GDCC vs Our Protectors

There are days when the truth hits you so hard and simply things become clear and it's hard to remember what was what the day before. Of course, some of us see more clearly than others even on a cloudy day.

One of moments of epiphany was last week when the cops and firefighters (Our Protectors) disclosed an internal memorandum of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce (our oppressors) opposing the 17% pay raise for our public safety officers. At that exact moment, there was no longer any room for confusion about the true position of the GDCC -- it is ANTI-DALLAS. It is Anti-Dallas residents. It is Anti-Dallas small business owners. It is Anti-Dallas taxpayers in general.

Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) are not pro-Dallas. They are regionalists, like the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce. Whether it's BELO and The Dallas Managed News, or the Anti-Dallas Chamber of Commerce or The Dallas Plan (almost totally funded by Belo), they are not pro-Dallas.

These same anti-Dallas groups supported, funded and campaigned for the arena sales tax to build a playpen for 2 billionaires to operate their business where grown men run around smashing into each other and playing with their balls -- and other grown ups pay outrageous amounts of money to see the ball players do their thing, With ticket prices so high, very few children or adolescents get to watch the guys play with their balls, because because the 2 billionaires are greedy and their ball players are overpaid for what they contribute to society.

J Brent Everett:

I am sickened that Ron Kirk won the Democrat primary runoff by a significant margin statewide. I am absolutely amazed that he carried Dallas County so convincingly.

Truly disgusting.

Shocking display of ignorance and laziness. A large portion of the population of this state completely lacks the ability to practice critical thinking and, instead, votes for a candidate for no other reason than racial bias or the name recognition that comes purely from money spent on media hype.

I am now put in the position of supporting John Cornyn. I don't agree with many of his beliefs. But, how can anyone vote for a crook like Kirk? Oh, I forgot. They did.

I could care less what ball players get paid. It just bothers the heck out of me that $1 of public money goes into funding a private enterprise that is not a basic service for Dallas residents and businesses. I have the same problem with the city funding performance halls for the arts. Any art endeavor should support itself by ticket sales and sponsors or donors, not with city $$. It always has puzzled me why artists and actors think someone else is supposed to fund their profession other than their patrons or why art lovers think I am supposed to pay for their preferred entertainment. I don't get public money for my bookkeeping service, but my clients think my services are worth their $$.

A library, a museum, a park, a zoo, even an animal shelter are necessary facilities that are free to the public, and should be publicly funded. If ticket sales are involved, all the profits should go to the facility -- not to any private organization or business.

Yet, we do fund symphony halls and performance halls and athletic facilities with public $$ when only a small percentage of the city's population will ever step foot in any of them. We spend millions for public art, which is usually determined by some panel of "cultured" people whose taste might be very different from yours or mine.

Did you know 1% of the construction price of every public project must be set aside for "public art"? That's how we are getting $500,000 worth of "public art" in the tunnel between the garage and the terminal at Love Field. We even must spend 1% of the budget for the animal shelter on "public art". That will be important to the dogs and cats. You and I never got to vote on that misuse of our tax money.

The ODB and the Anti-Dallas CC are all for spending millions on facilities more frequently used by Park Cities and Frisco residents than by Dallas taxpayers, but they are opposed to a 1% tax increase to bring OUR PROTECTORS up to average with what other local cities and towns are paying their officers TO DO A LOT LESS THAN OUR OFFICERS.

Some ODB and the Anti-Dallas CC live in high rises, gated communities or their own private fortress. Look at the size of the walls going up around these new "big hair" houses! Some live in neighborhoods that can afford to hire their own night time security. Many ODB and Anti-Dallas CC members don't live in Dallas at all. They do not think OUR PROTECTORS make much difference in their lives.

Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese frequently makes comments about OUR PROTECTORS living outside of Dallas. So what? We spend millions of public $$ building entertainment halls and sports facilities for non-Dallas residents. We get a lot more bang for our buck from Dallas cops and firefighters than we do from some cultural or sports facility.

It is very disappointing that Mayor Miller is not going to stay neutral in this campaign. OUR PROTECTORS are asking Dallas voters to support a tax increase to fund their 17% raise. It is the equivalent of $11 a month for most of us whose homes are valued at $100,000 or more -- even less for those whose property has a lower value.

It is ironic that the cops are being used to justify condemning all the Cadillac Heights homes, but the ODB and the Anti-Dallas CC are opposing a pay raise for OUR PROTECTORS. We don't need to put the Police Academy down there because that will only justify the levees. The levees will most definitely cause flooding up and down the river, including Downtown.

We should just condemn those houses and that land for flood plain and let the river do its natural thing. It will be a lot less expensive to relocate the residents of Cadillac Heights, and let the land go to nature than some convoluted plan that puts a multi-million dollar facility in harm's way.

We must step up to the plate and pay OUR PROTECTORS salaries that bring them up to par with most other local cities.   Grand Prairie pays its cops and firefighters more than we do.

The ODB and the Anti-Dallas CC are not concerned with the welfare of regular Dallas citizens or businesses. Unless you are some robber baron or some token minority who delivers blocks of dead voters, you have little significance to the ODB or the Anti-Dallas CC. If you are some poor cop or firefighter trying to raise your family on your salary, you are of no importance at all.

It is outrageous that the CC is taking a position against the men and women who protect us and make it possible for us to live in this hell hole. It is disappointing that the Mayor is not behind OUR PROTECTORS.

OUR PROTECTORS need help from you. Get in touch with Scott W. Cisney, Administrative Director, Dallas Police Association (214.747.6839 or fax 214.747.8194 or scisney@dallaspa.org.

Don't forget to VOTE FOR OUR PROTECTORS.