How One Anonymous Complaint, and Dallas' Landmark Commission, Almost Erased a Lovely Oak Cliff Mural

I went to Maroches Bakery on W. Davis Street Monday morning to find the owner. But Manuel Tellez wasn't at work. Instead he was at Dallas City Hall, waiting his turn to peak to the Landmark Commission about the mural on the side of his building that the city was threatening to erase. I got Tellez on the phone, wished him luck and told him he probably had better things to do than fight City Hall to keep such a pretty painting."Everybody has better things to do," he said. Except, I guess, the anonymous someone who called code compliance to complain about the mural in the first place. And the Landmark Commission, which spent one whole hour debating the mural's fate. And the dozen or so supporters who came to City Hall to plead the mural's case. And the hundreds who signed a petition to keep it.  Continue reading...