After this morning's city council inauguration, Angela Hunt celebrated her third term with a lunch at the Stoneleigh Hotel, where approximately 100 invited guests watched her open a copy of today's Dallas Morning News. She read from Dave Levinthal's article about the council members' voting habits, and the crowd applauded as Hunt said she's dead last among her colleagues by voting on the winning side just 45.5 percent of the time.
Even more applause and a bow from Hunt followed when she added that she's also last at only 38.5 percent when voting on the same side as Mayor Tom Leppert. Of course, these numbers only represent roll call votes, which don't happen frequently, but they're telling nonetheless.
Highlighting the guest list were former council members Sandy Greyson, John Loza and Mitchell Rasansky and current council members Jerry Allen, Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso. Atkins stressed that Hunt's voting record is not an indication of her ability to play nice with others, and then he instructed everyone to stand up for a toast.
Predictably, Hunt's comments moved quickly to the Trinity River Corridor Project, as she reiterated her Plan B to move forward with the levee improvements, Project Pegasus and improvements to S.M. Wright Freeway without the toll road.
"This project is best when it's focused on levee and safety improvements. It's best when it's focused on recreation and creating those gorgeous lakes," she said. "It's not so good when we're talking about putting millions and millions of tons of concrete in the middle of our floodway -- that's when it's not so good. And apparently the corps of engineers is a little more concerned about the safety of our floodway."
And the afternoon wouldn't have been complete without a shot at Leppert, as she cited comments from the inauguration implying those "not in love" with the toll road or financing for the hotel are "anti-Dallas."
"Loving this town means looking at every issue carefully and smartly and recognizing what it's gonna mean not just to our generation but to their children," she said.
Hunt also said she respected everyone's thoughts and opinions on the city's budget deficit and urged everyone to e-mail her any ideas because it's a "tough budget year."
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