Unfair Park from p4 in pigs, could have an opportunity to jump to humans someday. North Texans shouldn’t fret as far as monkeypox is concerned, Rohde said. The U.S. has an ample supply of vaccines to pro- tect against it if “something crazy happens.” “The word for the day is ‘awareness’ and ‘caution,’” he said. “Not ‘panic,’ not ‘freaking out.’” ▼ CITY HALL SHOT IN THE DARK L DALLAS ISN’T GIVING UP ITS FIGHT AGAINST SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES JUST YET. BY JACOB VAUGHN ast month, U.S. Chief District Judge Barbara Lynn essentially told the city it didn’t have the facts to back up the reasoning behind new hours of operation for sexually oriented businesses. But Dallas isn’t backing down yet. The city attorney’s office filed a notice of appeal this week. A group of sexually oriented businesses sued Dallas after it approved an ordinance that would require the businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. City Council members and the Dallas Police Department said crime is higher around these busi- nesses during the early morning hours. The businesses are a drain on public safety re- sources during these time frames, the city argues. City officials worked on an ordinance to close the clubs down during what they claimed were crime-ridden hours in Dallas. Along the way, the businesses said they would sue on the grounds that such an ordi- nance exclusively targeting them was viola- tion of their First Amendment rights. After the ordinance was unanimously approved, the clubs did just that. After months of hearings and consider- ation by Lynn, the sexually oriented busi- nesses were told in late May that they could stay open. Lynn said the police data used to justify the ordinance was flawed. Because of this, she granted the sexually oriented businesses a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of the ordinance. Roger Albright, one of the attorneys repre- senting the businesses, said in an emailed statement that Lynn’s opinion on the ordi- nance was “extremely well-reasoned and persuasive with a meticulous and thorough exposition of the evidence, the facts and the law.” The city evidently didn’t agree and filed a notice of appeal last week. Avi Colunga, 25, has worked as an enter- tainer at XTC Cabaret in Dallas since 2018. The legal back and forth between the city and the businesses has left Colunga feeling in limbo. She thinks the industry is under attack. She hopes the legal saga ends in the busi- 62 nesses’ favor, but she’s not waiting to see if that will happen before securing another source of income. Like City Council mem- bers told others in the industry to do before approving the new hours, Colunga is look- ing for new work. “With the back and forth, it’s better for my anxiety to accept the worst possible outcome and prepare for it,” Col- unga said. She’s turning to bar management Jacob Vaughn Workers at some of city’s strip clubs protested a City Council vote to limit club hours. and bartending, “the next best option,” ac- cording to her. Working at a sexually oriented business though, has allowed Colunga to make a liv- ing and have a life with her daughter. At XTC, she could work three nights a week and spend the rest of her days with her child, who is just over a year old. The city’s ordinance won’t prevent crime, she said. It will just make things harder for people in the industry. “With re- cent events, it’s even more evident now than ever that crime will happen at any time of day and in any settings,” Colunga said. She cited recent parties and other events in Dallas that have ended in fatal gun fire. “That should be proof right there that crime is always going to exist, whether it is at a [sexually] oriented business or at a family BBQ,” she said. To her, sexually oriented businesses are being used as the scapegoat for larger problems. “I truly believe that pushing this agenda that these types of businesses are responsi- ble for crime rates is a scapegoat for law- makers, allowing them to not face the fact that there are bigger problems out there than cutting a business’ hours short by three hours,” Colunga said. “Those three hours will not make a single difference for crime but certainly will for us workers who depend on those three hours to earn our living.” ▼ CITY HALL LEFT HIGH AND DRY T WHITE ROCK LAKE MUSEUM MAY HAVE A NEW HOME ONE DAY. MAYBE SOON. BY JACOB VAUGHN he city’s Office of Arts and Culture has been asking the White Rock Lake Museum to leave the Bath House Cultural Center. It has sat in a con- verted storage space in the Bath House since 2004. That year, it was dedicated as a permanent display with support from for- mer Park Board reps and City Council members. Now, after months of meetings, there’s a new option on the table for the museum’s future home. The latest idea is house the museum in a