Hunt Asks: What Makes a "World-Class City"?

I think it's always good to have someone in opposition to the majority to ask the tough questions, and create a real debate. However, I'm also a big supporter have having iconic public buildings, and bustling, well-defined urban areas. Dallas is NOT a small town, and yet many people here seem to think it is. Having just pretty parks and boxy buildings doesn't make a world-class city.

A cautionary note frm Percy Shelley on people who only want to be remembered for the "big things>"

I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. Near them on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frownAnd wrinkled lip and sneer of cold commandTell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.And on the pedestal these words appear:`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,The lone and level sands stretch far away".

The city council and staff could not find themselves from their arses with post it notes to show them the way. What a bunch of clowns. Will those who have opposition be re elected by their constituencies? They should not-they deserve to be shown the door for their gross mismanagement of the affairs of the city. This "finding ones self" has been going on for what seems like an eternity with no end in sight fueled by tax dollars.

I know. It's a city where, on a popular bus route, you can catch that bus in less than 45 minutes during a popular time. I called DART yesterday to let them know how happy I was with that situation, and asked who was gonna send me a check for the $11 cab ride I had to take (which, still, made me over 30 late for my meeting). My response "rhymed with 'tuck you itches'" and they said, "have a nice day, ma'am". Still waiting on my $11.

I like that Angela Hunt is tightening our city's belt. But here, she seems to be protecting TXDOT, which has screwed Dallas in every way it can (e.g. Central Expressway's dead trees and ripping out shrubs to fill them with rocks and weeds). If the money is to be spent on the "signature" items in Dallas, then that is what is should be spent on.

We don't need a signature bridge, and it isn't going to attract any development. But the portion that is already paid for should stay in place. Don't throw the money away to TXDOT. They'll just spend it on highways designed to encourage more suburban sprawl.

This is why I like Angela Hunt, I respect her style w/ common-sense neighborhood level politics and it stinks she didn't run for mayor. The real problem w/ our cities style of government is the fact we don't give the actual mayor power to decide and sign off on an issue, which is needed in any city with a population over a million. Council-mayor style of government is great if your waco or duncanville, but a major metropolitan city needs a mayor to run the affairs and make the "trigger-pulling" decisions. Instead, we trust our cities affairs to people like Pauline Medrano and temporary mayor D-wayne, which is something that should scare the common voter..

I guess Village Voice also thinks pop ups in the lower right corner make a world class blog.

To which Steve Salazar added: "No one remembers the little things we do." You mean the "little things" like provide your constituents with a livable city? Act in a fiscally responsible manner? Replace broken street lights? Mow the parks? Open the libraries? Fix the DAMN potholes? What a $%^&* jackass!

Once again, Angela Hunt is the voice of reason. One thing I've never understood in all my years living in Dallas--- why is the general quality of local elected representatives so abominably low?

It seems as if nearly every politician in Dallas County is either: an unindicted criminal, running sideline businesses which present unresolvable conflicts of interest (i.e. soft corruption: ministers serving on public boards and taking large "donations" from powerful entities, elected officials simultaneously offering legal services, "public relations" and/or "consulting" services to public entities and/or private interests while they have matters pending before public bodies.

How did things get so bad here? One only needs look so far as Tarrant County to find much more "normal" types of people serving in elected office. Why does Dallas serve as a magnet for so many loathsome characters who end up in public office?

By the way, Paris smells like urine when its really hot. So thats a lot to live up to I guess.

IMHO this vote is the very reason Dallas will always chase the dream of being a world class city and never achieve it, because pretentious acts like this and the people who shove it down the citizens throats are the very reason people find Dallas such an unlikable city. Sad.

quit running for mayor you loud mouthed biatch....

Hunt is correct here. But I would also add that spending money on trying to make lowest Greenville Avenue into something that is deemed by a small faction of people to be what's best for all (i.e., to be "Austin-esque") is also a waste of money. Same can be said for the rather silly and naive street/trolley cars idea and "floating parks." (Why are some ideas a waste of resources when others, as equally non-essential, are considered much needed?) So let's repair the roads, properly; let's maintain the parks/complete the already under construction bike paths; etc.. But let's also look at ourselves critically and see if whether we endorse one boondoggle at the expense of another...and let's make sure that the things we do spend our money on is indeed what's best for all of the fine denizens of Dallas, and not just certain factions. After all if we praise diversity and equality, then we'd better be utilitarian about our spending.

Gone are the days when integrity meant something. Tonight on the news, Dave Neumann had his big ol pumpkin head saying in effect, 'hell, yeah! we're gonna build that bridge'.Now since he's on a 'my balls are so big' roll', when will he fess up and say, 'hell, yeah I deleted those files and skimmed that money from the dress factory, whatcha gonna do about that?'

Angela appears to be the only one left with her integrity intact.

Well, we could just start renaming all the fancy monuments. Not only does this stuff get thrust down our throats, then we fall into the trap of reciting the names of donors as indexes and destinations ad infinitum.

For instance, when I think of, or pass by, the scrap yard Salazar voted on today--the one that has a five year guarantee--I'm going to refer to it as "Salazar's Industrial Blight and Metal Works." Or "Salazar's Heap."

That way, I'll never forget the small things. Hunt is spot on in her analysis. The Big Boys and Girls are always thinking about the image on the postcard, while the small people look at scrap yards, mangy dogs, and worry about the levees.

Don't any of these doofusi watch teevee? Texas is the laughingstock of the country. You can't buy class. But I guess the illusion is what keeps this place going. A bunch of shallow delusional people that get their self worth from things that don't matter.

If anyone wants to drive on any of these multi million dollar bridges that have to get there on crumbling roadways? I don't get it. Its ass backwards as my dad says.

Isn't the idea of good government that no one remembers the little things you do? You just do it? If they have delusions of grandeur, they need to do it on someone else's dime.

I'm with Angela on this. Seems like she is the only sane council member we have. Any word on who she is supporting for Mayor?