What's bugging North Dallas?

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What's bugging North Dallas?
Bridging differences with City Hall critical to success
12:01 AM CDT on Sunday, September 28, 2003
By RENA PEDERSON / The Dallas Morning News

It's one of the toughest questions in town: Can Dallas be as great as it can be without more positive leadership from North Dallas, the epicenter of city affluence?

Over the years, North Dallas has developed the reputation as the "ground zero for naysayers," balking at tax increases and pro-growth proposals, retreating from direct involvement in city affairs. That means if the city wants to shore up the tax base for the future, it will have to shore up civic support in the north, which often delivers 70 percent of the vote in city elections.

North Dallas is key to city progress, because historically that's where the money resides, as well as the votes.Since the 1960s, the northern half of the city has thrived as a conservative version of Ozzie and Harriet's tree-lined neighborhood on TV. Driving north of Northwest Highway back then, you would find block after block of ranch-style homes. Ozzie went to work downtown, and Harriet minded the kids. Life was homogenous, and, at least for those in the right homogeneity pool, it was good.

During the booming 1970s, it was said you could count the cars at the intersection of Preston Road and Northwest Highway and find a Mercedes on all four sides. The Dallas Cowboys and the gold Rolex watch became the symbols of the city. The prosperity continued spreading northward, up to LBJ Freeway and beyond.

Then came the economic bust of the 1980s. And in the 1990s, political change brought in more diverse voices at City Hall.

North Dallas increasingly became known for the cranky habit of voting against ambitious city proposals – against new arts facilities, against mass transit, against improvements to the Trinity River. Political consultants began joking, "People in North Dallas drive by the neighborhood school every day just to see if there's an election to vote against."

What's been bugging the voters in the most prosperous area of the city?

Is it just about fixing their potholes first?

Or are there messages between the votes that city leaders should pay more attention to?

The answers could prove crucial as the city tries to rally support for proposals to improve downtown, expand the Arts District, improve regional transportation, develop the poorer southern half of town and redevelop the Trinity River.


Are voters really that cranky?


For starters, it would be helpful to examine whether the perception is accurate that North Dallas residents vote against everything.
The honest answer is "no." North Dallas voters have fairly consistently supported bond votes for the school and city bond packages that stuck to basic nuts-and-bolts improvements.

But they have turned down a significant number of ambitious projects. North Dallas voters traditionally have tended to be suspicious of big government and regularly have sent representatives to the state Legislature and Congress who bragged that they voted "no" more than anyone else. The less government, the better, they reasoned.

So it's no surprise that North Dallas voters said "no thanks" to:

• The first proposal for a Fort Worth-Dallas airport authority in 1967.

• Early plans for a town lake in 1975.

• The first bond proposal for a new symphony hall in 1978.

• A Lone Star Transportation Authority for the region in 1980.

• The $1 billion debt authorization for Dallas Area Rapid Transit in 1988.

• A ½ -cent sales tax for Fair Park in 1992.

• The Trinity River improvements bond proposal in 1998.

• The downtown arena proposal in 1998.

• And the Olympics site bid in 2001.

As one former state legislator put it, "It's a leave-us-alone-but-pick-up-my-trash bunch."

And even though North Dallas voters backed the bond election in May, says campaign co-chair Laura Estrada, organizers were uncertain up to the day of the vote whether they would.

"They still don't seem to get it about the need to grow the wealth all over town, the need for development in southern Dallas, the need to come together and spread the growth wider. I don't even have kids, for Pete's sake, and I understand the need to have libraries for kids in other areas.

"It's still a tough sell to get voters in North Dallas to look at the big picture and look to the future. You still have to convince them that it's for their own benefit to do the right thing, whether it is participating in the arts or mass transit."

"They don't have the same patriotic feeling for the city anymore," said former Mayor Pro Tem Adlene Harrison. "They have become more skeptical about the way the city is run and the way the council votes to grant tax exemptions for things."

"There is a disconnect there, especially with the gray-haired crowd," agreed Domingo Garcia, a former City Council member and state legislator. "The North Dallas voters think City Hall is out of control. That's why they support anti-City Hall candidates, the Donna Blumers, the Mitch Rasanskys, the Laura Millers."


It's not just crankiness


Others say there are complex reasons for the "nay" votes.
"North Dallas voters just don't like to be hoodwinked and given a sort of 'trust me' mandate," observed longtime civic supporter Walt Humann. "They rejected the Lone Star Transportation Authority because there was nothing specific. It probably would have worked out fine, but it was too vague. They initially rejected the Trinity improvements years ago because of the leadership of environmentalists like Ned Fritz. He implied that people had not done their homework properly on this thing, so why should we spend all this money? And that perception was hard to dispel.

"They also want to know who's going to benefit? If they feel somebody is getting a sweetheart deal, that will turn off voters in general, but especially in North Dallas. In the case of the arena, a high percentage felt it was not a fair deal for taxpayers. Then when the Olympics came along, what you heard was a concern that the city was not doing all that good a job keeping up basic services, so why take on something bigger?"

Former council member Max Wells, who represented Far North Dallas in the 1990s, said his constituents supported city issues when they felt they were getting a fair shake proportionately.

"But a real change came with the arena deal," he said. "It brought a bitterness and a meanness to the debate that I had not seen before. It brought out the strongest and loudest voices I had ever seen at town hall meetings. There was this perception that 'I don't want to give the rich guys the money.'

"Some of that bitterness then carried over to the Trinity vote, where voters worried that it could be a bottomless pit and asked, 'Where does it stop? How much are we into this deal for?' "

As for the Olympics vote, council member Lois Finkelman said her constituents felt "it was too big for us too chew. There was an innate skepticism about what we are providing now and what makes us think we could do so much more. Why take on something huge when we have so many current needs not being met, the medians, the parks, the streets, the things people see most often?"

