Roxan Staff
                             

11/04/04  City's biggest taxpayers on side-track of council concerns.

Belo Corp paid a lot of money (back when they had some to spend) for a study to tell us Dallas is on tilt.  Anyone who lives in North Dallas could tell them as much for much less.  Something is terribly wrong when the city's largest tax-generating area is expected to absorb and solve all of Downtown's problems while the things we need get side-tracked, figuratively and actually.

The North-South rail route to Carrollton, etc. is likely to get delayed so the council can force DART to put a rail line in a tunnel between Downtown and both Love Field and DFW airports.

City hands Love rail tunnel decision to DART; Dallas has its share of $160 million cost, but will agency share ride?  November 3, 2004 By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News

A proposed $160 million rail tunnel at Dallas Love Field got a political and financial boost Wednesday from the Dallas City Council, forcing what could be a make-or-break decision by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board of directors next week.    City officials, pointing to a letter they received this week from the Federal Aviation Administration, believe they now have all the commitments for the $72.7 million they promised to raise. Now DART also must weigh the risks of pursuing the more costly airport tunnel, which could lower the agency's chances for federal funding. ... If built, the rail line would connect downtown Dallas and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, with the tunnel serving Love Field in between. But the higher the line's total cost because of the tunnel, the lower its cost-effectiveness. That could lower the project's standing against other cities' rail projects. DART is seeking $700 million in federal funds to build rail lines from Pleasant Grove to northwest Dallas. ... Without the tunnel, the rail line has a $19 to $22 subsidy per rider. With the tunnel, the line could have a subsidy of $23 to $26 per rider. ... Cost-effectiveness "is a factor federal officials seem to want to use to differentiate the projects," said Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director. ... Dallas officials believe federal officials will consider the project favorably because it links the central business district and two airports. ... The bureaucratic maze toward the rail tunnel's construction could require Dallas or DART to make a leap of faith. The bulk of Dallas' contribution, $53.3 million, would be raised using a $3 surcharge on every plane ticket at Love Field, a surcharge that the FAA has informally approved. ... In recent months, DART board members also have expressed concerns about the Love Field plan, particularly Dallas' commitments for its share of the funding and whether it would affect other rail plans to Irving, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Rowlett. Dallas council members believe they resolved those questions Wednesday, but a DART board that includes seven members from the suburbs must approve the project. ... If suburban board members support the Love Field tunnel, they might use the same argument about a regional benefit to push for rail service along another rail line: the hotly debated Cotton Belt line that stretches from Plano and Richardson through Far North Dallas and Carrollton to the north end of D/FW Airport. ... Northern suburbs have long pushed for the rail line as a much-needed east-west route. ... Elba Garcia noted that she and some of her colleagues agreed to delay needed road paving and construction projects to raise the money needed for the rail tunnel. Mayor Laura Miller promised to get those projects at the top of the list for consideration in a possible 2007 bond election.    Council members with districts along the rail line to Fair Park and Pleasant Grove noted that the airport tunnel would delay other rail projects by six months.

I spent most of my adult life (post-college) life in Oak Lawn.  I can't calculate the hours and hours of community meetings I've sat through trying to keep the area livable.  I was part of the group that successfully fought for a tunnel under Central Expressway for DART rail.  We also fought against double-decking Central.  People pushing for other alternatives claimed it would be less expensive to double deck and run DART down the Katy line (one track).  Of course, we would be still fighting the lawsuits and would not have completed that section of Central Expressway or DART light rail had their side won.

I live in NW Dallas now (the less affluent end of North Dallas).  We are expecting light rail down Denton Drive with stations at NW Highway and Walnut Hill on the route to Carrollton.  We know a promised delay of 6 months is more likely a reality delay of a year to 2 years or more.  We will have a large maintenance facility on Denton Drive at Lombardy for DART rail cars.  Many of my neighbors were adamantly opposed to the facility because we have so many of the city's problem solvers up here already.  I supported the maintenance facility in the hope DART will keep us on track for our stations at NW Highway and Walnut Hill.

We have the DART bus maintenance facility on Harry Hines (across from where the ODB want to put the street bums' day spa).

We have Dry Gulch where people bring their recycling trash and other refuse (across from where the ODB want to put the street bums' day spa).

We have a huge water treatment facility at Bachman Lake.

We have a high majority of the city's sex clubs that seem to be necessary to service all the perverts and aging horn dogs in town and from out of town.

I realize our entire purpose for living in Dallas is to send all of our money to City Hall to be either spent on the latest scheme to restore Downtown to its pre-1970 glory or to make the city more attractive to tourists and conventioneers.  Still, it is our city, and Dallas residents ought to come first.  Yeah, and donkeys should be able to fly.

If there are limited federal funds available for mass transit or transportation needs, the money should be spent on making it easier for people in Dallas to get back and forth from their jobs and businesses -- SO WE CAN KEEP PAYING OUR EVER-INCREASING PROPERTY TAXES!

Our convention business is never going to be what it was before 9/11.  We had already started losing conventions before that horrible day, because we have never had the amenities that other cities have to offer.  People who plan conventions are as concerned about after-hours entertainment opportunities as they are about convention facilities.   

