Dallas is going to be an exciting place to live and work during the next few years, and East Dallas is in the thick of it. Voters have given me the opportunity to continue to work with them for the next two years on our City Council, and they have selected a neighbor – M Street resident Ron Kirk – to be our mayor. Mary Poss will succeed Councilman Glenn Box from District 9.
Mayor-elect Kirk and I have known each other for some time, and he, his wife, Matrice, and their two daughters are District 14 constituents. You can be assured that most of the issues affecting Dallas, and the solution we find to resolve them, will have an impact on East Dallas.
That’s why it is so important that City leadership understand our perspective. The May 6 election ensures that our City government will have leaders who understand the inner-city.
My first term on the Council saw many positive changes for our neighborhoods. We expanded code enforcement to have inspectors on the streets seven days a week. We added police officers to the force, doubled the gang unit, put mobile storefronts on the road, funded our Violent Crime Task Force, and started a unique, community-based police unit that will expand over the next three years.
Curbside recycling is available to most of East Dallas and will expand Citywide. New housing programs are bringing thousands of people to live in or near our Central Business District.
Now, we must take advantage of our expanding economy and rising tax base to continue to invest in basic city services. The Council has voted to give our fire and police officers a well-deserved raise. Next, we need to commit to putting more resources into street maintenance and updating our libraries.
With passage of the bond program, East Dallas will see many improvements. White Rock Lake, of course, will be dredged and returned to productive use. Many of our parks, such as Cochran and Samuell-Grand, will be improved.
Streets such as Beacon, Auburn, Casa Loma, Coronado, Kenwood, Norris, West Shore and Worcola will be resurfaced. East Dallas intersections, such as Live Oak and Ross, and Greenville and Ross, will be improved.
Sections of alleys serving Beacon/Huntley; Bryan Parkway/Swiss Avenue; Miller/Vickery; Oram/Prospect; Palo Pinto/Velasco; and St. Albans will be paved.
Funds have been approved to acquire right-of-way for beginning the Haskell Boulevard project we have sought for a decade.
The City has issued contracts for about $2 million in improvements to water and sewer lines in District 14. Most of the projects are in Old East Dallas.
These investments signal a recommitment by City government and the voters to the inner-city. We have watched for decades as attention and money have gone into expanding the City’s infrastructure elsewhere at the expense of the neighborhoods and commercial areas that founded our City.
The City Council, with the leadership of the first East Dallas mayor for many years, must follow through on these capital investments with annual appropriations to maintain our streets, parks and libraries. That will be my focus as we enter the new Council term and begin work on next year’s budget.
Thank you for the opportunity to continue serving our City.