Others interviewed say there also has been a racial undercurrent to some of the elections that cannot be ignored, although often it was subtle and complex.

"The busing issue had a lot of impact on those North Dallas neighborhoods," said political consultant Carol Reed. "Many of their kids went to Hillcrest and W.T. White high schools, and they've watched those schools change. They still remember the upheaval of busing. They exercised their right to choose by pulling their kids out and sticking them in school somewhere else. In the process, we lost a lot of the spirit of one for all and all for one."

Mr. Garcia, who ran for mayor against Ms. Miller in 2002, said, "One of the other reasons Laura Miller got elected is that she had John Wiley Price picketing her house because of things she wrote about him and she stood up to Al Lipscomb when he was a council member. She was seen as a white person standing up, and Ms. Miller exploited that. It's ironic, that she came out of Oak Cliff (in the southern sector), but she knew how to play the game (in northern Dallas)."

The unpleasant scenes at City Hall in the late 1980s, when minority residents protested about the lack of representation on the City Council and police mistreatment, are often mentioned as a turn-off for staid North Dallas voters. "Some people in North Dallas just don't feel part of city government anymore," said one longtime developer with roots in North Dallas. "They feel disenfranchised, separate and apart from what happens at City Hall and DISD. They aren't invested in it."


Frustration long building


Business leader Tom Dunning, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2002, said the stirrings of anti-City Hall frustration in North Dallas could be felt as far back as 1985 when Mayor Starke Taylor ran for a second term.
"Taylor lost North Dallas in that election because they liked Max Goldblatt's campaign against spending at City Hall. But Taylor won the race because enough South Dallas voters were mad at Goldblatt to carry Taylor in," Mr. Dunning recalled. "Even then, people in North Dallas felt they were paying more taxes than anyone else and they were sure all the money was going to South Dallas. They wanted their potholes and parks fixed."

Former North Dallas council member Sid Stahl recalled that one of his biggest frustrations on the park board and the council was that he was never able to rally his North Dallas district around a town lake for the Trinity River or the need for strong development in largely minority southern Dallas.

"When I proposed it in the 1980s, businessmen from North Dallas came down and called me a Communist and threatened to run me out of town," Mr. Stahl recalls. "Happily, that has changed."

When Ron Kirk was elected the city's first African-American mayor in 1995, he won with a strong minority vote in the southern sector and captured only about 42 percent of the Anglo vote in the city. After making concerted efforts to bridge divisions between the northern and southern sections of the city, he handily won re-election with 70 percent of the vote in North Dallas. But North Dallas was a tough sell, he acknowledges.

"When I ran in 1995, almost without exception, whenever I got above Loop 12, no matter what forum I was in, somebody would put a question, 'What are you going to do about John Wiley Price, Al Lipscomb and Diane Ragsdale? What are you going to do to make them behave?' " Mr. Kirk remembers. "And I would have to remind them that they were not on the City Council. It was clear that North Dallas was obsessed about 'order' at City Hall."

When Mr. Kirk ran for a second term, he won in conservative, predominantly Anglo districts like District 13, political consultant Dan Weiser points out. But he said, "They were aware that his success hinged on the southern Dallas vote in the first election. That only added to the feeling they were being discriminated against in city services in North Dallas. And they were teed off. They felt people were not paying attention to them the way they had before. Everyone was paying attention to the black vote, and they were not happy about it. So it was not surprising that when it came to two big projects that Ron Kirk promoted – the Trinity and the arena – it was the vote in South Dallas that came through to pass them, not North Dallas. He wasn't their guy, and they didn't think the projects would benefit them."

What's ironic, Mr. Kirk says today, is that he still gets grousing about the arena vote from North Dallas residents, even though most of the season ticket holders for the basketball and hockey games at the arena are from ... North Dallas.


Geography plays role


Others say that the lack of North Dallas interest in projects benefiting downtown or the southern sector is simply a symptom of the geographic divisions in the city at the time. When a sales tax increase to benefit Fair Park was rejected, Mr. Humann points out, many voters in the northern half of the city visited Fair Park only during the State Fair of Texas, so there simply was not a strong constituency for improving it for year-around use. At the time, the fairgrounds had the reputation as a high-crime area, and many North Dallas residents were skeptical it could be turned around, although much progress has since been made.

As for resistance to DART, he theorized, it may not have been so much that North Dallas voters did not want to finance a system that more minority residents would utilize, but that they didn't envision ever using it themselves, reasoning "I'll never ride it, so why should I pay for it?'" The transit system was narrowly approved because a substantial effort was made to convince enough North Dallas voters that they would benefit if it took some cars off the road, reducing congestion and pollution. But North Dallas voters later rebelled against granting DART the authority to issue bonds to speed up work, preferring to stick to a pay-as-you-go plan.

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Spin isn't enough

If there are other common denominators to the North Dallas voting, it is that residents want to make sure their money is well spent and they do not like the top-down approach of being told to "just do it for Dallas" without regard to the price tag.
"A lot of voters simply feel very strongly about what they perceive as giveaways," analyzed council member Finkelman, who represents part of North Dallas.

Council member Sandy Greyson, who represents Far North Dallas, said that even though the arena passed in her district, many voters are still complaining to her about it. "They think it is a wonderful arena, they are glad the teams are winning, but they felt it was not a necessary expenditure of public dollars. When they believe something is worthwhile , they will vote yes, but they don't want someone to say, 'trust me, it's going to be good.' They tell me all the time, 'you make my neighborhood look nice and give me the quality of life I need to have, then I'll invest in the city.' "

The willingness of North Dallas voters to "do the right thing" was shown on May 3, when they voted overwhelmingly in favor of all 17 bond propositions in the $555 million bond package.

"This is not an anomaly, this is getting back to the pattern, because North Dallas has always supported major bond programs for important city services," said Jan Hart Black, president of the Dallas Chamber and former city manager.