Rather than fix our streets or maintain our libraries, successive city councils have spent millions and millions expanding the convention center. 

Rather than protect businesses on NW Highway from the devastating impact of the sex clubs that conventioneers and local horn dogs liked to frequent, successive city councils allowed various City Attorneys to drag their feet and even obstruct community efforts to to get the city to enforce its own rules and regulations.

Rather than enhancing, expanding and promoting our wonderful zoo in Oak Cliff, successive city councils have diverted our limited public dollars to the pockets of developers in the form of tax abatements and incentives to build apartment complexes and office buildings, which we have in excessive abundance.

If you don't believe me that our zoo could be a huge tourist draw and convention plus, look at the zoo in Ft. Worth.  That zoo is internationally recognized and draws visitors from all over the metroplex. 

Ft. Worth is major success story, and they don't have one professional sports team in their city limits.  Ft. Worth has a successful Downtown, but its renaissance began with the Bass Family using their private millions to restore their own property (including a private security force) and create an entertainment area that draws people back Downtown.

Dallas lost nothing when Arlington voters lost their minds and voted to give Grandpa Warbucks $325 million of their money to build a football stadium on land currently ON THE TAX ROLLS and OCCUPIED BY REAL PEOPLE.  I heard Our Mayor say that if she had $325 million to spare in Dallas, it would all go into the Trinity Project.  A football stadium will generate little or no development, but neither will Our Mayor's Trinity Project.  Both are based on empty promises.  Both are going to cause more problems than they solve.

Now, we learn North Dallas council representative Sandy Greyson is more concerned about getting rail to Love Field than getting cars off LBJ with a light rail line in North Dallas. 

There is no comparison to the problems DART would have had making light rail work on the KATY to the success we could have had for 15 years with light rail on the existing Cotton Belt Line.  The KATY runs right through the very densely populated (over-developed) Turtle Creek area.  There were park land issues.  There were multi-million dollar highrise condos obstructing the route.  Then there's the problem that the KATY ends up at the wrong place Downtown -- and that was before Tommy Hicks and Ross, Jr. bribed the council to move the DART light rail line to the West of their arena rather than on the residential side where it had been planned to be for 10 years.

The Cotton Belt runs near single family homes.  The rail line was there before the houses.  The Cotton Belt route goes exactly where we need a people mover to go.

It doesn't help Oak Lawn to have a light rail tunnel run from Love Field to Downtown hotels and bypass the many high-priced hotels in that area.  Oak Lawn and Turtle Creek live with the noise and pollution of Love Field.  Their hotels and restaurants should at least benefit from the people coming into Love Field. 

I am sick of Princess Velveeta continuously referring to Dallas as backward and not as hip or "Twenty-First Century" as Chicago, the city she left.  We are better than Chicago.  Our weather is better.  We have real Mexican food.  We have blue skies.  We have affordable homes.  We used to have honest politicians.

The idea of delaying street repairs to spend money on a tunnel between Downtown and the airports is not acceptable. 

We live in a post 9/11 world.  Tunnels and high bridge interchanges like the awful High 5 (which I still have not been on) are easy targets for terrorists.  Even before 9/11, the silly idea of a toll way tunnel under Mockingbird was clearly a security risk for the people living in the homes above.

Why can't we have elected officials who keep their eyes on the little things that make our city livable and more attractive?  Once they get focused on the "Big Vision" or a "Big Picture", they go into some stupor that makes sensible decisions beyond their abilities. 

In 2003, I ran against Steve Salazar for the District 6 council seat.  He won.  I'm happy.  The main reason I'm happy is that Councilman Salazar seems to be focused on mundane things that you and I have to live with.  He's focused on street level problems and redevelopment for NW Dallas.  He had 6 years on the council, carrying water for the ODB (Our Downtown Betters) before Dr. Elba Garcia unseated him.  He was drawn out of District 1 into District 6 during redistricting.  This time around, Councilman Salazar seems less concerned with what the ODB want and more intent on keeping his constituents happy. 

Because they have Send Me Some Money Loza (who may be re-thinking the wisdom of switching parties) in their corner (because they put money in his pockets), the ODB thought it would be a slam dunk to move the street bums from Downtown to a vacant hospital on Harry Hines.  Councilman Salazar has been fighting hard to block that move.  He's not being an obstructionist, he's protecting his constituents and looking for a better use for the facility.  He has found one.  There's a very good possibility we could have the Mexican Consulate move into the complex.  Better use for the site, better for the NW Dallas community and better for the city's image as people drive into the city from Stemmons (I-35) and DFW.

I hope Councilman Salazar fights to keep our North-South route for DART light rail on schedule.  I hope Councilman Rasansky fights for NW Dallas, rather than let the council put our needs second to the ODB's latest scheme to improve Downtown at our expense.  I hope Our Mayor remembers where she got the majority of her winning votes.

NW Dallas is tapped out.  We need the stimulas of light rail and the two stations we have been promised.  We can't afford to wait 6 months, much less the more likely 2-3 years delay that will certainly result from Councilwoman Greyson's plans to divert transportation dollars from rail lines in NW Dallas and South Dallas.

It's our turn to get a return on our tax dollars -- rather than more short change.   

sb