NTTA Minority Business Director

Anthony Coleman has been named the new Minority and Women Owned Business Director for the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA). The agency made a good choice. Mr. Coleman has a long history of working with Minority and Women Owned Business Programs and he is a person who will attempt to open the doors for all eligible minority and women business owners. He will not be one that will try to hand carry a few and leave others behind.

Good choice NTTA.

NTTA- Minority Business

Just heard that Mayor Tom Leppert, Commissioner John Wiley Price, Willis Johnson,Martin Burrell and others went to the NTTA meeting and ask them to delay a contract because there was no African American participation.

The contract was delayed. Katrina Keys with K-Strategies is the MWBE person with NTTA. It will be interesting to see who ends up on the contracts. Will it be the usual people that are associated with K-Strategies or will the door be opened to all African American companies that are qualified?

Dallas Housing Authority

Looks like the dirty work of getting rid of Ann Lott has been done and now Mayor Tom Leppert is going to rid himself of Betty Culbreath. So sad, but that's the way it works. Betty should know that once you are used to do the dirt, your service is no longer needed.

Where is Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne)Caraway who is one of Mayor Tom Leppert's gatekeepers? I think he is close to Betty and he is Leppert's head Negro watcher at Dallas city hall. Will he take a stand for Betty? I think that Betty also has a good relationship with Willis Johnson (another gatekeeper for Leppert), and I do not know if he will help his friend. Don't forget that Betty also has a good relationship with Tennell Adkins another disappointment to the African American community. With all of those connections, you would think that she would have very few problems getting reappointed.

I can not help but remember my situation on reappointment to the DART board and the role that this same cast of characters played.

What goes around comes around.

2008

Dallas is a city that struggles to get it together and 2007 was not different from the previous years. There have been some interesting factors in Dallas this year and they will truly be something to watch in 2008.

1. Downtown: While millions of TIF (Tax Increment Financing) dollars have been poured into downtown, there is still little life in the heart of the city (Main Street,Commerce St. and Elm Street). All you find are non-affordable apartments and townhouses being constructed and virtually no retail. There are restaurants, but as soon as the TIF money goes, they go out of business or move. It will be interesting to see how Mayor Leppert will make a difference in Retail Downtown.
2. DART: The fact that DART is 1 billion over budget on the Orange Line and nobody understands why DART is in this mess is amazing. Let's see if Mayor Leppert,Dwaine (Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway, Tennell Adkins and Jerry Allen will make a public statement since there is the possibility of rail lines in Dallas being delayed to keep Irving quiet.
3. DISD: As I wrote a month ago, DISD is not deserving of the publics trust for a new bond program. There are too many holes in the system and they are not being plugged. Where is Mayor Leppert on this? Do you suggest that we have a new superintendent?
4. Trinity: Mayor Leppert made the public many promises on the Trinity vote and we are going to hold him accountable along with all of the council members who supported the Trinity Toll Road.
5. Southern Dallas Development: I have noticed that some people are not using southern sector as much as they have in the past and are now talking about southern Dallas development, and that is where I have an interest. I want to see southern Dallas developed so that jobs will be in the are and so that Dallas can grow its tax base.
6. Dallas Housing Authority: Mayor Leppert made it public that his intent was to do something different with Ann Lott if she could not fix the accounting problems at Dallas Housing Authority. Why? His pension for the camera showed itself during this time.

Mayor Leppert/DART 900 Million Dollar Fiasco

Mayor Leppert is a person who seems to be out looking for the camera for any photo opportunity that he can find and it strikes me as curious that we have not heard a word from him on the DART situation. He was all over the camera's making sure that Ann Lott, President of DHA, understood his position about management of the public's money, and if she did not get her act together, she would be history. DHA, after being audited, was found to have not adequately accounted for about 3.5 million dollars.

We now have a situation where DART is trying to figure out how the current buildout schedule can be meet with the cost that have been allocated to projects. DART has declared that the agency will not have all of the funds that will be needed to stay on current schedule with the Orange Line (Irving) and the extension to Rowlett. DART says that the projections for construction has gone up and that is why the 900 million dollar shortage is shown. Remember the Orange Line is only 20% designed and therefore you can not have a true cost.

I say baloney. If you really want to see where the problem started, look at the contracts that were let in the last 2 years in Project Management. Consider the fact that one contractor has over 1 billion dollars in contacts for construction with little competition. Consider that the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee was Councilman Jerry Allen and there were numerous changes to the financial plan under his leadership and those adjustment affect the the 20 year financial plan. The 20 year Financial Plan was not sent out to the member cities this year with the Budget as has been done in previous years. There are many 3rd tier relationships that are not being bid by DART. A million hear and a million there, and you soon will have some real money in question.

