Stan Aten
David Tuthill
Dekalb County Anonymouse
                             

6/19/9   Friendships with politicians are usually one-way trips!


For someone who has been involved in Dallas politics as long as I have, you would think a council member's duplicity would no longer shock me.  You come to know individual politicians as people and even consider some as friends.  That's normally not a good thing.

There are exceptions, of course.  Councilman Steve Salazar has proved to be a loyal friend and consistent.  We frequently are on opposite sides of major big ticket items, but I know where he's coming from.  I also know that when he tells me something I can count on him to keep his word.  Unfortunately, you can't say that about some of his colleagues.

Councilman Salazar appointed me to the Board of Adjustment in late 2005.  A few months after my appointment, I was appointed vice chair of my panel.  When our chair stepped down, Mayor Leppert appointed me as Chair of Panel C.  There are 3 Board of Adjustment panels of five members each.  Rob Richmond is chair over all three panels, but Darlene Reynolds and I conduct the hearings of our respective panels.  Complicated system, but we haven't had any members indicted or any scandals since the three panels were created after 14-1 became the council's structure.

Before we became 3 panels of 5 members, there was only one Board of Adjustment panel of 5 members.  No council member had a direct appointment to the Board.  To tie the Board more directly to the council but to keep the Board's autonomy, two additional panels were created with the same rules as the original panel.  It takes 4 out of 5 votes to approve a case before the Board of Adjustment.  Cases are assigned at random between  the panels.  There is no ward politics because of our configuration.  Since we are quasi-judicial, no one can lobby us about a case.  The only time you can talk with us about a case is at the hearing before the entire panel.

Several months ago, Councilman Dave Neumann decided that the Board of Adjustment should be merged into one panel of 15.  There are many reasons it is a bad idea.  The most significant is that it would mean that regular working people can no longer serve on the Board because they would have to be at City Hall 2 or more days per month, away from their jobs and businesses.  Too many of the city's boards and commissions are peopled by retirees and housewives because many working people cannot jeopardize their jobs by being at City Hall multiple days a month. 

When it first came up, I talked to several council members about Neumann's plans and got commitments from them to oppose the plan to consolidate the Board.  Their general response was "don't fix what ain't broke".  

It's hard for council members from the poorer districts to find constituents to serve on city boards because of the time commitments.  The Board of Adjustment is an important board but currently only requires a member to be at City Hall one full day a month and only 10 months a year.

There are some council members who can only think in terms of control, and they want to impose their will over the Board of Adjustment.  They don't understand what the Board does or the illegality of their ambitions.  If the Board were to become one panel of 15, it would be inevitable that some council member would break the law by trying to force their appointee to take a certain position on particular case. 

Last week, ZOAC (an advisory committee to the Plan Commission) rejected the idea of one panel of 15 but instructed staff to draft an ordinance that would create 2 panels of 8 members, with one panel hearing only residential and the other hearing only commercial cases.  Still makes no sense, but better than Neumann's plan.

It still comes down to the question of why fix what ain't broke?  It's not the Board of Adjustment that's been the problem at City Hall.  It's the Plan Commission.  I've been a member of both, so I know what I'm talking about.  The current configuration of the P&Z makes it ripe for corruption.  We would likely not be watching a former councilman on trial in federal court if the P&Z were 3 panels like the Board of Adjustment.

I had a recent conversation with a council member about the Board of Adjustment brouhaha and was stunned to hear the member had flipped.  It's all about control and trading votes.

That council member thinks the P&Z works well.  That's just flat out wrong!

Currently, Neil Emmons is still on the Plan Commission from District 14.  He is exactly what's wrong with the P&Z and why the BOA should remain as 3 panels.  This guy doesn't work.  He has nothing to do but hang out at City Hall.  He doesn't work.  He doesn't have a business.  He lives on some kind of stipend, disability or something else depending on who you talk with.  Doesn't matter.  What matters is that he doesn't work.  He meddles and screws stuff up because it makes him feel important.  He ridicules certain people who appear before the P&Z and uses his position to abuse people.  Councilwoman Hunt knows what he has done.  Because she has kept him on the P&Z, she clearly condones and approves of his behavior.

Several staff members told me about a situation where he called a female representative of a land owner to the podium.  Her employer owns a large amount of real estate in the Davis Avenue land use study (Oak Cliff).  Emmons asked the woman "how much land do you personally own"  in the Davis Ave. area.  She said she personally owned no land in the area, but her employer does.  He then asked her if she was really a "Director of Planning" for her company, as her correspondence indicates. 

In the first place, Angela Hunt has allowed Emmons to act as a tyrannical czar of zoning in District 14.  Both Hunt and Emmons would have hissy fits if the District 3 P&Z member interfered in an Oak Lawn or East Dallas zoning case.  So, why is Emmons trying to kill the redevelopment of Davis Ave?  Why is he attacking a woman just doing her job?

Well, it's because creepy Emmons gets off on playing big shot.  He's such a loser with no life.  His only pleasure is humiliating people or sucking up to big shots.  He would not be in that position had Councilwoman Hunt not wanted him there ridiculing citizens.

If the P&Z were 3 panels, zoning cases could not be handled at that level based on ward politics.  The cases would be assigned at random to the panels.  A District 14 case might be heard by one of the 2 panels without the District 14 appointee.  The case would be heard on its merits -- not the whim of the unemployed Emmons.

When Bill Blaydes tried to change the zoning on Hollywood Overhead Doors' property and force them out of business, Councilwoman Hunt was among those who were outraged and voted to save that long-time Dallas business.  When some Bryan Place nannies wanted to force the long-time Dallas business Woodard Paint & Body out of their Ross Ave. location, Emmons and Hunt went along.  Emmons coerced the Woodard people at P&Z.  He told them if he didn't accept his recommendation and even spoke at P&Z, he would move to deny with prejudice.  With the way P&Z works, they had no hearing.  They had no hearing at council either.

If the Board of Adjustment is changed the way Neumann and apparently now Hunt wants, it is not a matter of IF a scandal and/or indictment happens, but WHEN.

Good government is not about the whims of a couple of control freaks.  It's about structuring operations to discourage corruption, not to ignore problems like the Plan Commission.

I don't know what's going to happen about the Board of Adjustment, but I do now know there are people on the council who can't be trusted.  There are others who give you their word, and you never have to worry about it again. 

If you are going to be a community activist, you have got to protect yourself.  Don't assume that an ally is also a friend.  By the same token, don't assume that someone on the other side of most issues can't be trusted. 

sb