Big Day at CityWalk

Here are some of the photos from Tuesday, Dec. 29, the move-in day for our very first CityWalk residents – Joyce Bennett, Martesha Cox, A. Jarita Sadler, and Sharon Tillis.

Sharon Tillis enters the CityWalk building for the first time as a resident, as leasing consultants Arnetta Motley and Robin Loving look on.

Residents Martesha Cox, Sharon Tillis and A. Jarita Sadler get ready to go to their brand new, fully furnished apartments at CityWalk.

Martesha Cox receives the keys to her apartment from CityWalk business manager CJ Allen.

This is just a glimpse of the day we had all been waiting for. And it is surely a day that we will never forget.

Back to Work

Yesterday was fun, but hectic, as the first residents moved into CityWalk. We had film crews from Channels 4 (Fox), 11 (CBS) and 23 (Univision) on site at 511 N. Akard. By our standards, that’s a real media frenzy. I wasn’t able to catch all the stories, but the pieces that I did see were well done and we’re thankful for them.

Reporter Jessica Meyers from the Dallas Morning News spent the entire morning with our new residents, followed them downtown to their new apartments and did a very nice piece in the Dallas Morning News this morning:

I especially enjoy the quote from Ms. Tillis:

“I don’t care if there was going to a blizzard, I would have been like Little House on the Prairie dragging my stuff,” she said about Tuesday’s wintry weather forecast. “This is a place you can be proud to live in. And to be downtown, that’s just icing on the cake.”

You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/123009dnmethomeless_.3b1b56b.html.

It was also interesting to spend some time talking with the reporters and camera operators. They were all smart people interested in everything that we were doing and full of penetrating questions—very little of which comes across in the stories you get at home.

Newspapers have a little more leeway, but television, especially, where the most time you may have for a story is 75 seconds, means that no matter how much the reporter knows, he or she isn’t going to have time to tell you very much of it.

So although the reporter may know that the really innovative ideas at CityWalk involve its mixed-use and mixed-income strategies and the ground we broke on financing models, there is no way to explain all that in the time available. The reporter has to grab his or her audience immediately (the real fault is probably with all our constantly decreasing interest spans), so once again the lead is the opening of the “Highrise for the Homeless”. Even if the reporter knows that it’s not quite accurate.

Dealing with the media was laid on top of a day that was already very busy, so we were all tired by evening yesterday (which is why the blog is a little late coming out this afternoon), but today it’s back to work again. The attention is gone, but we have a building to complete, residents to help and more work to do. Work that will occupy us not just today, but tomorrow and for the rest of the year – and maybe for the rest of our lives.

That’s a good thing.

CityWalk in the News

I’m going to assume today that most of you are satisfied with only a couple of stories about CityWalk each day. So you can check out the latest at Unfair Park:

At Downtown’s Citywalk @ Akard, Finally, There’s No Place Like Home For the Holidays

By Robert Wilonsky in News You Can Actually Use, Actually

On Wednesday, the city of Dallas gave John Greenan the good news: The executive director of the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation was told that, yes, finally, he could begin moving people into 511 N. Akard Street, otherwise known as Citywalk @ Akard. More than four and a half years after Central Dallas Ministries first toured the vacant 15-floor office tower downtown with the expectation of turning much of it into affordable housing, the city gave Greenan a green temporary certificate of occupancy and told him he was free to fill the first five floors.

And so, tomorrow he and his staff will move in three new downtown residents — one of whom, Joyce Bennett, has been sleeping on a relative’s couch and has no possessions save for her clothes.

The rest of the article is here: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/12/at_downtowns_citywalk_akard_fi.php.
Then check out today’s Dallas Morning News. I’m told there will be a story in the DMN this morning: http://www.dallasnews.com/.

Finally, if you are really eager for some more news, then watch Channel 4 and 11 in Dallas. Both are likely to have stories over the next couple of days.

As a last resort, you can always just wait until tomorrow. We’ll be here with more information.

