4 April 3 - 9, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Spicy Square City Council angers residents over Pepper Square Dallas vote. BY EMMA RUBY C oncluding what several Dallas City Council members referred to as “the most difficult” zon- ing case to come across the horseshoe in years, the council on March 26 approved a mixed-use develop- ment planned for North Dallas’ Pepper Square shopping center, much to the ire of dozens of neighborhood residents and lead- ers who sat in the council chamber hoping for a different outcome. Around 870 housing units and revamped retail spaces will be built on the nearly 16- acre site; approximately 150 of those hous- ing units will be earmarked for retiree housing. When the development was first proposed almost three years ago, more than 2,000 units were planned. The council voted 10-4 in favor of the project, with Council members Jesse Moreno, Carolyn King Ar- nold, Cara Mendelsohn and Paul Ridley vot- ing in opposition. Mayor Eric Johnson was not in attendance. In the years since the Pepper Square re- development was proposed, the conversa- tion has been defined by combative community meetings and a failed attempt to oust the district’s representative, Jaynie Schultz. Those opposed to the Pepper Square development accuse Schultz of being on the side of Developer Henry S. Miller in- stead of the district’s constituents. Despite being eligible to serve two more terms on the council, Schultz is not running for reelection in May. Earlier this year, she told the Observer that the Pepper Square drama has left her “disillusioned” with Dal- las and that she is ready to move on. Last week, Schultz addressed the council cham- ber stuffed with residents wearing yellow “NO Pepper Square” shirts and warned that the seemingly straightforward rezoning case has burgeoned into a “political scape- goat” over the years of debate. “Our community has become divided. North Dallas has become a test market for media campaigns,” Schultz said. “We are in this together … I hope our community can return to the warm, friendly place it was when we all chose to move there.” Mendelsohn attempted to defer the re- zoning vote until after the May elections, stating that because Schultz is not seeking reelection, the district’s new representative should be charged with determining Pepper Square’s future. Several leaders of neighbor- hoods near Pepper Square told the Observer last month that they were advocating for a vote delay as a final push to thwart the de- velopment. Miller, the project’s developer, said that if a vote on the project was further delayed, he “might just drop it” altogether. The state- ment received raucous applause from the chamber, but Mendelsohn’s proposal failed around the horseshoe. Still, several outspoken council members were clear about their positioning alongside the dozens of homeowners who showed up at City Hall. Mendelsohn and Arnold wore yellow, the color of the development’s oppo- sition. Around 50 residents who live in the shopping center’s vicinity spoke to the council about their fears that the develop- ment will burden the community with traf- fic and encroach on the privacy of nearby neighborhoods. Before voting against Pep- per Square, Arnold said she had visited the area last fall and was “shocked” by the traffic that already strains the area. “If I lived in this neighborhood, I’d prob- ably be down here today,” Arnold said be- fore voting against the rezoning request. “I know we hear about all that ‘Not In My Backyard,’ I get it, but there is an attack on single-family neighborhoods.” However, developers say that several traffic studies show the development could help alleviate the area’s congestion by offer- ing a “live-work-play” style community where residents don’t have to get in their car to visit a park, restaurant or workspace. Not all who addressed the council op- posed the development, but for each sup- porter of the project, around five speakers were against it. Adam Lamont, a North Dal- las resident and educator, told the council that the Pepper Square development plan had been a “very long process” but ulti- mately resulted in a project that aligns with Dallas’ housing needs as the region’s popula- tion grows. “Pepper Square is an almost perfect place for us to have new housing,” Lamont said. “My request is that we do go big, that we get as many places for people to live here as pos- sible.” A number of those opposed to the devel- opment urged council members to consider the impact a vote of approval could have on their upcoming district races in the May election. Several speakers threatened to fund and offer social media and grassroots support for challengers against those repre- sentatives who voted for the Pepper Square development. “You are either with the people or with the greedy developers,” said Damien LeVeck, who lives near Pepper Square. “Your political careers will be defined by how you vote today, and your political fu- tures depend on it.” ▼ CAMPUS CRIME SMASH AND RIDE UT DALLAS CONSERVATIVE STUDENT GROUP ASSAULTED BY BIKER. BY EMMA RUBY A n individual was arrested on March 25 and charged with four felonies after using a bike lock to assault a group of students associated with the Uni- versity of Texas at Dallas chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization with hundreds of branches on college campuses across the United States. Liam Thanh Tam Nguyen is being held at the Collin County Jail and has been charged with two felony counts of aggra- vated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of attempting to take a weapon from an officer and one count of assault of a peace officer. Nguyen was also charged with three misdemeanors: resisting arrest and two counts of criminal mischief. The school didn’t respond to our re- quests for comment, but The Dallas Morn- ing News confirmed that Nguyen is a UTD student. According to Collin County Jail records, Nguyen listed “Alyssa” as their preferred name, and video of the campus assault shows the individual is female-presenting. A video of the assault was published to X by Charlie Kirk, the far-right leader of Turn- ing Point USA’s national organization, and has received 3.6 million views. According to the Anti-Defamation League, Turning Point USA supports far-right policies and talking points, like those that disenfranchise the transgender community or support Chris- tian Nationalism. UT Dallas’ Turning Point USA chapter posted to Instagram that students would be “tabling” — setting up a tent and table to pass out stickers or meet with prospec- tive students looking to join the organiza- tion — throughout the midday hours outside of the UT Dallas student union. Kirk’s video starts amidst the conflict, beginning with Nguyen holding up a bicy- cle and swinging a large lock at the group. The video shows the lock making contact with the phone, which is recorded as stu- dents yell at Nguyen to “back up” and “go.” A second video shows Nguyen riding away from the scene, and the UT Dallas Po- lice Department did not respond to the Ob- server’s inquiry about when and where authorities apprehended Nguyen. Users on the UT Dallas Reddit page seem divided over Nguyen’s reaction to the group. “What this person did was wrong, no doubt about it. But I also wish the university would stop allowing organizations who use disinformation to table on campus,” one Redditor posted. “I think it’s good to be ex- posed to other political points of view, but Turning Point is not it.” Responding to a commenter calling the Turning Point USA chapter a group of “freaks,” another person said, “Everybody at UTD is a freak. Doesn’t mean they deserve to be hit over the head with a bike lock.” Far-right internet personalities have speculated that Nguyen was also responsible for disrupting another Turning Point USA event that hosted Dallas’ own conservative troll, Alex Stein, earlier this month. Stein is known for setting up cameras and micro- phones on university campuses to record debates on conservative ideals with stu- dents. Video from the March 6 disruption shows an individual riding a bike similar to the one pictured in the most recent incident kicking over Stein’s microphone. Nguyen was released on bond March 27. ▼ POLICE WELL, WE’RE WAITING MURDERS, VIOLENT CRIME DROP IN DALLAS BUT POLICE CALL RESPONSE TIMES LAG. BY EMMA RUBY V iolent crime data is continuing to trend downwards across Dallas, with the first months of 2025 seeing a significant decrease in homicides com- pared with the same period in 2024, police officials told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee last week. The council’s weekly crime report Emma Ruby Pepper Square opponents wore yellow to the council chambers on March 26. | UNFAIR PARK | >> p6
