Lepperts Big-D Boast May Not Be Accurate
Why isn't Dallas investing in a force field?
By HOLLY LAFON
Updated 12:15 PM CST, Tue, Jun 23, 2009
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert spoke with unabashed optimism at the inauguration for two new city council members at the Meyerson Symphony Center on Monday -- proclaiming Dallas as the best place to be.
Though such phrases are commonly heard uttered out of pride in one's location, Leppert's statement, "There is no better place to be today than Dallas, Texas," gains more significance and scrutiny as it is technically accurate in some ways and not in others.
For instance, the unemployment rate in Texas hit 7.1 percent for May, representing a .5 percent increase from 6.6 the previous month. Fort Worth-Arlington's unemployment rate now stands tied with Dallas at 7.1 percent.
The city can also boast a foreclosure rate of .11 percent lower than the national average for April, a rate that also places it .04 percent higher than the average for the state of Texas.
And the city will soon own a convention hotel, and have a budget deficit of merely $190 million, in comparison to the national debt of $11 trillion, so it's apparently all in how you look at it.
Except that you could technically move to Nebraska and which seems to have an invisible economic force field around it holding its unemployment rate at a shocking 4.4 percent.
Holly LaFon has written and worked for various local publications including D Magazine and Examiner.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Jun 23, 2009 10:48 AM CST
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