Mike Davis Inteviewed in Sunday’s ‘Points’ Section of Dallas Morning News
My man Mike Davis from Dallas Progress was interviewed as part of the Dallas Morning News' Point of Contact section in Sunday's paper. The interview was far too short, but Mike was able the get his 'point' across in the limited space. Here are a couple of questions from the interview.
As a relatively new member of the Dallas Plan Commission, you bring youth and fresh ideas. You've talked about the need to "pull the welcome mat out from under" some companies in southern Dallas. What did you mean by that?
Companies that have shown themselves to be bad actors or disinterested in real investment in our communities should not be rewarded with new stores and incentives. Minyard's and Wendy's come to mind. In 2004, Wendy's built a take-out only restaurant without seats in south Oak Cliff.
During the same time period, Wendy's built stores in other neighborhoods with seats. They want our dollars but do not want customers to sit in their restaurants? Minyard's has built brand new Carnival stores and fixed up stores in north Oak Cliff while the Marsalis and Illinois location hasn't been renovated since the store was built in 1967. Both acts are unconscionable.
What do you think motivated Wendy's and Minyard's? What if Minyards were to say, for example, that it doesn't do enough business at that location to justify spending on those renovations?
Come to Minyard's on a Sunday or any evening and you'll see that Minyard's does a bustling business. You'll also see people sitting outside on the curb eating their Wendy's on any given day. I think the reason is greed, pure and simple.
They want to realize as much income as possible from stores in our neighborhood, so long as it's an arm's length transaction that doesn't require meaningful investment. Charity doesn't count. To be clear, I feel that most of the blame is on the aforementioned companies but that some must be shouldered by previous elected officials in that area.
Good work as usual by Mike D.
