|
| |
06/04/04 Powerless vs Powerful
Elitists
 |
|
Nothing can make you feel more human and humble than
being without electricity for 2 days. It's just not normal when you flip a
switch and nothing happens. Nothing is more useless than an expensive
computer with no power. |
The electricity went off during Tuesday night's storm, but it came back on until
Midnight when NW Dallas went dark. My neighborhood stayed dark until
around Noon on Thursday.
It wasn't just the dark that was a
shocker. Waking up to the incredible tree damage all over our area was as numbing as
it was stunning. Several smashed cars in driveways. Holes to sky where there had been a huge tree
with a large canopy, but now only gaps, stumps and piles of trunks
and limbs.
I drove down to Bachman Lake Thursday night about 9:00
pm. Even in the dark, you could see the tree damage. I was not
alone. There were a lot of people using the park to walk or just
hang out and visit. People with kids in strollers and teens.
Of course, these park users were not the hoi toi type Our Mayor thinks will buy
a condo on the shores of the Trinity sewage trough. Trees
down, power outages among the non-elite doesn't really get her attention or
concern. She's too busy carrying water for Our Downtown Betters (the ODB), her
new best friends. |
|
|
Rena Fenner:
I can usually understand your firey
attitude; however, I don't think you can blame the
Mayor for downed trees and power lines.
She is a powerful woman, but
even she can't control Mother Nature.
I do think she has changed her priorities, but she wasn't
the one who began cutting the forestry staff.
The large trees that we all love for
their beauty and shade are older trees that need to be maintained.
Homeowners and the city have that
responsibility.
I run at White Rock lake.
You want to see downed trees, go there.
Every time there
are strong winds or thunderstorms, the branches
are everywhere. It's going to happen.
Over time the branches can't hold up to the
wind.
I admire Laura Miller
for taking a stand and getting people involved in our obesity and fitness
problem. It's great if the Mayor can get
people from Frito Lay, Coca Cola and McDonald's to buy into a an
anti-obesity goal. These are the top three
culprits when it comes to obesity.
It's a
shame that if Dallas is going to be recognized in the top at something that
it has to be FAT. I am all for
working with companies, organizations and individuals to to make Dallas a
leaner and healthier city. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Dallas council to name Suhm as interim city manager
06:46 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 2, 2004
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News |
The Dallas City Council will next
week vote to install First Assistant City Manager Mary Suhm as the city's
interim city manager, council members said this afternoon following a
two-hour closed-door meeting at City Hall.
... the council also announced that it's
forming an eight-member city manager search committee to research, review
and recommend candidates from throughout the nation.
The committee includes members of
both the public and private sectors, with Erle Nye,
TXU chairman of the board, serving as committee chairman. Other
members include: Ronald Parker Sr., Frito-Lay's
human resources vice president; Pete Schenkel,
president of Dean Dairy Group; Lora Villarreal, Affiliated Computer System's
personnel vice president; Don Williams, chairman
emeritus of the Trammell Crow Company; Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill;
council member Lois Finkelman and council member Elba Garcia.
... |
Let's see. Our Mayor is
pushing to allow TXU to raise our utility rates to fund the $100 million cost to
bury utility lines in the Trinity River corridor because
"If you have a
luxury condominium, you can't have windows looking out at big towers and
wires across their path," Ms. Miller said. "
(Council's $100 million dream: providing
electricity without view;
May 26, 2004
by EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News).
Can you imagine how much fun Journalist Miller would have had with a pompous
politician making such a statement?
Then there's her recent photo ops where Our Mayor ran a foot race
with other politicians to publicize her anti-obesity goals for the city, where "Frito-Lay,
Coca-Cola and McDonald's, have agreed to institute a point system where
employees can keep tally of ? and be honored for ? their healthy habits."
(Mayor vows Dallas will shed ranking near top of fat-city poll;
May 21, 2004 by EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News).
Pete Schenkel has befriended and provided for Old Al Lipscomb for decades.
Don Williams is a big developer who has a stake in boosting the Southern Sector
of the City.
Why did Our Mayor not get one community activist appointed to the
committee? She has turned her back on the people who took
her to the dance.
Instead of taking the city back and re-focusing City Hall to our
basic services, we supported a shill for the ODB who is beginning to make Ron
Kirk/Con Jerk look like a populist. Like most Limousine Liberals, Our
Mayor will pose for pictures and do photo-ops with children, but that's all we
get from her -- photo-ops and poses.
Instead of "green parks", we have neglected parks. We continually buy more
land, but reduce the staff at the Park Department to maintain our parks.
|
|
Parks' tree damage from storms called worst in
decades
Thursday, June 3, 2004
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News |
When ominous black storm clouds
gathered over Dallas on Tuesday night, Reuben Naranjo knew he was in for
some serious weather. But what the district supervisor for the Dallas Park
and Recreation Department saw in city parks early Wednesday was worse than
he'd ever imagined.
... Bachman Lake, black, moss-covered tree trunks
stretch out across the grass
... Lee Park, two oaks nearly a hundred years old
find their grave on a slight hill, giant bodies decorated with wilting
leaves.
