Letters to The Editor
Preserve our history
I was devastated to see the demolition of the Rose Lloyd Mansion at 4101 Beverly Drive in August.
What will it take for the residents and the town of Highland Park to act by establishing protections for the remaining historic homes if not this atrocious example?
Historic homes bring value to cities and neighborhoods. Studies show they appreciate faster and exceed average market property values. A preservation ordinance for homes of significant architectural and historical value can be enacted by the town of Highland Park, voted upon town council, or as a referendum by residents.
Current owners can also submit their property for preservation easements.
These are the only ways to protect the established architectural vernacular of this historic neighborhood for present and future generations while honoring the story and legacy of the past.
The Rose Lloyd Mansion was the most famous house in Highland Park; revered in its design, beloved and iconic. Establish protections before more history and architecture of our storied community are erased and lost forever.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Collier Vaughan
HPHS Class of 2003
Charleston, South Carolina
It’s spelled F-R-Y-M-I-R-E
Though it was a delight to hear from so many friends re the front-page photo of me with my squad from ‘72, it nonetheless was a familiar disappointment to see my maiden name misspelled.
Perhaps someone tried to do it phonetically.
So, in honor of my father, a well-known and respected Park Cities resident in his day, I would like to inform you it is FRYMIRE.
Karen Frymire Roberts
University Park
Editor’s note: Information and photographs for September’s cheerleader story were provided by HP Cheer volunteers. ‘Park Cities People’ regrets the spelling error.
Snider Plaza parking
Pull into to any curbside parking space in most downtown areas of America and you are guaranteed to find either a short parking time limit, a parking meter or both. Everyone knows that when you overstay that time limit, or fail to pay the meter, the city is going to give you a ticket.
That is not the case in the city of University Park. In Snider Plaza for example, people can park their car curbside for a generous two hours. There are no parking meters and unlike in most cities, if you overstay the time limit here, you’re probably not going to get a ticket. That’s because everyone knows that the time limit in Snider Plaza is only enforced once a day at the most.
This relaxed attitude toward parking enforcement in Snider Plaza encourages many people to overstay the time limits and has helped to cause the huge parking problem we have in the center today.
Every day, I look out my shop window and I see the same cars of customers, employees, SMU students, contractors, office workers, and delivery drivers all parked in the same spot for hours on end. Everyone seems to know how to game the system.
This is not the fault of our police. They are doing the best they can with the resources they have been given.
This is also not the fault of the Snider Plaza merchants as some have suggested.
The vast majority of Snider Plaza businesses have their own private parking for their employees and they use it.
Only a small number of businesses do not have employee parking. Some of those are popular busy restaurants with lots of employees.
Most of the owners tell their employees not to park on the street, but there is little they can do to stop them because the city of University Park owns the streets and the public parking.
Only the city has the legal authority to enforce street parking regulations, issue tickets, or tow a vehicle that is in violation. The problem is, they are not doing it enough.
As a Plaza business owner, I pay property taxes for basic city services like parking enforcement. I also pay my landlord’s property taxes. Merchants generate a lot of sales tax income for the city and even more income from alcohol sales in restaurants.
In 2010, Snider Plaza merchants and property owners worked to update UP laws to finally allow beer and wine to be sold in our grocery stores, which has brought a huge amount of additional new tax revenue to our city. We did that to help pay our share of the parking solution. Merchants are paying a lot for city services, but we are not getting them.
In a regular eight-hour business day, our two-hour street parking needs to be enforced at least four times a day to keep it free for customers. If we had adequate parking enforcement, more people would be utilizing the long-term parking we have in the Hilltop garage and it would be easier for customers to find a curbside spot.
That is a basic, common-sense strategy that every city in America uses to protect its valuable street parking.
But why should anyone park in a garage or move their car when they can park on the street all day for free?
Max Fuqua
Plaza Health Foods
A Pricey HPISD Bond
HPISD Board of Trustees and Community Advisory Committee members, and district administrators, tour a bus. The district could use bond funds from the $137.3 million proposal that will appear on ballots Nov. 5 to purchase its own buses. Photos: Sarah Hodges
With regard to the proposed HPISD bond, it is accurate that the model from RBC (HPISD financial advisor) shows the tax rate won’t go any higher than it is today. But, the current tax rate is expected to go down over time. With the new bond, that reduction is slower, so there really is an increase relative to not doing the bond. This is true for every year for 20 years. Claiming the tax rate doesn’t increase is misleading. All of these numbers are laid out in an RBC presentation made public at an HPISD meeting on April 4, 2024. Ultimately, the taxpayers are going to pay an estimated $193.8MM more.
Colin Raymond
University Park
