Citizen D
Officer Dan
Kirk & Miller
                             

10/27/03  Hell Has Not Frozen Over, but . . .

This is not a good time to replace Ted Benavides as City Manager.  Instead, we should be suing Ron Kirk, John Ware, Tom Hicks and Ross Perot, Jr. for all of our problems.

Like you, I read McCain Nelson's DMN story:

For Benavides, job gets tougher 09:33 PM CDT on Saturday, October 25, 2003 By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

. . . Mr. Benavides took the job of Dallas city manager five years ago.    After a two-year stint managing the city of Denton, he returned to Dallas to work for a mayor ? Ron Kirk ? he considered a friend and a council that had wooed him. Times were good then ? the economy was booming, city coffers were flush, and revenues were on the upswing. The city manager's charge: Maintain the momentum.    In the early going, council members embraced his low-key approach, describing his first evaluations as "love fests."    In many ways, that was a lifetime ago.    Today, the man who balances a nearly $2 billion budget and manages 13,000 employees finds himself in a different place.    Revenues have plummeted, and maintaining even the most basic services is a struggle. Nerves are rubbed raw in the wake of the firing of the city's first black police chief. And the mayor who never wanted Mr. Benavides hired ? Ms. Miller ? wants to replace him.    Throughout this roller coaster ride, the city's de facto CEO has remained behind the scenes, methodically tackling problems in ways that have won over his supporters and frustrated his detractors.    Depending on whom you ask, Mr. Benavides is either impeding progress or just hitting his stride.  . . .

Ted Benavides was never qualified to be the City Manager of Dallas.  That's why Ron Kirk picked him.  Ted's job was to take the blame for all the screw ups and messes left behind by John Ware and Ron Kirk.  Many current department heads are holdovers from John Ware.

Other than Yolanda Lara, the one city employee who should be fired tomorrow is Asst. City Mgr. Charles Daniels, the guy who has cost us so much.  He has some Svengali power over Benavides.  The biggest mistake Benavides has made as City Manager was naming Terrell Bolton to be Chief of Police, without even interviewing him.  Charles Daniels recommended Bolton. 

When all the stuff started flying around about Bolton's connection to Rizos bribing Al Lipscomb for non-enforcement in NW Hwy sex clubs, the City Manager called one of his "rare press conferences" and announced he had investigated the matter and determined that Bolton was not involved.  When asked about the scope of his investigation, he said Bolton told him he wasn't involved.  That was good enough for him.

That day -- Benavides should have been fired as City Manager, but Ron Kirk was Mayor and needed Ted covering his rear.

We now have a CONFESSED & CONVICTED BRIBE TAKER on the Police Review Board -- thanks in part to the failure of Benavides to do a full investigation of the Bolton/Lipscomb/Rizos matter.  Of course, Old Al serving on the PRB is a direct result of two Housewives Extraordinare selling out to build a base for their own Mission Impossible races for Mayor. 

We are in dire straits these days at City Hall, end products of the bad old days of John Ware and Ron Kirk.  Jim Schutze has it right in his Sticker Shock in the Dallas Observer.   The bad guys are out there raking in all sorts of $$ for their assistance to the Robber Barons, and Ted Benavides is presiding over a sinking ship. 

Contrary to McCain Nelson's position that we had plenty of revenue when Ted Benavides first became City Manager, we had a smoke and mirrors budget that did not jive with reality.  Only Donna Blumer and Laura Miller ever questioned anything, and the rest of the council just went along to get along with Ron Kirk.  John Loza blocked Donna Blumer's efforts to find out the truth about who did what to the Bachman community with the Lipscomb/Rizos bribe.  When testimony in Old Al's federal trial revealed more details and two DPD employees (a Lieutenant and a civilian) absolutely identified Bolton as Lipscomb's accomplice, Miller finally woke up and started asking questions, too.  She got severely punished for asking questions.

Bolton should have been fired on the spot for what happened at Miller's home on his behalf, but he was not.  Another reason to have fired Ted Benavides years ago!

Still, it was not Benavides who covered for Bolton.  It was Charles Daniels, and he is still an Assistant City Manager after all of his disasters.  Daniels must have some embarrassing pictures of Ted Benavides.   That's a joke -- the idea of Ted Benavides doing something risqu?is too far fetched for that to be a factor. 

