Why does the Dallas press ignore Fantroy conflict of interest?

[boozo]

Councilman Fantroy got a $200,000 security contract for a developer trying to get city, state and federal funds for a huge apartment complex in District 8.

You won't see this story in the Dallas Morning News, Channel 5, Channel 8 or Txcn.

Only Channel 11.

One of the frequent reasons given by companies who don't want to relocate to Dallas is the mess at city hall.

The Dallas MN will talk trees and green space all day but why won't they cover this corruption?

No wonder our city politics is the laughing stock of Texas!

GO LAURA MILLER!!! CLEAN THIS HOUSE!

[gc]

I'd imagine it has something to do with money....somewhere...somehow...someone.

I mean after all, a famous rapper did say, "It's all about the Benjamins baby!"

[snooch]

Send an email to the Observer. I'm sure they'll make a big stink about it. They love making big stinky messes out of the city council's various questionable wheelings and dealings.

[gc]

P.U.!
Who made a stink at City Hall?
BY JIM SCHUTZE - jimschutze@mindspring.com
http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2004-10-21/news/schutze.html?src=newsletter

Come with me on a journey deep into the Dumpster of nitty-gritty gut-level local politics, down where the money meets the road and virtue is the lesser of two evils. Don't forget your boots and a clothespin for your nose. A month ago, Mayor Laura Miller accused District 8 Councilman James L. Fantroy (far Southern and Southeast Dallas) of behavior she called "unethical if not illegal" in a zoning case. Let's keep that characterization in mind--unethical if not illegal. I think what we're talking about here is a smell test. And please remember, I did ask you to bring a clothespin. As your guide, I am not responsible for injuries as the result of fainting.

The Fantroy deal involved 23 acres of land on Simpson Stuart Road. If Dallas were a watch, this land would be at about 5:30, close to the rim. It's an intriguing area, slightly rolling, wooded with big pecans, where horse corrals are just down the street from huge apartment complexes. There's some bad slummy stuff in the area, but you also see very snappy new residential and retail developments going up.

Fantroy has preached and preached that this area does not need more apartments. He is borne out by real estate research recently provided to the city council, showing that apartment complexes already on the ground have low occupancy. Too many of them for the market. What Fantroy says this area needs is single-family residential. In fact, nice new single-family housing is going up close to the property in question.

The implied accusation was that Fantroy got some zoning passed for a guy he was going to do business with, foiling the conflict-of-interest rules. The zoning request in question--which city staff said should be denied--was to take single-family and agricultural land and rezone it for apartments, just what Fantroy had said repeatedly should not be done. Fantroy announced he could not vote on this particular rezoning because he had a conflict of interest. He left the room when it came up. Earlier, he had filed a "disclosure of conflict statement" with the city secretary saying his conflict involved "a security contract (guards)." He and his son own a company called J.L. Security and Investigations, which provides guards for apartment complexes.

When the item came up, however, District 4 council member Maxine Thornton-Reese (mid-Southern Dallas) told everybody that Fantroy wanted it passed. The mayor pointed out that changing this land to apartment zoning would contradict the councilman's stated position and asked Thornton-Reese if the vote could at least be delayed. Thornton-Reese said, "I talked to Mr. Fantroy, and he said he did not want to defer it. Someone had approached him with that. Now, we can still ask him now, to make sure." So guess what? Some council members start jumping up, running into the back room, where Fantroy is watching everything on an overhead television screen, and asking him what he wants them to do. They all sit back down. The council votes 11-3 in favor of the change, with Miller and two others opposed.

P.U.! In fact, may I say, major-major P.U.-ee-dewie!

Council members who voted for it say they did so with clothespins on their noses, because of the informal back-scratching rule by which they all go along with the council member in whose district the rezoning is proposed. District 10 Councilman Bill Blaydes (far Northeast) voted for the change but said the Fantroy/Thornton-Reese duet had offended his sniffer. "That was about as obvious and blatant as anything I've seen in a while," he said. Talk about a reach-around. Fantroy declares his conflict. Thornton-Reese carries his water. Fantroy's friend gets his zoning. Fantroy gets a security contract. Right?