Business Advice from Dirk Nowitzki

Those of you who know me know that I am an absolutely rabid fan of the Dallas Mavericks. I was a season ticket holder during the seemingly endless 1990s when the Mavericks were one of the laughing stocks of professional sports—there were years when I couldn’t even give away my tickets to the game. Now that the Mavericks have gotten good, I follow almost every game on television (one of the things I had to give up when I moved from the private practice of law to the nonprofit world was my Mavericks season tickets), go to the games when I can, study the box scores and debate the fortunes of the team on the internet.

That means, of course, that I am also a fan of Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks’ best player. In the past I’ve examined his work as a philosopher (“You’re only free when you want what you have to do.”—think about that for awhile). But last week he came out with a piece of business advice that we all need to take to heart:

“It just feels like, at home, I’ve got to make every shot down the stretch to win. That’s how it feels. … So we got to figure out something.”

Let me set the context. The Mavericks have won a number of close games this year by depending completely and totally on Dirk to win them. The ball comes to the Mavericks’ end. The other players clear out and, as everybody knows, Dirk takes the shot, no matter how good the defense is against him.

This strategy has been pretty successful, but in the long term it’s a loser for the Mavericks and for any business. Just because you have one exceptional worker doesn’t mean you should depend of them to bail you out every time. Circumstances change; people have different strengths; your obstacles will be different. Finally, even the best team player gets tired; gets worn down; has his or her bad day.

Any successful organization depends on a team effort. Don’t stick your superstar out there on his own every time without help to win or lose. When it really, really matters, then you want Dirk to take the last shot, but you can’t put that burden on him every night. Any successful organization needs multiple persons to step up on different occasions, no matter how strong the temptation to let the star win it for you again and again.

Remember, sooner or later Dirk is going to retire. None of us last forever. If people don’t have the experience of taking responsibility when it’s important, then they won’t be ready when they look around and the star isn’t there anymore.

So whether you’re the star or only a role player, listen to Dirk and “figure something out”. Everyone in the organization has to play a part in its success if you want to be good over the long term.

Photo: Dirk hits a game winning shot against the Milwaukee Bucks.

After Christmas

The day after Christmas is always a day tinged with a bit of post-holiday sadness. As a child, even if you got everything you wanted (and I remember only these gifts I got, not any I wanted and did not get), it still means waiting another whole year for Christmas to come again. My impression of the day after Christmas, like the holiday itself, has changed over the years.

Growing up in northern Michigan, the passing of Christmas also meant the start of a long, cold winter. You could count on bitter cold in January, a few false suggestions of better weather in February—good only to raise false hopes—and then the mud season of March. Finally, in April, spring would begin to appear and at some point in the month the ice would finally go out on the lake. The days were short and you awoke in the dark and came home from school in the dark. Winter was more a time to survive than enjoy—but the recompense was summer days that seemed endless with weather that was perfect.

One disappointment about Texas weather is that during the months when the weather is best—fall and spring—the days are already growing short or have not yet grown long. Our long days are during the brutal heat of summer.

As a college student, Christmas was more an afterthought. It was an interruption in your life when you saw family and remembered your past life. The period after Christmas, visiting home, often seemed to pass slowly. Your new friends were at school and you were still working out a new relationship, as an adult, with your family.

Once you have children of your own Christmas changes again. Now you enter into performance mode. Children expect so much from Christmas (at least in middle class America) and, as you soon find out, Christmas for parents is like putting on a show. You get better after the first few years, but the day after mingles relief with a review of how well the show went. Fortunately, children have an amazing capacity for joy, so even a weak performance usually meets with rave reviews.

Now my children are adults, not yet with children of their own. This is a comfortable time. Expectations are low. The amount of effort required is low, there is very little I want or need, so I am happy with any gifts I get, and it’s possible just to enjoy the holiday. The time after Christmas is also less forbidding in Texas. Spring comes early here and only January, which will have some nice days, is really winter. By February, spring is on its way, flowers begin to bloom and it’s time to plant the garden.