I have no idea what Daniels has over Benavides, but the way Benavides has ignored the fake drug scandal and the wrong done those Mexican Nationals is very telling.  Here we are with the FIRST HISPANIC CITY MANAGER, and one of the most horrible episodes of injustice to an Hispanic in our city occurred under his watch.
 

Back in the 70's, a stupidly arrogant police officer tried to scare a 12 year old Hispanic boy into confessing to a burglary by cocking his gun near the kid's head -- the gun went off.  The city went off!  We had a real riot Downtown.  It was terrifying!  Still, it was a stupid accident -- a split second, stupid accident.

Here we are 30 years later when a long-term scheme of falsely implicating, arresting and imprisoning Mexican Nationals was all conducted without the knowledge of the Chief of Police or his commanders.  Sure, nobody was involved except for those two rogue Vice officers. 

Not only did our FIRST HISPANIC CITY MANAGER say little and do less, but where were the so-called Hispanic Leaders in this town?  Particularly the elected officials?  State Rep Roberto Alonzo?  Councilwoman Elba Garcia?   Mayor Pro Tem John Loza?  Councilman Steve Salazar?  DISD Trustee Joe Thug May?  DISD Trustee Rafael Anchia? Adelfa Callejo (who thinks she was elected to something)?  Former State Rep. and former City Councilman Domingo Garcia? 

DallasArena.com is a big fan of Jesse Diaz.  Even if he crosses the line occasionally, the guy DOES SOMETHING.  He has publicly stated their regret for not being more vocal when the fake drug scandal broke.  Diana Flores of People United for Representation and Equality (PURE) was out there screaming against this atrocity from the get go, but.  there was a conspiracy among most "so-called" Hispanic leaders (particularly the elected officials) to stay quiet so as not to shake up the Black/Brown alliance (as if there ever was one).

One Hispanic citizen (who needs to remain anonymous) had these comments:

Ted Benavides has finally done something right after 5 years.  This is not the time to fire him.  This council is as responsible for the mess at City Hall as is Ted Benavides.   On more than one occasion, Mitch Rasansky has told the council publicly and privately about flaws in contracts, leases and  other arrangements before them, all costing Dallas taxpayers millions.  They go right ahead and vote for those one-way arrangements, but no one cares.

There is so much micro-managing of City Hall matters by almost everyone on the council that it's hard to blame anything on Ted Benavides.  Even last year, the council overrode his recommendation to terminate two high level DPD public relation positions to save money.

Now, rather than allow the City Manager to do his job and hire a new Police Chief, we are going to have a series of "community meetings" to hear from citizens about what we want.  Is that the craziest thing you have ever heard out of City Hall yet? 

We want a Police Chief with experience fighting crime -- not on the milk and cookies circuit of crime watch meetings.  Here's a list of the meetings:
 

10/28 7-8:30 pm	City Hall, L1FN
10/29 7-8:30 pm	Kiest Rec Ctr	3080 S Hampton
10/30 7-8:30 pm	Grauwyler Rec Ctr	7780 Harry Hines
11/04 7-8:30 pm	Tommie Allen Rec Ctr	7071 Bonnie View
11/11 7:30-9 pm	Campbell Green Rec Ctr	16600 Park Hill @ Campbell
11/13 7-8:30 pm	Samuell-Grand Rec Ctr	6200 East Grand
11/18 7-8:30 pm	Pleasant Oaks Rec Ctr	8701 Greenmound

These meetings are the very thing that would have come out of The Dallas Plan.  Organize a meeting, drag people out to the meeting and let them think someone is paying attention.  They are more of the 70's stuff where City Hall deals with issues by having meetings -- wear out the activists -- and do what the ODB intended to be done in the first place. 

If you attend these meetings, you are wasting your time and staff's time and our money.  If you don't go, City Hall will say you didn't care and disregard your concerns, but no more than if you attended. 

There's no meeting in Oak Lawn.  The closest meeting to NW Dallas is down at Grauwyler, which is way South of NW Highway.  Looks like a pretty stacked deck of meeting places.  It doesn't matter where the meetings are held.  Holding these meetings in the first place is inappropriate.  Recruiting, hiring or firing the Chief of Police is absolutely the prerogative of the City Manager.  It is not a group effort -- not even a council effort -- until someone revises the City Charter.

The whole bunch at City Hall should be sued and/or arrested for violating the City Charter.  If this was the City Manager's idea, he should be fired -- but not right now.

Even if some people actually show up at these meetings, most attendees will be a handful of regulars who will scream the Chief must be of one ethnic group or another.  The attendees will not be representative of the citizens of Dallas.