Indeed, voters approved $175 million in the famous 1967 "Crossroads" election for more libraries, a new City Hall, land for the airport, renovation of Fair Park and new roads. Those projects provided the foundation for city growth in the next three decades. And most North Dallas voters supported the largest bond issue in the history of the Dallas public schools in 2002, even though many no longer have children in the public system.

The key to success in those elections, Mrs. Black suggested, was communication: getting specific information out to voters and working with neighborhood groups.

"Our citizens are smart. They understand the city needs to be invested in. They've gotten the message that much of the city is aging and needs replacement. The city has said there is a $6 billion backlog of needs, so they understood this is an important step."

Former council member Wells agrees: "If citizens feel they are being given a fair shake, they will vote to approve basic services. And in the end, success usually is spelled in the northern council districts. If you carry those, you win. The perception is that you have to have South Dallas to win. But that's only if North Dallas is divided."

North Dallas voter profile


The North Dallas vote is crucial because so many of the registered voters do faithfully vote. "It's almost like you have two cities of Dallas," said political consultant Rob Allyn. "There is a 'Census City' of Dallas, which is majority minority and which is getting younger and is a rainbow, ethnically and age-wise.
"Then you have 'Voting Dallas,' which is a different group. Only two-thirds of the eligible population is registered to vote to begin with. Then if you get a 15 percent turnout of the registered voters, it amounts to about 10 percent of the eligible population that you live and work with.

"And because often that turnout comes from North Dallas, you get a different demographic profile than you would citywide. It's an older population that has owned their homes for a longer time. It is more than 80 percent Anglo. And conservative. Only 3.72 percent of those voters are under 40. More than half the voters are over retirement age, so they have a different agenda when it comes to the economy and city services."

Mr. Allyn cautioned that North Dallas voters should not be mischaracterized as being selfish curmudgeons. As he put it, "They are simply more interested in value and care intensely about city services. When you ask them what their highest priorities are, 39 percent will say fixing potholes, but many more – 50 percent – are concerned about cleaning up ethical problems at City Hall and 65 percent want to reduce wasteful spending, bad business deals, catering to special interests."

He added, "Those are not bad things to be concerned about."


Leadership is vital


The greatest beneficiary of simmering discontent in North Dallas about city services has been Mayor Laura Miller. Sending a clear message that they wanted more accountability, North Dallas voted heavily to put the contrarian City Council member in the mayor's seat in 2002 and 2003 because she promised to fix their potholes and sit on taxes. Doing so in a sagging economy continues to be a struggle, but as Ms. Greyson put it, northern voters still see her as somebody "who watches the money."
"They like it that she is focused on basic issues, the potholes, the parks. Those are the little things that make a difference in people's lives. They see her as somebody who watches their money like hers. They want to feel their money is well managed," Ms. Greyson said.

"The fact that Ron Kirk was behind so many of the previous projects made some people suspicious," observed former North Dallas council member Donna Blumer. "They always felt he was working with people who were out to do things for their own advantage. That factor helped Laura Miller because she was so often at odds with Kirk. I was not her supporter for her re-election, but I do feel people believe their money will be watched over better and not benefit any fat cats."

Others say the odd alliance between North Dallas fiscal conservatives and the more socially liberal Mayor Miller, who still lives in Oak Cliff, has a partisan twist. Although she is a Democrat married to a Democratic state representative, conservative Republicans in North Dallas preferred her to Democrat Tom Dunning, primarily because Mr. Dunning was supporting former Mayor Ron Kirk's bid for the U.S. Senate. They adamantly did not want the more liberal Mr. Kirk to get the Senate seat instead of Republican John Cornyn. So Ms. Miller – the enemy of their enemy – was more palatable.

"A lot of people felt Dunning would be strongly in Ron Kirk's corner for Senate," said John Leedom, a former City Council member and Republican state senator. "When Kirk announced, Dunning was right there shaking his hand. We didn't see why we should help a Democrat mayor who was supporting a Democratic candidate for Senate. We knew Miller was not going to help Kirk because he roughed her up pretty bad when he was mayor."

Then when Ms. Miller ran for re-election in May, a similar political twist hurt Mary Poss, who had close Republican ties, but did not get the conservative North Dallas vote.

"The perception was that Mary would go along with City Hall to get along, and we had done that before," said longtime Republican worker Kay Copeland. "Laura carries the banner for change at City Hall. Mary was too close to Ron Kirk."

Even when Mayor Miller takes on causes like improving Fair Park, helping the homeless and improving the Trinity, causes Mr. Kirk also supported, conservatives like Ms. Copeland are confident that Mayor Miller will do so in a more cost-effective way.

"We'd like Dallas to prosper," Mr. Leedom said, "but what is Dallas? It's never going to be a tourist center or have anything like the Alamo, and I don't think the Trinity will turn into anything like Lake Travis. But so what? It's still the finest place to do business and raise children in the nation. We need to keep the focus on fire stations, good roads and an honest police force."


Dissent is key in District 13


The core area of such dissent in North Dallas continues to be District 13, which has had a series of council members in recent years who have prided themselves on opposing what they consider wasteful city expenditures – Jerry Bartos, Donna Blumer, Mitchell Rasansky.
Mr. Rasanksy jokes that when he first took his seat at the horseshoe-shaped council desk, he noticed that the word "no" had been worn off the District 13 button by Ms. Blumer. Those votes, he contends, simply reflect the views of the district. "The No. 1 issue in District 13 is taxes," he said.

That's not because residents don't care about the city, he said, but because many have had their own budgets pinched. "They may live in an expensive home, but the rising valuations have added a burdensome tax load," he said. He said he hears from seniors who are living on a retirement income and have been hurt by the stock declines. Or they may have the drain of continuing support for older children who have come back home to live, he said, or they are widows feeling the strain of medical costs.

