Unfair Park from p6 compared with 2020. Meanwhile, the total number of lethal drug overdoses nationwide nearly topped 107,000, a 14.9% spike that also broke previous records. In the mid- and late-1990s, Plano saw a rash of heroin overdose deaths. Between 1995 and 1999, at least 19 young people in Plano died of heroin overdoses, which attracted widespread national media coverage. ▼ CITY HALL HOME DEFENSE approved new zoning restrictions for the Elm Thicket-Northpark neighborhood. The changes prevent new homes from exceeding 25 feet in height and 40% of lot coverage. Some say the new restrictions will A protect legacy residents from displacement in this historically Black neighborhood, while others see them as impinging on their property rights. Property taxes and home prices have shot up in the area in recent years, pricing legacy residents out of the neighborhood. About six years ago, Elm Thicket-Northpark, a former Freedman community, was chosen as part of the city’s Neighborhood Plus program in an attempt to help prevent such displacement. This led to the changes City Council ap- proved Wednesday. Some of the opposition asked the council to postpone its vote on the changes. But ahead of the meeting, Jesse Moreno, the council member for this part of town, told the Observer by text that he had no intention of doing that. “It’s time to make a decision,” Moreno said. “This case has been worked on and postponed for over half a decade. Both staff and the City Planning Commission have given their input and recommendations and it’s time to vote.” While the City Council ultimately ap- proved the new zoning, some members, such as District 11’s Jaynie Schultz, said the time it took to get to the horseshoe may have diminished the returns. “Six years ago, before many of the people asking for the delay owned their homes, the city began to work to hear from neighbor- hoods through a formal process called Neighborhood Plus,” Schultz said. “Reading what they asked for in 2016, the first priority was managing neighborhood change. The city had not the resources to expeditiously move the neighborhood plan into reality.” Schultz said she didn’t think the zoning 8 4 was perfect, but that it was nonetheless time to take a vote. “I’m not supporting this over- lay because of a belief in the perfection of this zoning,” she explained. “The compro- mises included actually dilute some of the 2016 protections that were asked for by the neighborhood back then and the city couldn’t address. That’s why we must vote now to preserve the remnants of the original DALLAS CITY COUNCIL APPROVES ELM THICKET-NORTHPARK ZONING CHANGE LIMITING SIZE OF NEW HOMES. BY JACOB VAUGHN fter three hours of public comments and discussion last Wednesday, Dallas City Council members homeowners who are fighting for their identity and their history.” Originally, the new zoning called for lot The billboard includes a photoshopped image of Garza holding up a piece of paper that reads, “Text ‘BUSTED’ to 82762.” If you fire off “BUSTED” to that number, Paxton’s campaign replies with an automated message that accuses Garza of being a “radical, open-border activist” who won’t “crack down on the vicious cartels trafficking illegal immigrants across our border.” The automated message goes on to say that Garza represented “an illegal immigrant who had been charged with human trafficking other illegal immigrants into the U.S.” The message doesn’t offer any specifics. The Washington Examiner article Jacob Vaughn Supporters hope zoning changes will stop homes like this from overrunning the neighborhood. With an early surge in real estate prices coverage to be capped at 35%, bigger than most of the original homes in the neighbor- hood, which often cover 30% or less. But, prompting the vote, Moreno threw the op- position a bone, increasing the maximum coverage to 40%. None of the new zoning is retroactive, meaning homes like the widely reported, luxurious $4 million mansion that sits in the neighborhood (otherwise known as the Tron house because it was inspired in part by the movie Tron: Legacy) can stay put without be- ing considered a nonconforming use. ▼ HOUSING PRICEY PLANO I THE ‘BURB HAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE AVERAGE RENTS IN DFW, ARLINGTON THE LOWEST. BY PATRICK STRICKLAND t’s no revelation that rental costs are up across Dallas/Fort Worth. Rent has swelled over the last year – and it has continued to do so even as real estate prices have seen a gradual decrease. According to a new report by Apartment List, Plano has the most expensive average rent costs among the 10 largest cities across DFW. Although average rent in Plano has stayed largely flat over the last month, it has spiked by more than 10% throughout the last year. The average cost of a two-bedroom apartment is $2,010. For comparison, a two-bedroom in Dallas costs $1,490 on average, while a similar apartment goes for $1,350 on average in Fort Worth. In addition to Plano, Dallas and Fort