“Fighting for your neighborhood is just a part of living in this area of town,” said Wendell Patterson, incoming president of the Perry Heights Association, an Oaklawn neighborhood interested in the proposed ordinance. “If you don’t fight, you’ll wake up some morning and find you’re being bulldozed.” February 10, 1986
The proposed ordinance he was discussing would allow areas that have significant architectural or cultural attributes to become conservation districts. They would be similar to historical districts, yet not need to be as old or stately, and the restrictions on owners’ rights on what they can do with their homes would be much less rigid. Rawlins Street eventually became a conservation district that would help protect the street from future development.
There have been several times Perry Heights had to fight. Here is a quick timeline of some of the events when our Perry Heights Neighborhood Association was essential in giving us a voice.
1975– Perry Heights neighbors get three street closure barriers to traffic approved and installed. The traffic cutting through our neighborhood was so bad during the construction of the Wycliff/ Douglas split construction to the tollway entrance that neighbors had trouble crossing the street in their neighborhood. After the barriers, the traffic was cut to a quarter of what it was.
1985 – Keeping Craddock Park Intact. A developer wanted to create an extensive mixed-use project that included building a tollbooth and a northbound entrance to the tollway using more of Craddock Park. The neighborhood had to hire an attorney to prevent this from happening and eventually the project was defeated. Key and Cay Kolb along with many others in the neighborhood are credited with protecting our neighborhood and the park.
1987-91 – The same developer who was defeated foreclosed on the buildings in the planned block creating a slum that was described as a war zone, Beirut, and a drug-infested eyesore just over the tollway from Perry Heights at 4500 Cedar Springs. prostitution was also so common that the city was considering posting the names of the “johns” arrested each week.
2001– A serial arsonist had set several fires in and around Perry Heights before spreading to East Dallas. The arsonist was eventually caught and prosecuted.
2001– Perry Heights Neighborhood Association and the Oaklawn Committee defeat tearing down what was described as the last historic block in Oak Lawn along Rawlins for a townhouse complex. The defeat was only temporary. The city eventually allowed developers to take pieces of the block and built a few different townhouse complexes.
2012– Developers started an apartment project on Wycliff and Cedar Springs. The developer worked with the Oaklawn committee as well as the Perry Heights Neighborhood Association to come to some concessions on heights, access, and parking. Nancy and Howard Weinberger were essential in representing our neighborhood’s concerns to a better outcome.
As Mr. Patterson told us, there are bound to be challenging times in our neighborhood’s future. It is so important to stay involved and know our neighbors. Perry Heights is a rare, 100-year-old idea of a beautiful urban neighborhood and it will take us all to protect it and nurture it so future families can enjoy it. Please be involved in the board, committees, and events in the coming year to build a more vital Perry Heights. Make an effort to meet your neighbors and talk about how unique this lovely six-block retreat is to us.