City of Dallas to East Dallas Artificial-Turf Man: No Way, Jose
Last August, Junius Heights resident Jose Escobedo appealed the Dallas Landmark Commission’s “No way, Jose” decision to let him keep his fake lawn. Well, he lost that appeal yesterday. (See jump, a little unconventional here because I give up trying to find things on the DMN website.) This leaves us with several questions: is artificial turf really THAT bad, some claim it’s more green than grass as it required no chemicals or water. (I’m thinking of getting some K-9 Grass on the side of my house where, like Jose’s patch, grass never grows and the dogs could “use it” when it rains.) As some of the DMN commenters have said, a neat, fake lawn sure beats the hec out of a crummy yard strewn with garbage.
And then, why does Dr. Doug Barnes get to have artificial turf on his property over at Douglas and Northwest Highway? Well, because he does not live in an historic district. That’s the big problem with historic districts and deed restrictions, they restrict your use of your property and tell you what you can and cannot do, and courts can enforce those rules.
I’m not a fan.
But then maybe the city is doing Jose a favor: there is some concern that fake turf may be dangerous…. but that’s not the only thing that concerns me with Dr. Barne’s application. Still, along the right of way where cars park and veer off-course, it is hard to keep grass thriving. Maybe fake is better. I have also been thinking about plastic surgery lately…
12:45 AM CST on Friday, December 4, 2009
By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News
dflick@dallasnews.com
After months of fighting City Hall, Jose Escobedo is throwing in the towel.
Or, more accurately, the turf.
Jose Escobedo installed the turf after failing three times to grow grass. He says the turf is similar to what the Dallas Cowboys play on. The city says the turf is inappropriate for a historic district and has ordered him to remove it.
Escobedo lost his appeal Thursday to the City Plan Commission to keep artificial grass in front of his 90-year-old bungalow in a historic Old East Dallas neighborhood.
But daughter Brandy Escobedo – his translator at the Thursday meeting – later said her father believed further resistance would be too expensive, and that he had decided to remove the fake turf.
“It was just going to cost him too much, and it was just better to let it go,” she said.
The Plan Commission’s decision means he has 30 days to remove the turf or face city citations.
Brandy Escobedo said her father would meet the deadline but would not act until early next month, because he wanted the lawn to look good for the holidays.
On Thursday, Jose Escobedo received a sympathetic ear from commissioners, but in the end, they agreed that artificial grass was incompatible with the standards of the historic district.
“It’s not a matter of whether it looks better or worse than what was there before,” commissioner Gloria Tarpley said just before the vote. “The question is, ‘Does it preserve authenticity in a historic district?’ ”
The fight began last spring when Escobedo, frustrated in repeated attempts to grow grass in front of his tree-shaded house on Worth Street, installed 930 square feet of artificial turf.
The former construction worker, who is raising two daughters on a $1,500 a month disability payment, received the artificial grass free from a relative who had obtained it from a school construction project. Escobedo said he then spent $1,000 to install it.
When city staff became aware of the turf, they told him to remove it. His appeal to the Landmark Commission was rejected in August.
Soon afterward, Escobedo’s dispute with the city surfaced in the media. The news stories triggered more than 100 phone calls to the family, nearly all supportive, Brandy Escobedo said.
“Several people offered to pay the $300 for the appeal, but my dad’s stubborn. He told them he’d pay it himself,” she said.
Several commissioners told Escobedo on Thursday that although they were sympathetic to his financial situation, the body was required to defer to the Landmark Commission unless it could determine that the earlier decision was improper.
If Escobedo was giving up his fight with city government, his daughter said, he also was through with fighting Mother Nature.
“He said he’s not going to try to plant any more grass there,” his daughter said. “It’s just going to be dirt.”
Awards | Archives | Reprints | Custom Publishing | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
The problem is “grass”, which is notoriously high maintenance. So much more so than a garden would be. When I become rich, I will replace all my front grass by extending my garden. I spend more time on the grass maintenance than I do with my plants.
My point is that there are so many natural options to landscaping land without resorting to the grass carpet plan, much less something that’s artificial. What’s not being said are the long term effects of this nasty fake turf.
Humans have got to get over this need to control nature. What’s more, stop using the same broken model of grass carpet with shrubs shoved up the base/foundation of the house. Boring, stupid, asinine, major ugly, unoriginal, scares little animals and me.
Just say “no” to grass.
Humans need to quit trying to control other humans. It is unfortunate that the landmark commission can’t see that more problems arise from these restrictions than not. Just look at all of the terrible commercial property which is in these districts. There would be a tremendous amount of good redevelopment in East Dallas which could possibly drive out the drug houses and slums if these Historic Districts were banished. There will always be people who love history and will take care of it. Its too bad. I wonder if Jose will pack up and move. Lets hope Jose doesn’t have any other home improvements in mind soon. Good luck.
Dear hysterical – please name some slums and drug houses in any of the East Dallas historic districts.
Yes, hysterical, please tell us where these drug houses are. A list of alleged drugs and aliases of said suspects would really help out with the paperwork. Say…didn’t we already arrest you in front of the Jack in the Box at Gaston and Paulus a few weeks ago for “jaywalking?”
The guy has already done some other ‘improvements’ without permits such as a lean-to carport from what I hear. Also you can see junk vehicles all down his driveway and in front of the house if you do a drive-by. Hard to see the left-over football astroturf behind the cars. The neighbors on either side don’t seem to have trouble growing grass.
I don’t feel too sorry for the guy because he knows the rules and didn’t participate in the process when the historic district was being written and went through the approval process. This took several years and thousands of hours of volunteer work by residents and tax-paid hours by city hall staff.
The cohesiveness (and importance) of having Swiss Avenue, Munger Place, Junius Heights and historic Lipscomb, Long and Woodrow schools essentially forming one of the largest historic districts in the nation outweighs what one individual might like.
I was skeptical of some of the regulations but I am willing to put the good of the area over my own selfish desires.