Stan Aten
Jorge Torres
                             

11/20/07  Things aren't so hot in Dallas, but then it's November.

It's hard to believe two weeks have passed since the Trinity Toll Road election.  It's still shocking to be reminded how dumb and gullible some voters can be.  What's more shocking than the election outcome is the audacity of The Dallas Managed News.

Of course, Jim Schutze covers it best with Jim Needs The News' Help With a Little Fact-Checking (DallasObserver.com, 11/09/07), but still 2 days after  the election, The Dallas Managed News reports the North Texas Transit Authority (NTTA) doesn't have the $$ for the toll road and will likely ask Dallas taxpayers to cough up a billion or so.  Trinity toll road completion faces long, winding road (Michael A. Lindenberger, DallasNews.com, 11/07/07).   Do you think that information might have influenced the election if the The Dallas Managed News had reported it when it was first known by them?

I spent a whole bunch of energy trying to cheer up the team after the election.  I didn't just get into the effort to win a political campaign.  My main goal was not to keep a honking toll road out of the Trinity River park.  My main goal was to keep a toll road from being built in the Trinity floodway.  I don't want a fake lake or a white water ride built in the floodway either.  You know what?  I doubt that toll road or any other road in the floodway ever happens.  So, on that level, I'm happy. 

I'm still bummed about how dumb people in this town can be.  I'm also terribly disappointed in some elected officials who I will never respect again.  No point in name calling, they know who they are.  When you sell out your friends and ignore common sense just to be part of the in crowd at City Hall, you are a loser.  People with no principles are always surprised when there are negative consequences to their bad behavior.  Since they don't really have any core values, they cannot imagine anyone taking any political position seriously.  They do things for self gain or political expediency. 

For some reason that goes way beyond anything in the toll road campaign, Rufus Shaw over at DallasBlog.com really has a vendetta for Joyce Foreman and by extension Angela Hunt.  Of course, there's the issue of Joyce vs. Lynn Flint-Shaw (Mrs. Rufus) vying to be the first Black woman to be Chair of the DART Board.  Joyce did not go quietly into the night when it was clear she was going to be replaced on the DART Board, and that did not sit well with a lot of people.  Still, Joyce lost that fight and she was on the losing side of the toll road fight.  I don't understand why Rufus is so determined to slam her in almost every piece he writes.  If she is as incompetent as he wants to see her, why mention her at all?  One responder to his blog mentions the only "Rufus Shaw" registered to vote in Dallas County (see DalCoElections.org) lives in Duncanville.  That is not our Rufus.  Our Rufus lives in District 5 with his wife, Lynn Flint-Shaw who is registered to vote.  It doesn't appear that our Rufus is a registered voter.  Why is that?

The mayoral election and the toll road election really put the light on political splits in the Dallas Black community.  Some real swings of power base may or may not be happening.  I am not close to Joyce Foreman, so I don't have a dog in this hunt.  Still, I don't understand this move to destroy her politically and to ruin her business. 

There is so much to be done in this town.  It's amazing how we just run around in circles chasing big ticket projects that drain all of our municipal energy and resources while we neglect the stuff that actually impacts the quality of our lives. 

We don't have enough police to protect our neighborhoods.  Poor little Arcadia Park has been overrun by thugs and drug dealers.  See Jorge Torres' report:  The thugs control Arcadia Park.   A few years ago, it looked like some young men who had grown up in Arcadia Park were going to be able to turn the neighborhood around.  They had organized a crime watch that was very well attended and had plans to get some new retail for the area.  Apparently, they could only do so much.

Our police are stretched so thin, but DART and the DISD have their own police departments and they can't even keep their limited jurisdictions safe.  See Stan Aten's commentary:  Why are there even DISD & DART police departments?.   It's a good question.  Looks like a big waste of our tax dollars because they certainly aren't keeping DART riders safe.

Oh, well, it's almost Turkey Day and Christmas shopping and Christmas parties and all that good fun.  Might as well just blow off fighting back this year.  By the first of the year, all kinds of stuff will be shaking out.  More information about the cost and impossibility of the Trinity floodway toll road will surface.  The toll road proponents will look like bigger liars or bigger fools and/or both.  Mayor T will be looking for any project that will divert our attention.

We might as well kick back and watch the fun.  Just try to keep from getting mugged or shot or run over by any of the thugs that our District Attorney Craig Watkins is turning back out on the streets to cause more mayhem in neighborhoods like yours and mine and Arcadia Park.

sb