Mmm, actually that would be wrong.

There is no security contract.

I spoke to the principals in the development project, and they assured me that they have never discussed a security contract with Fantroy, never would, never will, no contract, not never. Saleem Jafar, who will own this thing when it gets done, said to me, "We would never even consider such an arrangement. There is no agreement, no conflict. If it was a company called XYZ, posing as something else but really his company, we wouldn't do that." I was convinced. But why did Fantroy declare a conflict? Fantroy said to me, "I had no contract with this company." Fantroy said he was informed that a secondary player in the deal was a company called Provident Realty Advisors, with whom he does do security business, in other cities but not in Dallas. "I was told by somebody that Provident had something to do with the Simpson Stuart deal. My thing was to say that if anybody was a part of the Simpson Stuart deal, I am going to excuse myself."

So, back on the smell test, the fact is that Fantroy did the right thing in declaring a conflict. And here's a key point: There was no new security contract for him in this deal. But he supported a zoning change that went against his stated policy. Why? He and Thornton-Reese both insisted to me they were only expressing the wishes "of the community." This area, called Highland Hills, is one Fantroy has been involved in for 40 years. He says this development was for fancy stone-fronted double-garage townhomes that the community thought would be good. That's what he says. I guess I think he'd know. Let me point something out, before we pass on to the next P.U. Zoning is worth a lot of money. The 23-acre parcel in this deal was valued by the appraisal district at about four grand an acre before the rezone. The parcel right next to it, which is zoned multifamily, is on the books at 14 grand an acre.

Jafar says it was Provident, not he, that profited from this rezoning. If this land traded at pretty much the going rates for the area, that 11-3 vote at council a month ago was worth approximately $230,000 to Provident. In the pocket. And Fantroy does do business with Provident elsewhere. Let me add something else important: None of that breaks any rules or any laws that I know of. Real estate guys get to maximize their value and make a profit if they can swing it. As long as I have covered City Hall (centuries), city council members often have been business persons, and business persons do business with business persons. Mayor Miller focuses her criticism of this deal on the way Fantroy and Thornton-Reese worked around the conflict-of-interest rules. She says she likes Fantroy. But when a Dallas Morning News reporter asked her after the council session about the smell test, she says she had to reply honestly:

"When a reporter says to me, 'Is it a problem that he recuses himself, but he instructs the council how to vote on it?' I say yes. That's a problem. "What am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to be like every mayor before me and say I don't see any problems around here?" Fair enough. But let's proceed deeper. You got the clothespin on, right? The principals in the Simpson Stuart deal say they are "collateral damage," smeared by this affair when they had done nothing wrong. They also suggest it would have been virtuous of the mayor, in the spirit of full disclosure, if she'd mentioned that one of her biggest political contributors has a competing project right across the street from them.

I checked. Indeed, Brian Potashnik is a principal in a deal right across Simpson Stuart from the Jafar deal. Potashnik and his wife, Cheryl, are maxed-out contributors to Miller's campaign fund, $5,000 each per reporting period, the legal max, whether Miller's running for office or not. I asked Miller about it. She said she opposes all new multifamily zoning in that part of town, whether it's Potashnik or not. She said she recently testified in Austin against tax breaks for all of these projects, including Potashnik. But what is that darned odor that won't go away? Where's it coming from? It's not...no...it's not coming from Councilman Blaydes, is it? The one who said the Fantroy deal was so blatant and obvious?

Blaydes is the principal real estate agent for the Dallas Independent School District for all of the land acquisition associated with the current $1.37 billion bond program. The arrangement pays Blaydes $15,000 a month plus a commission on all land purchases. A DISD spokesman told me that the district has paid Blaydes a total of $420,000 since June 2002. In May 2003, a week before Blaydes was sworn in, he attended a council meeting and was provided a council briefing packet as a council member-elect. During that meeting, according to Blaydes' own sworn deposition, he saw that the Catholic Diocese of Dallas was half an hour away from winning a zoning change that would have made it impossible or very difficult for the school district to condemn a chunk of land the district wants for new schools--a piece of land Blaydes was trying to get for the district and on which he would be paid a commission.