So now is for me an easy time to enjoy Christmas but also let it pass by. I know, in a few years, that my children will likely have families of their own and the focus of Christmas will change once more. I’m sure at that point the holiday will change for me once more, and perhaps become less—or more—enjoyable. I don’t know yet, but God willing, I will someday know.

Unwelcome Mat Comments, Part VI

This comment, like the idea to spread homeless housing out in small developments near churches (see last Wednesday’s blog), makes a suggestion that sounds reasonable, but unfortunately has proved not to work:

A realistic idea might be to build this facility out of metropolitan area, into a community in a rural county that needs the jobs these facilities would bring. It would help the economy of these communities and it would remove homeless out of the city. It would reduce their options for returning to the streets and might force them into cooperating with efforts to rehabilitate them.

I suppose an unkind soul might suggest that this is the prison solution, since that’s just where we, as a society, have chosen to locate our prisons. It’s even more problematic for homeless facilities than for prisons.

Unlike prisons, permanent supportive housing projects aren’t locked facilities. Smaller towns aren’t likely to have the services needed by the formerly homeless; there aren’t going to be jobs; educational facilities; or, probably, any place to go.

The impact of bringing a large group of homeless people into a small town will be much more noticeable than in a city.

Finally, it may sound strange at first, but just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean they don’t have a hometown. Many homeless people are attached not just to a hometown, but to a specific neighborhood and if you want to successfully help them, then you have to go where they live.

There is a well-known story about a private person in Memphis who tried to solve homelessness on his own initiative. He owned a large farm located outside of town and on it he built a village of substantial tents (the semi-permanent type with furniture and stoves—sometimes you see them on old movies about African safaris) and provided three meals per day for people. Only a few homeless people ever came to his property and most of them soon left.

There was nothing for them to do. There was nowhere to go. There was very little social interaction. Apparently people decided that life was better on the streets of Memphis than in isolation on the farm. (I wonder if this isn’t a variation on the declining farm population, especially in the Great Plains states. As a society, we are no longer happy outside of the larger community).

I am afraid that the same fate would await homeless housing built in small communities.

[A final note—in spite of the rumors you may hear, homeless people don’t move in large numbers because of additional services. Over 80% of The Bridge’s clients are from Dallas County, and the two biggest groups from outside Dallas County are from Tarrant and Collin Counties.]

Merry Christmas everyone!

BY NAQUANNA COMEAUX

What a week we’ve had for CityWalk and our residents – we have much to celebrate this Christmas!

On Wednesday, Dec. 23, the same day that we received our “green tag” or temporary certificate of occupancy for CityWalk, we were able to tell one of our first residents, Joyce Bennett, that she could move into her new, fully furnished CityWalk apartment on Tuesday, Dec. 29.

Joyce was at our office when we told her she would be moving in next week. As soon as she heard the news, she immediately clamped her hand over her mouth in awe as tears began to well up in her eyes. “This is the first time I’ve ever been speechless!” she beamed.

As our staff began to exchange hugs with our new resident and each other, Joyce could barely contain her excitement. “You just don’t understand, you just don’t understand,” she kept saying before she was able to compose herself enough to begin telling her story.

Joyce currently lives with relatives, where she sleeps on the floor and has no personal belongings except for her clothing. She said that because she is homeless, she is treated much like an outsider in her family and is, at times, even excluded from family events. Through it all, she held on to her faith, which kept her going every day as she looked for permanent, affordable housing.

The turning point in her life came when Kevin Flagg, our community outreach assistant, called her for an interview to discuss her interest in becoming a resident at CityWalk. After going through the application process, Joyce was approved and is now preparing to move into her new apartment.

As you can see, this Christmas is extra special for our staff at Central Dallas CDC and our residents at CityWalk. The only thing missing from this story is Joyce’s photo (she’s extremely camera shy), but I hope I’ve painted a clear picture about how CityWalk is transforming lives and giving hope to the homeless.

