By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Today's anticipated fireworks at Dallas City Hall over a no-bid, multi-million dollar concession contract at Love Field were doused by an agreement to delay a vote until August.
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, leading the push to open the contracts to competitive bid, instructed city staff to come back in August with a number of alternatives.
A proposal to extend the current minority concessionaires contracts 12 to 15 years was on the table for a vote. It had the support of the seven minority council members, and several local black and Hispanic leaders.
No Tax Break For Dallas Senior Citizens
Dallas Senior Citizens will forgo a break on their property taxes again this year. Last year, the City Council delayed a promissed increase in the property tax homestead exemption for seniors because of budget shortfalls.
Councilman Steve Salazar argued the city should keep its promise and find the 2.6 million dollars to fund the tax break.
Other council members were sympathetic, but said a tax break in difficult budget times would not be the right thing to do. The city is working to fill a 130 million dollar budget shortfall.
The final budget vote comes in September.
DART Light Rail Delays Affect More Than Transit
DART's budget problems and indefinite delay of light rail projects are a double whammy for Dallas. City Council Transportation Committee Chair Linda Koop says the impact goes beyond traffic gridlock. She says it affects air quality, too.
Koop says the decrease in road traffic and car emissions anticipated by the expanded rail service is part of the region's plan to meet clean air standards by 2012.
Koop says she's not sure how many clean air credits Dallas will lose because of the construction delays.
Cuban response to Perot Jr. lawsuit
Mark Cuban is defending his decade as majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks and rejects calls by minority owner Ross Perot Jr. that a court-appointed receiver be named to run the NBA team.
Cuban on Tuesday, in a court filing, responded to a May lawsuit filed by Perot that alleged the Mavs were insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency.
Perot's lawsuit puts his Hillwood Investment Properties III Ltd. against Cuban-controlled Radical Mavericks Management LLC. Perot in 2000 sold his majority stake in the team to Cuban, but still holds 5 percent.
Cuban maintains Perot is wrongly seeking money to offset some $100 million in losses on the Victory Park real estate development. Perot spokesman Eddie Reeves said his boss had no comment on Cuban's filing.