Within minutes, Blaydes was cozied up to the council rim confabbing with members of the council. The Diocese's deal was unceremoniously yanked from the consent agenda. In that one stroke, the Diocese lost a battle worth millions of dollars. And Blaydes won a deal worth a few pennies to him personally. Blaydes wasn't on the council yet. He did not address the council from the microphone as a representative of DISD. He broke no rule. Since being sworn in, he has scrupulously recused himself on all DISD issues. "I contend that I have done nothing that was in the least way illegal or immoral or unethical," Blaydes told me. "I take my oath very seriously." But, you know. P.U.-hughie-dewie-and-louie! Well, thanks for following me around today. On the count of three, we all run outdoors, pull off our clothespins, pass out into the reflecting pond and try not to drown.

[aceplace]

In other threads on this forum, I've talked often and energetically, I hope, on a single issue...

The people of DFW are not that interested in the future, or even the existence, of municipal Dallas. Very few people identify themselves with it, certainly not like they identify themselves with their nation, or even their state.

Municipal Dallas contributes very little, if anything, that they consider valuable to their lives, or even convenient...

Corruption at Dallas City Hall is about as tangential to their real affairs as corruption in the management of a fast food restaurant chain.

[TexasStar]

In other threads on this forum, I've talked often and energetically, I hope, on a single issue...

The people of DFW are not that interested in the future, or even the existence, of municipal Dallas. Very few people identify themselves with it, certainly not like they identify themselves with their nation, or even their state.

Municipal Dallas contributes very little, if anything, that they consider valuable to their lives, or even convenient...

Corruption at Dallas City Hall is about as tangential to their real affairs as corruption in the management of a fast food restaurant chain.

Ace, I don't understand why you bring up the "people of DFW"? There are over 1.2 million people living in the city of Dallas. That's more than enough citizens with a vested interest to start dealing with the corruption at City Hall. I personally don't care what motivates suburbanites any more than they care about Dallas. Which is not at all.

[drumguy8800]

The following post is a result of me going off on tangents in the middle of paragraphs, and thusly getting lost as to where I was going... and.. forgetting.. what I was doing. But they might have some inkling of a point deep down within them, so I posted it anyway.

Sheesh aceplace, you really take the entire "a municipality is a pointless entity" thing too far sometimes. The people of DFW identify with Dallas. Dallas, Fort Worth, and arguably a very few other suburbs are the only municipalities that within their jurisdiction, hold any kind of history/character and relevance besides being a nameless, faceless dot on the prairie. The reason you and the other people frequent this forum is because we love (and/or ardently hate), the municipality of Dallas, and because we care about and can talk about in an educated and knowledgeable manner (a result of CARING), the things that happen within the municipality of Dallas.

Having said that, let me expose the problem with people being uninterested in Dallas' future/present. The problem is Dallas' government, and all government for that matter, is extremely abstract. You saying "certainly not like they identify themselves with their nation, or even their state," seems to imply any given person with no political ties has anything more than pride for their nation or state. And as one of those people, may I say that the US government hasn't made an effort to welcome me into it's entity and I have no reason to wish to shake hands with it. But the city of Dallas, being THE MOST important organ within our "metroplex," does have a marked ammount of interference (whether good or bad) and influence on my own life, (someone who doesnt live in Dallas.)


Corruption at Dallas City Hall is about as tangential to their real affairs as corruption in the management of a fast food restaurant chain.

Wow. I've completely forgotten why I'm disagreeing with you and where that was going. Those two paragraphs may not make a lick of sense.. and this one might not either. Anyway, I'll say this about your comparison. A fast food restaurant chain's management corruption has no effect on my life. It doesn't need to. Fast food restaurants are not of enough importance for their corruption to affect other entities and employees in the food service industry.. But clogged arteries and a failing heart of a major metropolitan area WILL have an effect on the entire body. People's lives are affected by those that govern them, and those that govern their neighbors.

