7 January 16 - 22, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ EDUCATION NO CLASS THE SCHOOLS IN NORTH TEXAS THE WILL CLOSE THIS YEAR. BY ALYSSA FIELDS F unding for Texas public education is in a bit of a crisis, and lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have filed bills that deal with financial deficits in school districts across the state. Factors like testing scores and daily atten- dance affect the amount of funding a school receives, but enrollment is the heaviest hitter. Currently, schools receive a base allotment per student of $6,160, and no students means no money to offset high operational costs. Enrollment is dropping, and school dis- tricts across North Texas anticipate a de- cline by several thousand students in the next few years. During the pandemic, when daily attendance declined tenfold, billions of dollars in federal funding flooded school districts through President Joe Biden’s Ele- mentary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. But the well has dried, and districts everywhere are opting to close schools. Enrollment decreases are the result of several causes. Chiefly, the birth rate has de- creased and educational options have ex- panded. Gov. Greg Abbott has made school vouchers a legislative priority for years. A vocal proponent of the program, which al- lows parents to use public funds to pay for private school, he faced criticism as school districts grappled with multi-million defi- cits ahead of the 2024–25 school year. This year, in the wake of school closures, Abbott has promised to fully fund public schools. “They make it sound like you can’t have both school choice and robust public schools,” Abbott said while speaking at a private school in Tyler. “That’s completely false. The reality is we can have the best public schools in America and also have school choice at the very same time. It does not have to be one or the other, and it’s wrong to pit one against the other.” Public schools closing in 2025: • Coppell ISD Pinkerton Elementary School • Lewisville ISD B. B. Owen Elementary School • Creekside Elementary School • Garden Ridge Elementary School • Highland Village Elementary School • Polser Elementary School • Plano ISD Davis Elementary School • Forman Elementary School • Armstrong Middle School • Carpenter Middle School • Richardson ISD Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School ▼ CITY COUNCIL NEW LIFE FOR VIVO CITY COUNCIL EXTENDS LIFELINE FOR DOWNTOWN CLUB FOLLOWING ALLEGED RAPE, SHOOTING. BY EMMA RUBY A Downtown Dallas nightclub at the center of several public crime scan- dals has 18 months to turn their act around, the Dallas City Council ruled last Wednesday — although representatives of the club and some council members in favor of the establishment argued it is being held to an un- attainable standard for a nightlife venue. Club Vivo is a two-story Latin dance club that sits at the corner of Harwood Street and Pacific Avenue, and a months- long, complicated special use permit (SUP) renewal process has put the business on hold. The council sees at least a dozen SUP- related zoning cases a month, but divided opinions over Club Vivo resulted in the council sending the case back to the City Plan Commission in October for a second look, at which point the bar voluntarily closed. Wednesday’s discussion was the council’s second time debating the permit renewal. Club Vivo General Manager Angel Lopez told the council that the bar’s ongoing clo- sure has hurt his staff, who aren’t being paid. “We have individuals who are single moms who are in school trying to finish law school,” Lopez said. “I have multiple texts from [employees] requesting an email from myself showing that we ceased operations because they’re applying for benefits in this time of need. I know we are in the new year, but we did cease operation very close to the holiday.” The Observer left multiple messages with Club Vivo owner Kevin Kelley’s office, but did not hear back. Some council members didn’t seem con- vinced the bar should reopen at all, pointing to hiccups in Club Vivo’s history as evidence that the bar is unfit for a multi-year permit renewal. It took two hours of conversation — largely heated and sprinkled with several pointed, cross-horseshoe barbs — and two votes for the council to decide how long Club Vivo should have to prove it belongs in Downtown Dallas. While a vote for an 18-month permit re- newal ultimately passed, the council’s frus- tration was palpable by the meeting’s end. Council Member Carolyn King Arnold de- scribed the conversation as a “slap in the face” to the community, while Council Member Omar Narvaez warned his col- leagues their ongoing pontificating was a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” “I’m just really appalled that we are try- ing to say that this club area should not have any crime,” Arnold said. “Let’s get a grip. We have crime right down here in front of the [City Hall] plaza, 1500 Marilla.” The first roadblock in Club