I just got back from our meeting with Mayor Leppert in anticipation of the town hall event. Several members of the DEA, Alan Govenar and a ReelFX representative were in attendance. The meeting went very well, our goal was to inform the mayor who we were, the issues facing the area and our strategy going forward and we achieved these goals.
The presentation can be downloaded as a pdf here:
http://www.printelectric.com/mark/DEA_Presentation_mayor_r.pdf
Mr Govenar led off with a brief description of his credentials, which are substantial, and a general nod of approval for our organization and mission. We then started our presentation where Sean Fitzgerald laid out the DEA vision, then Sean Jensen from ReelFX described the attraction of Deep Ellum to the creative people he recruits and, all the while Gianna Madrini kept us all moving in the right direction.
The Mayor’s response was very favorable and he seemed to appear as though we were preaching to the choir on almost everything we presented. He seems to carry similar thoughts of Deep Ellum as an authentic, definable neighborhood which needs to keep its unique flavor in order to build a well-rounded city.
From there we did give some of our thoughts about how the current SUP process was well-intentioned but has fostered a perception of fear with regards to opening a new pub or live music venue in Deep Ellum. Our opinion is; people are avoiding the area since of all the press; in addition, the parking restrictions have kept clubs like Trees from re-opening; and some bar owners (whom I know personally) are trying to sell out before their SUP expires in 3-4 years since they risk getting shut down at the caprice of the neighbors. He expressed a great deal of concern regarding these issues since his take is the city should be facilitator of small, entrepreneurial endeavors and not an obstacle. He also stated the parking requirements have a useful purpose but should be used as guidelines not mandates.
We also brushed on the fact that some of the large property owners who appear content to sit on the land and wait for Dart to come in so they can cash in. Our take was if we could spur renovation and conscientious development when the doors open to the train in 2010, there will be something inviting greeting perspective patrons of the neighborhood. The Mayor was a bit guarded on this subject (in my opinion) but I think this is a tough thing to rectify and generally a sticky subject.
The Mayor stressed the overarching need for City involvement during this process. It seemed to me toward the end of the meeting he was looking for a punch list of finite next steps, which we did not have prepared. Our goal was to sell the vision and I guess he was an easier sell than we had anticipated.
Once we conduct the Town Hall Meeting he’ll hear from all of you, DEEP and the Deep Ellum Foundation. From there we will work to gather a consensus from the neighborhood and deliver his punchlist based on the the input and guidelines set down by our mission document.