[aceplace]

Ace, I don't understand why you bring up the "people of DFW"? There are over 1.2 million people living in the city of Dallas. That's more than enough citizens with a vested interest to start dealing with the corruption at City Hall. I personally don't care what motivates suburbanites any more than they care about Dallas. Which is not at all.The nonresidents are apathetic because they don't see the Dallas City Council as having any influence over, or constructive role in, the metro area. Fantroy's alleged graft is immaterial to them.

The residents are also apathetic, by and large. They don't see a reason to care, and they don't see a vested interest in changing anything... or a practical means to do so.

You may not like this situation, you may blame them for not having a different attitude... but the plain truth is that they don't.

You need to understand why.

Why the world (or the Dallas resident base) is the way it is, rather than criticize it for not meeting your expectations.

I understand why.

Because municipalities are inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. And the larger population acts as if it agrees.

[TexasStar]

^ Anarchist.

[Man of Leisure]

^ Anarchist.
Anarcho-capitalist(?)

[drumguy8800]

Stubborn-idealist(?)

Do I have room to talk? *ponders.*

[freewaytincan]

Stubborn-idealist(?)

Do I have room to talk? *ponders.*

That's like me calling someone else fat.

[aceplace]

Sheesh aceplace, you really take the entire "a municipality is a pointless entity" thing too far sometimes. The people of DFW identify with Dallas. ... The reason you and the other people frequent this forum is because we love (and/or ardently hate), the municipality of Dallas, and because we care about and can talk about in an educated and knowledgeable manner (a result of CARING), the things that happen within the municipality of Dallas.I don't think so, Drummy... I don't know anybody that is interested in the workings of Dallas municipal government, except for maybe Trolleygirl... I think we subscribe to the forum to keep in touch with what developers are building, what DART is doing, what social activity is going on, etc.



But the city of Dallas, being THE MOST important organ within our "metroplex," does have a marked ammount of interference (whether good or bad) and influence on my own life, (someone who doesnt live in Dallas.)Not me, Drummy... the Dallas Municipal government has no influence on my life, even if I live within its jurisdiction. What does have influence are developments like The West Village, businesses like Half Price Books and Borders, the film houses I go to, the business I work for, the Church, the restaurants that feed me, on and on...

On the huge expanse of buildings and people called the Las Vegas Strip, there is no municipal government... the various municipal services consumed by the Strip are either supplied by the county, by private industry, or seen as unnecessary. Yet, the place functions quite well as an urban area, and a desirable and exciting one, without a municipal government.


Fast food restaurants are not of enough importance for their corruption to affect other entities and employees in the food service industry.. But clogged arteries and a failing heart of a major metropolitan area WILL have an effect on the entire body. People's lives are affected by those that govern them, and those that govern their neighbors.Your metaphor is misplaced. The clogged arteries part corresponds to federal and state freeways, not streets maintained by the Dallas municipality.

A failing heart? Do you really believe that the Dallas City Council pumps blood into Plano or Frisco? I don't.

Maybe the northern suburban areas sucked some blood out of Dallas for a while, but now they are entirely self-sufficient economies. Businesses that relocate to the Dallas area go to places like Plano, Addison, Irving, Frisco as their FIRST choice. They don't consider the municipality of Dallas as all that desirable.

And of course nobody NEEDS to go into the Dallas municipal jurisdiction... everything they require is in the northern suburbs.

Thanks for your spirited reply, though...

[warlock55]

I don't think so, Drummy... I don't know anybody that is interested in the workings of Dallas municipal government, except for maybe Trolleygirl... I think we subscribe to the forum to keep in touch with what developers are building, what DART is doing, what social activity is going on, etc.
Well, I don't know about the rest of you (except TG again, hehheh) but I'm sure interested in the Dallas government, even though I've never lived there. And I know a bunch of people who are, including my parents, who live in Plano. I guess how interested a person is in Dallas is really a function of how conected they feel to things and events outside the sphere of their everyday lives.


Not me, Drummy... the Dallas Municipal government has no influence on my life, even if I live within its jurisdiction. What does have influence are developments like The West Village, businesses like Half Price Books and Borders, the film houses I go to, the business I work for, the Church, the restaurants that feed me, on and on...
I can never understand how people think this. How can you be unaffected when Dallas is responsible for your roads, sidewalks, water, police and fire protection, health inspections, animal control, and trash collection for starters? Plus who do you think makes sure all those developments are built to code and continue to meet code? And that doesn't even get into the City's effect on what gets built in the first place. The City even has an effect on the regulation of public utilities like electricity and cable. I could go on and on, but I think I made my point.