"There are a lot of retired people who call and say they cannot pay their utility bills," he said, adding that he recently had been contacted by an elementary schoolteacher who had to sell her house recently.

But other council members complain privately that the steady drumbeat of criticism from District 13 about City Hall – that money is not well spent, the performance of city employees is inadequate – tends to exaggerate problems and color the perceptions of voters in other North Dallas districts. As one put it, "If you run on the issue of 'cleaning up City Hall' all the time, it feeds the perception that things are awful. They can always be improved, but in general, things are not bad or rotten at City Hall."

"If you tell people often enough that people at City Hall can't be trusted, they will believe it," echoed Steve Taylor, president of the North Dallas Chamber. "The result is there clearly is a gap between the business community and the regular people in this part of the city."


Leaders are tough to find


It also is getting more and more difficult to find North Dallas citizens with a positive attitude who will serve on city boards and commissions, much less run for elected office, Ms. Greyson said. "I think they see it as an enormous time demand with intense media and public scrutiny and possible difficulties. Combine that with the general cynicism the public feels about politicians and government in general, and you have a problem."
Others recalled that highly regarded civic volunteers Ann Margolin and Delores Barzune considered running for the council several years ago, but backed out because of concerns that conservative elements in the district would turn the election into an unpleasant ordeal.

The North Dallas Chamber for many years helped produce serious candidates for city offices – chamber members who have gone on to serve on the City Council have included Roland Tucker, Joe Haggar Jr., Sid Stahl and Max Wells. But since the real estate bust of the 1980s, the chamber members have been more inclined to concentrate on saving their businesses rather than in serving in city posts.

Then, too, serving on the school board and council became more controversial during the race-charged atmosphere of the 1980s and 1990s. Mr. Taylor of the chamber said the media should share part of the blame for discouraging candidates by consistently showing leaders in a negative light.

He singled out the coverage of Dallas school board president Bill Keever, whose MCI office was picketed by minority activists. The photos of the demonstrators on TV and in the newspaper made his bosses apprehensive about the negative impact on their business, which made it difficult for him to continue in public service, Mr. Taylor said.

After that incident, the chamber leader said, when he tried to recruit candidates to run, they said they couldn't risk bringing similar bad publicity to their employers.


Council too quarrelsome


One former council member said her neighbors don't want to serve because they don't want to spend all their time sitting with the quarrelsome people they now associate with the council. "It's not because of color, but because they do not see the same spirit where people care about the city and not themselves."
"I am looking at the council, and I don't see the level of candidates we saw several years ago," agreed Ms. Blumer. "It is probably a financial sacrifice for most people to run, even with the recent pay improvements. Just the abuse that council members have to take is discouraging. People see us out there getting criticized and beat up at every level and don't realize it is a little exaggerated when your read about it and see it on TV. People just don't want to get out there and take that. The prestige is gone, too."

She said she never felt abused and was not reluctant to stick her neck out, but that was because she did not aspire to anything higher. "At one time, serving on the council was a steppingstone to higher office. Now serving on the City Council virtually assures you not going any higher."

As a result of not having a wide, competitive pool of qualified candidates vying for council seats, a de facto series of political blocs or "families" has evolved, with outgoing members often "anointing" their successors in North Dallas.

In the Oak Lawn area leading into North Dallas, there's the more socially liberal bloc, the Lori Palmer-Craig McDaniel-Veletta Lill family.

In District 13, the seat has been dominated by fiscal conservatives: Bartos-Blumer-Rasanksy.

District 11, with its significant Jewish population, has elected Adlene Harrison at large and Paul Fielding and Lois Finkelman in the new boundaries. They have tended to be fiscally cautious, but vote socially progressive.

In Far North Dallas, Ms. Greyson was considered a protégé of Mr. Wells', and he followed Dean Vanderbilt, whose district before redistricting included a wide swath of North Dallas. Their hallmark has been attention to detail, costs and constituents.

And in Northeast Dallas, the trend has been to lower-key, dutiful representation from Donna Halstead, Alan Walne and Bill Blaydes.

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Expertise missing

What's missing from most of those "political families" today is a substantial number of seasoned business leaders and civic leaders with a substantial track record.
Mr. Wells traces that decline to the disappearance of the major downtown banks that used to provide the loans to get businesses started or help them thrive, and then would encourage those businesses to locate downtown and participate in civic life.

"Now that we have branch banking, it does not matter to the people at the top whether the company getting the loan goes downtown or to Addison."

Mrs. Harrison agrees, "When our local banks collapsed, that was the beginning of the end of the civic way as we knew it. Those bankers were all strong local leaders. Then, all of a sudden, they collapsed. The people who replaced them may be involved here and there, but the city of Dallas is not their first allegiance."

Others say many of the high-tech executives who now live in North Dallas have sprung up outside the "old boy" school of civic service and aren't engaged in city life.

Some are encouraged that North Dallas businessman Jack Lowe, a highly regarded CEO, ran for the Dallas school board in 2002 and was elected. "Having Mike Moses as school superintendent has made a much more appealing environment on the school board," said Lois Finkelman. "But I don't see that on the council yet."

Population has changed

Part of the difficulty in finding candidates is the population and lifestyle in North Dallas have changed. While the black population has decreased slightly in the last decade, the number of young Hispanic couples trying to establish roots in North Dallas has gone up.
Many of the older Ozzie and Harriet-era residents – who were part of the "Greatest Generation" that believed in civic duty – have sold their homes and moved to retirement communities. Today's North Dallas resident is likely to be second-generation Jennifer and Jason, who both work, have kids in day care and are too pooped to pay attention to city affairs. They drive Suburbans and SUVs and shop at Whole Foods.

"When both parents work, they are more likely to be concerned about getting a library closer to their home that their kids can walk to safely," said Lucie Bellew, a longtime homeowners group leader. "But by the time they get home and get their children fed, they are too pooped to go to a town hall meeting."

