In late 1988 and early 1989, I spoke with the Dallas Morning News editorial board before my first council election. I mentioned that one of my top priorities as a council member, along with fighting crime and economic development, would be dredging White Rock Lake and restoring White Rock Lake Park.
I remember quite vividly the puzzled look of several people in the room, who then exclaimed: “I didn’t know there was any serious problem at White Rock Lake?”
I began educating the editorial board at that point about White Rock Lake. And I have done my best to educate everyone I have come in contact with, since being on the City Council, of the urgency and necessity of improving this vital asset to our Dallas community.
I became aware of some of the problems at the lake from 1986 to 1988, when the White Rock Lake management plan and master plan were under debate and study. It was then that I realized the magnitude of the problem facing the City at White Rock Lake Park.
Unfortunately, at that point, the 1985 bond program had already been held. Nevertheless, many people hoped another bond election would be held in 1989 or 1990, as had usually been the case in Dallas, and that many of White Rock Lake problems could be addressed then.
As we all know, the timing of the $428 million 1985 bond election could not have been worse. Almost immediately after its passage, the Dallas economy started to head in a downward spiral that we are now starting to recover from – almost 10 years later. As a result, City budgets were drastically cut the past 10 years, even in some years when the tax rate had to be raised. Even the occasional tax rate increases have not been able to keep up with the tax base losses. This has meant that no major bond election could be held.
It appears we may be getting closer to finding a solution. Years of preaching about the importance of White Rock Lake, together with hundreds of other concerned neighborhood residents, has started to pay off. I was able to have White Rock Lake included as one of seven major “Core Assets” in the City’s Dallas Plan.
As most everyone knows by now, the major problem is sedimentation. Since 1911, the northern portions of the lake have been reduced in depth from 16 feet to less than three feet. Overall the lake’s storage capacity has dropped by more than 50 percent. Urbanization of the White Rock Creek water shed has resulted in increased sedimentation, together with pollutants littering the shoreline and excessive stress on the lake’s 83-year-old dam.
Although dredging of the lake is critical in and of itself, it is only a temporary solution. I have been pushing not only for dredging, but permanent solutions such as sediment basins, sediment traps and construction site controls along the water shed.
If a solution to the sedimentation problem can be found, issues such as reforestation of the park’s trees, many of which were destroyed in 1989 and 1990, must be addressed. Additionally, park benches, street paving, bike routes and street signs also need to be upgraded.
All of this will take several million dollars. Some dollars will have to come from the next bond election, and hopefully, the City can get additional funding through state and federal sources, as well as from our City’s Water Department.
On Aug. 10, the City took an important step towards making White Rock Lake improvements a reality. The Council approved a professional services contract in the amount of $284,202 with Carter and Burgess to provide engineering and environmental testing services necessary to prepare an environmental study for restoration of White Rock Lake.
Ironically, at this same meeting the Council voted to instruct our City staff to prepare for a bond election as early as January 1995. When Carter and Burgess’ study is completed and a permanent solution is agreed upon this fall, we must all fight to see that proper funding is included in the bond program. This will take phone calls and letters to all members of the council in order to obtain eight votes to place this item on the ballot.
However, that will be only part of the battle. If we can get White Rock Lake improvements on the ballot, it will be incumbent upon all of us to work hard to campaign City-wide. Not only will voters in East Dallas be voting on the future of White Rock Lake, but so will citizens in Oak Cliff, South Dallas, West Dallas and North Dallas.
White Rock Lake is at a vital crossroads. We must act now to save this 83-year-old gem. Further inaction or shortsighted planning will result in the demise of this critical City asset and it will be lost to future generations forever. Let’s not let that happen. We must save White Rock Lake now!