[aceplace]

Well, I don't know about the rest of you (except TG again, hehheh) but I'm sure interested in the Dallas government, even though I've never lived there. And I know a bunch of people who are, including my parents, who live in Plano. I guess how interested a person is in Dallas is really a function of how conected they feel to things and events outside the sphere of their everyday lives.


I can never understand how people think this. How can you be unaffected when Dallas is responsible for your roads, sidewalks, water, police and fire protection, health inspections, animal control, and trash collection for starters? Plus who do you think makes sure all those developments are built to code and continue to meet code? And that doesn't even get into the City's effect on what gets built in the first place. The City even has an effect on the regulation of public utilities like electricity and cable. I could go on and on, but I think I made my point.Warlock, the vast majority of people who live in Dallas don't share your opinion, at least they don't vote their convictions.

Sure, the municipal government does perform some services, and they collect taxes, but they are merely doing what private industry does in other jurisdictions. Or what other municipal governments in the Metroplex do about as well or badly.

Does it impact my life? no. Does Domino's Pizza impact my life? Or McDonalds? No. If the product becomes competitively unsatisfactory, I take my business elsewhere. If Dallas City Hall started really falling down in sweeping streets or other similar commercial services in Lake Highlands, they'd just secede and take their business elsewhere also. Or if the physical environment of municipal Dallas fails to satisfy me, I'll live in some other jurisdiction.

What does in fact impact my life is the sum of the choices I make as a knowlegable consumer.

Do you really think that the Las Vegas Strip really needs a big brother municipality to enforce some whimsical interpretation of building codes? No... Nor does Disney World... nor does the West Village or Victory, for that matter. The people who build these places get more regulation from the insurance industry and the Civil court Lawsuit industry than a municipality could ever supply.

You see, the specific services you mentioned can be performed just as well by either private industry or some other level of government. In Sacramento, CA, the water utility is a separate organization from the municipality... in San Francisco, garbage is collected by a commercial business. The Las Vegas Strip is patrolled by the county.

If the municipality of Dallas decided to go into the pizza business, and ran all the competitors out of town, we'd have a comparable situation, of a municipality providing a service or product that private busiiness could easily supply.

I think you may be getting my drift at this point, but if not, let me know if you have any more questions.

[freewaytincan]

You know, I agree with pretty much everything you're saying here.

[trolleygirl]

So let's not re-nvent the wheel here, Ace. Bottom-line for pizza is if you don't like Domino's, then don't buy it. So the same should be true, following your points, for cities, or municipal government. If you don't like Dallas, then go to Plane. End of story.

You my not know very many people who care about the governing of Dallas, but I do, and I know a lot of people, some of whom work for the city, some of whom are commissioners, even council people. A lot of people I know are also lawyers, architects, teachers, doctors, managers, engineers, cabinet-makers, roofers, students, carpenters and home inspectors. They all care about how Dallas works and they all vote in bond elections as well as city council and mayor elections. Why? Because they care about how their tax dollars are spent. We discuss city issues at parties, at dinner together, at social events. It's not because we are all rabid little Dallas government watchdogs, it's the thing that we ALL have in common with one another, and so therefore, we talk about it- just like the weather, just like the war on terror, just like the economy, just like the elections, just like anything else. We rarely discuss Foley's Red Apple sale or what happened on Desperate Housewives or what the in-crowd was dressed like at Stolik last night.

I think drum hit on a valid point- there are still 1.2 million people in this city. That's more than in Garland, Carrollton, Farmer's Branch, etc. Yes, if you combine all the suburbs then we're looking at a much larger number, but still we're not talking about another 1.2 million people are creating this big deand for Frisco.

You know, some people actually love Dallas, went to school here, call it home. Those people are the ones who care the most. To those people, it's important to care about Dallas.