building at 8007 E. Northwest Highway. The space is now owned by the Dallas Park and Recreation Department. But, some say, like other proposed locations, it’s not a good place for the museum. Between 2004 and 2017, the space at the “MOVING IT TO A LOCATION THAT ISN’T DIRECTLY ON THE LAKE IS CONCERNING.” - BECKY RADER, MUSEUM BOARD MEMBER Bath House Cultural Center was rented for just $1 a year. In 2017, the museum was asked to leave, but a new lease agreement was reached with the city, allowing it to stay. The new lease allowed the museum to stay “while an interpreta- tive place for White Rock Lake is devel- oped,” according to a statement from the museum’s board at the time. Discussions about where to put the museum have con- tinued since. The Office of Arts and Culture has said it wants to use the space at the Bath House for other community programs, like workshops and art exhibits. The office suggested the museum be divided and relocated to two nearby public libraries. Krista de la Harpe, the museum’s presi- dent and curator, said it should remain in- tact at the lake. According to Advocate Magazine, De la Harpe was meeting with Paula Blackmon, District 9 City Council member, and her Park Board rep Maria Husbany earlier this year about where to put the museum. Black- mon and Husbany suggested the building at Sunset Bay, but De la Harpe said it wouldn’t work either. In March, the museum board said it would start looking for other locations. This was the criteria: It would be located at White Rock Lake; it would be suitable for the displays and have enough space for art exhibits; there would be a plan for pro- viding security and access to the museum; and the relocation would be deferred until they have a plan to ensure the museum could survive long term at the new loca- tion. The city has urged the museum to leave, but, until recently, hadn’t offered any viable alternatives for a new location that could be agreed upon by all parties. The city’s previ- ous ideas — splitting it up at two libraries or throwing it in the hospital at Buckner Road — haven’t come with a solid plan nor money or contract to back it up. To Becky Rader, who was involved in the creation of the museum in the early 2000s, splitting it up was out of the ques- tion. “Splitting it up would break up the story,” she said. Rader, now a member of the museum’s board, was born and raised in Dallas, spending a lot of time at White Rock Lake. In the early 2000s, she was volunteering with the Park and Recreation Department working on a preservation project around the lake. Rader knew the history and cul- ture of the area, so when people started planning the museum, they wanted to hear from her. “We all sat down and talked,” Rader re- called. “What we wanted to do was create a place where people could visit and it would be comparable to what you see in state parks and national parks,” she said. Without the museum, Rader said many wouldn’t know the history of the lake, like the fact that it was one of the city’s original water sources. The new location doesn’t fit all the crite- ria laid out by the museum board. For exam- ple, it’s not at White Rock Lake. However, the lake used to extend to the area that the museum may be moved to. “Moving it to a location that isn’t directly on the lake is concerning,” Rader said, but the new space still seems like a good fit. “Not speaking for the board or anyone else, I am excited about this because I know over at the Bath House attitudes have really changed since we first started it,” Rader ex- plained. “It’s just not accepted by some as an appropriate place.” But Rader thinks it would be accepted at the building on Northwest Highway. With the museum, Rader said, “the building could have a new life experience.” To others, like longtime White Rock community advocates Ted and Hal Barker, the Bath House Cultural Center is the only suitable place for the museum. If it does have to move, the building on Northwest Highway is not the solution. “The building used to be a gateway to the park, especially during the time that the lake was just across the street,” Ted Barker said in an email. “However, there is severe rot in several locations and on the roof.” Hal Barker said the building needed significant renovations, and it wouldn’t be available un- til summer 2023, “or probably never.” The Barkers also don’t believe the city would of- fer any money to help renovate the building. “This is a dumpster solution,” Hal Barker said. “Cut and dried.” They’d rather it stay at the Bath House. “You see the museum and then go to the porch or look at the prairie out the oppo- site window,” Hal Barker said about the Bath House location. “The impact makes sense.” MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 JUNE 16-22, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com dallasobserver.com
