Irving to DART: You Cut, We Quit

Almost since its inception, critics of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board have said that the sheer size of the twenty-five-member board is part of its problem. But until now, no one ever tried to cut the board down to size. Last February, state Rep. Patricia Hill of Dallas introduced a bill to reduce the board to eleven members (six from Dallas, one each from Irving, Garland, and Dallas County, and the other two shared among the remaining suburbs). That same month, the Metroplex Mayors Association, which represents North Dallas cities, came out in favor of a reduced board. In Irving, political leaders jumped up, almost in unison, and screamed, “Not fair!”

Dan Matkin, one of Irving’s two DART board members, says that the bill is a plot by Dallas to wrench control away from Irving and the suburbs. “The object is the control of the board,” Matkin says. “It is much easier to get control of a smaller board. It’s the most dastardly bill I’ve ever seen.”

But John Dodd, mayor of Farmers Branch and chairman of the legislative committee of the Metroplex Mayors Association, supports Hill’s bill, “Special interest groups are less likely to prevail over a smaller board,” he says, “because each city will be watching their shared representative. So there’s more of a checks and balance system. The cities will have to work together and cooperate. Since Addison, Coppell, and Farmers Branch have shared a DART representative and have worked together, we know this works. Irving has never had to do that.”

The opposition in Irving is widespread and firmly rooted in the city’s power structure. Among many others. Robert Power, the city’s other DART board representative, the city council, the chamber of commerce, and former mayor Bobby Joe Raper are vehemently against the bill. Their main concern, they say, is that Irving’s representation will decrease.

Some supporters of the smaller board say that emotion may be overruling logic; less, in this case, is more. Hill says her bill will give the suburbs roughly the same representation they have now. “Irving now has two members,” she says, “and that will go to one, but the board is being reduced by more than half, so their representation is actually increasing.”

One local elected of-ficial says he thinks Irving is throwing up a smoke screen. He says the city will need their two board members, both of whom are powerful speakers, to argue in favor of the proposed rail line to Las Co-linas. He adds that Irving officials may believe they are more likely to get what they want in the greater confusion of a larger board.

As for Dallas, city councilman Jerry Ruck-er says there is not full council support for the board reduction bill. With the current DART board selection process, each Dallas council member chooses one representative. “There are some members who like to think of their appointees as personal representatives,” Rucker says. “These people will not vote for a board reduction. I’m not one of those people.” But, he says, “It’s more of an issue for the suburbs than it is for Dallas.”

Dodd says he doesn’t understand Irving’s objections. He says Irving officials have been repeatedly invited to attend the Metroplex Mayors Association meetings, where they could discuss their concerns with other suburbs, but they haven’t been to one in years. And he points to Piano as the unselfish opposite of Irving. Under the new plan, Piano will lose its representative. But, Dodd says, “They have said that they have no problem with that as long as it helps the whole DART system.”

Although the reasons for Irving’s opposition may not be clear, the fact remains that leaders there are adamantly against Hill’s bill, and the disagreement may boil down to a simple ultimatum: “I think,” Matkin says, “Irving ought to just get out [of DART1 if the bill passes.”