Mayor Miller Fed Up With DART Board Members
In Thursday's Dallas Morning News, Tony Hartzel, who is by far the best writer at the news, wrote a piece (City may ax DART reps) about Laura Miller's desire to shake up Dallas' appointees to the DART board of directors. The mayor threatened to replace the 8 board representatives with city council members if they did not start taking the city's interests into account.
I'm with the mayor on this one. DART rail is in its 10th year, and is now one of the model light rail systems in the country. Although rail transit is now the rage of North Texas, many of the cities building trains stations were laughing at Dallas' foray into rail a decade ago. Now that riding the rail is ‘in’, the focus is on Carrolton, Plano, and Rowlett, and not Oak Cliff, where the Red Line and Blue Line made names for themselves.
Dallas has a right to be upset. The city contributes 51.5% of the sales tax revenue that makes DART run. Thus the city is able to appoint 8 of the boards 15 members. At stake is the future of rail in the area, including a vote on the authority's 2030 plan. If Dallas' appointees are putting the wishes of the suburbs ahead of the needs of our city, then they need to be shown the door.
There are a number of important issues that will effect the south in particular. One will be the type of train used to service the inland port scheduled to be built in Southern Dallas. DART is recommending a diesel fueled train, while Dallas proposes electric, like the rest of the lines. The planned extension of the blue line south of I-20 is now set for 2018. The city would also like to see the Red line extended farther southwest of the Westmoreland Station.
Currently, construction of Dart's Southeast Corridor is underway, which will stretch 27.7 miles from Pleasant Grove to Carrollton. This new Green Line will add stops at Victory Park, Deep Ellum, Baylor Medical Center, and Fair Park. DART has plans for an Orange Line that will extend from Northwest Dallas to Las Colinas (2011), and eventually to DFW Airport (2013).
I know the timelines seem like a long way out, but I can remember riding the rail when it stopped at Park Lane (seems like only yesterday) Most of the folks now clamoring for rail service would not have been caught dead on a train back then.
I applaud Madame Miller and the council for taking a hard line approach towards DART and the board appointees. If my calculations are right, the city should deliver a station within walking distance of my house by 2020…just in time for my son's graduation.
