in support of prop 1

Last night, I had a fairly intense discussion with my roomies about Proposition 1. I’d like to attempt to make a case in favor of the proposal for anyone who is considering voting in this weekend’s elections.

In order to fully examine this proposal, one must reflect upon the last ten years of Arlington’s history. Ten years ago, we were a city of about 250,000 people. Major construction projects were underway, including the completion of the Green Oaks loop and the widening of Cooper Street, which were designed to alleviate traffic congestion. While these two major projects were responsible for vast improvements in traffic flow south of Division and on the far north side, the city was not prepared for the explosive growth we experienced in the nineties. Today, Arlington’s population has topped 325,000, and traffic congestion has never been worse. In addition, many of our streets have fallen into disrepair as the city prioritized other projects.

One project in particular stands out as a major roadblock to street maintenance: the Ballpark in Arlington. Back in 93, a group of investors convinced the city government to pay for the construction of a new ballpark for the Rangers. The investors promised the city that they would develop the corridor by the new ballpark, which at that time included a large chunk of property south of I-30, east of Collins, west of Six Flags, and north of Division. Any land which wasn’t already slated for developement in that area would be taken care of by the investors. The trade-off was this: the city had to raise the sales tax by .25%, bringing it to 7.5%. The money would be used to construct the ballpark and parking lots, and this money was fronted by the investors, who would then be paid back by tax revenue. Developing the Division corridor, a particularly impoverished area of Arlington, was a major selling point on the deal. The city bought it and the Ballpark in Arlington was built.

Now, nine years later, what are the results of this deal? Well, we have a highly successful ballpark and a crappy baseball team. That’s simply as aside though. What wasn’t anticipated was the amount of revenue the Parks Mall shopping center would reap. What Arlington got was this: a shitload of tax revenue that allowed the city to pay off the Ballpark in five years. In addition, the development of restaraunt row on North Lamar also reaped many tax rewards. So, the tax was repealed, the Ballpark was paid for, and today we sit at 7.25%. However, the investors renigged on their promise to develop the Division corridor, and today that part of the city is basically abandoned. It’s a squalid reminder of GWB’s first broken promise, and home to many of the city’s most impoverished citizens. Struggling mom-n-pop shops dominate the landscape, trash is scattered across the streets, and residents still complain about a lack of progress in the central city. So, the city didn’t get as screwed as the ballpark detractors predicted, but we certainly didn’t get everything out of the deal that we were promised.

While we were paying for the Ballpark, many Arlington citizens felt our streets fell into disrepair. While I don’t argue that we are in dire need of street repair in many neighborhoods, I feel it’s only fair to point out the progress which has been made on our commuter roads during those five years. The city added a middle lane to Fielder Road north of Randol Mill. They expanded the Randol Mill/Fielder intersection, adding turn lanes and easing traffic. Center and Mesquite Streets are now stealthy three-lane, one-way streets, which (if people bothered to use them) can take a big load off of Cooper and Collins. The entire I-20/Cooper impasse was fixed, and last year we saw the smoothest the monkeytmas shopping traffic in a decade by the Parks Mall. New York Avenue is being completely rebuilt and a middle turn lane is being added. Park Row is currently under construction and is getting a badly needed middle turn lane. And have you driven through downtown Arlington lately? Talk about a smooth ride. The streets have been repaved and the drainage system is being rebuilt to counteract flooding. The Town of Pantego finally gave up and stopped fighting the development of both Arkansas Lane and Pioneer Parkway, so you can now actually go east-west in the central city without much difficulty. In addition, the reconstruction of Eastchase/Green Oaks Parkway was completed while we were paying for the Ballpark. UTA actually has bike lanes now. How are all of these improvements not progress? What this shows is that the city of Arlington is capable of improving our roads even while paying off our debt.

I point out these things in order to remind everyone that we’ve been making improvements while operating with less direct revenue. Now that we have that revenue back, street improvements are being made at a more rapid pace. For example, as soon as that ballpark was paid off, plans began for the widening of Cooper Street north of UTA. Anyone who’s driven in Arlington knows this is a much needed improvement. Also on the list are the widening of Baird Farm, rebuilding east Arkansas, and widening of Arbrook. The city of Arlington has already funded these projects (and several others) 100%. This leads me to conclude that a .25% sales tax increase is unnecessary for improving our streets. This is a key arguement in the anti-mass transit circles: use a sales tax increase to improve roads rather than fund a bus system. Seems to me to be unnecessary.

