By KERA Staff
Dallas, TX – Baker: Mr. Dunning, does the public require maybe an attitude adjustment about the homeless?
Dunning: Well, actually, I chaired a homeless task force at the request of Mayor Strauss about eight or ten years ago, and it really opened or enlightened me to many aspects of homelessness that I was not aware of. And first of all, you have - most people who are homeless normally have some form of depression. They are an addict of some sort, they lose their prescriptions. And one of the things we did was to help - or to work with Parkland so that they could have a mobile clinic so they could help service these people. But we do have a problem. I don't think people should be using the downtown library as their shower. And we have built - the city actually built an area so that people could go over and wash their clothes, so they could take a shower. But a problem is that the shelters do close down at 7:00 a.m. with the idea that people should be trying to find a job. Many of them do find jobs. But the bottom line is, we have a growing and a growing population. And I think one of the things we need to do is work with the shelters that are down there and give people a place to stay during the day. We need to really look at the whole homeless - the whole homeless situation again.
Crockett: Let's move on to a question. And I think we've got our first caller on the line now, and that will be Lorraine in Dallas. Hello, Lorraine.
Lorraine: Hello.
Crockett: Hi. Go ahead with your question, please.
Lorraine: Yes, I have a question for all three of the candidates. I'm concerned with our traffic congestion and lack of adequate mass transit. I believe that this is a significant reason that Boeing did not relocate here in Dallas. And I want to ask all three of the candidates what their plan is in the regard of traffic congestion and lack of mass transit.
Crockett: What can the mayor do about that, Mr. Garcia?
Garcia: I think DART ought to be free. I know right now our recovery rate is only 12% in terms of our boxes. What if we made DART free and everybody could get on DART. How many cars will we take off the road? How much more improvement in our air quality will we have if we could get on a DART bus, no matter whether you're in north Dallas or in Oak Cliff, no matter where you were, and you could use it?
Crockett: Who would pay for that if it were free?
Garcia: We pay for it already. We have a half-cent sales tax that goes to pay for DART. We only get a 12% recovery. It just doesn't make sense. Right now our ridership is declining; our revenues are declining; how do we change that? If we make DART free and we let anybody get on a DART bus, we will have less cars on the road; we will have better air quality; we will have a good mass transit system that everybody can use. And that's a problem we'd like to have.
Crockett: Free trains too?
Garcia: Free trains. Free train, that's right.
Crockett: What do you think?
Dunning: Absolutely not. I think that we are really moving in the right direction with DART. I love seeing these DART stations going up and the DART lines going out to the suburbs and going out to far southern Dallas. I think - and what you're starting to see - like at Mockingbird Station - you are seeing whole developments where people can walk to their DART station. And one of my plans is to make sure that is city works where the start DART stations are so that we can develop these areas, so that we can have housing and shops and restaurants around there. This has worked in other cities, and I know it's going to work in Dallas. Now, I did serve on the TX DOT board in 1985 and '86. I know how to get more highway funding to come into the city of Dallas and into this whole Dallas area because I have that kind of experience. And I pledge to the voters that I will do that.
Crockett: Ms. Miller?
Miller: You know, there's two issues here. One, as Tom says, is us getting more federal and state funding for our highway system. And the only way to do that is for the mayor and the city council to be very aggressive and the county government to be very aggressive about getting those funds. The second thing, though, I think, is being better planners at city hall. As an example, the downtown Greyhound bus station is not on top of a DART rail line or a DART bus station, and people get off the buses and they walk blocks in all kinds of weather to get to public transit. And Greyhound has been trying for years to find a way to move their station to a more transit-friendly environment. And those are the kinds of things that Dallas city hall has to champion - helping people move around from getting from a train to a bus, or a bus to a local bus, and city hall can do those things.
Baker: We have an e-mail that asks: I would like the candidates to discuss whether they consider the arts district a priority? Mr. Dunning.
Dunning: Absolutely I do. I think we will have the finest arts district in the country. The Nasher gardens, which is a $60 to $70 million gift from Ray and Patsy Nasher, is something that every major city in the world wanted to have. We're going to be able to - the private sector is going to be able to raise $200 million plus to build what will be the new performing halls in the city. And I would hope that we can put whatever amount that we can afford to put on the next bond issue so that we can complete it, so the people will want to move here because of the arts district. So they'll want to come here as a tourist; so they will want to relocate their companies here because we will have what will be the best arts district in the world. So I totally support it.
Baker: Miss Miller?
Miller: The performing arts center is a very important building. One, because it's a model of public-private partnership, with a private sector is putting in the vast bulk of the money and city hall is coming in to shore up the funding. It's also good because it's not just the opera; it is also going to be a facility for lots of small arts groups, which is very important. And so people from all over the city - from all ethnicities - are very involved in that particular building and getting it done. But I think it's important for us to find a way to connect the arts district to the rest of the city. Right now we have Deep Ellum; we have the Arts District; we have the West End. But we don't have some way to bring all of that together so that people who are in a hotel downtown at a convention can get on a 24/7 bus that goes all around downtown and gets them wherever they want to go whatever the time of the day or night; and that needs to be done.
