05/05/03  BE BOLD, VOTE NO NOW!  VOTE YES IN NOVEMBER!

Eearly voting has picked up quite a bit from this past weekend to today.  That could be a good sign for the ?No? vote.  However, I?ve witnessed first hand the strong push by the ?Yes? camp to get out their signs, and their PR push to voters.

The sign strategy is the same that helped elect Mayor Wolens.  (I call her "Mayor Wolens"because Laura Miller admitted her husband set her straight on the important issues of Dallas.)

The Doctor of Signology, Robert Rowe, is again working with Miller to win the vote.  The more ?Yes? signs that are seen, the more citizens might be convinced to believe it?s the way to vote.  

?The Lemming syndrome.?  Miller is smart to again implement such a tactic.

There?s no doubt the City has serious operational problems.  We need a cure to the ills of Dallas, but Blackwood is the wrong prescription.

A good friend of mine flip-flopped over to the ?Yes? camp figuring that if Proposition 1 doesn?t work we can change it in two years.  He?s so fed up, he wants a totalitarian dictatorship form of government to implement true change. Honestly, I can?t fault his frustration, I?m terribly frustrated as well, just not enough to swallow the hemlock, or rather vote for it.

Should ?Yes? win, eventually Blackwood will backfire, and changes will have to be made.  This will include legal action that will drag on for years.  

As it is today, Dallas will be in limbo, unable to move forward or progress.  The kind of progress that benefits all citizens of Dallas, not just those intending to  profit from the Trinity development a strong mayor will push forward while the rest of us recall her campaign slogan, ?Back to Basics.?

My ?NO? vote, which I cast Monday, is anchored to the promise we will have a more balanced change to the city charter come this November.

The council must give the mayor more power and hold city employee?s more accountable.  If ?No? wins and there?s not true change to the charter to kick start better city services and accountability, Dallas will continue its current backward slide.  It could be as bad as Proposition 1 winning.

We must be brave and bold.

Vote ?NO? May 7th, and ?YES? to a more balanced change in November.   A change that won?t be tied up in the courts and hold true progress hostage.  We must have a definitive, common sense, governmental change to our charter so we can get about the business of improving the quality of life for all citizens of Dallas.

Gary Turner,
Editor/Publisher of Crime and Politics