Goals for Dallas, or: A Look Back at When a Mayor Dreamed The Possible Dreams

While we await confirmations and return calls, let's take a look at this short film I just found (again) featuring one John Erik Jonsson and, specifically, the former mayor's creation of something called Goals for Dallas, which I really never knew much about till coming across a copy of a...

By Robert Wilonsky

March 16, 2011

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

While we await confirmations and return calls, let's take a look at this short film I just found (again) featuring one John Erik Jonsson and, specifically, the former mayor's creation of something called Goals for Dallas, which I really never knew much about till coming across a copy of a close-to-400-page 1982 tome called, well, Goals for Dallas: The Possible Dreams at the Half Price mothership Monday night. (I paid $5.98 for a book someone bought from Cokesbury for $5, hunh.)

Turns out, it dates back to '64 and stayed on life support till the early '80s, at which point ... that, as they say, was that. I did a little more digging, found a case of related docs in the James Pratt Collection at the downtown library and a 1985 paper on the subject written for Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, for which I just paid $3.95.

So far, the tome's an intriguing read, what with its references to "the lack of perception of teachers as professionals" and its call to create "a revitalized central business district and inner-city neighborhoods" and turn the Trinity River into Town Lake "between the I-45 bridges and the Sylvan Bridge" and the inclusion of Pauline Medrano as a member of the Public Safety Committee. Timeless literature, in short. I've scanned the introduction and cover, which you'll find on the other side. More to come? What -- you new around here?

Goals for Dallas

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.