesses. But there are signs that that's just a smokescreen to help out Prescott Realty.
From Dallas Arena:
While the Mayor was questioning [Hollywood Overhead Doors owner] Mr. Pierce, she got him to repeat his story about his communications with Bill Blaydes over this attempted land grab.
Mr. Pierce said the first he had heard about any of Blaydes' plans was when he got the notice of the council hearing to call a Plan Commission hearing to rezone his land. He said he called Bill Blaydes, and said 'I don't even know you why are you doing this to me?' Blaydes told Mr. Pierce he hadn't accepted any of the offers to buy his land, and this council action was to get his attention. Mayor Miller asked Mr. Pierce if developers have been trying to buy his property, and he said they had but he had declined because he wanted to continue to use the property just like he was currently doing.
A Plan Commissioner could have requested a hearing to rezone Mr. Pierce's property. All the council was doing today was to consider sending the matter to the Plan Commission to consider the rezoning. There would be no guarantee the Plan Commission would vote to rezone the land. Mayor Miller asked Blaydes' Plan Commission appointee why she had not done so herself. She advised that she had refused Blaydes' request because she thought it was wrong.
Ed Oakley knows he looked as bad as Blaydes today. You could hear it in his voice when he was talking with Mr. Pierce. Rather than answer Mayor Miller's question as to why he signed the resolution to rezone Mr. Pierce's property, he tried to play a "positive" image of finding a solution to Mr. Pierce's problem -- a problem that Mr. Pierce didn't have until Ed tried to assist Blaydes in stealing Mr. Pierce's property.
Mitch Rasansky said it best. Changing the zoning on Mr. Pierce's CS zoned property would be lowering its value. When he would be forced to sell and relocate his business and his 45 employees, long-term employees, Mr. Pierce would take a terrible loss. You know who else would take a loss? Dallas taxpayers. Mr. Pierce would very likely move his company out of our city limits, with his 45 jobs. Some other city would get the sales tax generated by Hollywood Overhead Doors. Some other city would get the tax on his equipment and buildings.
Unfortunately, the sound system between City Hall and WRR went haywire just as they were reading out the vote. So, I can't report who voted against Bill Blaydes and Ed Oakley. Must have been enough to kill the deal, because Blaydes' motion failed.
A discussion on Dallasmetropolis.com among residents from the area champions the right of Hollywood Overhead Doors to stay in business, insisting that it's not the blight that Blaydes suggests, with vows to keep an eye on what happens to it in the future.
Posted by T.G.
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Billusa99, anonymous:
RE: *"Mr. Pierce said the first he had heard about any of Blaydes' plans was when he got the notice of the council hearing to call a Plan Commission hearing to rezone his land. He said he called Bill Blaydes, and said 'I don't even know you why are you doing this to me?' Blaydes told Mr. Pierce he hadn't accepted any of the offers to buy his land, and this council action was to get his attention."*
Well, Mr. Blaydes, it SURE worked. But not the "attention" you and Prescott Realty may have wanted it, eh? Rest assured that council is on to you.
And Oakley just lost a LOT of votes.
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SitizenKane, anonymous:
I was considering casting my vote for Ed Oakley, but not after reading this story. Leppart is looking better. It looks like Oakley doesn't want to stand up for the little guy.....
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coreperformance, anonymous:
Ed Oakley does not have the sense of stewardship that a mayor should have. And he doesn't want us to vote on the Trinity Highway, which means he doen't care about democracy, either.
I'm voting for Leppert.
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DC, anonymous:
Welcome to Gulag, Texas, where Comrades Leppert and Oakley will now accept your equalization payments in cash and root vegetables!
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WhitneyTM, anonymous:
Leppert is also against the Trinity Vote.
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lakewooder, anonymous:
Let's be clear, this is Lake Highlands, not East Dallas/Lakewood. Some elements in LH are trying to run off anyone who isn't upper middle class and we are desparately trying to keep our economic diversity.
We also value history and tradition in this part of the White Rock area. I hope this storied and venerable business is not run out of Dallas by such shenanigans.
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
That was weird - to see Leppert's supporters attack Oakley on an issue BOTH sides agree about.
It's almost as if there's some OTHER reason they oppose this man - a reason which they don't want to openly and honestly discuss.
What is it about religious zealots and other gay-bashers - that they are so afraid to discuss their REAL issues... openly and honestly.
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Billusa99, anonymous:
Oh c'mon Sanders... leave it alone and hijack another thread, OK?! This has nothing to do with gay bashing.
It's about LH land grabs and Oakley patronizing and pandering to a Blaydes end-run. Nothing more.
So grab some common sense and go Off Topic somewhere else! We don't need your sanctimonious claptrap here.
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
RE: It's about LH land grabs and Oakley patronizing and pandering to a Blaydes end-run. Nothing more.
It's common for our more dim-witted citizens to think campaigns are only about one narrow issue - but you're just plain wrong about that.
Furthermore, since Oakley and Leppert BOTH agree that this issue should not go to the voters, it's kinda dumb to try to claim it differentiates them.
That's one of the things I don't like about Oakley. His only appeal seems to be with folks who are just not very bright this way.
I could be wrong about that, though. It may be that y'all are indeed intelligent - but just not very honest. This ignorance and insincerity is common among right-wingers, religious zealots and other gay-bashers.
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Billusa99, anonymous:
Hey Sanders... like I said, get a new thread and a new life. Want to argue the Trinity vote, then find somewhere else. White Rock Creek is flooded thru white Rock Valley right now and the Lawther gates are down -- so go check the Trinity elsehere.