The public has not heard a peep out of Mayor Leppert, Dwaine(Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway or Tennell Adkins about this matter which could ultimately affect downtown Dallas,West Dallas,The Cotton Belt, and all of the southern sector extensions that were worked on to ensure that DART did not only relegate Buses to our neighborhoods (Southern Dallas). Mayor Leppert, Dwaine(Dwayne,Dewayne)Caraway and Tennell Adkins seem to be calling the shots with the Dallas appointees on the DART board and I would expect them to be the first on the Dallas City Council to ensure that Dallas will get all that has been promised to Dallas in the same timeframe that was projected by DART. Dallas pays in 55% of all the sales tax revenue to DART and that means if you put the other 12 member cities sales tax revenue together, they do not equal what Dallas is paying to DART. Where are the mayors Negroes on this issue? I can't hear you!!!!!!

DISD-Bond Program

More bad news from DISD regarding the audit. The preliminary indication is that 100
million dollars will have to be reallocated and that the district's end of the year balance in its general operating fund would have to be reduced to $117.7 million from 135.8 million. A million here and a million there soon adds up to real money.

This district wants to go to the public for more bond money to improve schools, but the public should be asking many questions about the previous bond and how it benefited the district overall. How many new schools were built in traditional African American neighborhoods? How many new schools have low enrollments of students? Why was the schools not included in the previous bond not put at the top of the list for the new bond?

Voters should be leery of what is about to come out of DISD for more bond money and probably higher taxes.

Ann Lott/Dallas Housing Authority

Months ago when Laura Miller was attempting to oust Dallas Housing Authority President Ann Lott, many citizens rushed to her defense at a board meeting and spoke openly about what they believed was an attempt by then Mayor Laura Miller to take Ms. Lott out of her position as president. I believe that Willis Johnson spent a great deal of time on his talk show allowing people to speak of the situation and he also encouraged the listening audience to attend the board meeting.

When then Mayor Laura Miller began to meddle in the DHA's affairs, she not only was called into question, but her board chairman appointee resigned. Mayor Miller then appointed Betty Culbreath as chairman to get the situation under control. What's the difference between Mayor Miller and Mayor Tom Leppert? Maybe its the Negroes that are with Mayor Leppert.

It was very interesting to watch new Mayor Tom Leppert Perform for the camera and talk about the accounting errors of approximately 3.5 million that must be accounted for in the voucher program or returned to HUD. Ms. Lott indicated that there are computer problems and that they will be fixed. There was not any indication that any money was taken. Mayor Leppert, who does not have a vote, said that if there were not changes within six months that something would change. He virtually implied that Ms. Lott would loose her position.

I believe that Ann Lott will do just as she said and will make sure that all of the problems will be fixed,but my questions is what's with this mayor?

State President SCLC/Peter Johnson

James Ragland's article today in the Dallas Morning News "Agree with his policies or not, mayor's been effective so far" really got my attention. The first thing that I thought was successful at what? The Trinity River vote was not an overwhelming demand from the public. Some citizens took a good look at who was voted in as mayor and began to wish for Ed Oakley and his politcial allies on the council are basically Dwaine(Dewayne,Dwayne) Caraway, Tennell Adkins, Jerry Allen and Dave Neumann. All of those council members are freshmen and could be tossed out of office in 2 years (we hope).

Dwaine (Dwayne,Dewayne) Caraway is just pitiful, he was sucking up with every word. I miss Dr. Thornton-Reese, atleast she was independent.

What I loved the most was the comments from Peter Johnson about Mayor Leppert. He started out with "In the civil rights movement, we had what we called SWAB-smart -ass white boys who know more about black people than we know." "In the best sense of the word, that's what he is." Mr. Johnson went on to say that "He is new." "He's a typical rich, North Dallas white man who has lots of money. He's been successful, and he thinks he knows what we need." But Mr. Ragland went on to say that what Mr. Johnson is most concerned with, as he explained it to him, is Dallas patronizing history of accommodation. "We have seen in the past where a mayor... surrounds himself with a chosen few black gatekeepers, and everyone else has to go through them."

I would like to thank Peter Johnson for standing up for our community.

DISD Bond/Willis Johnson

Word is surfacing that Dr. Michael Hinojosa is going to hire Willis Johnson to run the Southern Sector campaign for the new bond program for DISD. Watch out black people, you will will be sold out again for a few dollars.