Baker: So you're supportive of this - of an arts district then?
Miller: Very supportive.
Baker: But we did get an e-mail saying representatives from many arts and arts administration organizations are fearful - this e-mail is directed to you, by the way - that if you are elected mayor, municipal funding for the arts will be severely reduced. Are their fears justified?
Miller: Well, I was one of the champions on the council for restoring the $600,000 in cuts for the arts organizations across the city this past budget year. And because a bunch of us on the council said this wasn't right and this was a very important thing to restore, we did that in our budget. So that's not the case at all.
Baker: Domingo?
Garcia: I think we need to make the arts district fun. The reality is, you know, when you go to Fort Worth and you go downtown, it's fun. You got Sundance Square, you got Bass Center, and it's a fun place to go to. Downtown Dallas does not really have a fun arts district. It's too kind of stuffy. And I believe you ought to have kids have recitals down at the Meyerson. You ought to have ballet and all the other folkloric and everything else down in downtown where everybody uses it, and it becomes sort of a fun place to go and is used 24/7 all the time, and it's something that's open to everybody.
Baker: Is it a mistake to call it an arts district? Maybe an entertainment district or some type of name.
Garcia: I think a combination thereof. An arts entertainment district that has, you know, first class entertainment that comes in from a symphony from Vienna or whatever, but also has, you know, a jazz group come in or a blues group or Tejano group all come in to make the arts district sort of a fun experience for everybody - brings conventioneers there, but also brings people from Dallas in. When is the last time you went, or anybody went, to the DMA? People don't go to the museums in Dallas that are there because we don't make them fun. We need to make them fun again.
Crockett: Let's move on to a question from a caller. And that caller will be John. Hi, John. I think you want to ask about the bond election, right?
John: Not about the school bond election -
Crockett: Okay.
John: But the practice of the city of Dallas in prior administrations has been a virtual embezzlement of bond funds from, say, streets to another use, such as promoting the bridge over to Oak Cliff designed by this Italian fellow or this dike project. I'd like to have the comments on that.
Dunning: Embezzlement?
John: Virtual embezzlement. They'll take money from the streets fund and spend it on something totally unrelated to streets.
Crockett: Well, Mr. Dunning, a lot of people just don't trust the city and how they deal with their money and services.
Dunning: You know, actually, I've not ever heard that. I've never heard people say they don't trust the city. I've heard them say that about some other government agencies, but not about Dallas. And quite frankly, you actually show how much money is going into streets and how much money is going into roads. And you actually spell those out, is my understanding, before they ever go before the public, so the public knows what they are voting for.
Crockett: Well, let's talk about a bond election, because it looks like there is going to be one in the city in 2002. How much money do you think citizens will support? You know, especially with the big school bond package?
Dunning: You know, I think, at least as of today, it looks like Dallas can have around a $200, maybe $225 million bond election without an additional tax.
Crockett: Well, Ms. Miller, is that enough to do all these street repairs you have been talking about?
Miller: No, but I think there is a credibility problem with us at city hall regarding our bond campaigns. You know, we just had a federal judge rule, "Well, if the city allocates money to the Trinity River project but then they change the details of the project and they do something different than what the voters thought they were going to do, that's okay." And that caused some consternation among people. Secondly, I met with a neighborhood group this week, and they said, "Ms. Miller, we had a road in Pleasant Grove that was supposed to have been fixed in the 1985 bond package. And number one, it's never been fixed. And number two, when we go to city hall every year and we beg the staff to tell us where the money is, they say they don't know." Now, 1985 was a long time ago. And people, if they don't get their projects fixed, ought to get a straight answer about where the money is and when their road's going to get fixed.
Crockett: Mr. Garcia?
Garcia: I agree. The city makes promises; the bond money doesn't get there. People have been waiting for their streets and their curbs and gutters since 1985 bond programs. So we do need to make sure that the city manager and the mayor hold the bureaucrats accountable and say, "If you're saying that we're going to pave this street and we're going to fix this road, that we do it." But the major issue here citizen bond program. The reality is $225 million is not going to fix all the potholes Laura promises to fix.
Crockett: You want $1 billion, right?
Garcia: I want to do a billion dollar bond program, and I want to put it to the citizens. I want to let them know, look, it's going to cost money to fix Dallas. For a long time we let it go.
Crockett: Increase taxes too, though.
Garcia: Well, but if you want to smooth our streets, green our parks, and bring our libraries into the 21st century, you're going to have to invest in Dallas. And now it's up to you the voters - do you want to do that? Because rhetoric won't fill potholes either, but dollars will.
Crockett: Can we go back to the Trinity River bond project for just a moment, because President Bush's Office of Management and Budget was very - has been very critical of this project going forward with it as outlined by the city. Did the city council just sort of brazenly disregard the federal government, Mr. Garcia?
