Dallas

Dallas Leaders Delay Another Chance for Big Street Improvements

Voters could still get their say on street money in November instead of May

Dallas city leaders Wednesday delayed another opportunity to make big progress on the backlog of street problems.

At a special meeting forced by three council members who strongly favor a May bond referendum for street repair, a 10 to 5 council vote closed the meeting and killed the plan.

The referendum would have devoted $476 million to street improvements.

"I think all these people who are up for reelection just handed their opponents a cudgel to be beaten about the head with," said Councilman Philip Kingston, a referendum supporter. "Politically, I'm very unsure about what my colleagues are thinking."

Mayor Mike Rawlings led opposition to the May referendum at the first council meeting attended by new City Manager T.C. Broadnax.

"I've been pushing for a November bond vote, because of the issues we are facing as a city financially, and because Mr. Broadnax is a week old in his job and because a majority of the county could not agree on a bond package," Rawlings said.

A non-binding straw vote against a May referendum was taken at another meeting last month.

The city is currently struggling with a multibillion-dollar Dallas Police and Fire Pension crisis. Pension officials have requested a cash infusion of $1 billion, which could require all of the city's borrowing capacity.

"The explanation that we need to save our money to bail out the pension is completely disingenuous," Kingston said. "This council has no will to spend a billion dollars of the people's money bailing out that pension."

Kingston is also one of four City Council members who serve on the 12 member Police and Fire Pension Board.

Wednesday, those four joined a lawsuit filed last year by Rawlings to block cash savings withdrawals from the fund.

The council members' new filing accuses other pension board members of jeopardizing base pension benefits for retirees by allowing the withdrawals. It seeks a restraining order to once again stop those withdrawals, which were restarted by an 8 to 4 vote of the pension board last month.

Police and fire retirees and employee pension board members complain City Hall is not honoring obligations to them.

City officials have said the lack of street funding from a May bond referendum will allow 100 miles of Dallas streets to fall further into disrepair, requiring more expensive reconstruction instead of repaving later.

"We need the streets now. That's stuff we can't keep putting off," said driver Timothy Clark.

He was picking up his grandchildren at a school on Canada Drive in West Dallas where he said drivers swerve to avoid potholes.

"A lot of cars lose control. When you're coming down the street and you've got your kids with you, that's dangerous," Clark said.

Canada Drive was to receive $4 million for reconstruction from a 2012 bond referendum but the work has not yet begun. The $476 million suggested Wednesday would only address part of the list of other street and transportation needs in Dallas.

Rawlings said the city is not ignoring the problem.

"I think we all want our roads fixed and we want to do that in November," Rawlings said.

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