Friday, October 31, 2008

DISD School Board Meeting

Thank you Trustee Carla Ranger for all of the hard work that you are doing. The public knows that you are speaking for us and the children and right will prevail.

Convention Center Hotel

Yesterday at the Dallas County Courthouse there was a young man passing out these fliers . The interesting thing to me was this issue was not on the ballot and from all that I could see, most people were focused on the current election.
On one side of the flyer there was a caption "What OUR LEADERS are saying". The first thing that I noticed was the people on the flyer and their ethnicity. I wondered if they were passing these out in North Dallas?
I Early Voted and encourage everyone to exercise their right to VOTE.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Dallas ISD Meeting with Education Commissioner Robert Scott




The meeting was in closed session last Friday at 3700 Ross. The interesting thing about the meeting was who walked out of the meeting and who did not. We watched Senators Royce West, Shapiro and Corona leave along with Rep. Goolsby, Jack Lowe, Supt. Michael Hinojosa, Commissioner Scott and Trustee Carla Ranger. What we learned later was that Mayor Tom Leppert was on a conference call during the meeting. Guess he did not want to show his face but wanted to work behind the scene.


Dallas Housing Authority


A few months ago Mayor Leppert was rushing to the DHA meetings to give Ann Lott a warning about her length of employment. Now we see that a search is going on for a new Executive Director and Mayor Leppert has not changed the board appointments that were up in March. If the Mayor was going to keep them around, why would he not just reappoint them?

What was most interesting in the James Ragland's article was him mentioning the sell of Little Mexico and how Ms. Lott was against selling that property. Mr. Ragland article states " Now, with Ms. Culbreath in the saddle and Ms. Lott out of the way, the agency is instituting new financial controls. It's also more willing than ever to put all options on he table, including the potential sale of Little Mexico Village. " This board wants to leverage that property and will maximize its value," Ms Culbreath said in a recent post to her online blog." it seems as though that is just what Tom Leppert and the Citizens Council want to hear. Ann Lott stood up to the developers knowing the historical significance of Little Mexico to all of us, but especially to our Hispanic brothers and sisters.

We are all familiar with Ms. Betty Culbreath and her willingness to do the bidding for others. Her record speaks for itself. Review her service on the Planning Commission, DFW Airport and DHA. These were all appointments by Mayor Laura Miller who was Ms. Culbreath's close friend and ally.

In my opinion Mayor Tom Lepperts has pulled many stunts since he has been in office, and they were not in the best interest of the citizens of Dallas. He supported a Ross Perot employee for the DART Board,pushed the for the Trinity Toll Road,pushed for Lynn Flint Shaw to Chair the DART Board, forced Ann Lott out of her job, did not appoint Angela Hunt to chair a committee, supported taking Mike Sorrell off the DFW Airport Board, supported Dwaine (Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway for Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, supports Michael Hinojosa (DISD Superintendent), supports another layer of government for the Inland Port, supports a taxpayer owned hotel, and supported the DISD Bond Proposal. That is only a few of his positions on issues that makes you go, WHAT?

This current leadership in Dallas is all about construction and contract dollars. Look around the edges and see where all of these people are sniffing. It's the same small pack of people who are pushing these items and they are making out like bandits at the expense of the people.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Jennifer Hudson

Your heart always goes out to people who loose family members, but Ms. Hudson and her sister Julia are dealing with the brutality of the deaths and to think that loosing a family member is devastating, but loosing three at the same time seems almost unbareable.



So much crime is going on in this country. We must stop the killing.

Dallas Logistics Hub (Inland Port)

The development of the Dallas Logistics Hub (Inland Port) is very important to the citizens of Dallas, but the most affected are the citizens that live in the southern sector of Dallas. We have been waiting for years for the job creation that has been promised by our elected officials. We were told that the Logistics Hub could create at least 30,000 jobs and the development around the area could add an additional 30,000 jobs. It does not matter how you analyze the job creation numbers this would be a win for the cities of Dallas, Wilmer, Lancaster, Hutchins, Duncanville, DeSoto and Cedar Hill.

