ROSS IS AVENUE OF DEVELOPMENT, DIVERSITY – AND NOW DEBATE
By Eric Aasen and Michael E. Young, eaasen@dallasnews.com; myoung@dallasnews.com

Dallas Morning News
August 12, 2008
TX

Three-and-a-half miles long and 150 years old, Ross Avenue traces the
evolution of Dallas from hardscrabble frontier town to multiethnic
metropolis, sophisticated and down-home and ever more diverse.

Used car lots on Ross fly the flags of the U.S. and Mexico. The avenue
runs through both a largely Hispanic neighborhood and the West End. It
is dotted with churches, museums, lavanderias; even Stephan Pyles’
restaurant. It’s home to chef Stephan Pyles’ namesake restaurant and
Tacos y Mas; skyscrapers and lavanderias; museums, concert halls and
tired old buildings where enterprising newcomers shape their dreams.

And it is at the center of an intense debate between a community
that feels ignored and others who claim a stake on this street,
with personal, financial, even historic investments.

The eastern stretch of Ross Avenue runs through a largely Hispanic
neighborhood, and leaders, snubbed in efforts to have Industrial
Boulevard renamed in honor of César Chávez, have turned their
name-changing efforts toward Ross. Others agree with the sentiment
but not the location.

To developer John Sughrue, part of the team building the 42-story
Museum Tower condo project in the Dallas Arts District, Ross Avenue
is more than a street. It’s a brand.

GUY REYNOLDS/DMN Javier Tapia (right) quickly gets the attention
of his friend Pedro Puebla after spotting a potential employer
slowing on North Carroll Avenue near the de facto day-labor center
on Ross. Mr. Tapia said he’s been coming to Texas on and off for 20
years from his home state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. "Ross Avenue
in Dallas is much like Park Avenue in New York or Michigan Avenue in
Chicago," Mr. Sughrue said. "You change the brand, you risk changing
the enterprise."

But Dallas City Council member Steve Salazar, a key name-change
proponent, has received favorable feedback on the Chávez idea from
property owners along Ross.

"A lot of people say, ‘I have memories on Ross,’ " Mr. Salazar said. "I
don’t think the memories are about Ross, but the things that occurred
around that street."

It’s their business

On an avenue lined with dozens of office towers and hundreds of
individual businesses, changing the street’s name means changing
business cards, stationery and store signs. For some, it might mean
changing their names.

Consider the Ross Avenue Wedding Chapel.

"I do a lot of [Hispanic] weddings because the [Catholic] cathedral
can’t take any more," said owner Michael Cotten. "But I can’t imagine
that many of my other clients would be thrilled going to the César
Chávez Wedding Chapel."

Dora Medina’s family came from Mexico, and her parents now own Ross
Discount Tire, where she works. And though Ross Avenue might get a
new name, the tire store won’t.

"I don’t believe the name change would affect business," she said of
the 20-year-old shop. "If we were a new business, this would affect
our clientele a lot more."

But others say a change means major headaches.

Danna Moon of Texas Paint & Wallpaper, a fixture on Ross since the
late ’60s, said she respects the desire to pay homage to a major
civil-rights figure but doesn’t understand why that has to happen on
a street with scores of businesses.

Ross Avenue is "just part of our family, and it’s a part of our store,"
she said. "We know that we have to change with the times. This is
just one area, I guess, that we don’t see needs changing."

Family histories are a key part of the street’s history, and a part
of the city’s. Changing one affects all the rest, locals say.

The street is named after brothers William and Andrew Ross, prominent
Dallas residents during the Civil War.

A.H. Belo built the Belo Mansion on Ross in the late 1800s.

Four decades later, thousands lined up at the mansion, by then a
funeral home, to view the body of Clyde Barrow.

"To want to change the name of a street that honors one of the early
founders of Dallas after someone who is not from Dallas, not from
Texas … it’s a travesty," said Ellen Amirkhan, president of the
Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. on Ross since 1920.

Some Ross residents don’t care for a name change, either.

"Ross Avenue has a history all of its own," said Bobbie Kraft, 71,
who has lived in a duplex on Ross since 2005. "I think we ought to
leave some things alone."

Recognition

Proponents say the name change recognizes Dallas’ changing makeup.

The street is home to the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe
and headquarters of the Dallas Independent School District, which
has a significant Hispanic student population.

And an immigration march up Ross Avenue in 2006 attracted up to
500,000 people.

"We need to express our respect to the Latino community, and we believe
they should have a prominent venue," said John Fiedler, senior pastor
of First United Methodist Church at Ross and Akard Street.

"But I think of Ross Avenue as our Fifth Avenue … and in New York,
Fifth Avenue was a transcendent stage shared by everyone."

A City Council committee recommended last week that Ross be
renamed. The Dallas Plan Commission will take up the issue in about
60 days, Mr. Salazar said, before the council considers the matter.

Mr. Salazar and the council’s two other Hispanic members, Mayor
Pro Tem Elba Garcia and Pauline Medrano – whose district includes a
section of Ross Avenue – support renaming the street.

Angela Hunt, whose district includes the downtown portion of Ross
Avenue, has said she has concerns about changing a street name tied
to Dallas history. But, she said, the process needs to play out.

Renaming a historic street puts the City Council in a no-win situation,
said Robert V. Kemper, an urban anthropology professor at Southern
Methodist University.

The unscientific poll to rename Industrial Boulevard was the beginning
of the crisis, Dr. Kemper said, and when a road for César Chávez
emerged as the unexpected winner, city officials turned it down.

"That was the flashpoint for what has happened since, and now the
politicians are trying to escape the consequences," he said. "There’s
no easy exit."

At the eastern edge of Ross, Carl Bell looks at the future and
considers the past.

Somewhere else?

Mr. Bell led the deacons at Ross Avenue Baptist Church when it was
largely destroyed by fire in 2002.

"There’s a legacy of places that were once on Ross Avenue, such as
Merchants State Bank and Sears and even [used-car dealer] Goss on
Ross," he said.

Mr. Bell said he understands the impact the Latino community has in
Dallas and admires Mr. Chávez for helping migrant workers.

"We should honor Chávez now, whichever street or boulevard it is,"
he said.But many on Ross would prefer that street be somewhere else.

Some mention Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff or Northwest Highway
or Columbia Avenue.

Ms. Amirkhan of the Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. said there are less
divisive ways to honor Mr. Chávez. She suggested renaming the Dallas
Farmers Market.

"We are aware of immigrants; we’re aware of their contributions," said
Ms. Amirkhan, whose grandfather fled the Armenian genocide in Turkey.

"We understand that people want to honor their culture and their
history. We want to do the same.

"But we have to do it in a way that brings everyone in the city
together."

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