06/14/05  Mary Lou Reports

Monday morning, the much anticipated Dallas City Council Inauguration Ceremony was held at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.  It was a very nice family oriented ceremony. 

Ed Oakley and Angela Hill were escorted by their mothers for the swearing ceremony.  Maxine Thorton Reese and Don Hill were escorted by their young grandchildren (what a great opportunity to share).  Steve Salazar and James Fantroy were escorted by their sons.  Pauline Medrano brought her youngest brother.

Mayor Laura Miller spoke after the new City Council members were sworn in. She covered future plans that this new group will be a part of.  One I found interesting is the Visitors Center (part of the Trinity River Project) where the Audobon Society will have programs for the public.  It should be completed by 2009.  Many Downtown buildings are being transformed from commercial to residential.  She was also very excited about the controversial bridges over the Trinity River.  She was upbeat and excited.

The last part of her speech (in my opinion) was purely political.  She only spoke about things that need to be done in the southern sector of the city, as if this is the only area that needs help.  She prefaced this by saying that the McKinsey Report that was done last year recommended the city do more with the southern sector, that it has one of the lowest income areas in the city.  In my opinion, the southern sector is not the ONLY low income or troubled area.  The city should not concentrate ONLY in one area.  Wanting ALWAYS equal time for NW Dallas and all of the city, I felt like she left out the rest of the areas in Dallas.

During this ceremony someone said this new group of City Council persons are "The keepers of our vision and public trust." that each one is responsible for upholding city, state and federal laws.  I pray these words are taken seriously by all of these people who represent us.  My prayer is for this new group to do the right thing for ALL citizens, not just those with the loudest voice.  All we ask for is for things to be done in a fair way.  We ALL pay taxes (some more then others) and we need fair representation.

Years ago, Dallas had a reputation of being a great city.  Then our great city had a major setback when the Politically Correct took us in a different direction.  To fix this, we now need to go back to appointing the best people for the various  boards, commissions and other office's of leadership.  May this group be the catalyst to doing this, and may more citizens get involved in our city form of government.  Let us make these elected officials accountable for ALL they do. 

I hope this new City Council represents the beginning of a new era for Dallas.  I am eager to see what direction they take us. 

I pray they do what is best for ALL not just a few.  May each one of us support them to making Dallas great again.


Mary Lou Montes Zijderveld