James Northrup
                             

12/18/03  It's Time for New Faces

When I served on the Plan Commission, Betty Culbreath was chair.  She was made chair over my objections, but we worked out our differences and became friends.

It was a real "adult" moment to see Betty on television announcing her retirement.  It was that kind of day.

After weeks of considering it, I resigned from a Board Wednesday for many reasons.  I joined the organization back in the early 90's when it was a very different group, but I was different,too.

I've always been a neighborhood person, because we are the city when the commuters go home at night.  When Betty and I were on the Plan Commission, we frequently cancelled each other's votes because she almost always voted with the business applicant and I almost always put homeowners first.

The thing I liked best about Betty is her absolute self-confidence.  She never worries about being right or whether everyone likes her.  She just does her thing.

She can talk about something being a Black thing or a White thing without all the sanctimonious garbage you hear out of Old Al "Lemna" Lipscomb. 

To excuse voting for a CONFESSED and CONVICTED BRIBE TAKER to the Police Review Board, Ed Oakley credited Lemna Lipscomb with appointing him to ZOAC (a Plan Commission committee).  But, it was because Betty Culbreath  who took Ed under her wing and told Old Al to put him on ZOAC. 

I remember one contentious case where a social service group "Victory" wanted to have a house in Old East Dallas zoned as a halfway house so they could continue terrorizing the community.  Betty let the Victory folks drag in people from all over the County and read scripture during their presentation.  When the neighborhood people talked about their fear of felons living at the halfway house who were aggressively begging door to door, Betty told them that wasn't a zoning issue.

I interrupted (surprise) with a point of order to remind of her of the latitude she had allowed the proponents, including Bible reading.  She blinked, nodded and said point taken, and allowed the lady to continue.

Over the years, our paths cross frequently because she is so involved.  She is African-American and Native American.  She is also a Republican.  She has never been shy about using her ethnicity.  Why should she?

Betty Culbreath Lister announcing her retirement?  That's just not possible.  It was such a comfort to read she might be planning a council race.  Boy, do we need her at City Hall! 

We need a lot of stuff at City Hall.  Betty Culbreath may not be a new face, but she would bring a new attitude.

We do need some new faces in our city life.  Dylan Cave's a young man who is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years.  Check out www.isthisdallas.com.  He's young enough to believe he can make a difference and has the energy to pull it off.  He's smart enough to ask people for help and guidance.  We could use him at City Hall.

Those of us who have been in and on the political scene in Dallas for the last couple of decades owe it to ourselves to be mentoring new faces to step up and assume leadership roles. 

When Steve Wolens announced his retirement from the State Legislature, some old standbys saw it as a chance to regain power rather than a chance to get behind some new face.  Over the years, I have grown quite fond of Chris Luna because he is such a overt scoundrel who just keeps turning up, but I do not want him in public office again.  I have grown less fond of Domingo Garcia, who just cannot take "no" for an answer.  I sure don't want him in public office again.

Yesterday's leaders should be mentoring new faces rather than trying to hog the power.  That said, Betty Culbreath will always be a new face.  She doesn't reinvent herself, she just keeps growing.

When I heard about her kidney problems before the transplant, I called to see if she needed anything.  She said she didn't, but she said we needed to go to lunch with Laura Miller because this city is out of control.  I mean here she is sick as a dog, working full time while doing dialysis and she is worried about the city.

Yes, I want her on the city council.  And I want to see Jorge Torres, Jr. or Matt Murphy on the School Board or the City Council.  I want Rafael Anchia to represent District 103 in Austin.

I want their energy.  I want their new ideas.  You don't have to be young to be young thinking. 

It is time to change direction in this city.  It's time for common sense.  With all the stuff coming out of City Hall, we are in dire need of someone with their feet on the ground.

Here we are so broke we can't pay our police and firefighters what they deserve and cannot even give raises to our civilian employees.  What does council want to do?  Well, they want to put 3 parks Downtown even though we don't have the money to pay for the land, construct the parks or maintain them later.

Said it before, when the Mayor talked about smooth streets, green parks ..., we didn't know she only meant them for Downtown.  Hey, what about our neighborhoods, those of us who pay the bills?

It's amazing how much more important paying the bills becomes the older you get.  For that matter, it's amazing how attitudes change the older you get. 

Nothing reminds you more of your age than when one of your contemporaries announces her retirement.  It would have been so much kinder had Betty Culbreath Lister just told us she was going into another line of work.

There's nothing retiring about our Betty.