Meet the New DART Board Chair

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Jan. 31 2008 at 11:04 AM

Categories: News

Randall D. Chrisman, DART's new board chair

Dallas Area Rapid Transit has just named its new board chairman -- and, nope, it ain't John Ware after all, Jim. Rather, it's Carrollton's Randall Chrisman, president of a commercial real estate company on Josey Lane. Among the more interesting items on the former vice chairman's bio, he's a member of the Carrollton Tree Board.

According to DART, he'll serve as chairman till September, the end of DART's fiscal year, per the agency's bylaws; after that, who knows. Also, according to the DART media release, he's made attorney Robert W. Strauss the DART board's vice chair. --Robert Wilonsky

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Obviously most of you don't know Randall....I met him in 1992 when he was just starting his company and I must say, he is one of the most sincere, respectful people I ever known. He's way to good of a person to be thrown into the mess that is DART and Dallas...Maybe he can change some of the backward, political junk that goes on and makes Dallas such a national laughing stock.
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I finally had a chance to talk to a person I sorta-kinda know who works at DART. A lowly individual, not one of the policy makers. (More's the pity--this dude has common sense out the wazoo and I respect him immensely.) Anyhoo, he said (get this), that the staff has known for YEARS that the cost of doing the lines to the 'burbs and downtown on schedule was going waaaaay over projections because of higher construction costs, material costs, etc. It was no secret around the office. That info somehow did not get shared with the board. He doesn't quite see why people are so upset now, because, as I say, he and the rest of the staff saw this issue ages ago. I tried to explain that it is news to most of us, and we taxpayers see $1 billion as a big ol' chunk o' change, but again, he's lived with the idea of overruns for a while, so he's used to it. To bring DISD back into this, I have often thought that it would be a great idea to get teachers involved in making DISD policy. Credit card nonsense aside, there is some fine teaching going on in DISD, and the people on the front lines know what works. I think it would be a good idea to have a few rank and file DART employees reporting to the DART board instead of having pesky details filtered through some high-up mouthpiece. Maybe Mr. Chrisman (a/k/a Mr. Perfecthair) can actually talk to some of the folks down in the trenches at DART to get a feel for what is going on.
Lakewooder- "We've got to keep our phoney baloney jobs!"
Chrisman is a fine gentleman who keeps a low profile,honest,gongenial,dedicated to his position as a DART Board Member. He'll make an excellent Chair. Now that DART is somewhat down and at a disadvantage I expect the nasayers to jump on their every move. He will have to be transparent in every move that he, the board,and DART staff makes.
Ray V, Be thankful for Jim Schutze, Sharon Boyd and Angela Hunt. They may not be all right all of the time, they may appear quixotic but they are the only public voices in this town who publicly seek some kind of accountability from our officials. Our mayor seems to only be accountable to the group that plucked him from the political ether and engineered his election. I'm not saying he's a bad guy just the systme we have needs some sort of adversarial check. The city council, the police department, the city attorney all support each other with a quid pro quo sort of attitude. My initial reaction was hey, isn't this great, the acrimony and selfish bickering at City Hall has really waned. This is a good thing. Not that harmony isn't desireable but vigorous debate and saying no to one's cronies (on zoning hocus pocus, for example), better serves the the greater community. This is less likely to happen without much public accountability. We seem to be without the benefit of a vigilant daily newpaper with skeptical reporters and columnists so it's up to these few mavericks to ask the questions and get people thinking and talking. They're it.
A peek into Schutze's thought process re: DART the past two weeks: - "DART Chair appointed by Mayor is a crook! Plus she won't talk about it! And the Mayor likes her! Mayor Trinity Boondoggle to boot! Hang 'er high!" - "Whazzat??? She resigned??? What's the angle? Who can I be pissed at now?" - "Oh, here we go: Mayor Trinity Boondoggle's calling long distance from Mexico to screw the good people of Dallas again! John Ware is coming back to steal the money he forgot to take the first time! Hang 'im high!" - "Whazzat? No John Ware? Who's this Chrisman dude? What's the angle? Who can I be pissed at now?" - "Ahhhhh -- He's from Carrollton? That's not Dallas! It's a suburb! The suburbs hate us and want our money! They're all out to screw us! It's the mayor's fault! Hang 'im high!" Thus contentedly outraged, Schutze can sleep peacefully again.
....plus, the Carrollton Tree Board is doing a great job. They got so many I can't count 'em.
I find it amusing that people are so outraged that a white guy was appointed to this position, as though that should disqualify him from running. It should be the most qualified, and capable candidate, regardless of race or hair.
knottygirl check out the neck on this dude.
AJ, I thought the same thing about the hair. It's perfect. I never trust guys with perfect hair. This whole DART mess makes me so @#$%# mad. It's the new DISD. Boneheadedness abounds in this city.
OK already, so Carrollton and the surrounding burbs will soon be the winners of a shiny new rail line, good for them. Dallas still comes out on top. We get the much needed designer/couture bridge that will finally enable us to cross that raging river. Someone refresh my memory. Who's Tom Leppert, where did he come from and how did he become our mayor? I voted for Hedley Lamarr. Now where did I put that bottle of Champipple?
On the plus side he's got perfect hair. Not one piece out of place. Congrats!
Leppert decided to avoid the South Dallas 'subterfuge' and just put good ol' rich white boys in charge. Now I'm just going to be a good little Dallas citizen and shut up and drink myself to oblivion. Nah. My muck rake still has some years left on it...
This is merely the first indication of the real damage that Tom Leppert has done the city by picking the wrong crowd to hang out with and screwing up DART. The suburbs leapt to put Chrisman in this job so they will have an edge while DART decides who to screw for its Big B deficit -- the city or the 'burbs. The board could have waited until its next meeting to decide this and could have amended its by-laws, since it's still supposed to be Dallas's turn to control the chair for two years. Chrisman getting the job for the 'burbs is a substantial blow to the city's interest. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.