We have serious crime issues.  If City Hall is going to hold meetings like this, it should be to hear from citizens about what we want FROM OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT, not who or what we want to be the Chief of Police.  Give us a chance to suggest what we think could be done to reduce crime in this city.  There are several immediate things that could be done.  My neighbor (and former campaign opponent) Linus Spiller had a great Viewpoint in Sunday's DMN.  Linus Spiller: Police Department needs to get back to the basics. 

Saturday morning, Molly Teague called me about her being mobbed on Greenville Ave.  No one at the DMN was interested.  She said "unless there's an actual murder, no one at the Morning News is interested".  www.BarkingDogs.org has a story about, but here's the e-mail she sent to DallasArena.com about the mugging:

www.BarkingDogs.org says one of the women was thrown to the ground, which may have re-injured a recently healed broken arm.  Molly probably has several things she would like to say about crime prevention, but what does she know about who should be the Chief of Police?

Tim Dickey wants to reduce liquor sales in non-conforming locations -- like a gas station on Webb Chapel.  Spacing restrictions between stores where liquor can be sold would certainly help much of our problems.  Reducing the number of liquor stores would be a crime-reducing measure.

I want the Chief of Police use our nuisance laws to close down and demolish several problem apartment complexes where there have been a history of crime and violence.  That would send a strong message to other apartment owners that they also could lose the use of their property if they don't control their premises and their residents.  Two of the highest crime areas in the city -- Northeast Dallas and Northwest Dallas -- have high concentrations of apartments.  Huge 2-story and 3-story complexes with hundreds of units, which are occupied by way more people than the buildings were intended to house.  This would be a crime-reducing measure and would have immediate results. 

Many apartment managers must follow orders from their bosses (the property owners) to get as much rent as possible with as little expense as possible.  If the managers could show the owners what the city has done with other problem properties, that would help them, too.

We cannot ignore the direct connection between alcohol and crime and over-populated apartment complexes and crime.  The public and the DPD officials are in agreement on these two issues.

Another area where citizens and DPD officers agree are the negative impact of late night dance hall permits.  I have come full circle on this issue.  I went from opposing them to seeing late night dance permits as a way to let people sober up before hundreds of partying club hoppers headed back to their cars at the same hour.  It is clear that problems from late night dance halls exceed the benefits.  It was interesting that the council would turn this down.  More so, that Sandy Greyson would see ending late night dance halls as anti-convention business.  How many of these late night clubs would she tolerate in her district or near her home?  Denying late night permits to problem night clubs would be a crime-reducing measure.  Pulling a late night permit from any club where there's an assault or murder on property they control (club or parking lot), would be a HUGE crime-reducing measure.

Tim Dickey had these comments on the subject:

This is what we need to address in these 7 "community meetings" -- what we want the Chief of Police to do -- not who we want him or her to be.

We are looking for a new Chief of Police because Ted Benavides finally did his job.  Of course, he had to finally do his job because he appointed a blithering idiot (who turned out to be a whacked out psycho) to the job in the first place.  That was then. 

Now, we need the City Manager to do his job and stand up to this council.  He has a responsibility -- and so does the council -- to defend our City Charter and our City Manager form of government.  As the FIRST HISPANIC CITY MANAGER, he should demand the same respect as was shown John Ware.  Council would not have dared tell John Ware he had to hold 7 faux "community meetings" regarding one his direct appointments. 

In McCain Nelson's article, she states:    

The Mayor has taken on some causes she never addressed in her campaigns and neglects other issues that were to be her agenda.  We still want green parks and smooth streets, and we don't want all of them to be Downtown.  One reason people like Mayor Miller is her freshness.  Before she ran for council, she was not part of the "groomed for success" crowd pushed by Our Downtown Betters (the ODB).  I doubt she was active in her neighborhood association.  As a journalist, she knew how City Hall worked on a technical basis, but she has never understood the political nuances of the place. 

Ted Benavides has not been assertive when he should have been.  Ted Benavides has put some inept people in the wrong jobs.  That said, much of the problems at City Hall were caused by decisions made by or under John Ware and Ron Kirk. 

The Mayor needs to quit believing she can trust Don Hill.  Ted Benavides needs to get rid of Charles Daniels.
 

We need to find out who came up with the idea for these ridiculous faux "community meetings" about a new Police Chief and how much it's costing us and what services we are not getting to cover the expense.