THE DALLAS TASTE TEST

Few astute observers of Dallas history would argue that the city got where it is today because of its leaders, John Stemmons, Bob Cul-lum, R.L. Thornton and a handful of others. But while Dallas history may be rich with heroes, it appears that the Eighties may be the era of the power vacuum.

In a recent public opinion poll, D Magazine asked a cross section of 120 people in all parts of the city several questions, including “Who do you most admire in Dallas?” A surprising 60 respondents answered “No one.” The most-admired person in the poll was developer Trammell Crow (10 votes), followed by Tom Landry (6), Mayor Jack Evans and former mayor Eric Jonsson (4 each) and Ross Perot (3). A host of people got one vote, including Chip Moody, Stanley Marcus, Dick Motta, Martin Frost, Iola Johnson, Danny White and Roger Staubach.

We also asked Dallasites to fork over the names of their favorite restaurants. The responses ranged from Red Lobster to The French Room, with just about everything in between. The winning restaurant was Calluaud, with nine votes out of 120 cast.

Next we asked if the City Council was doing a good job and the response was yes, 44; no, 39; and don’t know, 37. We also asked if Jack Evans was properly filling the mayoral shoes. That response was yes, 55; no, 36; and don’t know, 29.

Also in our survey, we asked the question “What’s the best newspaper in town?” -a puzzle two giant corporations are spending millions to answer. Result: The Dallas Morning News, 59; Times Herald, 39; “don’t know,” 11; “there is no good newspaper in Dallas,” 5; no answer, 6.

When asked “What’s the biggest problem Dallas will face in the next decade?”, the annoyed response was “traffic, traffic and traffic”, in that order. As one man put it, “There’s too much damned building, and no way to get there.”

And after traffic is put to rest, city trouble-shooters can begin working on some other weak spots in this order of the public’s preference: minority unrest, crime, unemployment and public education. One pessimist wasn’t quite as specific; he claimed that simple self-preservation will be our biggest challenge.