08/19/04  What happened to the city I loved? 

I am a 30-year old Black registered independent (who votes Democrat).

The things that attracted me to this city in 2002 are the same things that appall me as I investigate now in 2004.
 
Before I moved here, Dallas had many appealing qualities compared to my hometown of Philadelphia -- clean and safe streets, new development and an economy that seemed to be growing while the rest of the country was floundering.
 

It may have been my own fault for not looking beneath the surface.  But, I feel obligated to speak out now that I'm here!

I am neither affluent nor poor.  I lost my job as a Regional Director for a large financial company a few months back.  As I look for work and live off of my dwindling savings, it's given me time to really look at some things and wonder why this isn't the city I was so gung-ho about in 2002 when I moved here from Philadelphia.

Because I have no children and not too familiar with the school district's shortcomings, I am not addressing DISD issues..  In no particular order, here are some ideas for ?Things to get Dallas going:?
 

• Reduce the rental-car & hotel Tax.  POINT BLANK.  The reductions can spur tourism business.  Right now, the system is out of whack and will stay that way. Wouldn?t we be better off with a little increase in the sales tax (if possible) and reducing taxes to attract more tourism revenue?

• Fund an olive branch raise of 10-15% to the Police and Fire Departments?It?s not 17% but at least we can show the DPD and Dallas FD that we are headed in the right direction.
   
• Hire enough officers. Nobody fears getting plastered and driving home because the odds you?ll see a cop anywhere in NW Dallas are slim to none.  Law-abiding citizens are not the only ones who know Dallas has no cops.  Of course, the baddies know as well.  Moving officers around from special task forces to patrol is akin to playing a dangerous shell game with our neighborhoods.

• Stop trying to make Dallas look like Vegas. Let?s take a break from talk of building String Thing Bridges, mapped out by fancy designers and such.  If  I want Vegas, I?ll go to Vegas.  I want Texas.  I want open space and a free, safe environment.
   
• Clean the River! I can?t even drive across the Trinity with my windows down due to the permanent stench that permeates the air.

• Study Fort Worth!  I?m no expert, but they must be doing something right.  Fort Worth is kicking our butts.  I don?t know the history with respect to approvals, proposals and the like, but I do know what I see.  Fort Worth has Sundance Square, the Bass Hall, and a cohesive environment that makes me feel safe when I visit the area.  We have: a bunch of clubs and a few restaurants downtown. Yippee!
   
• NO NEW PARKS ? fix the old ones first!   If you own a house with foundation and mold problems, you don?t build a second story with a deck on top of it.  You fix the first floor or tear it down. Think of Dallas as the house.
   
• Crack down on loitering in parking lots of retail and residential areas.  This is a major instigator of violent crime.  How many times do you dread getting out of your car when you see a group of people drinking and participating in other activities?
   
• Let Chief Kunkle do his job.  Compared to the amount of latitude that was given to Terrible Bolton (I can?t believe he was even considered for a new chief job), give Kunkle a chance before we decapitate him and leave his body in the town square.  I?m not a big fan of tasers, but they are better than the chokehold ? where officers can be bitten or punched by unruly suspects (as happened a few weeks back).
   
• Hire from outside for the City Manager position.  If he or she is appointed by Downtown then they will only serve downtown.
   
• Kill the strong mayor system talk.  A strong mayor system starts with (drum roll)?. A STRONG MAYOR.  Wasn?t Miller elected under the auspices of getting back to basics? When we get a strong mayor, we can reconsider the issuet. How do we trust our current mayor? 
   
• Empower neighborhoods through enforced anonymous hotlines (as I wrote this, it was established so that makes me happy).
   
• Give the DPD some leverage and allow them to close nuisance clubs.  How many murders have to occur in the parking lot of Club Suavemente (one example) at 1820 West Mockingbird before it?s shut down.  My understanding is that the DPD made the recommendation that it be closed, but they were not heeded.  I take the long way home at night for fear of catching a stray bullet near I-35 at Mockingbird. Four murders in the last 13 months and another in 2001 should be enough. All the murders occurred after 3AM, when most bars are closed.

The DMN reported that?

Since June 2003, Dallas police have responded to 94 calls for service to the parking lot, which is shared by Club Suavemente and several other businesses, including a bar and another nightclub. The offenses include homicides, robberies, assaults and auto burglaries, police said.

Officers have been called specifically to Club Suavemente 21 times in that period.

When you give people 2-3 more hours to loiter and liquor up in the parking lot, after drinking inside the club, what do you expect to happen?  I had to give this same lecture to my 19-year-old cousin who lives in Plano after he got into a fight outside a club and insists on traveling to Lower Greenville to party.
 

Enough is enough.

These are merely some ideas that I believe can help the city move in the proper direction.  If even a few could be implemented, we would make a statement about the pride and integrity of our city.


Michael Davis