A politically minded FBvian familiar with southern Dallas economy says that Her Honor is busy at work undermining a Business Assistance Center, an important development engine. Details in the jump.
Laura Miller doesn’t want a Business Assistance Center in the Southern Sector. The Business Assistance Center (BAC) #5 is currently in Oak Cliff. They have a plan to expand and buy land and build a center that will provide job training, business coaching and consulting, and job placement. The new center will be located at I-35 & Wheatland road, in the heart of the Southern Sector.
The Community Development Commission (CDC, a Council-appointed board) agreed to help fund the project in the amount of $225,000 since it is sorely needed as provide essential services that are needed in the Southern Sector.
This is an $800,000+ project. Most of the funding came from foundations, private investments and donations. The funders include esteemed groups like the Hoblitzelle foundation. The CDC’s money is a one-time investment that will leverage almost three times as much funding from other sources.
The BAC worked tirelessly to pull in as much funding as they could, but he needed assistance to fund the project. The CDC Board worked to pull the funds from different areas to support the project.
We just learned that behind the scenes and in secret, Laura Miller is trying to kill the project. She has called the BACs references behind their back, made a big stir among a bunch of people, and had the nerve to put it on the Council agenda to try to kill it. She also waited until the last minute to put it on the Council Addendum which very few people read.
This is one more example of Mayor Miller not caring about the Southern Sector. It’s a perfect example of the two faces of LM. In public she claims that she supports good projects, community development, blah blah blah. In secret, she’s trying to kill any project that she doesn’t like.
The operator of the BAC has a proven success record with CDBG funds and is truly the type of project that we seek to assist. It follows the intent of our resolution (June 2002) to support economic development in the community. The BAC had dozens of recommendations from banks, foundations, and other community groups. There is no reason that she should do anything to stop the project. I hope the Southern Sector remembers this when it’s time to vote in 2007.
I now understand why businesspeople in North Dallas don’t want LM to be re-elected. When she says that she supports the southern sector, I will think about this project and how she tried to derail it for no good reason.