As a former member of the Bond committee, I will not be advocating for new bond money for DISD. In the last bond program the new schools were not built in predominately African American communities and schools like Kimball, Carter, T.L. Marsalis,Atwell, Adell Turner,etc. did not get the full attention that should have been afforded them. Our children deserve the same facilities, access to technology and all amenities as all children in the district.

More Bad News From DART

As I mentioned to many people that called me about the DART over budget, this is just the beginning. The City of Dallas,Mayor Leppert, Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne)Caraway, Tennell Adkins had better wake up and get involved in the process of reprogramming the projects and the budget at DART. When you know and understand how much of the additional Rail was to be in the city of Dallas,who pays into DART approimately 55% of the sales tax revenue, and now that service can be lost or moved out to a point where it is irrelevant. The extensions to the Univ. of North Texas, Inland Port,Westmoreland and Redbird Lane, West Dallas and the Cotton Belt all may be moved out for years or taken off the project list completely.

This short fall did not just happen, and while the agency is putting a spin on the reason for the short fall,the most inexperienced person should be able to see that designing the Orange line to Irving is not where the shortfall started. It is only
20% designed. Look at the current lines under construction and see if they are over budget and how that impacted the current budget. All of the current expenditures have been sanctioned by the Project Management Committee and then by the board. If one would just listen to the committee tapes you would hear the explanations that were given to the board for the higher cost,and you would have an idea of why the agency is where it is today.

Mayor Leppert,Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne) Caraway, Tennell Adkins, Willis Johnson, Jerry Allen, Ron Natinsky, Sheffie Kadane, Elba Garcia and Dave Newman need to tell the citizens of Dallas how they plan to handle what is about to happen to Dallas citizens with the Light rail buildout, BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)and HOV lanes. I think that it is going to ultimately be devastating to Dallas, Irving, Rowlett, Addison and Farmers Branch.

Leppert/Perot

Councilman Mitchel Rasansky better be careful that he doses not get on the bad side of Mayor Tom Leppert by speaking out about the mayor's party that was thrown at Ross Perot Jr.'s condominium in W Dallas Victory Hotel & Residence. Who is he to question Tom Leppert?

There is no way that you could have all of the council members invited and "no business talk" would take place. Remember this is the mayor who played wild and loose with the truth on the Trinity vote.

Most may not recall that Eddie Reaves, who work for Perot,Jr., was nominated to replace me on the DART board. The spin doctors had him removed from Perot Systems website and said he no longer worked for Perot Systems so that he could get on the DART board. When the city council found out, they rejected the notion of putting Eddie Reaves on the DART board and that is how the city has the unfortunate experience of Jerry Christian serving on the DART board. It should also be noted that Willis Johnson, the mayors head Negro, was the one who bought the name of Eddie Reaves to Dwaine (Dewayne/Dwayne) Caraway for nomination to the DART board, and that Willis Johnson's son works for Perot, Jr.

Councilwoman Pauline Medrano is being cautious, as she should be about this new administration. She too had better be careful because these are bad people who go after you with meanness.

The Allen Group,Dallas Logistics Hub,should watch what is going to happen with their investment in the Southern Sector and make sure that the Dallas Mayor is not to cozy with to Perot, Jr. who has openly stated that the Dallas Logistics Hub is a threat to the development at the Alliance Airport. Southern Dallas needs the 60,000 jobs that have been projected by The Allen Group.

Negro Politics

Peter Johnson went on Wednesday November 28, 2007 to speak to the city council about lead in toys. Peter and Ronald Wright went to California to visit with manufacturers on this issue. He was approached by Willis Johnson before speaking and asked what did he need? He simply stated what his reason was for coming before the council. Peter then was called by Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne) Caraway to come up front before he spoke (private conversation) and Caraway assured him that he was going to say nice things about his work.

These Negroes are trying to keep African American citizens from coming to city hall to express themselves on issues of concern. I think the name for that is gatekeeper. Our community is in trouble!!!!

Thank You

Thank You to the people who have been reading Rufus Shaw's comments on Dallas Blog about me and responding with a positive message about me. I find it curious that after Willis Johnson,Dwaine (Dewayne,Dwayne)Caraway, Tennell Adkins, Mayor Tom Leppert and others worked so hard to get me off the DART board (8/7 vote) they can not let it rest. I am sure that I can not be that much of a threat to them or their desire to play a shell game with the community.

There is a mean spirit in these people and Southern Dallas will continue to be stagnant because of it. It is impossible for Southern Dallas development to take place with a few elected and appointed officials asking for their share at the expense of development in the community. If you do not believe me, then just read what is written about Southern Sector Development by Rufus Shaw, Michael Davis, and others. You should also listen to what is being said by people who say they are representatives of the Southern Sector.