A historic makeover, Rangers in a playoff spot, City Ballet shuttered: Your Friday morning roundup

Patience, the city said, again and again. Patience. As though waiting years — decades — for change that never came to the historic land known as The Bottom wasn't being patient enough. Houses kept disappearing; residents kept dying off. And the neighborhood slowly returned to nature, as whole blocks vanished beneath high weeds and a sagging canopy of long limbs belonging to old, tall trees. Many of the utility poles still standing here were long ago stripped of their wires and purpose.  [Morning roundup]( 06/28/2019 By Todd Davis Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌞 Weather: Hot. A high of 96 degrees is expected. There's a 10% chance of precipitation that may be that one thing that gets you through the day. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [her]( A sign advertised an upcoming home in 2017 in The Bottom neighborhood in Dallas on June 26, 2019. (Shaban Athuman/Staff Photographer) BUSINESS [Dallas finally prepares for historic neighborhood's long-promised makeover]( City columnist Robert Wilonsky writes: Patience, the city said, again and again. Patience. As though waiting years — decades — for change that never came to the historic land known as The Bottom wasn't being patient enough. Houses kept disappearing; residents kept dying off. And the neighborhood slowly returned to nature, as whole blocks vanished beneath high weeds and a sagging canopy of long limbs belonging to old, tall trees. Many of the utility poles still standing here were long ago stripped of their wires and purpose. The Bottom — a 126-acre historically black neighborhood contained by a bluff and a Trinity River levee, with a close-up view of downtown's skyline — is now more rural than urban. A horse named Shotgun Pegasus — which belongs to artist Benny Walker, whose giant corner property is a clutter of materials one might call trash — roams free. On a Wednesday afternoon, you can stand in the middle of empty streets and hear nothing but the whine of cicadas and crowing of roosters and rustling of leaves. Patient they were, those few who remained in The Bottom. And while they waited for a revival, so much of their Oak Cliff neighborhood was rendered a blank slate ready at last for new development. Or, as some residents fear, the do-over. [Only now does the City Hall machine finally warm its engines.](  Seeing eye: Why the Dallas investor who predicted the housing market collapse says [the U.S. could see a recession in 2020.](   And: [A new West Dallas project]( will bring apartments and commercial space.  ADVERTISEMENT POLITICS [How Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris handled big Texas issues like immigration and health care]( WASHINGTON -- The two Texas Democrats vying for the White House weren't on the debate stage Thursday night as heavyweights like former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Sen. Kamala Harris took their turn in Miami. But the absence of Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro, who participated in day one of the super-sized event, didn't mean Texas was excluded from the proceedings. The Democrats jousting on day two of the first 2020 presidential debates spent [a significant amount of time discussing issues significant to the Lone Star State](. Immigration, of course. But also topics like trade and health care.  Commentary: Why is Trump so bad at vetting his nominees? [Carl P. Leubsdorf examines the issue](.   And the night before...  [Julián Castro went for Beto O'Rourke's jugular]( by questioning his grasp of immigration law.  SPORTS [Halfway through the MLB season, the Rangers are in the thick of the playoff race]( The rebuilding Rangers reached the statistical midpoint of the season Thursday and here's where they stand: in the middle of a playoff race. Two of them, actually. On Wednesday, in their 81st game of the season, the Rangers completed a three-game sweep of Detroit with a 3-1 win forged from the return of Joey Gallo's home run swing and Ariel Jurado's surprising durability. They have pushed their winning streak to five games, matching the season's best. More surprising: The Rangers currently hold a playoff spot - the second AL wild card - and will play a series this weekend at Tampa Bay for control of the whole dang wild card race. Oh, and get this, they've found themselves only 4 ½ games back of slumping Houston in the West in the closest thing the AL has to a divisional race. They trailed the Astros by 9 ½ games two weeks ago. [Yes, we are talking about the Rangers.](  Cleveland-bound: The Rangers' Hunter Pence was [named an All-Star starter for the first time in his career.](   Also: [The Dallas Stars signed defenseman Taylor Fedun]( to a two-year, two-way contract, bringing back depth on the blue line.  ADVERTISEMENT EDITORS' PICKS - How many stories? [Half Price Books has broken ground]( on a new mixed-use project off Dallas' Northwest Highway. - Crime: [A Dallas police officer]( is charged with 10 counts of tampering with government records. - What have we learned? [A fiery debate on charter partnership]( was renewed at a Dallas school board meeting. FINALLY... [City Ballet, teacher of generations of Dallas dancers, is forced to close because of a rent increase]( City Ballet has been a fixture in the Dallas arts scene for 69 years. But its director said Thursday that the company closed June 20 because of a rent increase of more than 100% at its Lovers Lane property that made staying there prohibitive. Long regarded as an institution in local dance, City Ballet has trained generations of dancers, many of whom ascended to professional companies. It has occupied the same building across Lovers from the Inwood Theatre for 19 years and been in the neighborhood even longer. Evelyn Brown Johnson took over the business from her mother, Denise Brown, who died in 2011. In 2009, The Dallas Morning News profiled Denise Brown, who had an amazing life story. She had concealed for most of her adult life the fact that she was Jewish when, in fact, she was a victim of the Holocaust whose father was murdered at the Auschwitz death camp. Johnson concedes [the loss of the company figures to be as emotional for City Ballet alumni as it is for her](.  👋 That's all for this morning! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. Do you have feedback? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to [newsletters@dallasnews.com](mailto:newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com?subject=). 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