From the Trinity River Levees to Tourism, a Sneak Peek at the City's Legislative Program

​On the other side you'll find a hefty doc consisting of the city's federal legislative to-do list, which will be presented to the local congressional delegation in March at the National League of Cities' Congressional Cities Conference in D.C. Normally, says council Legislative Committee chair Vonciel Jones Hill in a missive sent to the council late last week, the council committee would meet "for a face-to-face discussion of our program; unfortunately, however, we have been unable to secure a quorum for any date sufficiently prior to the March trip to allow adequate time for preparation, review, and discussion." Which is why this draft was sent out Saturday -- so council members could offer their input between now and February 4.

The wish list covers a wide range of topics -- from the Trinity River Corridor Project and the need to get those levees deemed "acceptable" again before FEMA formalizes its new flood maps (thus upping insurance rates for property owners along the Trinity) to affordable housing to transit programs to historic preservation to tourism to the inland port to eminent domain -- you name it, it's covered. From the intro:

The City of Dallas recognizes two basic types of federal mandates: those that impose costs directly on the City and those that, while not directly imposing costs on the City, intrude on the autonomy of the City by interfering with local decision making authority and impacting the allocation of scarce local resources. As a general principle, the City of Dallas opposes the imposition of either type of federal mandate.

The federal government calls on municipal governments, including the City of Dallas, to administer many federal government programs, requiring municipal governments to absorb all or most of the cost. In the interest of fairness and equity to its municipal government partners, the federal government should provide adequate funding for the local conduct of each of its programs.

On the other side, your Monday-morning light reading. Dallas_LegislativeAgenda2011