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Went to hear City Manager Mary Suhm deliver her "current" state of the city presentation today at a luncheon at the Lakewood Country Club and it sounded like business as usual. She did say the economy was causing a downtown in sales taxes -- she is estimating it as a 4 percent per month drop in what was forecast -- and that building permits were way down. But she didn't come across as an alarmist -- just the steady hand on the tiller guiding the ship of state through the shoals.
She mentioned the Corps of Engineers' rating the Trinity River levees as unacceptable, but nothing that city wasn't prepared to address in its normal course of readying the Trinity River Corridor Project. "All along this has been a flood control project," she said of the largest public works project in the history of Dallas. She also gave the back of her hand to those critics saying it's taking too long for the Trinity River Corridor Project to be completed, reminding those in attendance that work on the downtown Arts District began more than 20 years ago and is just now coming together with the construction of the Winspear Opera House and the performing arts center. Once completed, she said, the Dallas Arts District will be the largest of its kind in the country. "We haven't seen anything like this since the opening of the Lincoln Center in New York City," she said.
But, back to those dang levees. Ms. Suhm said Dallas was not the only city to have its levees graded unacceptable under the Corps recently revised standards. Fortunately for us, she said, Dallas is one of the few, if the only, city eligible for federal funds to help alleviate the problem. Following the presentation, Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez, who's been shepherding this whole levee business, told me the biggest holdup right now is that the Corps still hasn't defined exactly the standard it wants the Dallas levees brought up to.
Ms. Suhm also promoted the construction of the convention center hotel, saying without it, the city's convention business would disappear, costing the city some $50 million annually. I'm not sure I would agree with the word "disappear," but I'm convinced that business would take a crippling hit without the hotel, a hit that could be devastating to our future economic development. She also cited a number of public/private partnerships that are helping Dallas develop, developments she said would never have happened if the proposed ordinance requiring voting approval of such projects had been in place. Thus, she subtly politicked for "no" votes against both proposed city charter changes on the May ballot.
She was bullish about the results of the latest Dallas Citizen's Survey, which said:
She mentioned the Corps of Engineers' rating the Trinity River levees as unacceptable, but nothing that city wasn't prepared to address in its normal course of readying the Trinity River Corridor Project. "All along this has been a flood control project," she said of the largest public works project in the history of Dallas. She also gave the back of her hand to those critics saying it's taking too long for the Trinity River Corridor Project to be completed, reminding those in attendance that work on the downtown Arts District began more than 20 years ago and is just now coming together with the construction of the Winspear Opera House and the performing arts center. Once completed, she said, the Dallas Arts District will be the largest of its kind in the country. "We haven't seen anything like this since the opening of the Lincoln Center in New York City," she said.
But, back to those dang levees. Ms. Suhm said Dallas was not the only city to have its levees graded unacceptable under the Corps recently revised standards. Fortunately for us, she said, Dallas is one of the few, if the only, city eligible for federal funds to help alleviate the problem. Following the presentation, Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez, who's been shepherding this whole levee business, told me the biggest holdup right now is that the Corps still hasn't defined exactly the standard it wants the Dallas levees brought up to.
Ms. Suhm also promoted the construction of the convention center hotel, saying without it, the city's convention business would disappear, costing the city some $50 million annually. I'm not sure I would agree with the word "disappear," but I'm convinced that business would take a crippling hit without the hotel, a hit that could be devastating to our future economic development. She also cited a number of public/private partnerships that are helping Dallas develop, developments she said would never have happened if the proposed ordinance requiring voting approval of such projects had been in place. Thus, she subtly politicked for "no" votes against both proposed city charter changes on the May ballot.
She was bullish about the results of the latest Dallas Citizen's Survey, which said:
- More than two-thirds of residents rate the quality of life in Dallas was "excellent" or "good."
- 78 per cent said Dallas was an "excellent" or "good" place to live;
- City services that received a rating of at least 73 percent good or excellent were fire (86%), EMS (81%), library (78%), arts and cultural programs (76%) and solid waste services (73%--78% for garbage collection and 71% for recycling).
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