Vivo’s SUP renewal was the fact that their previous per- mit had expired in April 2023 and that, for over a year, the club had been operating without a permit. The second issue, which drew the overwhelming amount of council ire during Wednesday’s two-hour long dis- cussion, was the string of negative press the nightclub received last year following sev- eral crimes involving underage patrons. In June, an 18-year-old Denton resident sued the club and alleged she was raped in- side the bar’s bathroom the year prior. The lawsuit alleges that the victim’s friend alerted a security guard to the assault as it was happening, but that security failed to in- tervene. The complaint also claims that the victim was served alcohol by Club Vivo bar- tenders, despite large X marks on her hands indicating she was underage. “We have cooperated fully towards that investigation,” Santos Martinez, a planning and zoning consultant and a Club Vivo representative, told the council during a Dec. 5 City Plan Commission meeting. “We can’t ignore or deny that it did happen.” In July a 14-year-old was grazed by a bullet outside of the club following a back- to-school event hosted at the venue. While the bar had been closed for around 45 minutes when the incident occurred, se- curity had stayed on the club’s property as a group of individuals who had been at- tending the event congregated across the street. Representatives of the bar said par- ents were present at the event and no alco- hol was served. Santos gave the council crime statistics that show 130 calls to 911 have been made from the bar’s premises over the last four years, 82 of which were made outside of the club’s operating hours. Fifteen of the calls resulted in police reports, Martinez said. Representatives argued that Club Vivo has a better or equivalent crime and TABC re- cord when compared to similar downtown establishments. Some council members were frustrated that the crime data did not include 911 calls from the parking lot directly across the street from the club. Martinez said Club Vivo does not own the lot and patrons from other area establishments also park there, but Council Member Cara Mendelsohn ar- gued that Club Vivo should be proactively implementing security measures in the lot to prevent car theft. “The number one location for stolen cars is District 14,” Mendelsohn said. “I’ve heard a lot of people tell me how much fun they’ve had [at Club Vivo,] so thank you, we need more fun in Dallas. I like that. But we also absolutely have to be focused on our public safety side, and there’s issues here.” Proponents for the club added that the council should consider the good-faith ef- forts of Club Vivo Owner Kevin Kelley — such as offering scholarships and running food drives — as further evidence of the bar’s benefit to the community. Council Member Kathy Stewart, vice chair of the council’s public safety committee, was not moved by the appeals and appeared deeply disturbed by last year’s allegation of rape at Club Vivo. While the nightclub meets sev- eral prongs of the land use criteria, Stewart stressed that the crime record should be considered by the council, if not completely disqualifying. (City staff told the council that SUP’s should be granted using a compatible land use criteria, which evaluates the compatibil- ity of a proposed business with the existing area and requires the establishment “not be detrimental to the public health, safety or general welfare.”) “I applaud the work that you’re doing on trafficking and all of that but that’s not per- suasive. It is interesting but it’s not persua- sive,” Stewart told Club Vivo’s representatives. “You’ve got work to do in the [next] year from my perspective.” Stewart and Mendelsohn — along with Council Member Paul Ridley, whose dis- trict includes Club Vivo — were the hold- outs against the nightclub, voting first against a proposed two-year SUP renewal, which did not pass, and then against the 18-month renewal that did. Ridley, who ar- gued that 12 months was a sufficient amount of time for the club to operate be- fore applying for a renewal, said that a clean record during that time would open the door for another SUP extension, while “multiple crimes” reported would be some- thing that the future council could take “into consideration.” To expect zero crime of a downtown nightclub, Martinez argued, would be “un- realistic.” Council Member Bazaldua, who voted in favor of Club Vivo, offered the council a gentle scolding, stating that spending sev- eral hours discussing allegations that have not been proven in court instead of consid- ering straight-forward land use was “disap- pointing.” “We know nothing other than there were allegations, and I don’t believe that it is fair in a public forum to cast that spell on [Club Vivo],” Bazaldua said. “We are not the judge and jury in this case.” Mike Brooks City staff recommended Club Vivo be given three years before its permit expires, but the City Council granted the nightclub only 18 months.