Political consultants say it usually takes about five years of residence for a homeowner to become invested in civic affairs, but today's couples may move every few years with their jobs. They aren't around long enough to establish ties to the community. And while many of the dual-income parents may live in North Dallas, they probably work in a nearby suburb and send their children to a private school in yet another suburb, like Episcopal School of Dallas in Irving or Trinity Christian in Plano. They may even go to a church nowhere near their neighborhood because they are drawn to a particular minister. "Their lives are spread from Addison to Carrollton to Richardson, so where is their allegiance?" Mr. Wells asked.

Consultant Reed agreed, "There was a time when there might be something on the ballot that North Dallas residents did not particularly like, but if it was truly good for the city, they would get behind it. Now they go to Legacy to work in Plano and their kids are in private school somewhere else, and their kids have friends from all over the area, not just down the block, so it is a different feeling."

Disengagement from the city also concerns council members. "My folks virtually never come down to City Hall. They send me and tell me what they want done," said Ms. Greyson. "A lot of people north of LBJ never come south of LBJ. They don't have to. They have plenty of shopping. Frisco is pulling them away from Dallas retail. They have all the restaurants they could possibly want. They may come to hear the symphony or bring a visitor to see something at the museum or the West End, but if they don't work downtown, they don't really need to come back time and time again."

In her case, the disconnect between the residents and downtown issues is geographically pronounced – the bottom of her district is Belt Line Road, three miles north of LBJ Freeway. The boundary of North Dallas has shifted dramatically because of the explosive growth northward in the last two decades.

For many years, Northwest Highway was considered the outer edge of North Dallas. When the Mapsco Co. started selling maps of Dallas in the 1950s, the maps detailed streets only up to Royal Lane. When LBJ Freeway was opened in the 1980s, it became the unofficial dividing line. Today, it's edged up to Belt Line Road. On a level orange pollution day, you can't even see downtown from there.

How to reconnect?

If leaders at City Hall want to bring North Dallas with them into the 21st century, they will have to change their methods. For starters, the issues of allegiance and apathy must be tackled more openly. How can the city convince residents to care about investing in Dallas as " their " city when they work or educate their children in different places?
Former City Manager George Schrader suggests that the city act and talk more positively. "There was a time when Dallas was too boosterish, and that offended others around the country. Now, the city seems to have developed a self-bashing mentality and is much worse about criticizing ourselves," he said. "I think North Dallas has gotten the message we need to keep downtown strong. But while we are working on the things we need to do," he suggested, "we need to focus more on things we should be proud of and remember that we are better off than most cities and at a better starting place than many other communities."

Others say that city leaders need to speak up more frequently and effectively about the need to "grow the pie." Residents in North Dallas would not have to keep carrying 80 percent of the tax load if more jobs and development could be incubated in other areas of the city.

"We don't hear enough about the need to make the overall pie grow. Much of the growth has been by raising taxes and the appraised values in the last 20 years. So we are raising the same people's taxes rather than creating new tax streams," suggested lawyer and civic veteran Tom Luce. "One way to hold down your taxes is to make sure there are more taxes to be collected from others."

Donna Halstead, president of the Citizens Council, agreed that the tax base needs to be expanded, "whether by renovation of downtown or expansion of residential real estate in the southern sector or any number of other efforts."

"Unless we expand the tax base, we are going to see North Dallas carrying a greater and greater share of the burden," she emphasized. "If residents in North Dallas want to see their taxes stabilize or go down, but keep up city services, we must expand the tax base. We have to have others to share the burden.

"That's a hard message to deliver, because you don't see the immediate impact," she added, "but somehow we have to make people see it is not just a question of investing in downtown or southern Dallas or whatever, it's that we are all in this together. What happens to you in North Dallas affects me in South Dallas. What happens to you in East Dallas affects me in West Dallas."

Or, as Ms. Estrada, the incoming chair of the city cultural commission, put it, "We all need to look at the big picture in Dallas – and go for it with more gusto."

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North Dallas Blues: Important area must be brought into harmony
12:01 AM CDT on Monday, September 29, 2003
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/stories/092903dnedinorthedit.aabf5.html

In recent years, North Dallas and City Hall have come to resemble a marriage where the partners cohabitate, but don't talk any more than necessary.

That's not good enough.

Not if Dallas wants to reach its full potential as a vibrant and livable city.

In a special report yesterday in The Dallas Morning News titled "What's Bugging North Dallas?" editor at large Rena Pederson examined the city's relationship with its northern region. It's clear from that report that schisms exist, fractures that, if left unchecked, threaten the city's future.

North Dallas has a cranky reputation for voting against key city initiatives, for example, including the creation of Dallas Area Rapid Transit and, more recently, the Trinity River improvements bond proposal. Yet North Dallasites insist that such initiatives haven't always represented their interests – interests, which, not incidentally, have changed dramatically in recent years – and that their votes make perfect sense when viewed in that light.

Bottom line: The relationship needs repair. Lines of communication need to improve. And the message needs to be more constructive. More positive participation is needed from North Dallas – the most prosperous area of the city – to find ways to ease their own tax burden by growing the tax base throughout the whole city. By the same token, officials at City Hall need to do a better job of assuring that taxpayer dollars are being invested wisely and efficiently.

The challenge is reinvigorating the allegiance of North Dallas voters to the city, and it's a lulu. Here are some steps that could help:

More updates and information from the city for taxpayers.

One city staffer jokingly suggested that people would complain less about the city not providing services if the new curbs could be painted pink so everyone could see what had been added. A whimsical idea, perhaps, but why not include color-coded progress reports in water bills? On the city Web site? Or in short e-mails?