Another arguement cited by the antis is crime statistics. It seems that many white folk in Arlington (particularly far south and far north) think that criminals are going to jump on buses in Irving, ride to Arlington and rob peoples’ homes, then jump back on buses and go home. Most major cities with mass transit have seen a negligible jump in petty crimes such as shoplifting and car break-ins. I can understand the concern on this point, but I believe the benefits would outweigh the costs in this scenario.

Something that the antis fail to mention is that, in almost all cities with mass transit, the cost of living decreases while the economy is positively effected. It has been proven repeatedly that mass transit creates jobs (in the form of drivers, administrators, and maintenance workers – good paying jobs with benefits I might add) and fosters economic growth. The growth comes from the unemployable segment of our population being able to get to work. Right now, Arlington has over 25,000 welfare recipients who are unable to work for various reasons. Many of them cannot afford reliable transportation. A bus system would help alleviate that problem. It would allow these forgotten workers an opportunity to get back to work and become less dependent upon public assistance. But what I keep hearing from all these affluent folks is that we cannot have public transportation for these exact same reasons.

I am going to call a spade a spade here. God forbid we allow the poor an opportunity to rise out of poverty. God forbid the poor are allowed to maintain a productive lifestyle. I am sick and tired of affluent white Arlington being segregationist. They don’t want blacks or hispanics attending school with their kids, so they built Bowie and Lamar High Schools. They claim that the roads need fixing when all the roads north of Randol Mill and south of Mayfield are perfectly fine! This leaves the entire central city (namely, the poor side of town) without decent roads right now. The rich have nothing to complain about in regards to street repair. Their arguement is null and void.

Oh, and speaking of poor, it seems the increasing elderly population of Arlington doesn’t even rate a mention. Have you noticed how many of those assisted living centers are popping up across town? Wonder how that population affects your commute? For one thing, according to the National Transporation and Safety Board, elderly drivers are responsible for more accidents than every age group except teenagers. These are dangerous drivers and we need to provide transporation for them as they get older and find their facilities deteriorating. Since one cannot advocate testing of elderly drivers without a backlash, how about we provide them with a means to stay independent while protecting all the other drivers on the road?

Then the rich complain about taxes. They claim that a .25% sales tax is too much. Well, we’re not talking about raising property taxes, folks. The percentage of one’s income which is eaten by a sales tax will disproportionately effect the poor. Anyone with an IQ of room temperature or above can figure that out. So the affluent are complaining why? You see what I mean? None of their arguements fly at all.

With all this in mind, let’s return to discussing the implementation of public transportation. Arlington plans to link our transit system to both the T and DART, and they’ll include a link on the Trinity Railway Express. If you’ve driven up highway 360 lately, then you understand that there’s a dire need for these links. 360 is also scheduled to go under construction soon, as Texas has finally decided that yes, 360 does need an HOV lane. Right now, it takes over an hour to drive from 360/Green Oaks to 360/I-20 during rush hour(s). Imagine how much more time and energy will be wasted by commuters once this construction begins. In addition, I-30 expansion is currently causing massive backups during rush hour(s). With the expansion of the business corridor in Los Colinas, linking to DART is damn near mandatory. An expansion of the Handi-Tran (usually used by the elderly and disabled) is one of the first phases implementation, and will provide us with immediate relief. You can view the summary here. All of these links will go a long way towards alleviating congestion problems city-wide.

According to the city’s website, only 4,086 registered voters (out of 189,052) have voted early. I truly hope this is not indicative of a larger trend, and that there will be a good turnout this weekend. Don’t forget that you can still vote early today. Polling locations may be found on the city’s website. Please don’t assume that this measure will pass, as affluent Arlington has been successfully fighting this proposal for a decade. If we learned anything from the last presidential election, it’s that every vote must count, and that means everyone who is able needs to get out and vote this weekend! Mass transit is the way of the future, and it’s time the city of Arlington stepped up. Thanks for listening, and GO PROP 1!