Lakewooder... do ya think that you could leave your constant LH-bashing to the DallasMetropolis thread and maybe congratulate city council for standing up to Blaydes? Do ya think that you could recognize that this isn't about a bunch of LH people trying to sterilize LH (as opposed to Lakewood)? Cause if you think that you could just do that here, I won't rant on you about all your Lakewood/East Dallas brags in every forum about Dallas on all the Internets. Deal??
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
RE: Cause if you think that you could just do that here, I won't rant on you about all your Lakewood/East Dallas brags in every forum about Dallas on all the Internets.
It's a shame to see that anonymous web predators are targeting Pegasus's forum participants for harassment this way.
As Pegasus becomes more and more popular in the DFW community, I hope that the staff is prepared to fight this predatory behaviour.
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Michael Davis, verified:
I listened to this case on the radio last week. Blaydes is a piece of work. So is Oakley, he just flip-flopped on his vote (in favor of Pierce) at the end.
One thing to know about City Council: any district councilperson needs five signatures to put something on the agenda, as in this case.
The Mayor can put anything on the council agenda without any other signatures. So if you get Oakley, you will get many things like this since he can do it by himself.
Ex: hearings to tear down low-income apartments or anything else can be done at a whim.
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Billusa99, anonymous:
Hey Sanders... find thee a river. Lakewooder and I "know" each other from other Internets -- he's Lakewooder and I'm in WRV with a hockey puck logo and we joust all the time! It's a silly LH-Lakewood-east Dallas game we all play from that place in cyberville... all the time. Because we all have pride in our east Dallas 'hoods.
You're laughing last... yet again. Surf more, pontificate less, observe and process.
Now, back on topic: Here's the best investigative reporter in DFW and his take on this land grab: The Good Laura Or, how Bill Blaydes locked up the Bastard of the Year award
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-05...
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Mike Orren, verified:
We've gotten several flags from users to remove posts from varying points of view on this comment thread. We're not doing that at this point, but let me remind folks of some basic things:
We do expect users to keep conversation on topic. And I share the frustration some are citing with users hitting every conversation over and over with the same arguments that are at best tangentially related to the topic at hand. Not every conversation needs to be viewed through the prism of religion or gender choice or political party. Sometimes a crappy bait and switch policy is just a crappy bait and switch policy.
We do ask that everyone be respectful of everyone else. Ad hominem arguments do little for the conversation.
I'm really proud that there's a lot of serious discourse on this site about the news and issues that affect our cities. Let's not ruin that by succumbing to flame wars.
Note what the button says before you submit your final comment: "My momma would be proud of what I just wrote." Think before you push. And if your momma's a message board troll, then find another haunt.
None of the commenters who have flagged on this discussion are newbies here, nor are the people they are flagging. Let's try to stay focused on the issue(s) at hand.
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James Scott, verified:
Sanders: Hate to butt-in on your fun here, but I kind of agree with Billusa here (and you can't knock me b/c I am not verified). I think his point is that you're wasting time on this thread talking about nothing pertinent to the actual story, which is kind of a waste of everyone's time.
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Michael Davis, verified:
Watch the June 13th council agenda. This is the last full agenda before the council changes hands. Watch guys like Blaydes who will look to flood that meeting with a lot of slick stuff like this current case we're discussing.
I feel there was no coincidence that this was in the second to last meeting of the current council.
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Lemastre, anonymous:
Choosing between Oakley and Leppert will be a matter of which looks worst on election day. The best thing for Oakley is to keep his yap closed from now on, especially at council meetings. But he may be suffering terminal foot-in-mouth disease for supporting Blaydes, who apparently wants to turn LH into one giant development project.
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lakewooder, anonymous:
I did not say everyone in LH wants to run off people of lesser means, I said 'some elements'.
My main purpose in posting was that the story just says "White Rock Lake" - it does not specify which neighborhood. I wanted it known that it is not ours.
And if I brag about Lakewood / East Dallas one of the reasons is that it is an area where everyone from the very rich to the very poor associate and enjoy each other's company - this seems very rare in the world.
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
Mike - The only reason I asked that his comment be removed was because he was making a personal threat against one of the participants.
Going off-topic, getting hot-headed - those are totally legitimate things to do, however foolish.
But targeting individuals personally for harassment should not be tolerated - if for no other reason than that it puts your company at risk.
There IS a public forum in which they can behave this way without putting anyone but themselves at risk - Usenet.
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
Lakewooder - you're not fooling anyone but yourself when you use vague phrases like "certain elements" when describing people of lesser means.
Indeed - that particular phrase is a favorite amongst White Supremacists and other right-wing predators.
Furthermore, if you check the liturgy on that phrase, you'll find that it first came to prominence in Nazi Germany as a way of referring to our Jewish brothers and sisters. That was before it became acceptable to be more open about to whom they were referring.
I understand that the grandson of one of Hitler's "civilian contractors" (Rev. Bush) has made You People feel safe in using that kind of language... again. But a resurgence of those values only means that we have to, once again, come up with a Final Solution to prevent You People from solidifying your Fourth Reich.
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James Scott, verified:
Can we close this thread to comments? I don't even know what the H people - or rather a specific person, is talking about now.
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Sanders Kaufman, verified:
If you don't understand something - closing the discussion about it won't clarify anything for you.
A better strategy for gaining understanding would be to ask questions and (this is the important part) read the answers.
Beyond that - if you don't like the subject matter - don't participate in the discussion. For example, I don't find the discussions about local bands and restaraunts to be interesting - so I don't participate in those threads.
But I'd fight to the death for those people's right to discuss that blather.
Wouldn't you?
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lakewooder, anonymous:
Sanders you need to read more carefully before you invoke Godwin's law of using Hitler to fight an argument.
When I wrote 'certain elements' I was not talking about the people of lesser means, I was talking about those who want to get rid of them.
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What do you think?