Duncanville City Council approves Main Street redevelopment

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

DUNCANVILLE — Despite the objections of some small business owners and allegations of corruption from one councilman, Duncanville’s council approved a new Main Street Master Plan June 17. The crowd in opposition wasn’t as large as the one June 3, but it was still vocal and unanimous in its distaste for the plan.

Many business owners along the Main Street corridor say they think they’re being forced out in favor of newer buildings. Louis Petrik said he had been cited by code enforcement for displaying lawnmowers outside his repair business. He said he puts them outside after repairing them because all the mowers inside his shop are being worked on. Petrik said he has done so for years but is only now getting cited.

“I have a right to do business in Duncanville just like anybody else,” he said. “I’ve been told some people have to sacrifice so other people can turn around and come out for the better off of it.”

But Petrik said he wouldn’t give up his property so the city could “take it over.”

Councilman Paul Ford has made no secret of his opposition to the plan and he stated it again at this meeting. He said the way this plan has been sold to the public was “disingenuous,” citing examples of beer and wine sales or the Texas Lottery. Ford said those items had been sold to taxpayers as ways to cure financial ills but had come up short. Several minutes into Ford’s summary of his reasons, Councilman Grady Smithey questioned whether Ford’s arguments about taxes were germane to the debate.

City Attorney Bob Hager said as the council chairman, Mayor David Green would have to rule on whether Ford could continue. Green said Ford was a little off but he was describing the reasons he would vote against the Main Street Master Plan. Smithey still questioned whether Ford’s line of reasoning was relevant.

“Based on what happened in 2007? How’s that germane to this particular subject?” Smithey asked. Green said he would allow Ford to continue. Ford then launched barbs at a familar target, the Anthem housing development. Ford said taxpayers were promised if they gave the developer $209,000, it would increase the property taxes on that location.

Green said Ford was drifting further off the subject at hand. Ford raised a point of order and Hager told him Anthem’s status had no bearing on the Main Street Plan currently being discussed.

Several minutes later Green cut Ford off again, this time as the councilman suggested only a handful of developers owning property in the area would benefit. He name dropped Dalton Lott and Green told Ford he didn’t know that for a fact.

Through its usual serpentine and at times contentious path to progress, the council voted 6-1 to approve the ordinances putting the new plan into action. Councilwoman Johnette Jameson said she had received assurances that city staff will work with business owners, so she felt comfortable supporting the plan.

Also still under debate is Duncanville’s plan to ask the state for breed specific legislation targeting pit bulls. Fred Knight, one of the city’s most well-known voices of dissent, spoke in public forum. He questioned whether staff has researched if such legislation had been effective in other places.

He brought an AP press release about the Netherlands removing a 25-year ban on pit bulls because it led to no decrease in bite incidents. The Dutch government banned the dog breeding and possession of pit bulls in 1993 after three children were killed by the dogs.

“I imagine that because the government did not enforce laws they already had on the books, the new law did not provide the intended results,” Knight said. “We already have laws that would take care of the situation at hand if the city finds ways to enforce them.”

With the Main Street Master Plan now approved, the pit bull issue is now unquestionably front and center in the City of Champions.