... more than a thousand city trees were destroyed
in the severe storms that pummeled Dallas on Tuesday and Wednesday night ?
the most devastating for city parks in nearly three decades.
... Mr. Naranjo said. "We've worked so hard, and
in one day, we had it all destroyed."
... "It's not scientific, but it seems to be the
worst we've had in 30 years," said Paul Dyer, the city's director of Park
and Recreation.
... arborists and city forestry workers say
some of the trees might have been saved with better tree maintenance.
But the city's 18-person forestry
staff is only half of what it used to be, a result of budget cuts dating
back to the '80s.
... This week's damage might not have been
as bad if the department had the resources to do more preventive maintenance
? branch trimmings that help older trees maintain their stability, said Dave
Strueber, the assistant director for the west region of the park department.
... Heath Hayes, an arborist with Preservation
Tree Services Inc. in Dallas, said removing dead wood, low-vigor branches
and weak branch attachments can prevent splitting and cracking during high
winds. ... "The likelihood of [tree] failure is
far less when trees are properly pruned."
The parks department has asked for
several more foresters in its preliminary budget. But in a zero-based budget
year, officials don't sound optimistic about getting them.
"Forestry is not real sexy these
days," Mr. Strueber said. "It's a low-impact budget item until something
happens."
... Bachman Lake, Churchill, Grauwyler, Lee
and Reverchon parks lost many of their trees ? mostly pecans, oaks and elms.
... Mr. Naranjo, who has worked for the city of
Dallas for 26 years, said the last time the tree damage was this bad was in
the great freeze of the early 1980s. ...
|
Better park maintenance was
what former Miller supporters thought she meant by "green parks". We
didn't know she was only interested in new parks Downtown for the street bums
and new parks in the Trinity Project to increase the value and "develop-ability"
of the Trinity Corridor property owned by Belo (The
Dallas Managed News). We know
better now.
After almost 3 years under the watch of a mayor who ran on a platform of "green
parks, smooth streets and fair pay" for our cops and firefighters, we have the
worst damage to our EXISTING parks we've seen in 30 years,
primarily due to neglect. We are not using our tax
dollars to maintain our EXISTING parks. Instead, we waste our limited
resources acquiring new land to add to the inventory of neglected parks.
Right now, Shakedown Leo Chaney is using the city's eminent domain to force a
predominantly Hispanic/Anglo church (with an African-American minister) out of a
neighborhood in South Dallas. What does he want to do with the land he's
stealing from the church? He wants a pocket park so area drug dealers can
have another location to do their business. Not only will the 17-year old
church be prevented from erecting a new sanctuary and administration building
which would help stabilize the area, Shakedown Chaney will waste city and
federal dollars on his racist goal to force the church out of their home.
If it had not been for community leaders in Oak Lawn and Turtle Creek, Lee Park
would be in much worse shape than it is now. We raised several million
dollars to restore and enhance Arlington Hall to make it an income producer to
fund improvements in the park itself. Lee Park has been so neglected, it
will take millions more to get it where it should have always been.
Nearby Reverchon is not as shabby as it was a few years ago, thanks to the
efforts of some dedicated Park Department staffers and the Scottish Rite
Hospital that abuts the park on the North. The Hospital's security people
are the primary reason Reverchon is safer now for children and adults to use.
A few years ago, one of Our Mayor's good buddies pulled a stunt as a Park Board
member and actually bragged about confronting a Hospital staffer who was trying
to keep the Park free of prostitutes servicing their Johns. The Park
wasn't in the district of Our Mayor's friend, and it was just down the street
from where I lived. My reaction to his claim of flashing his Park Board
credentials at the security guard was not the same as Our Mayor, who was beaming
at him.
The metamorphosis and/or deterioration in Laura Miller over the past 5 years is
more amazing than the tree devastation we experienced this week in our parks.
In 1998, she was elected to the council and many of her campaign workers were
people from "It's a Bad Deal!!" who had almost defeated the arena sales tax.
Miller and Donna Blumer were strong allies on the city council -- at least Donna
Blumer was a strong ally to Miller. Like when Blumer first tried to get an
investigation of Terrell Bolton's involvement with Al Lipscomb and Nick Rizo,
she could never count on Miller to back her up.
Later when Miller finally joined Blumer in demanding information about Bolton
and John Wiley Price sent his thugs to Miller's home, Donna Blumer and Sharon
Boyd stood up publicly for Miller, incurring the wrath of Ron Kirk/Con Jerk in
the process.
Like that C&W song says "Wish
I didn't know now, what I didn't know then".
Back to the here and now, over 500,000 households were without power for several
hours (over 200,000 for a couple of days). Many downed power lines were
caused by felled trees, most of which were on private property. Still,
there would be no lines to be downed by falling trees if residential utility
lines were underground like Our Meddling Mayor wants for the Trinity Corridor.
If I'm going to get hit with a hidden tax by Laura Miller on my electric bill to
pay for hiding utility lines, I want the lines in my neighborhood buried first.