Worth, Apartment List looked at Arlington, Garland, Irving, Grand Prairie, Mesquite, McKinney and Carrollton. Home to some 288,000 people, Plano also topped the list for one-bedroom apart- ments, which average $1,540. McKinney was close behind, with a one-bedroom clocking in at $1,510. Arlington earned the spot as the city with the cheapest average rental costs in D/FW, according to Apartment List’s data. Al- though rent has grown by 11.5% in Arling- ton, a one-bedroom still costs $1,110, and a two-bedroom averages $1,340. throughout the pandemic, rising rents have left many struggling to make ends meet across D/FW. As of July, one study found, rent prices had grown by some 22% since the pandemic first hit in early 2020. In July, a study published by the D.C.- based nonprofit research group Up for Growth found that D/FW wasn’t building enough homes to keep up with population growth even before the pandemic hit. In 2019, that study explained, D/FW built too few homes to the tune of 85,226 residen- tial units, earning the region the No. 1 slot for underproduction among metropolitan areas across Texas. “Texas pitches itself as the place to live and do business for people wanting to leave California, but despite its impressive economic growth, it has failed to build over 320,000 units of housing,” the report’s authors wrote. Meanwhile, advocacy groups in Dallas say high rental costs are fueling homeless- ness in the city and beyond. ▼ POLITICS GOING ON OFFENSE T TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON CRITICIZES OPPONENT ROCHELLE GARZA FOR DOING HER JOB AS A LAWYER. BY PATRICK STRICKLAND exas Attorney General Ken Paxton ought to know how the law works. He’s the state’s top cop, has faced an indictment or two of his own and recently had his latest run-in with a process server, from whom he reportedly fled. But last week, he bought a series of billboards criticizing Rochelle Garza, his Democratic opponent in the upcoming election, for apparently doing her job as a lawyer. In an interview with the conservative Washington Examiner, Paxton spoke of the billboards in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Galveston, which read: “Busted for human trafficking? Rochelle Garza will defend you!” In a statement to the Examiner, Paxton said, “Rochelle Garza may have firsthand experience dealing with human traffickers, but the catch is that she was working to enable these criminals by defending them in court.” mentions two cases, one in which Garza spent two weeks representing a Mexican citizen on trial for transporting undocumented immigrants, and another in which Garza represented for a week a U.S. man charged with harboring and transporting undocumented immigrants. Of course, the Sixth Amendment guaran- tees everyone a right to legal counsel, but Paxton doesn’t bother with the messy de- tails of a trivial thing like the U.S. Constitu- tion. The new billboards come a few weeks af- ter Paxton lashed out at the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for investigating an incident in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis orches- trated recruiting migrants from a San Anto- nio shelter to fly to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. At the time, Paxton accused Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar of “partisan grandstanding.” Meanwhile, Paxton continues to face his own legal troubles. Late last month, the attorney general reportedly fled his home to prevent a process server from delivering a subpoena in an abortion lawsuit. When the Texas Tribune reported the story, Paxton lashed out at the outlet on Twitter for “a ridiculous waste of time,” say- ing the “media should be ashamed of them- selves.” On an entirely unrelated note, seven years have passed since Paxton was indicted for securities fraud, and he’s facing a whis- tleblower lawsuit accusing him of abuse of office. Last month, The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler released a poll that found Paxton led Garza by 7 per- centage points. Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz sparked backlash after a move similar to Paxton’s. At the time, he went on Fox News and blasted public defenders (again, that whole Sixth Amendment thing) as part of a potshot at then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who’d previously been a federal public defender. “There are public defenders, people go and do that because their heart is with crimi- nal defendants,” Cruz said. “Their heart is with the murderers, with the criminals, and that’s who they’re rooting for.” Needless to say, public defenders didn’t take the criticism kindly. “The hearts of pub- lic defenders are with the Constitution and the rule of law,” Alex Bunin, chief defender for the Harris County public defender’s of- fice, told the Observer at the time. >> p10 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 OCTOBER 20-26, 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.comdallasobserver.com