I was in NYC last week during the Yankees/Red Sox game. Almost got killed rooting for Boston. Why do you think that is? All the peole who were for Boston were originally from Boston. So, is it the team or the fact that it's their home team? Those New Englanders are feircely proud of their home. (Us Texans are the same)

I think people have a certain in where they are from, where they call home, where they return for the holidays. Some people don't. Dallas and the metro consist of lots of people from lots of places- we're a crossroads, we have always been, dating back to pre-settlement. Some people simply could care less about Dallas or any other place. People usually never get involved in things until it hits them wjere it counts. People sure about crime and have strong opinions about the poilce when there's a crime wave.

Hell, if people didn't care about fake drugs, then they wouldn't report it on the news. News has to have an audience.

Anyway, as far as waiting for the market to cure all of our ills, I think's a little slippery. First, buuilding inspections absolutely should not be left for some for-profit entity to do. The City has a health respnsibility to its citizens. No one should have to wait for the elevator to drop 11 floors, killing five people, in order to get it fixed. We live in 2004, not 1904. And, subcontracting, outsourcing, whatever you want to call it, happens in Dallas. Our Sanitation is contracted out. And right now, the City council (and a lot of residents) is pretty upset with their sorry performance. So, they will likely hire a new contracter when this contract xpires. Why do I care about that? Because the trash service sucks and I can't do anything about it except to complain to my council representative so that he knows that the people are unhappy. If Sandy Greyson hears something doifferent from her constituents in North Dallas, then there's a big problem. If not, then they all get to vote on firing them. That's why we have a city council.

[warlock55]

To respond to ace and build on TG's post...

Like TG said, Dallas contracts out some services. That's important to note because it is the City of Dallas which is overseeing the contract. This isn't a free market service where trash companies are going out to each resident and signing up individuals. One way or another government has a role in providing these kind of public goods.

In the distant past there used to be private fire companies that were paid by individual citizens to protect their homes. Back then many houses burned down because those private fire companies obviously wouldn't protect any residence they weren't paid to. That made sense from a business standpoint, but can anyone say that makes sense from a public welfare standpoint? Sure, you could say that everyone just should've retained a private fire company, but as always there were poor people who couldn't afford it. Ironically, poorer people also are more vulnerable to fires, in no small part often due to their older and more dilapidated housing.

Private solutions only work for those who can afford them. Government is supposed to work for everyone. Once again, this is why you can't hand over public functions to private enterprise.

Next, ace's comment about using lawsuits to regulate business construction boggles my mind. It's not up the court to make legislation or rules. All they do is decide whether or not actions apply to exisiting legislation. No consensus on building construction would ever be reached if all people had to go on was case-by-case rulings with no law to back them up.
Finally I think TG is dead right in describing civic attitude. And it's like I said, you either feel connected to things greater than yourself, or you don't.

[gc]

I agree with Warlock and TG here....but why are all the conflicts of interest ignored around here?

[trolleygirl]

I agree with Warlock and TG here....but why are all the conflicts of interest ignored around here?

Dunno bu tI have a frind who is fiing ethics charges. It's so sad, but there is literally one citizen in this whole entire city who ever bothers to file ethics complaints.

On another note, he did go to the District Attorney's office who said that criminally, there's nothig. But the DA doesn't pursue ethics violations.......our amazing city attorney (note the irony) does that. Which means that there is literally no real city hall watchdog. Period. All Shutze does is write about it, then when he hits a nerve, the people send letters to the Observer to express their dissatisfaction with these wankers at City Hall, then they readabout the next scandal in Schutze's next column.

[aceplace]

Trolleygirl, Warlock, GC,

If the question is "why the apathy about Fauntroy's conflict of interest", then the sentiments expressed about solidarity with the Dallas Municipal Government don't seem very widespread, do they? If a "lot of people" you know are concerned, then the problem is that the people you know are not truly representative of the larger population.

I think the State of Texas should inspect elevators, not the City of Dallas. And I think the FAA should regulate aircraft maintenance, not the City of Dallas. I think the State of Texas is primarily responsible for law enforcement since the State of Texas writes the laws, or perhaps it should delegate that role to the county, as an administrative subdivision of the State.

