By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – North Texas' two big cities will both have new mayors following May elections. Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Thursday said eight years is enough and he will not seek another term. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is not running for a second term and may become a candidate for the US Senate.
Moncrief was emotional as he thanked city staff for their hard work and recounted achievements.
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Moncrief: We made our businesses and our neighborhoods safer by renewing the crime district. By putting four firefighters on all of our trucks. Southwest Parkway, an expanded I- 35 and dozens of other road, highway and rail projects are either in progress or completed. In very difficult financial times we kept our libraries open and we did so with out increasing the taxes.
SMU political science professor Cal Jillson says it will take the region time to readjust to a power shift in both major cities.
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Jillson: There are always issues Dallas and Fort Worth as well as the mid-cities have to confront together. The Super Bowl over the last week end is an obvious example and you really can't coordinate very well with people that you don't know. It'll take a while for whoever is elected mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth to get their arms around the issues and then find the issues they can coordinate with their counterparts.
The next Fort Worth and Dallas mayors will face limited budgets. Jillson says they'll need excellent people and political skills to be effective.
Amazon Closing Irving Center Over Sales Tax Dispute
Online retail giant Amazon.com will close its Irving distribution center after a dispute with the state over millions in sales taxes owed for online purchases.
The state comptroller's office billed Amazon for some $269 million in unpaid sales taxes for a five year period. An email from the company's vice president reportedly says the center will close April 12 due to Texas' "unfavorable regulatory climate."
A spokesman for the comptroller's office says Texas regrets the loss of jobs, but Alan Spelce says businesses with a physical presence in Texas need to pay their taxes and Amazon shouldn't get preferential treatment.
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Spelce: There's a fairness issue. You've got your have the mom-and-pop shops on the corner that rely on the walk-in business. They feel like there's a disparity between Internet sales and the standard walk-in-business. They feel mistreated. And we tend to agree. We feel like there should be a level playing field.
Amazon has been the target of numerous lawsuits filed by states seeking sales taxes for online purchases.
In an emailed statement Amazon said it had planned to expand in Texas and add 1,000 new jobs. It will offer positions elsewhere to employees willing to relocate.
Blockbuster plans to try to sell itself
Blockbuster Inc. plans to put itself up for sale after a disagreement with its creditors, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The newspaper, citing sources it did not name, says the movie rental chain could not agree with its creditors on a plan to get cash to help it exit bankruptcy protection. The Journal says a bidder could offer more than $300 million for the chain plus assuming debt and leases.
Blockbuster and its lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September and said it would continue to operate its 3,300 stores.
Once the dominant U.S. movie rental chain, the Dallas company lost money for years as Netflix Inc., video on demand and DVD rental kiosks stole business.
Gas prices still increasing in Texas
The cost of gasoline in Texas continues to climb despite declining oil prices and generally flat financial data.
The AAA Texas gasoline survey released Thursday says the average price of fuel in Texas rose 2 cents from last week to $2.97.
The biggest jump was 5 cents in the Fort Worth-Arlington area, which was hit by snow and ice for nearly a week and had thousands of visitors for the Super Bowl. Dallas had the second-largest increase at 3 cents.
Oil analysts tell AAA that political uncertainty in Egypt could be to blame for a 25 cent to 25 cent increase in the wholesale price of gasoline.
The agency says Texas consumers are paying nearly $42 a tank for a typical 14-gallon fill-up, an increase from $35 a year ago.