Those who live in Dallas's greater Casa Linda region understand patience. Patience is waiting years and years and years for revitalization. Sure, a few areas have improved or maintained stability. However, despite the region's "good bones," the near term future is anything but clear.

Now this region may have a way out: a 10 story luxury condo high rise proposed to replace a dilapidated medical complex off Emerald Isle Drive. This could kickstart the long-anticipated wider scale revitalization, making the greater Casa Linda area Dallas's next Park Cities in short order.

The biggest obstacle is a fierce opposition. The funny thing is that this opposition has many of its facts dead wrong.

Instead of tolerating continued stagnation, I have punged into activism and created Support the Emerald Isle Development. If you just want to get to the meat of the site, skip directly to the Distortions and Half Truths page.

I love it when those in favor of Emerald Isle like to use Turtle Creek as their example! You know NOTHING!

I grew up in the Oak Lawn, yes, OAK LAWN--NOT FREAKIN "UPTOWN." NO such thing as "uptown" in Dallas.

That is a made up name by developers to keep people from realizing they were living on land once owned by blacks (State-Thomas), but were FORCED off by the rise in values when HIGH RISES moved in.

Anybody notice the Freedman's Cemetery? Hello?

I can remember when 21 Turtle Creek was the ONLY tower.

I can remember when Greer Garson lived down the street, got it?

We had a wonderful walking, biking boulevard.

Then came the IBM and other office buildings, the same size as Emerald Isle. Then came the higher buildings off of Lemmon Ave.

Now, all you see is a bunch of boxes.

And when the values went up, the people sold off the houses.

Emerald Isle may not block a view White Rock from Garland Rd, but it will "spur" on other buildings, and in ten years, the LAST OPEN and GREEN area in Dallas will have visual pollution.

When I go to White Rock, I want to see SKIES, not buildings.

Hey, guess what?

We ain't New York, and it isn't Central Park.

White Rock is small. One change leads to others, and pretty soon, you will have a pond surrounded by rich folks sipping mojitos on their balconies.

And the idea that Garland Rd is a Highway? Yes, it is!

A highway that has stoplights every 1/2 mile or less in an urban environment.

And pray tell, where are the "run down" houses? Those cheap apartments that cost $800+ per month, or the Forest Hills houses?

That place is already vibrant.

It already has traffic.

It already has retail, apartments and such. It doesn't need a big butt box so those on the 10th floor can have an unobstructed view of the lake--for now.

[Ed Note: OK, I get it. You don't want the high rise! But I'm not certain I agree with the logic. Being "forced out of their homes" because of the high prices? I'd love it if someone would do that to me! I'd cry all the way to the bank, and so did people who sold their homes in State-Thomas (or held out for the higher dollars which many of the homeowners did).

Things change, my friend. You can spend your life fighting change or you can spend your life shaping change. You're an asset to Dallas, and your work will live on long after you and I are gone.]

I was excited when I heard about this project because I believe it does represent a way for us in the Casa Linda area to modernize.

My wife and I bought a house in the area several years ago, after having lived in the Uptown / Turtle Creek area for several years.

We found ourselves missing some of the things we had gotten used to "on the other side of the lake" like shops, good restaurants, social activities, etc.

I would love to see an area like Mockingbird station or the west village developed in our part of the city. It's time for us to move forward and make our neighborhood the place to be in Dallas.

It's sad that the residents of the beautiful and historic East Dallas neighborhoods have to spend all of their free time fighting the encroaching real estate developers.

Aren, have you ever considered that Casa Linda doesn't want to be the next Park Cities? Why not let the Park Cities be the Park Cities, and Casa Linda remain Casa Linda?

What amazes me about the entire Emerald Isle is that the "nay" campaign appears to be practically/totally based on fearmongering and emotional play. And it seems to be working!