$360,000 in city money unaccounted for...Chaney promises broken AGAIN

[UrbanHope]

Bama Pie building Still not Open - Chaney Promised Holiday 2005 Opening

I also posted this article at Dallas Blog and Dallas.org. I just figured that everyone would like to know how their money is being spent. Here's an excerpt...

This is NOT an article about the trust fund. This is an article about how city money gets given away to cronies, the work never gets done, and no one goes to recover the money. Doesn't anyone care about your tax dollars?

The pictures and the rest of the article are at Dallas Progress (http://dallasprogress.blogspot.com/2006/07/bama-pie-building-still-not-open_20.html) .

[ksig121]

How disappointing. :confused:

[tamtagon]

The pictures and the rest of the article are at Dallas Progress (http://dallasprogress.blogspot.com/2006/07/bama-pie-building-still-not-open_20.html) .

"The funds were to be reportedly used to make it into an Automobile Museum."

So, like, what kind of automobile museum would that have been? It appears to only have enough room for pictures of cars, and maybe a couple actual examples. Is there a prospectus for this museum which will give a clue why it's a good thing to have?

[mjblazin]

How did Councilman Chaney wangle that fellowship to the Kennedy School? Isn't he retiring off the council with little likelihood of any future political position? If we send someone off the council, shouldn't it be someone like Dr. Garcia, Mr. Oakley, or Mr. Salazar that has some potential of actually using the education? I realize FannieMae (my quasi-Federal tax dollars at work again) paid for it, but it would be nice that we actually thought about sending our best.

[carousel]

and they want the people of dallas to approve their little slush fund. what a joke.

[trolleygirl]

Yeah but when I asked for money for a needed Hardware Store, I was advised not to open one.....hmmmm......

[UrbanHope]

"The funds were to be reportedly used to make it into an Automobile Museum."

So, like, what kind of automobile museum would that have been? It appears to only have enough room for pictures of cars, and maybe a couple actual examples. Is there a prospectus for this museum which will give a clue why it's a good thing to have?

What you're saying makes perfect sense. If I was in power at the time, I would have asked for prospectus, a full business plan, with a repayment schedule. Having been a corporate financial analyst, this kind of thing would've gotten me fired from my old job.

I have no idea who was clamoring for this place.

[UrbanHope]

Yeah but when I asked for money for a needed Hardware Store, I was advised not to open one.....hmmmm......

TG.... surprised much?
The nerve of you to try and open a needed, legitimate business. :cool:

[hamiltonpl]

I think we can all agree that the one thing South Dallas needs to be a vibrant, safe community -- is more automobile museums.

[Random Traffic Guy]

That Smirnoff blood money had to run out sometime, he needs to keep up his lifestyle.

[gc]

Shameful.

[trolleygirl]

I think these types of shady deals that Leo does- and tries to justify at town hall meetings- is enough evidence for anyone to not trust anyone he backs.

And since he represents me in my district, here's whht I'd like to see in a candidate: somebody who knows something about this city, how it works and how crooked it really is and someone who is gonna do something about it and not just give lip service. I'm sorry but when the Chief of Police is asked by the City Manager not to demote one of his staff because he's friends with a council secretary who might run for city council, that spells crooked kool-aid and bad, bad politics! Bad! Very very bad!

Leo told me a little over a yaer ago that he loves his job so much that he might come back after he sits out a term. That's as troubling to me a Sentaor Kennedy- I mean, is he ever going to go away? I understand the value of senority in politics, but times change and so does your constituency. There's gotta be fresh blood, that's why things get done at a snail's pace in governmnet, because there's no new blood in the family and the kids are retarded! Leo said to me that it took him five years to learn the ropes and he only has three years left (that was assuming that he would have won his reelection last year, which he did) and he doesn't have much time now to get things done. Well, I'm sorry but I don't want to suffer any more learning curves. It should not take five years to "learn the ropes" of City Hall. That's why it's important to consider selecting candidates who have a history of serving on a city board or commission, or people who have community leadership positions, like head of a neighborhood group, or another non-profit with ties to City Hall. These are the people who know how the system works. Basic stuff, like who to call about Sanitation and when not to piss off City staff (because they can make your life a living hell once you act mean to them- you can't just yell at a code supervisor and expect him to stick his neck out for you the next time you need him...)

I mean, come on. We all know this crap. Any one of us would make a better candidate than some doe-eyed nobody who has obvious lerning disabilities. In order to be appointed to a commission, you have to be involved at least nominally in some part of local politics, You have to know the council person well enough for that person to trust you to make desicions on behalf on the constituents in the district. That doen't just come out of nowhere. Once you're on a commission, you learn, learn, learn. (yeah, I know, sometimes some people learn how to be crooked, just look at the Plan Commission...) But I'm saying that those are the people who can effect change better than the Chaney's, who did some obscure PR job for DISD before he was first elected. (I say obscure because he wasn't the spokesperson and he seemingly had no title and no job description- was he an office manager??) Look at how effective and successful some of the candidates who were former commissioners are.

[UrbanHope]

If he comes back after sitting out, I'll move and run myself.

[columbiasooner]

I can see where all that money went. Have you seen the prices of Sheetrock today? I mean he is actually using new sheetrock.