Skip navigation.
The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

The Holy Trinity Project

For those who don’t live in Dallas proper, all of this hubbub about some road that is to be built along the Trinity River may seem like a bunch of wasted breath and paper. Even within Dallas, many are eager to see an end to the bitter infighting that has resulted from the 1998 referendum to construct the nation’s largest and most beautiful park and recreation area. This billion dollar monster has stuck around, rearing its head in countless hours of cursed deliberation about its effects on the environment, the true intent of the passed referendum, or even the pesky safety implications of building a road inside of a river’s floodplain.

Yet you should have no fear, for the powers that be (led by a very wealthy, former construction company CEO) have seen to it that public efforts to reconsider the Trinity Project will not succeed without a fight. I mean, why should we assume the people’s efforts are legitimate? That’s too easy.

One of the very few things I pride myself in having experience with is petitions. It was actually in the City of Dallas that I was tasked with acquiring nearly 500 signatures of registered voters within a period of about 40 days. Months later when I heard that Councilwoman Angela Hunt was leading an effort to petition the Trinity Toll Road with a required 48,000 signatures in 60 days, I thought she was crazy — and not only that she was crazy, but also doomed to hours of demeaning labor and, ultimately, an embarrassing failure. After all, the mayoral candidate who forced this issue to the forefront and made it his sounding call during the May elections garnered less than 5,500 votes. This, I thought, spelled out certain failure for the petition effort.

But surprise: I was wrong. Angela Hunt and the Trinity Vote people demolished my expectations, and deserve a huge amount of credit for the 80,000 signatures they delivered to City Hall.

Mayor Leppert, however, assumed the most logical explanation was foul play. A day after the City Secretary had verified that the required number of signatures was met, the Mayor’s office submitted “an undisclosed number of the signatures to DA Craig Watkins office for review after noting instances of potential fraud.” Officials from Leppert's office cited similar looking handwriting in many signatures and alleged instances of forgery.

The similar looking handwriting of some signatures and alleged instances of forgery aside, the sheer number of signatures gives me a sense of awe. To put this in perspective, only 71,000 people voted in the Dallas mayor’s race three months ago. So I understand why the staggering numbers may cause disbelief among the petition’s opponents.

But in the news today, we find yet another slice of drama. District Attorney Craig Watkins says he never received any such signatures with fraudulent potential, and is angry that the newspapers knew of the complaint before his office did. From the DMN:

"This to me, on the outset, looks like someone is trying to determine the outcome of this election. It's unfair," Mr. Watkins said.

Regardless of the outcome of the petition review, it is highly unlikely that over 30,000 of the signatures will be deemed fraudulent. When the voters go the polls in November, they will face a tough and ready opposition that has been waiting a decade for the Trinity Project to proceed. But the people of Dallas have spoken loudly and clearly about the need for a vote on the Trinity toll road project; they have 80,000 reasons to be proud. And the people in City Hall who hope to move relentlessly forward with the plan have real reason to fear a nixing of the profitable toll road project.

Leppert can read them and weep

Let's be clear that the Trinity Parkway is only one component of the Trinity Project, of which the vast majority of the Project is a really great idea. But people have issue with this road, and so does Angela Hunt.

The powers that be are probably just trying any lame excuse possible to prevent this vote. They already paid people from other states to harass voters at the polls in May. Now they are disputing signatures.

80,000 people signing a petition does seem plausible to me. It is so much easier to get someone to spend 2 minutes to sign a petition than for them to actually go through the voting process. People are normally scared to vote or simply don't want to vote. Finding their poll location is hard enough. But if someone is offered to sign something in front of a Kroger or at their front door, they will do it!

But yes, you *will* have anomolies because people have moved or people have misdotted their I and miscrossed their T. But I am sure the law office checked every single signature before they submitted it to the City Secretary. And the City Secretary Office only need certify that 48,000 of those 80,000 are valid. I am confident that the Office did their job and checked them. I had to go through the same process as a candidate for Dallas City Council.

I was told by the Dallas Managed News that I was completely and utterly wrong in my view that the Trinity Parkway should be axed in its current form (actually I wasnt told this to my face. It was instead published that way) But guess what folks? 79,999 other people agreed with me that it should at the very least be put to a vote! Putting a 6 lane high speed tollroad inside a levee is assinine. And they know it.

related to infrastructure

I heard on NPR, as I am sure on other sources, the Department of Homeland Security statement that dismissed terrorist involvement with the unfortunate collapse of the I 35 W bridge span in Minneapolis. It seems to me that had billions of dollars, either real or represented as long term debt, not been committed to needless war, it could have been spent on shoring up infrastructure. I find the DHS statement somewhat ironic. Another win for "the terrorists" and loss for the good old USofA, i.e. homeland. I am troubled though by the proposed Trinity River floodplain project and hope my neighbors to the south see the proverbial light to that end.

Democratically yours
Mark Coomes
http://markcoomes.com

Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur...
Abreuve nos sillons!

Shenanigans!

Dallas Blog calls shenanigans on the Leppert ploy, and actually praises DA Craig Watkins.

Hmm

I can't seem to get that to load.

It works

Dallas Blog acts funny sometimes (they're GOP bloggers) but it's working. If not, it's on their main page too today.

Syndicate content