Back in Town

One of my nieces just graduated from high school, which was the occasion for my sister and me to load up my Blazer and head for Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was an interesting and beautiful drive.

Most of the little towns between here and Beaumont are really seeing a metamorphosis. They are taking their town squares back to their original appearances. Lots of antique stores and nostalgia, but they are doing something -- appreciating and exhibiting their town histories and landmarks. I have made this trip more than once, and Texas has never looked more beautiful. Lush green belts of majestic trees.

Our route took us over the Trinity River way SouthEast of Dallas, and it was much different than anything we see or smell here in these parts. It looked like a natural, flowing river, not a muddy creek. It did not smell like an open sewer line.

My brother and his family were also in Lake Charles from their home in Rhode Island.   We were talking about Dallas politics because my sister-in-law had read the Wall Street Journal story about the Palladium deal. She and my brother talked about crooked politics in Providence. Their Mayor has been to prison, but has done great things for Providence because he has no scruples and doles out $$ and contracts for his friends.

Raquel:
I'm disappointed in Oakley's vote. You are so right. It isn't hard to see! And we did work hard on his campaign!
He lives less than 5 minutes away from me. All of us here in District 6 are your common, hard working ordinary people. There are a very few exceptions. But he KNOWS who the majority of his constituents are!
I will be interested to see how things go in May 2003. So I take it you like Mark Housewright? I met him once at a peaceful, legal protest of the motel project in our neighborhood led by Oakley. He sounds OK, but I really don't know much about him except he is a local and graduated from Kimball HS.
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Polly H
How do the pitiful tax payers come up with $39 mill for downtown and $43 mill for a thing called 'Victory'?
How about tar and * feathers for J. Fartroy??
Time to sell and run. By the time Hicks ,Perot and Fartroy are richer, the rest of us peons will be completely broke.
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I told them about the Texas legislation that allows the recipient of a tax abatement to promise certain council members chunks of that tax abatement for their district. They were shocked.

I told them about John Loza's explanation to me for supporting the arena sales tax in the first place. "I feel like if I go along with them on this [arena sales tax], the guys downtown will see they can work with me and send me some money."   They were appalled.

I told them about James Fantroy being on the council after beating that indictment and his history. I told them a few weeks ago Fantroy told the listening audience (which includes Our Downtown Betters and their hired guns) that he needs a new car. They were incredulous.

I told them about what happened in the mayor's race with Domingo Garcia endorsing Tom Dunning and one of his main advisers saying in advance in a taped radio interview that they were going to get $$ for his endorsement and then he tried to claim he had been offered money by Laura and her husband Steve Wolens. They could not believe that either!

My sister-in-law is from Moorestown, New Jersey, which is just across the state line from Philadelphia. She has seen a lot of shady governmental doings, but she said thought things were as bad or worse in Dallas than anything that's gone on in Philadelphia or Providence.

Dallas has an honest mayor who is going to get great things done in Dallas, but she refuses to go along with corruption. She lost a battle on the Palladium deal, but I bet she wins the war.

Mayor Miller has a different approach for the Trinity Project. She wants all roads (if any) on the Trinity's Downtown side with the lake (if any) and recreational areas (if any) on the Oak Cliff side.   There are two DMN stories about the Trinity Project and both indicate the big boys think our Mayor is going to get some of the changes she wants.

	2 TRINITY RIVER REPORTS
Trinity Tollway Project: Stemmons a corridor of land and money; Business leaders say they feel 'obligation' to aid with highway 5/27/2002 by VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News Highways, land and money. In Dallas' history, the three tend to commingle ? and never more directly than along Stemmons Freeway. The Stemmons family donated land for the freeway, then made its fortune on the adjacent real estate, a 1,200-acre private industrial district wrested from the flood plain by the Trinity levees. The Stemmons corridor also launched the career of global developer Trammell Crow, as well as hundreds of lesser entrepreneurs.
	Consultants: Trinity tollway plans won't help economy 05/26/2002 by VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News The proposed Trinity toll road is not likely to spur significant economic development in downtown, Oak Cliff or most areas up- or downstream, according to a study commissioned by the Dallas City Council. The city's planned lake can unleash a development surge ? with or without the road ? the study suggests. But even that potential is likely to go begging unless the city is willing to use methods, such as assembling parcels of land for developers, that it traditionally has shunned.