Before we worry about the sensibilities of future elite condo buyers who
Our
Mayor thinks will be more offended by visible power lines than the stench of the
Trinity, let's take care of the people who already have invested in our city and
pay property and utility taxes right now.
No one opposes developing under-utilized areas of the city, but focusing so much
of our limited resources to enhance the property value of Belo's holdings in the
Trinity Corridor is not what we elected Laura Miller to do. Does anyone
remember her emphasizing the Trinity Project as her main priority as Mayor?
That's not what the cops and firefighters heard when she conned them into
supporting her.
Activists who moved to her 1998 city council campaign when "It's a Bad
Deal!!" failed to block the Hicks/Perot arena sales tax certainly were not expecting
Miller to be championing a stadium sales tax for Jerry Jones in 2004. Our
Mayor is actually proposing we extend our convention business-killing arena
sales taxes to 2030 and give that money to Grandpa Jones.
Richard Knight and Darryl Jordan are promoting the idea of funding a Fair Park
stadium with the same mechanism that Clint Murchison and Tex Schram used to
finance Texas Stadium, selling revenue bonds that you have to purchase to
reserve a stadium seat. A novel concept of letting people who use the
stadium pay for it. Of course, Grandpa Jones and his gang are opposed to
that idea because they want all the money for themselves, which means Miller's
Gorgeous Guru will not let her support it either, since she is now Jerry's
Downtown Girl.
Other ideas are being floated, as well:
Bob Smith:
If the Dallas Cowboys (or any other private company) wants
this county/city to contribute to a capital
project such as a stadium, it
would be only fair that this county/city obtain a proportionate
equity of the organization,
including an appropriate share of the
profits for the organization.
I'm sure that this idea is already DOA, but
I believe a campaign push for it could generate
additional interests and concerns among the
citizenry.
Seriously, what do you think?
Editor's Comments:
Jones will never share 1?
more than he has to do make $1. The
city and county have no business subsidizing a sports team or any
other private enterprise. |
A sales tax on an unrelated
industry to fund the businesses of Mark Cuban or Tom Hicks or Jerry Jones is
just flat out un-American.
Poor Dave Capps is really feeling burned these days after all the financial and
other assistance he gave Laura Miller in her campaigns. Like anyone
who ever befriended Miller, Capps can't quarrel with Donna Blumer's response to
Memorial Day Reminiscences of Councilwoman Miller:
|
Donna
Blumer:
Right
on. I swear this woman
is ruthless. |
It's not just that Our Mayor's
ruthless, she's completely indifferent to the concerns or feelings of anyone
outside her family unit or who is no longer useful to her.
She's a typical Limousine Liberal who measures people's importance and input by
their financial assets and how they can benefit her agenda.
Falling trees and downed utility lines are not just the end result of a powerful
storm. They are absolutely the product of years of misplaced priorities at
City Hall and even at TXU.
Before we spend any money creating recreation areas in the Trinity Corridor
that no one will be able to use in the Spring, Summer or Fall or will want to
use in the dead of Winter, let's focus on our current parks and parkland
inventory. Before we condemn another foot of privately owned land for a
pocket park, let's improve our existing pocket parks.
Wouldn't you like to see a police report of criminal activity in existing pocket
parks and what impact they have on nearby homes? The elementary school in
my neighborhood is surrounded on 3 sides by residential homes selling at
$130-160,00+, but that doesn't keep it from being burglarized on a regular
basis. The DISD would need a 24-hour armed guard on the grounds to keep
the building secure. Teachers' cars have been burglarized and vandalized
in broad daylight during school hours. This is a North Dallas
neighborhood.
We don't have enough police to protect our homes and businesses. They
cannot begin to patrol the major parks or watch over the hundreds of pocket
parks.
Candidate Laura Miller talked about running government like you run your home
budget. When Councilwoman Miller debated Lee Jackson during the 2012
Olympics idiotic campaign, she used a children's book "Give a Mouse a Cookie" as
part of her discussion:
Never give a mouse a cookie
because then he will need a glass of milk, etc., etc.
Let's stop feeding the ODB vermin and start tending to the basics to improve the
quality of life for Joe Taxpayer.
Let's skip a national search for a new City Manager and just grab one
of the city managers from Farmers Branch or Carrollton or Ft. Worth. They
know how to do more with less taxpayer money. They know how to keep their
parks green, their streets smooth and their cops and firefighters well paid.
They know Dallas.
Farmers Branch kept their signal lights working during and after
this week's storms.
I keep using the example of the transition between Dallas and Farmers Branch and
Carrollton once you cross LBJ. If you don't believe me, drive up
Dennis Rd/Josey from Royal Lane to Valley View. Wednesday morning after
the storm, no signal lights were working in Dallas, even at the busy
intersections where Josey crosses Forest and LBJ. The signal lights were
working just a few blocks North inside Farmers Branch -- you could see them
while you waited to get through the intersections on the Dallas side.
If we allow Laura Miller to hit us with a hidden tax on our utility bills to pay
for her elitist plans to bury power lines in the Trinity Corridor while our
neighborhoods remain vulnerable to future power failures due to exposed utility
lines, we deserve what we get.
sb
| |
|