If the municipality of Dallas does not enforce Federal laws, why should it enforce State Laws?

As far as ensuring public safety, for example in aircraft disasters or with pharmaceuticals, or other such things... that happens because of the enormous liability the courts have attached to dereliction of duty by corporations. The City of Dallas, however, is not so easily motivated by fear of lawsuits, and its behavior is harder to change. It is much harder to sue, and its bureaucrats have an easier time evading responsibility.

Traffic tickets? Speeding tickets? Municipalities treat that as a source of revenue, and would not enforce them if they did not gain financially by it.

My precedent? Many European countries do it that way, Australia does it that way. That doesn't mean that DFW HAS to do it that way, just that the way it has been done here is not the ONLY way.

Fire? Disaster? Ambulance service? Public health services? The value in making these functions a public trust is that the benefit of firehouses and malaria vaccinations cannot be isolated to specific individuals... everybody benefits when a typhoid carrier is quarantined, or a massive prairie fire is doused. But the benefit from these activities is all over the Metroplex, and not specifically to the benefit of one municipality. Make fire and public health a metroplex responsibility, just as transit and pollution controls are.

Have any of you ever seen a real fire? I have... when part of the San Francisco East Bay was in flames... the smoke looked like a nuclear war. That disaster was far beyond the scope of a municipal government. Just as the explosion of a dirty nuclear bomb in DFW would be beyond the scope of a municipality.

The real issue I have? You all regard the municipality of Dallas as a tangible object, a functioning system. I don't see that. I see a collection of captive neighborhoods with little in common... Lake Highlands, for example has much in common with Richardson, and very little in common with Singleton-West Dallas.

If you want to argue that a governmental bureaucracy is a functional system, I'd answer this... the corruption in Dallas City Hall is evidence that its members view it only as an opportunity for personal gain, not something beyond themselves that should be respected.

And especially in terms of understanding urban areas... the thing to study is the Metroplex, and its natural divisions, its traffic patterns, etc, not the municipality of Dallas, or any other municipality, of course. Because they are not natural objects, in the sense that a tree or a mountain chain is a single natural object. It is more like a random collection of people and streets, with nothing to teach us... except in the ways that groups of people can be stupid....

[trolleygirl]

I guess the press doesn't really ignore his so-called conflict so much after all huh?

[gc]

Guess not...

[NewUrbanist]

Councilman Fantroy got a $200,000 security contract for a developer trying to get city, state and federal funds for a huge apartment complex in District 8.

You won't see this story in the Dallas Morning News, Channel 5, Channel 8 or Txcn.

Only Channel 11.

One of the frequent reasons given by companies who don't want to relocate to Dallas is the mess at city hall.

The Dallas MN will talk trees and green space all day but why won't they cover this corruption?

No wonder our city politics is the laughing stock of Texas!

GO LAURA MILLER!!! CLEAN THIS HOUSE!
What is the source of the information? I do not agree that Dallas is the laughing stock of Texas... Houston has 10 times the amount of corruption that Dallas has... a previous "STRONG" Mayor created a bond package that exceeded their acceptable debt level and almost bankrupted the city... Southlake recently was involved in a scandal with the City Officials stealing money (a problem Dallas has never had)... in fact Dallas has a Ethics Board that anyone, citizens included, can report REAL complaints to for investigation.

[trolleygirl]

What is the source of the information? I do not agree that Dallas is the laughing stock of Texas... Houston has 10 times the amount of corruption that Dallas has... a previous "STRONG" Mayor created a bond package that exceeded their acceptable debt level and almost bankrupted the city... Southlake recently was involved in a scandal with the City Officials stealing money (a problem Dallas has never had)... in fact Dallas has a Ethics Board that anyone, citizens included, can report REAL complaints to for investigation.

Well JL has done done questionable deals with his security company in the past. That's no secret. But weather they are technically unethical or illegal is not clear. I posted months ago that if there is an ethics violation, any citizen can file a complaint but that the DA only handles criminal cases and, at least this particular case (referenced in September!), his deal was not illegal, not criminal.

Also, I wouldn't tout the ethics commission in this city- it's pretty weak.

