The Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to expand efforts to preserve the city's historic and cultural spaces important to communities of color after decades of disinvestment.
The City Council unanimously adopted the Historic and Cultural Preservation Strategy as a citywide framework to equitably protect Dallas' history. It begins a process that could take years and includes scouting potential historic properties and securing funding and staff.
Dallas City Councilmember Janie Schultz, who led the effort to introduce a strong preservation plan, said the strategy is an easy win that unites the city around protecting and celebrating its unique neighborhoods and diverse communities.
“Every neighborhood in Dallas has a heritage to share,” Schultz said. “The great thing about this plan is that it provides an opportunity for all regions to talk about what is important to them, what is unique and what is special, even if it is not the buildings but the people. is.”
Dallas has approximately 4,000 properties designated as historic sites. These include 153 individual landmarks. Thirty-six of the cases are significant to Black, Mexican American, or Indigenous communities.
The City's Historic Preservation Program, located within the Planning and Urban Design Department, primarily focuses on regulatory tools such as zoning to create historic districts and designate landmarks.
However, the strategic plan expands preservation efforts beyond the department to include compliance, economic development, libraries, and city archives, among other areas.
“Many of Dallas’ most powerful stories lack architecturally significant buildings to house them,” the plan states.
Councilwoman Carla Mendelsohn said she was skeptical the city would have enough money to hire the three or four additional preservationists needed to implement the plan.
“There may be some genius budgeting in the future, but I don't see that happening,” Mendelsohn said.
Implementing the preservation strategy could cost more than $1 million in one-time investments, and $500,000 has already been budgeted for a “historic resource survey,” according to the city strategy. has been made into
The remaining $500,000 will be raised through philanthropy and used to rebrand and launch a historic preservation website, manuals and documents, create a historic district design guide, and create a pilot program.
Dallas Budget and Administrative Services Director Janet Weedon said hiring additional city employees focused on preservation would still require additional City Council approval during the biennial budget process. The city has not established a timeline for completing these steps.
First enacted in Dallas in 1973, historic preservation ordinances were intended to stabilize neighborhoods during a time of displacement and disinvestment of communities of color.
But in the decades that followed, the city failed to allocate funds to develop a comprehensive preservation plan or survey historic resources, and budgeted for only one full-time employee, according to the strategic council adopted Wednesday. It is said that the amount has been reduced.
Instead, the city relied on an army of dedicated volunteers, including the Landmarks Commission, to carry out the often complex and expensive task of protecting Dallas' culturally significant sites.
The city says a lack of support for preservation programs is hurting low-income neighborhoods, which often have little access to the education and legal services needed to move forward with the process.
At Wednesday's public hearing, Sharondria Gallimore, a fifth-generation Joppa resident and member of the city's Historic and Cultural Preservation Steering Committee, told the City Council that residents, small businesses and cultural organizations should focus on supporting non-disabled people. recommended that consideration be given to adopting a neighborhood-level designation. Zoning options such as information signs.
“City-led billboard programs provide an accessible, low-cost alternative program while also helping the city organize public history and help residents and neighbors highlight the stories of historically marginalized people and help them make their own decisions.” It also gives us an opportunity to share the stories that are important to us,' communities like Joppa and others who have been systematically forgotten,'' Gallimore said.
West Dallas resident Ronnie Mestas spoke in favor of adopting a strategy to protect the part of Dallas he and many Hispanic families call home.
“We've been ignored for a while,” Mestas said. “We’re still struggling here on the west side of Dallas.”
Dallas does not have a historic district dedicated to its Hispanic history, but individual locations have been recognized as landmarks, including the Luna Tortilla Factory in northwest Dallas, Eagle Ford School in west Dallas, and El Ranchito Restaurant in Oak Cliff. Masu.
The city recently waived rules that led to the demolition of historic homes on 10th Street, a predominantly black neighborhood, over the past decade.
