The hot-sheet motels across from Veterans Hospital will be torn down and a job training center with office space will be built in its place. The Urban League and City Wide CDC are partnering up to bring this great development to South Oak Cliff. When Dwaine Caraway, Bishop McGriff and the Church of the Living God, the Urban League, and I worked to close the Sunset Motel and the Southern Comfort motel, this was what we had in mind. The goal was to rid the community of blight and crime havens and to have positive things in its place. As you know, the first motel the Dwaine and I helped to shut down in South Dallas has been demolished and a community/health center is being built. Thank you to the Mayor and City Council for making this a unanimous vote.
People that are stopped for traffic violations and do not have insurance will be towed. This is a significant step in Dallas, and this has already happened in other major cities. In this issue, I look at it as protecting the single Mom with kids that has her car totaled when she's hit by an uninsured driver. There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue, but as it has in other large cities this will be proven to be a good thing as time goes on. Even though I'm on the younger side, our liability insurance costs $220 for 6 months, which is $36-37 per month (about $1.20 per day). That's much cheaper than the ticket.
The towing vote was 10-5 as follows:
Voting for it: Mayor Tom Leppert, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and council members Sheffie Kadane, Linda Koop, Mitchell Rasansky, Carolyn Davis, Ron Natinsky, Dave Neumann, Angela Hunt and Jerry Allen.
Voting against: Mayor Pro Tem Garcia, and council members Salazar, Medrano, Atkins, and Hill
Larry James, John Greenan, and CDM got more funding for their Citywalk project. I have written about this project in the past, and it will be a great step in ending chronic homelessness in Dallas.
Dallas' scrap metal ordinances were strengthened yesterday. We must combat this plague and place as many roadblocks as we can in this insidious practice that is severely impacting our neighborhoods, and we don't need to wait for other cities or counties to toughen up to do so.
The St. Regis hotel/condo project was approved. This $200 million+ development (with no tax abatements) will add needed property taxes to the city once its completed.
All in all, it was a great day at City Hall and a great day for Dallas.
3 comments:
Michael, what is your take on the new DART appointment?
Nathan, I have chosen to show class and take the high road in the issue despite the lies and threats being floated about me. City officials like myself have city attorneys and others that will protect us against character assassinations, libelous statements, and threats made to our person.
I will say that Dr. Williams has been a part of the Dallas community and a service provider to low-income citizens for decades. He will provide a measured, steady voice and has a willingness to work with the entire city council to represent Dallas. And gasp, he actually USES DART on a regular basis so maybe he has an idea of the issues DART riders face on a daily basis. Everybody knows that we have to address the deficit, but people are still riding DART in the meantime and rarely are their issues addressed.
Dr. Williams may not be a part of the "banquet circles" of which some deem membership is necessary to be on a board, but that doesn't mean he won't be a great representative. He didn't do anything to anybody, and he deserves the opportunity to represent our city.
Thanks for your support, Michael. We appreciate you!
Jeremy Gregg, Director of Development
www.CentralDallasMinistries.org
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