David Tuthill
                             

03/21/07  The ODB are not happy with Angela Hunt.

Councilwoman Angela Hunt has organized a grassroots political campaign (TrinityVote.com) to let Dallas voters revisit the Trinity Project, and Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) are not happy. 

No one knows better than me how uncomfortable it can be to have all the money boys in town mad at you for challenging their latest scheme to waste taxpayer money.  There are so many ways Belo can come at you.  Make no mistake, the wants of the ODB are interchangeable with the wants of Belo Corp (The Dallas Managed News).  The wants of the ODB are also the wants of former Mayor Ron Kirk (aka Con Jerk).  So, Councilwoman Hunt's campaign has a real d??vu feel to me. 

What makes this campaign so strange is to have Mayor Laura Miller teamed up with Ron Kirk and the ODB.  Back in 1998, Laura Miller opposed the Trinity Project.  The below letter to the Editor just breaks my heart.

Letters for Tuesday Tuesday, March 20, 2007 We agree on the Trinity

Re: "Trinity toll road plans challenged ? Dallas: Council member wants vote on moving it outside levee," Thursday Metro.    As mayors of Dallas, our disagreements are well documented. However, we completely agree on the importance of the Trinity River Project to the city's future.     This project takes 10,000 acres of unused land in the center of Dallas and uses it to improve flood protection, increase traffic flow, create a beautiful park and unite North and South Dallas.      We oppose City Council member Angela Hunt's efforts to hold a referendum to move the Trinity Parkway. All options have been carefully considered; because of increased right-of-way costs, moving the parkway dramatically increases its pricetag.     Anyone who has driven on Stemmons Expressway knows we have a problem. In 2003, the City Council hired independent consultants to examine all aspects of the Trinity. They concluded that we needed a reliever route and that the only place to put it was between the levees. The parkway along the lakes was moved to the downtown side and reduced from eight lanes to four.    Construction on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and the Audubon Interpretive Center begin in April. Flood control improvements are in operation, and others are under construction.     The Trinity Project has disparate elements. Now is not the time to stop or slow down. Now is the time to work together to make those elements compatible. Laura Miller and Ron Kirk, Dallas

Councilwoman Hunt needs your help during early voting and on election day in the upcoming council elections to gather signatures on the petition to get the referendum on a ballot.  All the contact information is at their website, TrinityVote.com. 

They can count on my signature. 

The current Trinity Project is so far removed from the original scam that the proponents should be ashamed to be part of it.  Dallas voters were deceived in 1998, and subsequent changes in the Trinity Bondoogle compounds the error.

Councilwoman Hunt is in for some very hard times from now until we get to re-vote the Trinity Project.  I am sure she will get the required signatures, and I am certain Dallas voters will say "ENOUGH" when we get to actually vote again.  The ODB will turn all their puppets on her.  Con Jerk/Ron Kirk will put her down publicly.  I hope Mayor Miller will remember what it felt like to go up against the big boys when she speaks out against Hunt's campaign.

Another irony to this conflagration is that two formally popular politicians who don't like each other are now teamed up against a sole femme.  Ron Kirk no longer has a base he can deliver to the ODB.  Laura Miller's former base was never inclined to support anything supported by the ODB.

It won't be easy, but Councilwoman Angela Hunt can get this done if we get behind her.  

sb