DART Deal Coming?
Nadine Lee Embarrasses Herself; Mayor Stopfer For the Win
The DART Board met yesterday.
They took the proposals from the 13 member cities and consolidated it into one proposal:
Dallas only gets 45% representation, not a majority
Cities get 5% of their sales tax that is going to DART back next year, followed by 6% the following year, 7% the next year, and so on up to 10%
The only one who did not seem happy about it was Nadine Lee, the CEO of DART.
Today, Dallas City Council voted for it overwhelmingly. Next it goes to the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Ultimately, it requires changes by the Texas Legislature.
This evening, the first of many Town Hall events was held by DART:
It was in Irving.
It was not highly attended; there were dozens of people in a half-empty room.
It did not go well.
First of all, the meeting was weird. There were two sign language performers (taking turns signing to each other, as there did not appear to by any deaf citizens), a Spanish interpreter (also not used), three security officers, an oddly specific safety announcement at the beginning by a man in a three-piece suit, and a number of DART staff just milling around in the front of the room.
One citizen commented on how chaotic it was to have all the staff roaming around in the front. “It’s making me anxious!”
DART senior manager Hans-Michael Ruthe gave a presentation. The presentation said one thing. If cities vote to get out of DART, service will end.
That was it. He went on and on, just saying that one thing.
It was so simplistic, it was insulting.
The point of DART doing these town halls is to rile up residents and scare them not to vote against DART. But with the DART Board Meeting and the Dallas City Council vote, tonight was anticlimactic.
Also the citizens were not into it. They wanted to talk about one thing: the discontinuation of the 255 and 225 buses. They kept coming back to it. “What am I supposed to do?” asked a mom who needed to get her son to Children’s Hospital. “Well, if we’re talking about the vote to pull out of DART…” said Nadine Lee, the CEO of DART, unsuccessfully trying to shift the conversation back to the topic at hand, before being hooted down by the audience.
Kudos to her for coming in person and taking questions. There was only one problem.
She didn’t know what she was talking about.
When asked what citizens would get out of voting to keep DART, she didn’t have an answer.
When asked what the debt Irving would be responsible for, she said “I’ll get back to you.”
When asked what the deadline was for dropping the DART pullout vote from the ballots, she cited three dates, said she’s “heard so many dates” that she doesn’t know which one it is, and “let’s just call it the end of February.” Councilmember Al Zapanta had to take the mic and explain it was 45 days before the May 2 election. This date is nothing but the basis of her entire negotiation strategy … and she doesn’t know when it is??
When asked why the two-year period before cancelling a route did not occur in the case of the bus cancellations, she could offer nothing.
When asked why other cities don’t get in DART, she admitted it was because it is a raw deal for them.
When asked what the future vision is for public transportation in the region, she said "We want to make it better too. Trust me.”
It was shockingly pathetic. She makes $400,000 a year. She comes to the first town hall and doesn’t know the basics of how Irving is affected. She can’t be bothered to prepare to answer the most obvious questions.
Heck, with a low voice, she was even forced to endorse the 5% rebate plan in order to have an answer for the irate citizens asking about the cancelled bus routes. She referred to Mayor Stopfer saying he’d like to bring the buses back with that money.
Now, that would be a stupid thing to do. DART ended those buses for a reason — too few people ride them. They are not public transportation, they are giant, expensive Uber rides but without door-to-door service. I live by those routes and those buses are always empty. We could buy everyone who actually needs to use the buses a used car with the millions spent on the buses. Let’s find a solution for those people that does not waste the money we get back.
But you have to hand it to Stopfer. He got the CEO of DART, the last person in the world who wants to endorse the rebate plan, to endorse the rebate plan.
He has been pushing this issue for a while. We’re lucky to have such an effective leader as mayor.
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