-
SUE 10/24/2007 11:18:00 PM
Quite possibly the most interesting and transparent article written about the Trinity River project. I'm voting for a "YES" of course, and I'll be sure to tell my friends and family in Dallas to go and vote for a "YES" as well. I had NO IDEA about any toll road idea until today. I ALWAYS thought it was going to be turned into a park. How naive of me. Now, I have to power to fight back. Thank you for the integrity of this article.
-
pretzel 10/24/2007 10:38:00 PM
the smearing continues. hey, if you can't refute Schutze's facts, why not try to muddy the waters by linking him to underage porn? brilliant swiftboating, really.
-
George A. 10/24/2007 8:29:00 PM
I was having a heated discussion with someone one day about their toll road in our park. I believe their should be no toll road in between the levees. I suggested to the person that if she wants a toll road to relieve traffic, she has two options 1)Start taking public transit 2) car pool.
-
Tucker Willis 10/23/2007 6:35:00 AM
Mr. Malouf: The proposed tollroad doesn�t run through the middle of the proposed Park, it is over and up on the side. And the interesting thing about the NTTA design is that there aren�t the �giant columns coming out of the ground� that hold up bridges, but rather it is built on an earthen base next to the top of the levee.
You are certainly correct, I-35 doesn�t run down the middle of the Zoo, only beside it. However, I-35 does run down the middle of the proposed Trinity Park to the tune of 181,000 average vehicles per day. In addition I-30 runs down the middle of the Park to the tune of 151,000 per day. Those two equal 332,000 per day. Now, how many vehicles do we add for the other 8 bridges through the Park? How �bout 40,000? Now we�re up to around 375,000 as of today. When the Woodall Rogers bridge is completed the Continental Bridge will be made a footbridge. The current traffic count on Woodall Rogers is 164,000. How many tens of thousands of those vehicles will cross the Park on the new Margaret Hill Bridge to connect to Singleton Blvd. to access North Oak Cliff and West Dallas?--reasonable to say, maybe 25,000? So there will then be around 400,000 vehicles per day crossing over and through the Park. That doesn�t count the two RR tracks�at least DART doesn�t use diesel, but Union Pacific does.
When you�re in the new Park are you going to wear a baseball cap so you can�t glance up a hundred or so feet and �see cars and trucks zooming by�? You won�t need the cap for the tollroad because it will be hundreds of yards away. And be careful you don�t bump into any of those hundreds of giant columns holding up the 13, soon to be 14, bridges in the Park.
TrinityVoteYes has as a slogan �Keep their tollroad out of our park.� Shouldn�t that be revised to �Keep their tollroad and get their Interstates out of our park.�? You don�t mind suggesting that the taxpayers pony up another billion or so for right of way to put the tollroad along Industrial. Where are you going to relocate I-30 and I-35 and how much is it going to cost to get those highways out of our park?
-
L 10/23/2007 6:02:00 AM
The public is watching this "David vs. Goliath" issue to see if regular citizens can truly win. All of these "signature" projects in N. Texas are following the same playbook--from capitalizing on fear of crime and frustration with traffic problems to using the same glitzy brochures that mislead and downright lie to the voting public. The regional backlash against the Trinity Tollroad Project stems from citizens watching millions being spent and wasted on the TransTexas Corridor, the Ft. Worth Trinity Vision, the Arlington Cowboys stadium, private tollroads, etc.
I have one question: Are the supporters of the Trinity Toll Road the same people who have lobbied to get Gov. Perry's TransTexas Corridor Tollroad brought INTO Dallas instead of being routed east of Dallas? Instead of steering truck/car traffic away from Dallas and if the TTC is built, it will bring MORE traffic through the Metroplex. You can't have it both ways and argue for traffic to come into Dallas and then for traffic relief inside Dallas. Jim Schutze is correct when he says that traffic that is not doing business in Dallas should be diverted around Dallas.
-
Michael Malouf 10/23/2007 12:11:00 AM
Mr. Willis: Yes, recreation and transportation exist within the same city, but it doesn't follow that we HAVE to put highways in the middle of recreational areas. The Zoo doesn't have I-35 running down the middle of it. When you are in the Zoo, you don't see cars and trucks zooming by. When you are in Glencoe Park (by Central), you don't have the visual distraction of thousands of cars. The Nasher built walls to hide the traffic! In the Trinity, you couldn't avoid seeing the toll road slashed through the park. We're not fooled by watercolors that show 6 cars on this toll road, as if it were a glorified residential street. You can't cover the giant columns coming out of the ground that support the proposed toll road, and I don't trust the NTTA to do enough natural screening and maintain it year after year that would provide any kind of visual screen.
When a toll road takes 10 years to engineer and design, and is still 2 years away from any finalized plans, doesn't common sense tell you that someone is trying to put a round peg in a square hole?