The creation of jobs and business opportunities in the southern sector will help create a greater tax base, and our elected officials have talked about making sure that the Dallas Logistics Hub is the catalyst for growth in the southern sector. At one point this project was pushed so hard by the previous council that the DART Board made it the number one priority of the Long Range Plan (2030 Plan) for light rail. The council wanted to make sure that there was mass transportation servicing this project.

Mayor Leppert, Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne) Caraway, Tennell Adkins and Ron Natinsky seem to be stalling. You have to ask yourself, why? Mayor Leppert has constantly expressed to the community that he wanted to create jobs in the southern sector, but now all the community sees is the mayor and his group of seven on the council holding up progress. Could it have anything to do with the competition that the Dallas Logistics Hub will have with Alliance in Fort Worth? It has been said that Alliance is only 25% built out and the development of the Dallas Logistics Hub (Inland Port) would be serious competition for Alliance. As we all know, Alliance is owned by Ross Perot, Jr. and he has significant ties in the Dallas community. In fact, at one time Mayor Leppert, Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne) Caraway and Tennell Adkins supported a person for the DART Board that was an employee of Perot Systems, and that had serious implications because of the need for the Dallas Logistics Hub (Inland Port) to use DART tracks (TRE) to transport goods. That appointment did not happen.

The project still has great value and merit, but the question is who will be in control? The citizens are tired of the political jocking. We want the development to take place now.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Councilman James Fantroy - Gone but not forgotten



Another respected fighter for southern Dallas has left us. Former City Councilman James Frantroy died Sunday from kidney cancer at the age of 71. He was on the Council from 2000 to 2007.

We all knew that Councilman Fantroy was going to identify the issues that would directly affect his community and stick to his gun on making sure that his voice was heard and that it would not be business as usual around the Council horseshoe. He was the epitome of a public servant who was able to stand up for his community and forge relationships with other Councilpersons, because he was not a "go-along-to-get-along" person, but a person that wanted ALL of Dallas to be economically vibrant.

We will miss the courage of Councilman Frantroy and would urge Councilwomen Hill and Davis to continue to work for the community.
RIP Councilman Fantroy.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Thought for the week

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

District Attorney Craig Watkins

On Sunday at our church, St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church, DA Craig Watkins was the speaker. Forgive me, I mean preacher for the day. He talked about how this was his first time in the pulpit and thanked Rev. Tyrone Gordon for allowing him to be there.

I am most favorably struck by the fact that this District Attorney is under a great deal of pressure because of his willingness to exonerate inmates that have been falsely accused, and he continues to march on. He, along with the Innocence Project have worked hard through DNA evidence to right the wrongs of this criminal justice system. I can not imagine being imprisoned for 20 to 30 years wrongfully and come our with the good attitude that these people have shown. Most are not bitter, but are grateful that they were finally heard and that someone was willing to do the right thing about their cases.

I personally thanked District Attorney Watkins for his good work in this area, and if you see him do the same, because I believe there are those people who wish that he would just forget about
this project. He knows that his job is to convict the criminals, and we all want him to do that, but he also knows that this system has not always been fair and no matter what great strides he makes in this area, there are some people who are possibly in the criminal justice system who did not commit the crime that they are there for.

THANKS DISTRICT ATTORNEY CRAIG WATKINS.

Funeral of Rev. H. J. Johnson

It is aways amazing to see the people who show up at a funeral when the person being funeralized has tried,in their own way,to give to the community. We all know that there are many aspects of the needs in our Dallas community and it takes guts to stand up to some of the appointed and elected leaders and do what you believed is the right thing, and H.J. Johnson did what he believed to be right and left a trail of examples of how we treat our fellow man. A no-nonsense man who had the strength and support of his loving wife.

I was touched by the relationship that he and former council member Bill Blades shared and how they had worked together on issues. That is what we should all be about, working for the betterment of this community with whomever has a like mind.

Rest in peace Rev. H.J. Johnson

Siblings Held in Death of Mother

Today's news talks about siblings in Roanoke, Texas being held in the death of their mother.
What is this world coming to? These young people are under suspicion of killing their mother and can be charged with capitol murder. Those young lives are gone. No more seeing the light of day from a prison all because they did not have the common sense and the heart not to commit such a crime. I am sure that they do not have the understanding that not only are their lives affected, but their family and friends have to live through this tragedy also. What a waste.