*This is the first of two posts examining North Oak Cliff. Today's post concentrates on the political geography and what a specific block in Bishop Arts can tell us about Dallas. Tomorrow's will look at census data to examine North Oak Cliff.*
This and tomorrow's blog are specifically inspired by a post by Rob Shearer, an Oak Cliff resident and the former campaign manager for Giovanni Valderas, a former city council candidate for District 1(North Oak Cliff). It's worth it to stop now and read the post if you haven't yet. The boundaries of District 1 are roughly I-35 to the east, Illinois Ave to the south, Westmoreland to the west, and I-30 to the north. Valderas lost twice (2019 and 2021) to Chad West, and both times Valderas won many of the Latino neighborhoods in the south and west of the district but was unable to overcome West's huge margins in the more white areas of the district (Kessler Park and Winnetka Heights).
2021 City Council Results: District 1
Purple = Valderas
Red = West
2020 Census data for non-Hispanic white % of population
(darker areas = higher % white residents)
As you can tell, there is a strong correlation between areas where West won and a higher white population. In fact, almost all of West's 2021 margin of victory came from the one dark shaded neighborhood in the northwest corner of the map. Though, it's notable that the area along Zang Boulevard and Bishop Arts, the areas with the most intense development were close to 50-50 for West and Valderas.
If you ask people in Dallas where gentrification is happening, the most likely response you will get is Bishop Arts District/North Oak Cliff. The area was mostly white from its development in the late 1800s until the 1960s when white flight happened. Most of the area became heavily Latino over the next roughly 40 years. Since 2000, it has seen more upscale development along with the Bishop Arts Streetcar. This is an obviously simplified version, and I highly recommend reading
Barrio America by A.K. Sandoval-Strausz which gives a detailed history of how Latinos "saved" North Oak Cliff and made it into a vibrant, strong community. It's the best book I know of to examine Dallas' Latino population, a group that is the largest demographic group in Dallas.
Anyway, this is all to show that North Oak Cliff is an area divided and brings us back to Shearer's post. He records an entire block of small apartment complexes in Bishop Arts which has been slated for demolition and is scheduled to be replaced by one large apartment block. The block was put on the
market in 2016 by the previous owners, a local Dallas family. The post got a lot of attention with Shearer lamenting the loss of existing affordable housing. Many others lamented the loss of these idiosyncratic buildings.
The displacement of the existing residents is bad, and a central goal of Neighbors for More Neighbors - Dallas is to reduce displacement in the city. The best policy that I am aware of for a situation like this is called
right of first refusal or right of first purchase. If a rental building goes up for sale, the current tenants or a non-profit are given the first right to purchase the property. In addition, the city provides organizing help and low-interest loans to the tenants in order to make an acquisition possible. Other cities have put the program in place, and Dallas should adopt it as well. However, it should be noted that right of first refusal programs are not as effective in expensive housing markets because the purchase price can be prohibitive for the current tenants.
Zooming out slightly, having a particular attachment to the buildings themselves does not seem useful at first blush, but it is VERY telling. These buildings are a mismatch of styles, and they are all "
missing middle housing", small apartment complexes that make for more walkable neighborhood and livable neighborhood than Dallas' current dichotomy of single family homes or entire block mid-rise apartment complexes. The thing is, these kinds of buildings are illegal in almost every part of Dallas. If you tried to build even an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) in many parts of Dallas, you can expect for your neighbors to fight you tooth and nail over it voicing concerns about "destroying the character of the neighborhood."
Yet, these buildings in Bishop Arts show that where missing middle housing exists, it serves a vital role in creating great neighborhoods for people across income levels. Think about the most in-demand neighborhoods in Dallas (Bishop Arts, Lower Greenville, and Oak Lawn come to mind). All of these have higher concentrations of missing middle housing. Missing middle housing provides a way for neighborhoods to be built at a human scale that are walkable and have enough people to support retail. As missing middle buildings age, they often end up providing cheaper housing for tenants.
In order to have more missing middle housing, we need to change zoning but also do things like reduce parking minimums and setbacks so that it's feasible to build on existing lots. Dallas needs to legalize more missing middle housing across the city, and especially in wealthy neighborhoods (more on that tomorrow).
Allowing for more missing middle housing will reduce pressure on the Dallas housing market and keep existing housing like in Shearer's post from being torn down.
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