I'm taking the pledge -- no more toll road postings until the referendum gets a little closer. I mean it. There are almost four months until the vote, and what we need are quality of comments, not quantity.
This will not be easy. I won't be able to discuss award-winners like this from plastic surgery's favorite local magazine. Or this bon mot from Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper. Or this gem of a press release from the pro-toll road side. But I can do it. I'm alert. I have written about 12-step programs. I'm committed.
The problem, of course, is that the people pushing the toll road down our throats are not unlike a dope dealer giving away free samples. They will say or do something so silly -- see the above three links -- that I'll jump on it before I realize what I have done. So it's deep breaths. Yoga poses. Looking for a sponsor. Putting my faith in a higher power.
And no, we're not going to have a blog contest to see when I crack.
Awww, but we just got Angela Hunt to notice!
Posted by: Alex | Aug 16, 2007 at 08:26 AM
By my count, it is less than 11 weeks or just under 3 months away. So I'll call the over/under on this 28 days. Smart money is on under.
Posted by: Matt Wood | Aug 16, 2007 at 08:50 AM
Angela Hunt is even more scrumptious in real life than she is in photos.
A sidebar to This Civic Moment (TM) is the complete tanking of any scrap of credibilty the DMN might have still clung to. They are now officially a broadside of flaccid marketing collateral punctuated by wire releases.
Posted by: East Sider | Aug 16, 2007 at 11:37 AM
I'm with you Jeff. I'm experiencing a deep sense of Trinity fatigue.
Posted by: Michael Davis | Aug 16, 2007 at 02:22 PM
Check out the FrontBurner. It's amusing to see Tim Rogers "gladdened" by the results of the poll that just blew up in his face.
Not that I'm saying you should post about it.
Posted by: Gaddis | Aug 16, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Oh my. Couldn't help myself. Looked at that thing that Gaddis mentioned. Having shakes. Cold sweats. Keep thinking of Ray Milland in Lost weekend.
But will not post. Will not post. Will not post.
Posted by: Jeff Siegel | Aug 16, 2007 at 03:09 PM
No offense Jeff, but you have to keep posting about this. In the next few months, the Belo Machine is going to barrage us with story after story about how the project will be doomed by this referendum.
We will hear how traffic is going to come to a screeching halt if we don't build this toll road. We will hear how this toll road is the key to getting everything in the project done. Project Pegasus, the park, the bridges, and the revitalization of the southern sector are all in jeopardy because of the evil, power hungry Angela Hunt and the dirty, fraudulent "voters" she invented to destroy the project. We will see Angela's motives called into questions since this naturally is all a big ploy by her to become Mayor.
We will not hear the term "toll road" any longer. Instead, the machine will only refer to this as either "project" implying the toll road is not a piece of the project that can be cast away but rather the glue that holds the whole thing together. Or it will be referred to as a "parkway" implying the park and road are partners in the project. The park will beautify the road. Who wouldn't want to drive next to a pretty park? They will try their best to take the emphasis off the toll portion of this road. You want this road, you need this road. Aren't you tired of sitting in traffic at the mix master? This road will help alleviate that.
And the last tactic they will use is that we voters just don't get how complex this project is. Our tiny brains can't push through our emotions to see the complexity and importance the road has to the project. I mean, none of us were a CEO of a company or a TX DOT engineer so how can we know how vitally important this toll...err parkway is.
This issue demands people like you and Jim Schultz balancing the rhetoric the Toll road crowd is throwing out. We won't get any objectivity or balanced reporting from Belo. They have been given their marching orders. Anyone who wants this park without a toll road running through it should rest on their laurels. We better not get tired or bored of this debate. The Belo Machine has unlimited resources. They aren't going to stop till they win. We better be ready for the fight. So buck up and take aim, Jeff. You are doing a great service for this city.
Posted by: Michael Mosteller | Aug 17, 2007 at 09:52 AM
Just post more pics of Angela!!!
Posted by: ryan adams | Aug 17, 2007 at 11:25 AM