It's so refreshing to have a mayor who functions from a common sense standpoint. When you consider the damage Con Jerk (Senatorial candidate Ron Kirk) did to our economy in particular and our entire city in general, it's amazing that Mayor Miller has anything to work with at all.

We have got to get her some help -- help in the form of people who will work with her. DallasArena.com has frequently blasted Veletta Lill, who is working with the Mayor. Lill supported Tom Dunning, but has certainly put that behind her in the last 3 months. She is still too closely aligned with some bad actors in her district, but so far so good. As nasty and vindictive as Hector Garcia and Craig Holcomb can be, Lill apparently is having some influence over them as well.

The Mayor will have to get involved with upcoming council races. Council members must know there are consequences to their obnoxious behavior toward her.
* Dr. Elba Garcia was not looking out for her District 1 when she signed on with Palladium. Nothing she has done or will do will cancel that betrayal. She needs to go.
* Send Me Some Money John Loza is hopeless. It would be bad enough if he just voted so wrong, but he has to be such a "pompous ignoramus" about it.
* Mark Housewright is going to continue to represent District 3 for several terms because he listens to his constituents and works with the Mayor. When someone you love continues to act irresponsibly, you just have to let them go.

* Brain-Dead Maxine Thornton-Reese (T-Reese) should not be sitting on the council at all. There has already been a court ruling that many of her votes were illegal. She will not be representing the district next time around -- no matter what. But the damage this idiot can do is incalculable.
* Attorney Don Hill, Shakedown Leo Chaney and Beat that Indictment James Fantroy are just worthless and beyond salvage, but they will be back because they run their districts like fiefdoms -- doling out favors and other goodies.
Mayor PreTend Poss and Duh Walne can't run again, so there's nothing to do be done about them -- EXCEPT JUST IGNORE THEM. At least we know that after May, 2003, Districts 9 and 10 will have council representatives who are better than what they have currently.
* Lois Finkelman needs to go. She is taking up space and not getting much accomplished for District 11.
* Sandy Greyson has begun to listen to her District 12 constituents. She has never been the worst on the council, so she's a keeper.
* Mitch Rasansky is the Mayor's best ally on the council. DallasArena.com loves him, but not as much as his District 13 loves him.
* Veletta Lill just might get a DallasArena.com endorsement in 2003 if she keeps up the good work.

Dallas is taking baby steps toward fixing things, but our step forward - fall back cadence is killing us. It is really exciting that the Trinity Project may get fixed into something sensible and reasonable.

There is no way the Palladium deal is going to happen -- with or without a tax abatement. The only good thing that came out of that vote was exposing without any question which council members care about Dallas taxpayers and which are there to brown nose the ODB. The worst result of 9 council crooks betraying Dallas taxpayers will be the impact on planned and much needed bond proposals.

We must have a new animal shelter, but no bond package has a chance when voters know 9 council crooks just gave away $43 million in tax abatements to Hicks, Ross, Jr. and Palladium. To those 9 blithering idiots on the council who think this is not real money they just gave Tom and Jr., you voted to let H/P/P withhold $43 million from the general budget to spend exclusively on their property (and in those districts where they bought the council crooks). You voted to let H/P/P move their infrastructure needs ahead of my neighborhood's needs. You voted to let H/P/P have more bang for their tax buck than other taxpayers.

The ODB are on a perpetual quest to make Dallas a "world class" city. Well, we are certainly up there among the most corrupt. Thank Heavens, we have a Mayor who wants to clean things up. Think where we would be if Mary Poss were in charge -- how embarrassing!

We are going forward, but the progress is terribly slow because we have dunderheads and obstacles in our path.