* I want to get word out ASAP regarding an issue coming before the City Council tomorrow. Gerald Britt is writing for our Viewpoints page about a scheduled vote to approve a special use permit for yet another alcohol-related business on South Lamar Street, where a community group has been working successfully for the good of this area.



I believe this is similar, if not the exact issue, to a development noted in this very good post by Michael Davis on Dallas Progress late last year. If you look at the second map on his post, you’ll find a “proposed night club” in the midst of all the existing alcohol-related businesses already in operation.

* Homeowners, community leaders and clergy in South Dallas are working with technical advisers, an urban planner and city staff to develop a model for revitalizing the South Lamar Street corridor. The goal is a big one: To dramatically reverse the persistent economic decline and social distress in this neighborhood.



* The plan commission’s recommendation is incompatible with the community’s desire to rid itself of the pervasive presence of nightclubs, liquor stores and scrap metal yards. For too long, zoning has allowed industrial and commercial sites to crowd churches and homes in this area. Too many of the businesses breed heavy traffic — and worse. Crime, urban nuisances, near hopelessness and despair pockmark the neighborhood.



* South Lamar Street cuts along the western edge of South Dallas proper. As it runs under Interstate 45, the street is home to about 215 acres of metal recycling, transportation and liquor businesses mixed with abandoned, substandard structures and residences.



* Homeowners, community and church leaders are not saying that South Dallas has to be “dry,” they are saying they don’t want a future that has them drowning in alcohol. They deserve the City Council’s support.