The various North Dallas homeowners groups send out e-mails to keep residents informed. So do airlines and clothing chains like LLBean. Shouldn't the city? Many of the other cities in the metroplex – Grapevine, Bedford, Fort Worth – provide regular newsletters to residents. Grapevine, for example, mails an update of city activities every two months to water customers. Fort Worth prints its reports in the newspaper.

The city could bring taxpayers up to date on their investments, much like a shareholder report. For example, taxpayers could find out how much money the city has made from its investment in the arena, how many people are using which libraries, how many are visiting museums at Fair Park, how many conventions are booked, the attendance at the art museum and symphony hall, the number of potholes repaired, the number of streets paved.

The city needs to provide voters with solid data year around – and not wait to rush out a blitz of information before a bond election.


Regular assessments of customer concerns.

That communication should grow into an on-going dialogue with taxpayers about priorities. The city has not done a customer satisfaction survey in many years because of the expense. True, voters can voice their complaints to their council members at town halls, but that's not easy for many working couples with children, the elderly or those with transportation difficulties.

A regular system of soliciting evaluations would be a helpful planning tool. How often do North Dallas residents come downtown? Where do they go? What are they concerned about other than garbage pickup? Other area cities invite feedback from residents on their preferences on park usage and programs for the elderly.


More visible accountability by top city staff members.

Critics of City Hall operations such as John Leedom and Mitch Rasansky insist that the only way to restore credibility at City Hall is to replace City Manager Ted Benavides. "We need a strong visionary city manager," Mr. Rasansky says. Most of his council colleagues disagree, and they have voted to retain the city manager.

Indeed, Mr. Benavides' justified dismissal last month of Police Chief Terrell Bolton, the city's first African-American police chief, demonstrates that he can be bold on occasion.

Polls showing high concern in North Dallas about quality control at City Hall should be a signal to the low-key city manager that he needs to be bold more often, more visible and more forthcoming. Yes, in the council-manager form of government, the mayor and council provide policy direction and it's the city manager who directs internal operations. But it's all about accountability. City Hall operations need to be transparent and accessible.


More effective candidate recruitment.


More candidates for the City Council and school board need to be encouraged by civic and business groups in North Dallas. This includes the North Dallas Chamber, but also other chamber and business groups. The Dallas Chamber is setting a good example by holding "Leadership Friday" luncheons to spotlight leaders and their team-building advice for the city.
What's needed are candidates who can envision where Dallas needs to be in 25 years and can unite residents in North and South Dallas to work together. "It's easier right now to be negative. It's harder and more sophisticated to be for things," longtime civic leader Walt Humann accurately observed in yesterday's newspaper report.

And diversity is important. No longer is North Dallas as homogeneous as the old Ozzie and Harriet television show of the 1960s. The area is more ethnically diverse than ever. It's also older – and thus more dependent on fixed incomes – than many longtime Dallasites realize.

Now's the time to tap into these resources, build organizations and groom candidates for office.

A revision of City Council schedules.


Many North Dallas business leaders serve willingly and well on nonprofit boards. More of them might make time for public office if the schedules were rethought to accommodate the changing needs of today's business climate. Some downtown business groups have changed their schedules to make time for business demands – changing meeting days from midweek, when many executives are traveling, to early in the week or the end of the week when more may be in town. The council procedures were studied in the late 1980s; it's time for Mayor Laura Miller to appoint a task force to see if the time demands can be streamlined to encourage more participation throughout the city.
These aren't impossible or expensive steps. But they are critical steps.

To make a marriage work, the partners must do more than cohabitate. It will take extra effort to bridge the differences between North Dallas and City Hall. Bridging them is key to enriching Big D's future.

[mikedsjr]

What is the difference between City Hall and many of the active members on this board?

From what I've seen very little because the focus is on the downtown area and its immediate surroundings like Deep Ellum and Uptown.

So it doesn't suprise me that this is an issue.

[gc]

You are absolutely correct.....but we are not elected officials!

[aceplace]

Mikedsjr,

I'd agree with you there.

Many of us are interested in urban life and urban development, and North Dallas is not urban, it's suburban.

In terms of land usage, the immediate neighborhoods around downtown Dallas constitute the only true urban residential pedestrian zones in the South Central US.

Every other city in our part of America is a downtown business district surrounded by single family houses on a lot. The land usage model common to low density suburbs.

This urban pedestrian zone has interests and values that are simply inappropriate to low density residential neighborhoods. The zoning and taxing policies appropriate to North Dallas is very useless for, say, Oak Lawn.

I think Central Dallas (downtown, State Thomas, Deep Ellum, etc, should have its own municipal government.

[gc]

I disagreee with you there Ace. I think our city government needs to grow and mature to be able to manage both the "urban" and "suburban" areas of Dallas. It should start with eliminating the city manager and moving towards a strong mayor system. If that doesn't happen, then our city council members, mayor, and city manager need to do their homework urban planning and management. They all need to have a better understanding of how cities work!

I think too many of our city leaders live in the past and manage that way as well. Dallas is a big city with lots to offer, but also has big city problems that need to be dealt with by competent folks.

[aceplace]

Garrett,

The real problems are regional, not municipal. There is no possibility that the Dallas City Council will eliminate Metroplex pollution, sububan sprawl, transportation bottlenecks, etc.

These problems are simply over the heads of a municipality.

I'd probably agree with you on the issue of eliminating a city manager... it's a small town anachronism and doesn't scale up to an organization with a billion dollar budget and intense political conflict as to how to spend it.

You believe that the Dallas City Council HAS to learn to manage suburban North Dallas as well as urban State-Thomas?

I'd think that maybe they can, maybe they cannot, but it is not necessarily critical that they do so. Why do you think it's critical?

If they don't, and Dallas is divided into several smaller, more manageable municipalities, why do you think that would be bad? Do they need a critical mass of people in order to collect garbage and inspect restaurants? And will they lose it if they lose control of downtown Dallas?

