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On Passion and Public Debate Spurred by DART and DISD
By Ruth Miller Fitzgibbons |

If the highest purpose of a city magazine is to shape public debate, then rarely has that purpose been more vigorously served than in the aftermath of our May issue. Our analysis of the DART rail question-and our conclusion that the high cost of a rail system can’t be justified by the value-reignited a fiery debate that some had presumed resolved when two prestigious business organizations-the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the Dallas Citizens Council-voted overwhelmingly to support DART in its effort to secure long-term debt. Passions are running high on both sides. As I have said before, I believe that such public discourse is illuminating and indicative of a maturing community.

But for those who have wrestled with this region’s future transportation needs-people like John Tatum, Walt Humann, and Adlene Harrison-these are frustrating times. Literally thousands of volunteer hours have been donated by these citizens and others in an effort to gaze into Dallas’s future and overlay it with a workable transportation plan. It should be noted that the element of the plan with which we take exception-DART’s proposed ninety-three miles of rail-is but one cog in a $12 billion regional transportation wheel that includes enhanced bus service, improvements to highways and roadways, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and traffic management goals.

After our airing last month of the reasons we think a rail plan for Dallas is a bad idea, dozens of rail supporters responded, as did many opponents; I urge you to read the diverse and vehement responses on pages 11 and 12.

Transit issues are overwhelmingly complex. They must marry hard solutions to soft trend lines involving demographics, economics, and in a very real sense, politics. Decisions must be projected onto a model that extends ten, twenty, fifty years hence. And no one can anticipate Dallas’s future with absolute clarity. Some wear futuristic lenses and envision a population weaned from the automobile by a depleted oil supply and more pedestrian-oriented patterns of urban growth. One can project from this vision a revitalized inner city with Dallas’s older neighborhoods-downtown, South Dallas, Oak Cliff, East Dallas, Oak Lawn-reborn as twenty-four-hour communities where many people choose to live, play, and shop, as well as work.

Others see a different vision-one that continues patterns of urban sprawl that have existed in this region since World War II. Rather than a vibrant inner city, they see loosely woven residential and business communities far removed from downtown-neighborhoods planned and designed to be traversed by the almighty automobile.

Which vision is correct? Unfortunately for the purposes of this debate, only our grandchildren will know for sure. D will continue to examine and reexamine these and other issues that form the mold for future growth.

As daunting as our transportation problems are, I believe that as a community, we tend to focus more readily on our physical infrastructure needs than our human ones. There are equally pressing problems that should be galvanizing debate. Foremost among them is education.

This month, new superintendent Dr. Marvin Edwards moves in to reevaluate, reconsider, and reen-vision the system. He is being embraced, it appears, with willing hearts and open minds.

It is unfortunate that Edwards’s arrival follows so closely on the heels of a bitter battle among members of the DISD school board. In late April, the board voted to adopt a time line for considering a petition asking Judge Barefoot Sanders to declare “unitary status. ” Should the board decide to take the step, it would mean the beginning of extrication from court jurisdiction over the desegregation of DISD. Whether or not the Dallas school system is ready to administer desegregation policies on its own, free of court supervision, is a politically charged issue that, not surprisingly, tends to follow racial lines. The vote was preceded by two hours of histrionic debate and emotional input from the mostly black audience. The “no” votes came from the three black trustees-Yvonne Ewell, Kathlyn Gilliam, and Thomas Jones.

Despite cries to the contrary, unitary status is not about racism, or desegregation, or even compliance with the court order. It’s about healing-the healing of wounds that developed because for many years, poor black and Hispanic children were neglected by a separate but unequal system. But those poor black and Hispanic (and white, for that matter) children are not being neglected now. The district is spending an average of $2, 000 to $3, 000 more per child to educate those kids than it is to educate their more affluent brethren across town. I believe that is just. I have little tolerance for those who cry reverse discrimination. But wouldn’t the programs that are in place, and a host of new ones that could be managed creatively by a united board and a new administration, be better served if the DISD got out of court? Wouldn’t the enormous sums of money that are being spent on legal fees be better applied directly to the kids? Shouldn’t we allow Marvin Edwards the freedom to redesign the system without one arm tied behind his back?

Nothing before us is more important than raising levels of expectation and achievement for every child in Dallas. Our economic survival depends upon a skilled and literate work force. Our safety depends upon kids who believe in their future.

Both the vigorous support for the DART referendum, and the vocal opposition to it, are clear signals that Dallas citizens will still take the time to study the issues, then put their reputations on the line for what they believe. Perhaps that same energy will soon be directed toward our schools. No matter what the outcome of the DART vote on June 25, passion is a positive sign that we are alive and well.

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