Deep Ellum business owners worried road closures could affect their bottom line
Dallas police kicked off new road closures this weekend in the heart of Deep Ellum, saying it will improve public safety and keep pedestrians safe.
However, some business owners and residents believe it will lead to more congestion and make it harder for people to have a night out in the neighborhood.
A festive St. Patrick's Day weekend filled the streets of Dallas' Deep Ellum neighborhood, complete with road closures.
"It's a great time, but there's never any parking," patron Makhya Wilridge said.
"I feel like it is unnecessary, and I think especially with apartment complexes, they have the same problem. It's a lot of construction going on," patron Lauran Smith said.
The beefed-up effort includes closures on Main and Elm streets beginning around 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. More police officers will be out directing traffic and patrolling.
"I think, in general, it's bad for the people who live here because it will cause obviously more delays," resident Payton Nelson said.
"I think if you're either visiting or if you're a pedestrian, it's fine safety-wise because you have more guidance to navigate these closures," resident Nick Pena said.
Several Deep Ellum business owners said they hope to meet with Dallas police and talk about their concerns of how the road closures are affecting their bottom line.
Traffic control has been in place in Deep Ellum for about three years. Dan Murry said it has negatively affected business at his two Deep Ellum establishments, Armoury D.E. and Ruins.
"There was an immediate reduction in the sales for Friday and Saturday nights when they were doing every weekend street closures. Then that kind of snowballed into effects throughout the rest of the week and the rest of the year," Murry said.
Evan Kalstad has co-owned Trinity Cider for seven years.
"Our businesses rely on Uber Eats and GrubHub. We have the best restaurants in Dallas, all packed into three bars here. If their cars can't get in, the food can't get out," Kalstad said. "Also, we have 30 locations all playing live music right in these few blocks. The bands need to be able to get in and out."
The two business owners have an idea of what they think will work instead of closing roads.
"What we'd like to see is DPD and the city have a greater focus on community policing, trying to make sure that individual, small crimes, and things like that are addressed as opposed to just kind of quarantining the entire area," Murry said.
"Especially with the construction on Commerce, I think that Main and Elm need to be open," Kalstad said.
Crime has been a concern in Deep Ellum, but Dallas police reported in 2024 that it's been going down, especially violent crime.
"I think that the street closures, they might have started out as a genuine way for the city of Dallas to try to address some crime issues that were in Deep Ellum," Murry said. "Unfortunately for small businesses, it hasn't really worked out that way. It has affected crime and the way that just limiting the number of people that are down here. If they say that crime has been reduced by 40%, but if there's been a 50% reduction in foot traffic down here, that's not the best percentage that you really want to look at."
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