Kerry J Haynes used to live in Chicago. Now he is a special assistant to the mayor in Memphis. When he read Blair Kamin’s critique of the Dallas Arts District in the Chicago Tribune, he was moved to respond to the piece. Haynes didn’t think Kamin went far enough with his critique, and the topic hit home because Memphis is beginning to have conversations within the city about galvanizing their arts/creative neighborhoods, Haynes writes:

If their intent is to create a suburban-style park of institutions that provide patrons with regularly scheduled arts and culture programming, then I’d say they’ve succeeded admirably. It’s all of the things they haven’t done by design that is causing them to fall short of their stated goal of creating what you call “day-and-night vitality.” Vitality is a product of different people using the same areas for different purposes at different times. It’s people flowing in and out of areas at their own speed, discovering new ways and reasons to engage. The Dallas Arts District is providing them with only one way and reason to engage: arrive, buy your ticket, take a seat, consume the program, and leave. It’s the opposite of what Jane Jacobs and many others would call mixed use.  

Yes, and it is also what some of us have been banging our heads against the wall saying for some time. The Arts District is also a half-done project. There are more developments to come. Dirt is flying on the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. One Arts is expanding. Museum Tower is under construction. All the day-and-night vitality things are coming, Arts District boosters will say. But whereas Kamin is positive about the Deck Park, Haynes is less bullish.

The addition of the park and the construction of the new residential complex in Dallas will not help.  The vibrant neighborhood to the north of the Arts District will stay vibrant, but those residents would seem to have no reason to venture into an Arts District that has already earned a reputation for being rather quiet, stuffy, and boring. The Arts District fails to achieve true vitality because it has not invested in the amenities that serve and are served by PEOPLE. Bars, bookstores, cafes, doctors’ offices, accountants, ad agencies, and above all STUDIOS where art-makers (as opposed to merely art-consumers) would feel welcome and productive.

Haynes goes on to say that the path is not irreversible. We can invest in “a network of human-scale destinations and places (aided of course by good sidewalks and lots of trees) that will generate real use during all hours.” But can you lay in a “network of human-scale destinations” in an already built-out district?