-
Tucker Willis 10/22/2007 10:16:00 PM
Mr. Malouf: May I point out that there exist 13 bridges, and the new Woodall Rogers will make it 14, that cross the park area carrying cars and trains. The I-30 bridge, which is on top of the proposed Urban Lake, has an average traffic count of 151,000. The I-35 bridge, which is on top of the proposed Natural Lake, has a count of 181,000.
Central Expwy carries around 250,000, so the estimate for the Trinity Parkway is about 40% of that.
Transportation and recreation co-exist in a city--they are always competing necessities. The Zoo is along south Thornton, Old City Park is along central Thornton, Griggs Park is along Central, the Nasher Sculpture Garden and the Dallas Museum of Art are along Woodall Rogers, Reverchon Park is along the North Tollway as are Craddock Park and Germany Park. I am sure you can think of many more examples.
I live near Love Field, you live near Central, others live near RR tracks--three different types of transportation.
-
brian king 10/22/2007 8:46:00 PM
I love it. You hit 'em where it hurts, and from Rodrigue's column, they are screaming bloody murder. A few more columns like this, and we should be able to stop this bloody wound being slashed through the heart of our city. We want our park, not a highway. In spite of what the Dallas Morning News and its vested interest say, we voted for a park and, dammit, a park we are going to get. Hooray, I never felt Belo would ever take the Observer seriously. Mark this day down on your calendar as the day a line was crossed, and the newspaper war began in earnest.
-
Mike Olvera 10/22/2007 8:02:00 AM
Thanks Jim. I am (apologetically) late to this issue but your writings are invaluable in helping me get up to speed. Appreciate your passion for this issue.
-
Michael Malouf 10/22/2007 5:39:00 AM
And, by the way, transportation studies have shown that there is not enough land in this country to build congestion free highways. Tom Leppert, like the whole city council save Angela Hunt, is old school, think-inside-the-box: forget DISCOURAGING traffic, let's only ENCOURAGE it!
-
Michael Malouf 10/22/2007 5:26:00 AM
When you say "giving up", do you mean what's the big deal about 76 acres? It's not just a number game, that's why. That 76 acres is spread out the length of the park, so it has an impact on a lot of the remaining park acreage. I live 2 blocks from Central Expwy in the M Streets and at night I can still hear the faint sounds of cars. If this toll road is placed in the park, that 76 acres will be high impact noise and air pollution spread the length and breadth of the park. I realize when you say it's "only" 76 acres, that might sound innocuous, and this is the kind of deception the pro-toll road people like to propagate, along with pastoral watercolors of a toll road (with only 6 cars) that almost looks like it grew out of the ground.
-
Michael Malouf 10/22/2007 5:26:00 AM
When you say "giving up", do you mean what's the big deal about 76 acres? It's not just a number game, that's why. That 76 acres is spread out the length of the park, so it has an impact on a lot of the remaining park acreage. I live 2 blocks from Central Expwy in the M Streets and at night I can still hear the faint sounds of cars. If this toll road is placed in the park, that 76 acres will be high impact noise and air pollution spread the length and breadth of the park. I realize when you say it's "only" 76 acres, that might sound innocuous, and this is the kind of deception the pro-toll road people like to propagate, along with pastoral watercolors of a toll road (with only 6 cars) that almost looks like it grew out of the ground.
-
Tucker Willis 10/21/2007 2:22:00 AM
I think what Ms. Hunt (she's my council rep) has achieved is a lesson in political organization and fortitude. I truly commend her for that. What she doesn't talk about and what Schutze doesn't discuss is exactly what is going to go on in the park, what are the amenities?--I mean in addition to a 60 and 80 acre lake (compare Bachman at 205 and White Rock at 1,015)and a water course. In that it is a floodway, other than walking and jogging trails and meadow land (the 22 field soccer complex will be built upstream), which are excellent, not too much else can happen, and no structures, limited landscaping. In the Vote Yes mailing piece I just received there is a photo of the river up from levee to levee. That's what the park will look like at such a time--totally under water. The statistics I have read estimate the downtown park area at 2,000 acres and the toll road using 76 of these. It's hard for me to understand what we're giving up.
-
Michael Malouf 10/19/2007 5:09:00 PM
TO COLIN:
It's a matter of ignorance to believe that "we" have held up progress. In fact, it's the toll road that has held everything up these 10 years. The toll road cannot be approved until the NTTA finalizes its plans, which it has not yet. The NTTA is TWO YEARS away from finalizing plans, so nothing can be decided regarind the toll road until 2009, as it stands. SO, IN FACT, THE TOLL ROAD HAS HELD EVERYTHING UP. Get your facts straight before you accuse.
