Dallas' Comprehensive Plan Victory

"Neighborhood activists were aghast that the city would even consider tampering with the bloodily won accord of 20 years ago that gave neighborhood groups control over growth (they wanted none), development (only according to their measurements), and zoning (do not touch). City planners not only tampered with it; they drove a bulldozer right through it.

The neighborhood activists screamed and cried and bullied the City Plan Commission into gutting the plan. Activists are loud, they are confrontational, and they know how to turn out votes. Those tactics are why many parts of our city are stagnant and in decay. The comprehensive plan was the planners’ counterattack—and the City Council backed them up."