Bishop/Davis land use study: Thoughts from Val Haskell

Land use study committee member Val Haskell told me a lot of interesting things that I didn't have the space to include in November's story. She's one of 12 neighbors appointed to the committee by either Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia or Councilman Dave Neumann, and she lives in the Kings Highway Conservation District.

What's happening on Davis, Haskell says, is a lot of dynamic, organic change, and the process of the land use study is about trying to get the kind of change Oak Cliff neighbors want. "It's preparation for what we know is coming and making sure what comes is more of what we want instead of less of what we want," she says. "Personally, I would love to be able to walk from my home down to Bishop Arts and have an interesting urban streetscape and one that, if I wanted to run a few errands, I could."

"The neighborhoods have different flavors, too, so there’s an attempt to honor the flavors," Haskell says. "We have to make sure Bishop Arts continues to do really well, and if we can help Davis do well, Bishop Arts will do better and better. I think of it in terms of little nodes and how do we connect these nodes better — Bishop Arts, then Gloria's and Bolsa, then Kavala — how do we make it great in between those pieces, and what do we want as a neighborhood? I hope we are able to facilitate or expedite the kind of change that we want."

Comments

[Kelly Tomlinson]

Just like that Italian restaurant at the La Familia, I predict Bolsa will be closed in a year. $28 for a sandwich and 2 beers? No, thank you! That's not the type of development my neighborhood needs. I noticed you called out Gloria's and Bolsa but you ignored the best taqueria in Oak Cliff, El Si Hay, located at that same corner. THAT is Oak Cliff. Are they on your radar or not? Do they fit into an Oak Cliff that looks like Uptown's 5-story condo's on 80% filled lots? I eat there 5x more often than Gloria's. And I say leave them alone. Look, ultimately, the integrity of our corner of Oak Cliff needs to remain intact, or we might as well live in Uptown, Plano, Coppell or any other developer-planned neighborhood instead of one master planned a hundred years ago. I'd rather let Dave Spence lovingly restore one building at a time than allow a cookie-cutter master plan within 6 miles of my front door and increase density astronomically. Its hard enough to cross Davis now and it can't be widened!