South Dallas - creating opportunities for growth

Dallas Morning News - Saturday, February 23, 2008

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway was disgusted after touring the Kiest Station on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) line that runs down the middle of Lancaster Road in South Dallas. He was appalled at the smell of urine on the platform and the stains on the decorative columns at the station."We are not going to have this," said the first-term Dallas city councilmember. "I am going to make a call. Come back here in two weeks, and it won't look like this."

Mr. Caraway, never one to shy away from a fight, sees the Kiest Station as a microcosm of South Dallas, where his constituents live and where he and other city leaders see the greatest opportunities for Dallas' economic growth.

Mr. Caraway was waging a war to clean up South Dallas long before he was elected to the City Council and elevated to deputy mayor pro tem last year. His most celebrated fights – before he launched his war on saggy pants – were to close down motels that catered to prostitutes and drug users. Now he is working to clean up the streets, reduce code violations on commercial and residential properties and lower the crime rate.

"Before you can invite investors in, the house has got to be tidy," he says. "No one wants to invest in an untidy house."

Mr. Caraway believes there is progress. "We have been shutting down the crack houses. We are getting more police and code inspectors. We have got the city focused on the problem," he says.

Across the street from the DART station is the Lancaster-Kiest Shopping Center, which Mr. Caraway and other city officials believe has the potential to be an economic catalyst for the entire Lancaster corridor.

The city has dispatched code inspectors to the shopping center in the hopes of making it more attractive. Mr. Caraway compares the shopping center to the proverbial rotten apple that ruins the whole barrel. It is owned by a San Antonio company, whose owner, Mr. Caraway says, "does not give a care."

The pressure seems to be working. On the day Mr. Caraway toured the Kiest area, a team was picking up litter at the shopping center.

Karl Zavitkovsky, the city's economic development director, agrees that there are signs of progress in South Dallas. In a briefing to the City Council last week, Mr. Zavitkovsky outlined the progress and challenges ahead.

If it were a separate city, South Dallas would be the nation's 34th largest city. About 492,000 people live in the area, which is approximately 167 square miles in size.

Home ownership has risen significantly. Since 2000, there has been an increase of 81/2 percent in owner-occupied housing, as compared to 1.7 percent citywide.

The value of new construction building permits has grown almost 600 percent since 2000. And real property values have risen by $5.6 billion.

Violent crime is down 23 percent since 2003, and total crime is down by about 14 percent. The police department added a new south central division headquarters to focus more officers on the area.

DART has built two lines with 11 stations and is building a third with six more, all of which create opportunities for the city and private developers to build new housing and businesses near the South Dallas stations, like those at the Mockingbird and Cedars stations.

The new University of North Texas Dallas campus plans to have 25,000 students enrolled by 2030. There are five industrial parks in southern Dallas. And the most significant job-generator on the horizon is most likely the new 6,000-acre International Inland Port of Dallas, located south of Interstate 20 at Interstate 45. The inland port features two major railroad lines and projects an employment base of 30,000 jobs.

"Recent large investments in southern Dallas have yielded measurable progress, but the southern communities are losing ground relative to the region," Mr. Zavitkovsky told the council. "Sustainable redevelopment of southern Dallas requires going beyond bricks and mortar. The public sector cannot do it alone."

Mr. Caraway says South Dallas has much to offer real estate investors and new businesses, including some of the most beautiful terrain in the city and some of the best views of downtown Dallas.

"We can't let it be like it has been," he says.

He is excited that Mayor Tom Leppert is equally dedicated to improving South Dallas. And Mr. Caraway believes the other council members and the city staff want to help South Dallas reach its potential.

Mr. Caraway says that although he didn't understand why his first run for city council was unsuccessful, he now believes it worked out for the best.

"Now is the right time, and I have the right team," he says. "I couldn't be on a better team."

Stewart Lytle

E-mail: stewart@stewartlytle.com

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