If you think that Dallas should not be split, then do you advocate combining Dallas with Irving, Garland, Richardson, etc? Why not?

What I'm doing here is challenging several long-held assumptions that relate to the difference between a municipal government, like Garland or Dallas, and the urban area, Greater Dallas. I think there are good arguments pro and con, and I'd like to hear from others on this.

[gc]

Ace,

I agree that there are many problems that are regional and not municipal....and that Dallas by itself cannot solve everything (or anything for that matter).

I think it is critical for the Dallas City Council to learn to manage both suburban North Dallas as well as urban State-Thomas only if we continue with this form of government. Now, I know that council members represent districts of the city and do what is best for their district, however, I think that if they all have a better understanding of how suburban north dallas works, urban downtown/uptown works, and south dallas works...then they will better understand how to handle the dynamic issues that we are faced with as well as the consequences of their actions.

This is less of an issue if we have a STRONG MAYOR form of government.

On the splitting of Dallas into multiple municipalities....I am not sure how that will fix everything....or anything either.

[gc]

on another note....

here is email that was sent to D Magazine's Frontburner regarding this Dallas Morning News Editorial......



Thanks for pointing out the DMN article. I would have missed it otherwise. Very comprehensive and well reasoned. One issue the article alluded to, but did not fully elaborate on, is the relationship between property taxes and public schools. In my neighborhood near Preston/Royal, I do not know one family that sends their children to public schools. It's sad to see schools like Preston Hollow Elementary & Pershing surrounded by multi-million dollar homes without any of those children actually attending those schools. Most of the residents pay thousands in property taxes without actually getting the benefits of being able to send their children to decent schools.


The plot thickens....

[mikedsjr]

I agree GCarey.

Dallas needs a strong Mayor. If this city is going to go above and beyond what it is today and will be with this type of Government, they have to change the type of Mayor they have.

[gc]

I meant more of changing the form of government to a strong mayor system.....not necessarily getting a "strong mayor". Is that what you meant as well mikedsjr?? just curious?

[JaeTex]

My theory would be that if those people would send their kids to those schools and take some interest in their kids lives you would see the schools "magically becoming better. But because they have all abandoned the schools, the schools are worse off because of it and they therefore continue to stay away from the schools. It's a nasty circle.

[mikedsjr]

Originally posted by GCarey
I meant more of changing the form of government to a strong mayor system.....not necessarily getting a "strong mayor". Is that what you meant as well mikedsjr?? just curious?

sorry. Yes, that is what i meant. I don't think a Conan like Mayor would change Dallas, though he might chop off a few heads that are not needed.

[mikedsjr]

JaeTex,

I disagree. I think many of those families do care for their kids and that is part of the reason of taking them out of those schools.

[JaeTex]

Wait. Assuming that at one point the schools were acceptable, which they must have been because back in the 50s probably just about everyone went to public school (hence the construction of the schools in the neighborhood), what was it that made the change from good to unacceptable?

My guess is white-flight and the parents and the neighborhood disinvested themselves from their neighborhood schools and that because of that disinvestment the schools went downhill. If no one cares what the school does, then the school will act like no one cares and after just a little while then they can justify staying away from the school because they are no longer good enough rather than because poor people also go there.

Now it is just accepted that no one goes to the schools who can afford not to precisely BECAUSE no one goes there from the neighborhood. Now, if all the kids went to school in the neighborhood then new people moving in would also send their kids because they wanted to fit in.

Furthermore, It is my contention that if the neighborhood invested the exact same time, interest and expectations in their local schools that they do in their private schools that the local schools would get markedly better and they would probably enjoy their neighborhood even more. At this point though there is no incentive for any one of them to be the "pioneer."

I believe that it is the parents that make the student and the school better, and that the only time it works the other way around and the school makes the kid better is in those heart-warming movies about either: poor kids in the 'hood challenged by one teacher to perform well or rich kids in boarding schools challenged by one teacher to perform well. And those are just teachers being substitute parents any way.

But I also believe most parents today are too lazy to actually get involved in their kids lives (hence rising teen pregnancy, drug problems, etc.) and it is much easier for them just to pay for school and console themselves if ever anything does go wrong with their kid that "Hey, it's not my fault I paid to send him to private school."

Plus, as I finish my partially-coherent ramble here, DISD is not a bad school district or at least wasn't when I was part of it 10 years ago going to school in areas surrounded by low income and public housing.

[aceplace]

Garrett,

One reason for separate governments for Dallas' urban core and Dallas' low density neighborhoods is that the political interests of each area are opposed. There is a conflict of interest between them.

The low density neighborhoods want to tax high value properties in central Dallas and minimize taxes in their own neighborhoods. Central Dallas wants to apply its taxes to improving its streets and environment.

An increase in density, especially residential density, creates an economy of scale. It costs less money to maintain a denser neighborhood than a sparsely populated one because of this economy of scale. So, for the same tax rates, the dense neighborhoods could resemble paradise... or they could if North Dallas didn't siphon the money away.

In California, the revenue shortfall for low density residential has made municipalities simply ban new residential construction... or severely minimize it. The price of housing then escalates all out of proportion to its cost of construction.

What if the Dallas suburbs could not drain central Dallas money? They would have to increase their own densities, to get more taxpayers to the acre.

This reduces urban sprawl.

[aceplace]

JaeTex,

I don't think DISD is a bad district and I don't know that its schools are bad.

They are just populated with a lot of low-achieving students. The children of families coming from, say, 10 generations of poverty.

People with million dollar houses don't want to send their children to schools geared toward helping low-achieving students.

If DISD can teach anything at all to low achievers, I'd say they are working miracles. Of course, most of the population doesn't need what the DISD provides. They don't belong to the DISD's target group.

An exception... magnet schools like the Performing Arts Highschool. But the exception proves the existence of the rule.

