Neighbor versus neighbor. That was the situation last week during a City of Dallas Ethics Commission hearing when commissioners were ready to hear Lake Highlands resident Bill Vandivort’s complaint against Robin Norcross, the Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association’s vice-president of communications, an Ebby Halliday Realtor, and a City of Dallas Landmark Commissioner.
Only Bill Vandivort didn’t show up to defend his claim. Norcross, who was present with her attorney, didn’t have to wait long for the Ethics Commission to throw out the complaint.
Vandivort didn’t show up at the preliminary hearing, either, Norcross told me, when two of his three complaints against her were tossed out entirely. All three ethics complaints involved Norcross’s comments in favor of the Shoreview/Ferndale development before the City Plan Commission and later the City Council. The first two complaints, the ones thrown out, essentially stated that Norcross should have disclosed her standing on the Landmark Commission when speaking before the Plan Commission and the Council.
"It’s actually just the opposite. It’s considered prestige of office, like you’re trying to represent someone," Norcross says, explaining that if she had stated her appointed position before the commission and council, it could have been interpreted as an attempt to use her position to influence those members. "I never represented anyone except myself as a homeowner. We live two blocks from this development."
Vandivort’s third claim, Norcross says, essentially argued that she would benefit economically as a Landmark Commissioner from the Shoreview/Ferndale development being approved. The Landmark Commission is responsible for oversight of historically designated districts and buildings in the city. Norcross says she does hope she benefits, as well as the entire neighborhood — "It’s a run-down, dilapidated shopping center, and I think redevelopment efforts will be huge for that corner. Hopefully our property values go up as a result of this development. That’s the only way I think we can economically benefit, along with with the rest of our neighbors."
I sent Vandivort an e-mail Friday and left a voicemail for him this afternoon to find out if he had anything to say about all of this, but I haven’t received a response.
"Somebody called it a drive-by complaint," Norcross says of Vandivort’s filings. "He continues to be all right with personal attacks and mistruths, and several of us have been on the receiving end of those. I just don’t think that’s how the majority of Lake Highlands wants to operate.
"It certainly has been a big waste of time for the City — the paper alone, the trees we have killed over this thing because everybody has to be copied on everything. You wouldn’t believe the people who have been involved in this and the man hours … it should have been spent on better things."
