Faith leaders in the Park Cities are speaking out in support of Dallas Area Rapid Transit as elections to keep the agency running near.
Both Highland Park and University Park have called a May 2 election to let voters decide to stay in or leave DART.
A coalition of interfaith clergy put out a statement this week opposing DART service reductions, saying they would impact public transit users "including people with disabilities, working families, and essential employees who sustain the community.”
The group is "framing the issue as one of civil rights, economic stability and access to worship," said Sharon Nissen, director of communications at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas.
The statement was also signed by clergy at Christ Lutheran Church, St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church and University Park United Methodist Church.
Rev. T.J. Fitzgerald at the First Unitarian Church told KERA some of his church’s major supporters ride DART to services.
“It's a significant loss if these folks cannot get to their places of worship," he said. "It raises questions about access to free exercise or religion in my mind."
About a dozen members of Fitzgerald’s congregation use DART routinely, he said.
“We rely on them for the church to function,” Fitzgerald said.
The statement comes ahead of a DART meeting later this week over potential service changes. The agency has been holding community meetings across the system to outline what would happen if some of its member cities withdraw.
Highland Park and University Park are two of three cities that chose to move forward with DART withdrawal elections this spring.
Leaders in both cities say they're paying too much in sales tax contributions with little return on investment.
University Park councilmember Phil Philbin said in a council meeting in January that DART has "dwindled" services since it first began operating in the city in 1983. He voted to call an election because of the "increasing debt, the lack of proportionality and the competitive disadvantage that membership in DART has caused compared to competitor cities like Frisco and McKinney."
Both cities contributed roughly $6 million in funding while only about $1 million was spent on services in each city, according to a 2023 Ernst and Young report.
If elections are successful, both cities would lose Route 237, the only bus route that runs through the cities, as well as paratransit and on-demand GoLink services.
Addison will also hold its election after city council members rejected a measure to cancel it.
Plano, Irving and Farmers Branch city councils voted last week to rescind their elections.
Fitzgerald said he doesn’t want to tell residents how to vote, but wants them to understand the impact on the community.
“One of the great civil rights moments in human history was when a group of faithful people turned the tide around bussing in Montgomery, Alabama and in that case, all that was being asked was to fix and to change the segregation that was happening on bussing,” Fitzgerald said. “Here, what's facing people in the Park cities is a complete vanishing of a service that is really important.”
The DART meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at the University Park Library.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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