"Guilty," by Sam Merten and Jim Schutze,October 15
The Price of Payoffs
Who's forcing white people to pay off minorities? That's just ridiculous. Everybody has a choice. Politicians have a choice to act in the best interests of themselves or the best interests of their constituents. Southern Dallas voters have a choice: They can vote for politicians that act in their own self-interest or vote for politicians that act in the best interest of their constituents. White people have a choice to "pay off minorities" or to tell minorities that seek payments from white people to go to hell. Minorities have a choice: They can be part of the solution, or they can continue seeking those payments.
At the end of the day, there is something that we all need to understand. Those seeking payments and those paying them would have you believe that they are the only two parties in the transaction, but the rest of us are in the transaction too. Every time society looks the other way as payments get made, the problem gets worse. It results in one more project that fails because the people working on it really don't have the skills to do the work. It's one more developer whose project folds because he won't pay and no one will support him in standing up to the system. It's one more South Dallas parent who has to find a job an hour away from home. It's one more South Dallas child who doesn't get to see his or her parent that night because Mom or Dad had to work late, and by the time they got done with their commute, the child was already in bed. We all pay in the extra gas that we have to spend to drive someplace else for jobs, in the tenuous relationships with our family members because we don't get to see them during the week, in poor grades at school for children because Mom and Dad aren't there to help, in higher taxes in North Dallas to support services in South Dallas.
Who is benefiting from this system of whites paying minorities? We know it is not the majority of the minority contractors because they are not the ones who are getting the great contracts. We know it is not the majority of the white contractors or developers because they are the ones who are being harassed to make these payments. We know it is not the citizens of South Dallas who lack basic services, and we know it is not the citizens of North Dallas who are paying the lion's share of the taxes for these services.
So, who benefits from this system? Who are the contractors and consultants that say they are helping when in fact they are not? Who are the politicians that say that they are helping to make things better, when in fact things have not changed or they have gotten worse? Why do citizens in the region take a fatalistic approach and appear to accept that there is only one way to do business in South Dallas, especially when that one way hasn't brought a successful change to the area?
Anonymous from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
Your summary of the situation seems right on to me after living in Dallas for some time and then following the politics closely. Do you think that paying everyone a living wage would dramatically change the balance of power, or is that way of doing business too ingrained in the rich power brokers and the South Dallas politicians? Nibbling at the edges of the problems isn't going to make much of a difference in behavior, I'll bet. What is your idea of changing the milieu where these values on both sides flourish?
Rain39 from McKinney, via dallasobserver.com
I am so glad to hear they are all getting convicted. I am so tired of the higher-ups, if you will, getting their cake and eating it too. I hope this opens the eyes of everyone else who is trying to cheat Dallas, including all us taxpayers!
Rhonda from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
Buzz, by Jim Schutze, October 15
SF Treat vs. Dallas Heat
Question: Will we have the charming, open-air trolleys like in San Francisco, or will the trolleys have air-conditioning? If no air-conditioning, I can predict zero riders during most of our hot, humid Dallas year.
Jerry from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
