Sadly, we were unable to attend D-Spotting Downtown Dallas's Membership Forum wingding this afternoon at Union Station. So I asked Mayor Tom Leppert's chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, if he could provide the mayor's remarks: "The State of Downtown Address." And so he did, along with the official release from the mayor's office.
Both docs follow, and as you'll see the mayor touched on everything from the convention center hotel to public safety to Main Street Garden to those Love Field no-bid contracts and so on and so forth. He also dismissed those who would raise the property tax rate to cover the city's looming $131-million budget shortfall: That, he said, is "not the correct course to take." Long story short:
You know, take a moment and imagine this area just a brief ten years ago. Downtown Dallas appeared to be heading in a very different direction. Few companies were considering a move downtown ... barely anyone was living here ... and the streets pretty much shut down at night. We wondered, would our city's downtown survive, could we turn it around?Take that, Fort Worth.
Survival is no longer the question. Today, I am happy to report Downtown Dallas has turned a corner. Downtown Dallas is a turnaround play that shows no sign of letting up.
And much of that is due to the vision, the patience, the persistence, the determination and the creativity of you, the members of Downtown Dallas.
You all have understood, that so goes downtown, so goes Dallas, and so goes North Texas. You know that a vital regional economy needs a vibrant, healthy core. Nowhere is there a strong metropolitan area without a dynamic core and Downtown Dallas is the core of North Texas.
