6/23/07   TRINITY VOTE

		The final push on the petition drive for a referendum on the Trinity River park/toll road controversy is underway. You remember back in 1998 the bond proposal that was narrowly passed touted a vision of a city park.  Now, the city wants you to believe the vote was really about a new high-speed toll road as the centerpiece of the park, a toll road that will be built inside a flood plain.
David Tuthill

While Dallas is usually dry this time of year, with the heavy rain it is probable that a toll road would be under water and unusable until it dried out.  Assuming once the floodwaters left it there would be no structural damage as North Texas is notorious for it’s expansive black clay soils.

The city says the plan for the Trinity River always had a high-speed toll road. That is false.  More so, the issue is not just toll road vs park but also the city being accountable for what it tells voters and how they spend our tax dollars.

There is nothing the city hates more than being accountable to it’s citizens or allowing their input into the affairs that our tax monies pay for.  This is evident to anyone who has attended a city council meeting on a specific issue.  Scheduling delays have been a hallmark of the council.  For the average citizen, it is well beyond the endurance of one’s time and their ability to navigate the maze that is set up.  As many government agencies have discovered, if you put up enough road blocks and delays for a person to go through, you can wear them down until they give up.  Lets hope the new mayor and council members will be better than their predecessors.

The city has failed to address the primary issue of content of the 1998 bond proposal:  a city park not a toll road.  They had an instance where the filing paper work for the petition drive was lost and subsequently found, they have decried any effort by citizens to be held accountable though the signing of the Trinity River Vote Petition.  They hired outsiders to disrupt the volunteer petition gatherers at the poll places to thwart the average citizen from one of the cherished rights that we as Americans hold:   “the right to petition our government to address grievances”.

Those who believe in a toll road have tacitly admitted that if left to the voters in all probability the toll road issue would not be approved.  Therefore, any obstruction placed before the voting taxpaying residents’ benefits them even at the expense of our cherished traditions.  But, remember, it is not just about the toll road, it is about expressing your right as a citizen to have a choice, be it yes or no on an issue.  Not some moneyed private developers who benefit from public works and will do or say anything to preserve their pet projects.

The point of credibility should also be examined.  If I hire someone to perform a task and pay for it, there is a reasonable expectation that I will receive what I paid for.  If I rent a Cadillac from a car rental agency and they give me a Yugo (extreme positions), my future expectations of purchases from that firm suffers.   What about future projects that citizens vote on from the city?  If they are upfront, the car rental agency will contact me before delivery and give me an opportunity to cancel or affirm continuance of our agreement. 

That is one facet of the Trinity River Petition Drive -- a re-vote to cancel or affirm credibility for this and future bond projects.

If you agree on a park or not, let us vote.  Let the citizens of Dallas express at the polls our desires for our tax dollars in the traditions of what made this country great, not some select group who envy countries where the right to petition their government is limited in nature or non existent.

David W. Tuthill