It's Time Dallas Requires Developers to Chip in to Pay for Land for Dallas Parks

The old joke was that the official bird of Texas must be the crane, because of all of the construction underway. There may be some truth to that, but one essential component of urban development in Dallas that is too often neglected is the construction of new parks for all city residents to enjoy.So it is encouraging that the City Council will be presented with a plan on Wednesday to create a new and long-term source of support for building parks in Dallas. We hope the Council supports the plan.In brief, the plan would require Dallas developers to offset new hotels and housing developments by paying into a new parks fund or setting land aside.Why is this good for Dallas? The reason is simple. Dallas is growing in terms of development and population, but it isn't keeping pace in terms of adding parks, trails and green space. Among the 10 largest cities in America, only Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix score worse on the annual scoring put out by the Trust for Public Land. Among the largest 100 cities, we rank 50th.  Continue reading...