[gc]

Ace,

Interesting way to look at it. That actually makes sense, but how to make that work in Dallas? We cannot even get people to see that our current city manager style of governement is out of WACK...how could people possibly be open to this radical idea?


JaeTex,

I tend to agree with you more on this subject, though some situations make me see the other point as well. Among the problems that you mentioned, another problem is this......who wants to be the first one to pull their child from a private school and place them into "DISD?" Nobody wants to go first. If several could be convinced that DISD is not as bad as they thought......and several placed their kiddos into the DISD system.....would it start a trend? Or would they be the laughing stock among North Dallas? DISD still needs to prove itself to many people as having good quality teachers and that is's schools are safe.

[gc]

Originally posted by aceplace
JaeTex,

I don't think DISD is a bad district and I don't know that its schools are bad.

They are just populated with a lot of low-achieving students. The children of families coming from, say, 10 generations of poverty.

People with million dollar houses don't want to send their children to schools geared toward helping low-achieving students.



I agree with that Ace.

[bloodandpopcorn]

Originally posted by GCarey
Among the problems that you mentioned, another problem is this......who wants to be the first one to pull their child from a private school and place them into "DISD?" Nobody wants to go first. If several could be convinced that DISD is not as bad as they thought......and several placed their kiddos into the DISD system.....would it start a trend? Or would they be the laughing stock among North Dallas? DISD still needs to prove itself to many people as having good quality teachers and that is's schools are safe.

Great point... I think that one of the major things that DISD needs to work on is recruiting the rich, active parents to send their kids to DISD schools. Maybe even by creating one school in the district especially for "star" students, with almost all AP classes and good recruiting tactics. Even the promise of this school, which would be FREE to parents as opposed to $10,000 a year, could really raise eyebrows for some if presented well.

[Quiz03]

they do have schools like that they are called talented and gifted or the TAG magnet schools.

[bloodandpopcorn]

Maybe, then, the taxpaying parents don't know about them. Some kind of initiative to inform people that "Yes, your kids can learn without going to a private school" might be helpful...

[mikedsjr]

If you create another school for the rich kids, then your doing the same thing as letting them go to private school.

The problem is not just with kids underacheiving. Its with underacheiving parents too. Parents don't care. My wife is a Diagnostician for a district and she sees this all the time.

I guess i am in the minority here in the thinking that parents are not being segregationist for putting their kids in private school where they know the teachers care more.

[tamtagon]

I think the biggest problem with DISD (and probably every other big school district) can be found in the teaching styles which fail to sink in with the kids; the second biggest problem is lack of diciplin from the students.

[aceplace]

The problem is not what they learn from the school...

But what they learn from the other kids...

[aceplace]

Mikedsjr,

If the teachers don't care, i.e. are not motivated, then shouldn't we look at the management styles of the principals and administrators?

Low morale in an organization comes down from the top.

[mikedsjr]

ace,

And we certainly know the top of the DISD has a reall iffy past and is about was about as cohesive as the Dallas City Council. I don't know the state of it right now under the new leadership. But the past has certainly been severely flawed.

And you want people who take their kids to private school to have blind trust that DISD is on track? There needs to be several years of proof before you can have a rational support for that school district.

[pariah]

maybe primary education in this country should not be so free, i know this sounds nuts, but most of these kids don't want to be there, the parents obviously don't care, they just send them there for free daycare. i may be wrong, but i have heard that some countries, democratic ones at that, have a system in place where primary education is paid for by the families directly, not through taxes, maybe this would force the parents to take a more active role in there kids, and college, if you get in, is paid for by the gov't. i have a friend who teaches in the DISD, she tries to teach english, the only problem is, as soon as they leave or go home the parents don't stress the education, or even try and have them speak english, its frustrating for her. just some thoughts

[rantanamo]

Education: The greatest source of comedy in all of America. Why? Because people actually believe where they live makes their school district better than another, or that race or test scores mean their children are getting the best. Parents never look in the mirror on this, which is strange because we live in a 'ME' society. IF those parents in North Dallas send their kids to DISD, their kids will do well there too. They will join PTA and help on field trips, chaparone dances, and organize all kinds of school activity. They are affluent. Their kids grow up in affluence and a culture of success. Nothing to do with race or income. Of course their are acceptions to this rule, but in THIS country it is pretty much the norm. As I walk these neighborhoods I simply laugh as I see these nice homes surrounding DISD schools. All these homes have 'Jesuit Football #7' or 'Ursuline parent'. They are in mass. Would these kids automatically go dumb by going to school across the street? Probably not.


As for directly paying for your child, I dunno. It's sort of like what is trying to be preached to the residents of North Dallas: Support projects and development in other parts of Dallas and it will help your tax burden in the future, inturn making life better for you. This is how I view our system. Of course if we paid directly as many countries and parents of private school students do, our test scores would probably shoot to the top of the world charts. That's why I always say that such comparisons are totally invalid and used as tools for political gain. Test scores are fine, but wouldn't a system that educates society as a whole benefit society more? Think about it. What if it was an all pay system? Who would go? Who could afford to go? Should a kid's life be determined by factors the kid had no control over? Where and what do those masses of the uneducated do? Instead we turn out millions each year who are eligible for some kind of training or education to further a skilled workforce. But I really don't know the answers to my own questions. What would happen?

[aceplace]

Pariah,

On the question of paying for schooling.... no.

The short reason... universal education is for the benefit of the community, and it is done the way the community wants. The community sets the rules and thus has to pay the bill.

As far as the DISD, the desegregation lawsuit pretty much killed the DISD as a viable resource for Anglo families. Anglos will not use the DISD until they can have their own Anglo schools within it. Stop the busing and the Anglos will return.

This is the situation not just in Dallas but in other large cities in America... inner-city schools are predominantly for poor minority students.

Is this attitude wrong? It cannot be, because in America, the people are always right. Because they are soverign.