Riverfront or Cesar Chavez, it still won’t solve the city’s problems

It’s time to bring in those well-known political analysts, Monty Python, to lend some perspective to the City Council’s deliberations about changing the name of Industrial Boulevard. I refer you to the Election Night Special. The Silly Party, indeed.

Today, the council’s Trinity River Corridor Project Committee will announce that it wants to rename Industrial to Riverfront. It will also float a plan to rename Field Street or a stretch of Ross near downtown to Chavez, the name that won the city’s infamous Rename Industrial contest.

This has been a mucked up process from the start, showing once again that this council is among the least politically sophisticated in my 25 years in Dallas. You can’t hold a vote, no matter how unofficial, and then decide to ignore the results. And, to make matters even goofier, several members of the Trinity committee were upset that they were criticized for ignoring the vote. That’s almost as funny as the Python bit.

But this is about more than a couple of easy laughs at the council’s expense (no matter how enjoyable). If they can’t get this right -– and it’s obvious that they can’t –- how can we trust them to handle a budget shrinking into deficit? How can we trust that their judgement on the convention center hotel is correct, which they agreed to with seemingly less debate than changing the name of a street?

Serving on the city council of the ninth-largest city in the United States is not the same thing as the serving on the board of directors of the local chamber of commerce. You just can't say, "Sounds good to me" and leave it at that. You have to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and expect people to disagree with you. Otherwise, you'll end up wasting time on things like renaming Industrial and not solving the big problems, like the budget.

One more pop culture reference from a child of the ‘70s: There’s an Elvis Costello song called Clowntime is Over. Maybe the council should listen to it.

Technorati Tags: Dallas city council,Industrial Boulevard,Trinity River project

Comments

[Rick Wamre]

I think the council's biggest problem so far isn't just saying "it sounds good to me" but reflexively saying "it sounds good to Tom so it's OK with me". A little independent thinking would go a long way downtown these days; maybe the budget "crisis" will be the issue that causes a few of the councilmen to show some leadership. And on the "Riverfront" name, shouldn't a driver on a street with a moniker like that actually be able to see the river?

[Rob]

"You can’t hold a vote, no matter how unofficial, and then decide to ignore the results."

So you're demanding that the people of Dallas be forced to abide by the results of a telephone/internet survey that anyone could have voted in, including illegal immigrants, as many times as they wanted? The people of Dallas have a right to determine how their city is run. Let's have a real vote on this in November where we'll know the people doing the voting will be legal Dallas residents and they'll only get one vote instead of giving Chavez a street name based on a dishonest survey.

[DK]

I think that maybe the council shouldn't have held any vote rather than some half-baked "American Idol" popularity contest.

[Rick Wamre]

I just finished reading the DMN story about the name change, and here's something I don't understand: Because Mayor Leppert won't abide by the survey's results and rename Industrial to Chavez, we now have to rename Ross or face the wrath of Hispanic groups? The businesses up and down Ross Avenue didn't have a dog in this fight originally, and presumably they have the Ross Avenue address on letterhead, websites, business cards, etc. So now because Leppert didn't think this issue through from the beginning, a group of business owners on Ross will wind up being financially punished? This option doesn't make sense on a number of levels.

[Stephen Crowley]

Why the hell are you surprised at their ineptness? This is straight from the Bush administration play book. This is the heartland of conservative political scum.

[Rob]

"Why the hell are you surprised at their ineptness? This is straight from the Bush administration play book. This is the heartland of conservative political scum."

Dallas has been turning into into a liberal city over the past fifteen years or so and Democrats won just about everything in 2006. The only people to blame for the downfall of Dallas is Democrats. And this latest pandering to illegal immigrants by changing Ross to Chavez is just the final nail in the coffin. Dallas is now a city by and for illegal immigrants, legal residents have no say in how this city is run. Any hope of Dallas returning to it's former glory is gone, Dallas is done.

[james]

It's not a done deal. This change has to go through the businesses on Ross and other things have to be done before this is final. Check out Brad Watson report on Channel 8 website. All the other Dallas related blogs are acting like it’s a done deal shows you what they are worth.

[Dallas]

"Why the hell are you surprised at their ineptness? This is straight from the Bush administration play book. This is the heartland of conservative political scum."

"Dallas has been turning into into a liberal city over the past fifteen years or so and Democrats won just about everything in 2006. The only people to blame for the downfall of Dallas is Democrats"

HA HA HA HA! It is always funny how these you two can take some ridiculous political pie-in-the-face like this and make it a Bush-vs-Liberals issue. This has nothing to do with liberals or Bush. This has everything to do with the DALLAS City Council not understanding it's constituency.

I actually like the article in today's 'Observer'. Imagine if the winner was an esteemed African-American or a prominent Jewish person. No, the problem here is that Cesar Chavez is Hispanic, and it is kinda cool right now to be racist against Hispanics.

[JKR]

It's funny how you can take some 'ridiculous' opposition to changing the name of a 120- year-old street and turn it into racism!

[Bill Kennedy]

I'm pushing to have lake Highlands renamed Lakewood Highlands, myself. It'll make this silly dust-up look like walk in the park....