Central Dallas CDC’s Christmas Present is a Green Tag

This, friends, is a temporary certificate of occupancy for CityWalk, and there could not be a better Christmas present for us:

The temporary certificate of occupancy means the City of Dallas inspectors have now given us permission to occupy a portion of CityWalk—the basement through the fifth floor.

By the time you read this blog, we will have had at least one lease signed and before the end of the year, people will be living at CityWalk. Some of them are people who are now living in their car or at a shelter.

Finally, after more than four years of work, we have found a place at the inn for some of our brothers and sisters to get in out of the cold. There couldn’t be any better way for us to celebrate the season.

Special Delivery for CityWalk

BY NAQUANNA COMEAUX

The gifts and donations for CityWalk are continuing to come in. Our latest blessing was a special delivery yesterday from a small group of caring families from Farmers Branch Church of Christ. Jamie Schlegel, her adorable son Luke, and Chidi Key brought two boxes of toiletries for our residents, which were collected at their church group’s Christmas party on Dec. 20. The boxes were full of personal hygiene items such as shampoos and conditioners, toothbrushes and toothpaste, razors and shaving cream, body lotion, deodorant and soap.

A few weeks ago, Jamie got in contact with another Jamie – Jamie Beach, donation coordinator for Central Dallas Ministries Thrift – to inquire about volunteer opportunities and ministry needs. Jamie B. relayed this information to Johnice Woods, director of projects for Central Dallas CDC, who passed it along to me. I responded immediately and Jamie B., who has been a phenomenal help to CityWalk residents, put me in contact with Jamie S., whose group wanted to host a donation drive for our residents.

This is a great example of how families, church groups, youth groups, clubs and organizations can come together to make a big difference in the lives of our residents. The donations we’re requesting are a part of an ongoing project to help meet our residents’ basic needs as they transition into CityWalk over the next few weeks.

We can’t say enough how thankful we are for the amazing gift we received yesterday from the members of Farmers Branch Church of Christ. They even requested that we keep them posted about any other volunteer opportunities and needs that we may have. The servant heart and giving spirit of this faithful group is truly appreciated by Central Dallas CDC and our CityWalk residents.

You can drop off donations from your toiletry and/or food drive to the Central Dallas CDC office, located at 2814 Main Street in Deep Ellum. Just give me a call at 214.573.2570 to let us know you’re coming.

This is an exciting time for our residents and we thank you in advance for your contribution!

Photo: Naquanna Comeaux, Johnice Woods, Kevin Flagg, Chidi Key, Jamie Schlegel, and Luke

A Christmas Wish Comes True Before Christmas

BY NAQUANNA COMEAUX

Our community outreach assistant, Kevin Flagg, wrote a beautiful blog this past Sunday about his Christmas wish list for each of us here at Central Dallas CDC. (http://citywalktalk.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-christmas-wish-list-for-central.html)

His wish for me included “funded CityWalk studio home packages.” If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we have been asking families, churches, organizations, and individuals to sponsor one or more of our 142 CityWalk studios by purchasing a CityWalk Home Package, which includes furnishings for the bedroom/living, kitchen and bathroom areas.

Little did we know, that on the same day Kevin was expressing his Christmas wish, Richardson East Church of Christ was uniting in an effort to bring in more than $25,000 to sponsor home packages for CityWalk! Because of this missions-minded church that truly has a heart for God’s people, many of our residents will be moving into fully-furnished apartments in the next few weeks.

Richardson East, also known as “Care Church,” continues to live up to its name and has truly set the example.

We at Central Dallas CDC would like to send out a huge “Thank you” and a big “God bless you” to Rev. John Siburt and Richardson East for their tremendous and continuing generosity.

We’d love to add you, your family, business or organization to this growing list of donors. It’s an ongoing project and you can give at any time.

To make a donation, go to citywalkatakard.com and click on “DONATE” or contact me at the Central Dallas CDC office at 214.573.2570.

Our residents thank you!

Photo: Rev. John Siburt of Richardson East Church of Christ

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