[NewUrbanist]

Well JL has done done questionable deals with his security company in the past. That's no secret. But weather they are technically unethical or illegal is not clear. I posted months ago that if there is an ethics violation, any citizen can file a complaint but that the DA only handles criminal cases and, at least this particular case (referenced in September!), his deal was not illegal, not criminal.

Also, I wouldn't tout the ethics commission in this city- it's pretty weak.
Why do you consider it weak?

In general, boards and commissions in the city are weak by design... but they serve a purpose.

Is there a particular reason why you believe the Etnics commission is weak?

[gc]

In general, boards and commissions in the city are weak by design... but they serve a purpose.


What is that purpose? Why is it good to have a board or commission that is powerless and weak by design? I do not get it.

[NewUrbanist]

They serve as an advisory board for the council. The council cannot be expected to be experts on every issue that comes before them. If you have a group of people comprised of both experts and laypeople and they get the opportunity to review agenda items related to their specific field, they are able to provide insight and recommendations to the council that theoretically reflect the community. Take the Historic Preservation Board.. an architect, a historian, an engineer, and an urban planner are all required to be on the board. So they can provide insight council would not normally know on their own.

[mikedsjr]

I feel like the term weak is being used in different ways here. NU, Your using 'weak' to mean "lacking authority" while TG appears to be using 'weak' to mean "lack of character".

If I am correct, then NU, what is your counterpoint to TG? Because your taking a differerent road than she is.

[trolleygirl]

I feel like the term weak is being used in different ways here. NU, Your using 'weak' to mean "lacking authority" while TG appears to be using 'weak' to mean "lack of character".

If I am correct, then NU, what is your counterpoint to TG? Because your taking a differerent road than she is.

Thank you Mike, you are correct.

[trolleygirl]

They serve as an advisory board for the council. The council cannot be expected to be experts on every issue that comes before them. If you have a group of people comprised of both experts and laypeople and they get the opportunity to review agenda items related to their specific field, they are able to provide insight and recommendations to the council that theoretically reflect the community. Take the Historic Preservation Board.. an architect, a historian, an engineer, and an urban planner are all required to be on the board. So they can provide insight council would not normally know on their own.


I know. I serve on a city commission.

[trolleygirl]

What is that purpose? Why is it good to have a board or commission that is powerless and weak by design? I do not get it.

GC, when are you going to get yourself appointed to the Landmark Commission or something? You need to serve!!!

[NewUrbanist]

I feel like the term weak is being used in different ways here. NU, Your using 'weak' to mean "lacking authority" while TG appears to be using 'weak' to mean "lack of character".

If I am correct, then NU, what is your counterpoint to TG? Because your taking a differerent road than she is.
You are corect. I am using 'weak' to mean "lacking authority".

If the problem is the "lack of character" of the individuals on the board, then the problem is not the system but the current people on the board. It is not difficult for qualified individuals to be appointed to a board. There are currently a large # of vacancies due to a lack of community interest in serving on boards (and the turnover rate on the boards is high... it is a voluntary position afterall and there are term limits). So maybe it is a lack of community involvement that has caused the "weak" boards and the solution is increased citizen participation.

I think a high quality person could be appointed to a "weak" board and turn it around. A good person can do amazing things to change the dynamic of a group. However, getting residents to make a time committment to better their community is very difficult and a different question to evaluate.

[gc]

GC, when are you going to get yourself appointed to the Landmark Commission or something? You need to serve!!!

I have actually made my services available before. As I have stated before, I email the mayor and the council often, both individually and as a group. I congratulate them on their successes and sometimes question thier decisions and motives. I offer suggestions, give them feedback, forward insightful articles, etc. They have my address and email address.

I rarely get a response besides the generic "thank you concerned Dallas resident".

[tamtagon]

GC, when are you going to get yourself appointed to the Landmark Commission or something? You need to serve!!!

I dont know, GC, unless you have the gut for it, politics will ulcerate ten years off your life expectancy. Watch out.

[mikedsjr]

If your supposed to live to 110 yrs old, I'm not sure dying at age 100 is so bad. ;)