John Yourse
David Tuthill
                             

11/11/08   Now What?

We had an election that made a lot of people happy and almost as many unhappy. 

If Dallas County is indicative of the people who are making decisions these days, we are in a bad place.  Straight ticket Democrat voters re-elected Lupe Valdez as Sheriff to continue her poor job performance.  The county jails have not passed inspection one time since she was elected in 2004.  So, Democrats rewarded her failure with re-election. 

What's the point of trying to save our neighborhoods when people are voting for the likes of Craig Watkins and Lupe Valdez to law enforcement offices?  We have a bail bondsman for Dallas County DA, who thinks his job is to be the champion of convicts, rather than seek justice for victims of criminals.  We have a Sheriff who is so bad at her job that every law enforcement officer group in the county endorsed her opponent, but Democrats voted party line, not on candidate merit.

I just don't see things getting better.  Is there anything going right in this town?

Jim Schutze has a killer story in the Dallas Observer, Derailing Dallas' Inland Port Future.   Once again, Ross Perot, Jr.'s self-interest take precedence with local politicos over the best interest of the people who actually pay taxes.  What is it?  Every 10 years, Jr. figures out a way to hurt as many people as possible so he can make as much money as possible, when he already has so much.  As long as I've been active in community matters, Our Downtown Betters have been pushing for development in the southern sector.  Now, the ODB's man downtown seems to be creating obstacles to the inland port because Jr. doesn't want competition for his Alliance operations -- in Tarrant County.  Schutze's report will worry you.  If not, check your pulse -- you may be dead.

I can't help but chuckle recalling all the promises made by Con Jerk if Dallas would only destroy its convention business with hotel/rental car sales taxes to fund Jr's real estate deal (camouflaged as a sports arena).  It's not a happy chuckle.  Now, The Dallas Managed News is actually reporting on the unhappy reality of Victory Park vs. Ron Kirk's 1998 un-kept promises.

Shoppers can be hard to find at Victory Park (By MARIA HALKIAS, DallasNews.com, 10/12/8):

Victory Park seeking more people (By SHERYL JEAN, DallasNews.com, 10/12/8):

"Told you so" seems to pretty much cover it.

Now, we are going to build a taxpayer funded, owned and operated hotel to stimulate our convention business that Con Jerk/Ron Kirk killed while carrying water for Ross Perot, Jr.  Voters gave Kirk a 50.01% majority to kill our convention business with the arena sales tax. 

I have always supported a convention center hotel, but I'm not sure any hotel should be funded by taxpayers or owned by City Hall.  We don't take good care of our current municipal buildings or parks.  We don't take care of our city employees' pension fund either.  I don't have a sense of comfort about our potential for success with a hotel operation when experienced corporations are struggling.

Thanks to poor voter decisions, things suck at the County level. 

Thanks to poor voter decisions, we have no convention business and unfulfilled promises at Victory Park. 

As bad as things are at the County and City Hall, the DISD is ten times worse. 

Dallas ISD faulted for using fake Social Security numbers (By TAWNELL D. HOBBS, DallasNews.com, 11/14/8):

Isn't that special?  Foreign nationals are teaching our children.  Well, they are teaching someone's children who don't speak English.  Foreign nationals are teaching DISD children, and those foreign nationals have not been vetted for a criminal background because the DISD stole the identity of U.S. citizens (taxpayers) and furnished the Social Security numbers of those same U.S. citizens to expedite the employment of foreign nationals. 

Think about it.  Not only is the DISD stealing U.S. citizens' identity, but they were specifically ordered to stop doing it several years ago.  The DISD might have used your Social Security number.  The DISD might be employing a child molester as a bilingual teacher.  For that matter, how does the state's educator certification office run a criminal background check on a foreign national?  How does a school district disregard orders from a federal agency?  Aren't there any consequences for bad bureaucratic behavior?

Tawnell Hobbs has a great report, but Patrick Williams had the story first, DISD Just Can't Get Numbers Right (DallasObserver.com, 11/12/8): 

This is corruption coming from the very agency responsible for teaching Dallas school children. 

There is no doubt that DISD Supt. Hinojosa needs to resign, but he will not.  His backers on the School Board should also resign, but they will not.  We cannot count on stupid voters in this town to turn out any of the Board members up for re-election next May.  So, State officials need to come in and take over the DISD. 

Unfortunately, the DISD chaos is allowing camera-loving Carlos Quintanilla a vehicle to get himself TV face time by leading a handful of protestors in a demonstration outside Dr. H's home.  That's not OK. 

Homes of public officials, elected or employees, should be off limits.  There should be a city ordinance against megaphones in neighborhoods.  One Dallas taxpayer told Quintanilla that his megaphone was disturbing the man's sick wife.  Quintanilla wasn't about to let some sick woman's quiet enjoyment of her home get in the way of his camera time.  What if you had a terminally ill relative or friend whose last few days were disturbed by Quintanilla's megaphone? 

It was wrong when Commissioner Price's thugs picketed outside then-Councilwoman Laura Miller's home.  It is wrong for Quintanilla to invade Dr. Hinojosa's neighborhood. 

Rather than pass a law prohibiting smoking in bars, our City Council should pass a law prohibiting megaphones or harassing demonstrations in residential neighborhoods.

Wish I could see some glimmer of hope on the horizon for Dallas, Dallas County or the DISD, but Dallas voters have shown repeatedly for the past 10 years (since the arena sales tax election) that good government is not a priority here.  Smart voting has proved to be a rare commodity in Dallas County.

Dallas and Dallas County voters have decided that incompetence and idiocy are preferred traits in our elected officials. 

DISD elected school board members have decided to back incompetence and idiocy by hanging on to Dr. H. 

City Hall officials are working against the interests of Dallas taxpayers to protect the Tarrant County interests of Ross Perot, Jr.

Up is down.  Right is wrong.  Normal thinking cannot be applied to what's happening in Dallas.  The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland solved everything by frequently decreeing "Off with their heads".   Works for me.

sb