Garcia: Well, that's a fairly complicated issue in the sense that you have competing interest both at the federal level, state level, and locally. You know, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has approved money. At the same time, you have another part of the federal government saying they don't like the idea. The bottom line is, we need to turn the Trinity River into like the San Antonio Riverwalk; a place where it unites the city as opposed to divides the city. An area that -
Crockett: So you're for this project as is?
Garcia: As is. I think we need to start getting the dirt flying. We've been talk about this Trinity how long - 100 years - and it's still a basically a ditch in the middle of Dallas that divides us in two. We need to get it done.
Crockett: Mr. Dunning.
Dunning: Well, I concur with what he said is, we do need to get the dirt flying. I think there are people who have honest different viewpoints on how this needs to be accomplished, but we need to get it going forward. I mean - I can't talk today. We do need to move it forward. The idea of having hike and bike trails, the idea of having a lake out there, I think is wonderful. What else it does, it means that we'll be able to have future development on both sides of the Trinity.
Crockett: But you're going to need a lot more money from the federal government. What if in President Bush's new budget coming out in the next month, there is nothing in there for the Trinity?
Dunning: Well, first of all, you saw what happened this last time when his office wanted to cut it back and Congress moved forward and they restored it, led by Senator Hutchison. I believe we had the total support of all the area congresspeople. So the people of Dallas want this, the congressmen and women from Dallas, the U.S. Senator wants it. I think it's time to move forward. The voters have voted on it. I think we need to honor their vote, and I think we need to move forward.
Crockett: Ms. Miller?
Miller: Worst thing you can do on a complicated, expensive project like this is move forward for the sake of speed. I think you move forward and you continue to work to get this project done. But if the building blocks are not in the right way, it will be a loser for everybody. I believe the vote that was taken recently at Dallas city council - that I missed because I wasn't there two weeks ago, because I?m not on the council - to put a concrete levee around a low-income, predominantly Hispanic and African American neighborhood that has been flooding for years, that has been polluted for years from local lead smelters and rendering plants - to put a wall around them, when the majority of those people want to leave that neighborhood, was a mistake. I think we should have been more thoughtful and pursued a buyout plan that in the long run would be cheaper and better for those residents than building a wall around their neighborhood.
Baker: Here's another e-mail: Austin has developed a nationally-recognized green building code, which emphasizes energy-conserving building methods for homes and businesses. The City of Frisco has gone a step further and is implementing them. With rising energy costs and rising air pollution, what is your position on the idea of Dallas adopting similar green building codes? Mr. Dunning?
Dunning: Well, first of all, I'm not sure where Dallas is on this issue. I think anything that we can do to make our environment stronger - that we can reduce any sort of pollutants out there - is a step in the right direction. And I would hope that Dallas would move forward. And I don't know what Austin's done, and I really don't know what Frisco has done. I do know that it has to be - that our environment has to be one of the - environmental issues have to be one of the top issues at city council.
Baker: And isn't this the point at which business comes along and says, "You know, we put in these green building codes and that just means more money, more expense."
Dunning: But, you know, sometimes for Dallas to be the kind of city we want it to be - not only in our lifetime, but in our children's lifetime - we have to be concerned about the environment. And once again, I know that if this is top on the agenda, just like we've had at the airport, we've had to make changes we never thought would have taken place out there because environmental issues are important. The federal government says it is, and I think the city of Dallas needs to make it important.
Baker: Mr. Garcia?
Garcia: I support the greening of Dallas. We ought to plant more trees. We ought to have more parks. The issue is, how do you balance that with the need to develop our business and growth? And I think we can do both. Especially in the southern sector, we have a lot of green areas. I believe we ought to protect as much of those green areas as possible. But let's also build some good-paying jobs; let's also build some middle-class housing there; and let's get this city growing. I think we can reach that balance between having a green city and a growing city.
Baker: Ms. Miller?
Miller: I think people are desperate for us to clean up our act in Dallas. I am amazed at the last three-and-a-half years that I served on the council that we really don't ever have any council discussions about how do we improve our air quality? I mean, we have in Dallas one of the worst air quality problems in the entire country. And about a year and a half ago, when DART was going to buy a whole new fleet of diesel buses - which are the worst thing that you can have if you are a bus transit company, and you're buying diesel buses in the year 2001. I tried to get a city council committee just to pass a resolution that we would like them to reconsider and buy natural gas-fueled buses. And the council was reluctant to do that. But we have got to be more involved in all these issues. We still allow people to water their lawns with clean potable water. That has to change.
Crockett: I'm sorry, we have time for just one more phone call. And that will be Joe in Oak Cliff. Joe, welcome. Go ahead with your question, please.
Joe: Okay, if elected, would you change the council's rules of procedures so that citizens can address the council more frequently on matters affecting their neighborhoods rather than just once a month or 10 times a year?
Crockett: Thanks very much, Joe.
Joe: Thanks.
[Because of space limitations, this transcript is continued in another article. Please click on "January 4, 2002 debate transcript, part 4" under "Related Stories" on this page to continue.]