By Shelley Kofler
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-647240.mp3
Dallas, TX –
After months of confrontation and debate leaders of both sides on the Trinity Toll Road vote say they want to work together to build the best road and park possible. Toll road supporters claimed 53 percent of the vote compared to 47 percent for those opposed to a toll road in the park.
Standing symbolically near the path of the planned Trinity toll road, surrounded by a majority of Dallas councilmembers, Mayor Tom Leppert, extended an olive branch to Councilwoman Angela Hunt. He lead the effort to keep the planned toll road in the park. She lead the fight to kill it.
Leppert
I think we need to be a team and I want Angela to be a part of that team. We've got to get beyond these campaigns and that means being focused on working together."
In return Hunt says voters have spoken, and she's ready to work with all others on the council who disagreed with her position. But she wants to make sure promises made by road supporters are kept. Those promised include not raising taxes to build the road and the creation of jobs.
Hunt: "There was a promise this toll road would create 36,000 permanent jobs in the Southern Sector. We need to watch and make sure that happens.
Leppert acknowledged there are still big challenges to meet, including federal environmental approval, and an economic feasibility study. As KERA recently reported the North Texas Tollway Authority which has agreed to build the toll road says the latest financial study seven years ago found that tolls on the new road would only generate between 4o and 50 percent of it's cost.
Shelley Kofler KERA News