MUFFIN MAN: I think the idea of a toll is moot when you can't exceed 35 MPH, and the road will have ingresses into the park to enjoy park activities. No one is going to pay to meander through the park at low speeds. Hope that helps answer your question.
-
Colin 10/19/2007 4:07:00 PM
Your an idiot. I knew when i voted in 1998 that there were plans for a toll way. your trying to make it appear like it was hidden in the wording. Its people like your self that have been holding this up and wasting the tax payers money.
-
muffin man fan 10/19/2007 5:04:00 AM
Great article, Jim. Keep it up!
BUT... how does the proposed ordinance prevent a toll road? I know the slogan is "Keep their toll roads out of our park," but as far as I can tell it only limits the speed and the number of lanes. It doesn't say anything about prohibiting toll collection. What am I missing?
Anyone?
-
Wick Olson 10/19/2007 1:56:00 AM
What are all you guys Jim Schutze' picadores? Why can't he answer the question? He comes across as the city watchdog for some stupid bridge / road, but somehow turns a blind eye to the question of juvenille prostitution?
Get a grip...
-
Michael Malouf 10/18/2007 11:21:00 PM
Hey, maybe "Wick Olson" is a pseudonym for Wick Allison. Hmmmm..
Jim, you've done an extraordinary job. Without you, we wouldn't have made the progress we've made. Your intelligence and writing skills have combined to contribute greatly to the momentum.
The first debate I attended was between Angela and Tom Leppert at the Rosemont Primary School. Tom Leppert's opening statement was, "If Dallas gets this toll road in the Trinity, it will be the nation's greatest city." He's a klutz with words and ideas. I love the reference to the City Councilmembers as "summer help". That's giving them too much credit.
VOTE YES! IN THE NOV. 6 REFERENDUM.
-
Michael Malouf 10/18/2007 11:20:00 PM
Hey, maybe "Wick Olson" is a pseudonym for Wick Allison. Hmmmm..
Jim, you've done an extraordinary job. Without you, we wouldn't have made the progress we've made. Your intelligence and writing skills have combined to contribute greatly to the momentum.
The first debate I attended was between Angela and Tom Leppert at the Rosemont Primary School. Tom Leppert's opening statement was, "If Dallas gets this toll road in the Trinity, it will be the nation's greatest city." He's a klutz with words and ideas. I love the reference to the City Councilmembers as "summer help". That's giving them too much credit.
VOTE YES! IN THE NOV. 6 REFERENDUM.
-
Ray Miller 10/18/2007 6:48:00 PM
Jim, thank you for your work in this area, following your stories over the past few years have been informative and entertaining. If I were able to vote in November I would be voting "yes". Somewhere in your past you must have received a decoder ring from Ovaltine.
-
Scott 10/18/2007 5:58:00 PM
"I thought I'd heard it all but I actually heard a rap song about this issue yesterday. Whats next? Mariachi Mexican street bands selling a toll-road to Dallas' Hispanic voters?"
I don't know about street bands but there are supposedly a lot of envelopes filled with cash flowing through South Dallas churches with buses being chartered to take people to the polls.
-
Rafael Rodriguez 10/18/2007 4:13:00 PM
Jim Schutze and Sam Merten are Dallas' version of the famous Watergate reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Their coverage of the Trinity River Toll Road issue has brought to light many areas of concern related to the development of the Trinity River Project.
Dallas' voters have a second chance to address this issue, I hope toll road backers realize the reality of this and embrace the opportunity both sides now have to simply state their case and allow democracy to play itself out. I understand how former councilman Craig Holcomb must feel at this time. Having to present your case before Dallas' voters for a second time with a backdrop of embarrassing news reports of FBI Dallas City Hall corruption indictments, published news coverage and articles exposing unethical and biased actions related to the upcoming Trinity River Project Referendum Vote on November 6th originating inside the offices of the Dallas City Manager's office, and the distasteful growing disclosure of toll road backers continually use of the word PARKWAY to describe what really is a TURNPIKE with 55 mile per hour traffic filled with huge cargo trucks alongside a tranquil setting of parks and open space is a tough job to sell twice to Dallas' voters.
I thought I'd heard it all but I actually heard a rap song about this issue yesterday. Whats next? Mariachi Mexican street bands selling a toll-road to Dallas' Hispanic voters?
-
Bill Cosby 10/18/2007 7:56:00 AM
The comment above has no relevance to what Jim is articulating. Oh, by the way how do you know about the adult section anyway?
-
Wick Olson 10/18/2007 4:58:00 AM
Jim,Does the Dallas Observer verify the ages of the girls displayed in the adult services section of the Dallas Observer ? If so may we see them?
I have asked you numerous times and no answer.
Can you answer this question or not?
I would think as a writer you would not want your ink paid for with the back of a child? But then again your standards are not really that high are they?
