Dallas Needs To Accept Failure: The Super Bowl bid, DART, our ability to hit clean air standards — Michael Lindenberger might as well just tag on the Trinity River Project (no thanks to the Trinity Parkway), downtown revitalization, NFL drafts, and a litany of other ballyhooed projects to his editorial that says (paywall) that Dallas needs to learn to accept failure. But his key point is long overdue: Dallas’ fidelity to its own hype inhibits us for making key adjustments in civic planning to realize real goals. And while I like how the editorial tells us to refocus DART on moving people, and to listen to Jim Schutze more, Lindenberger kills his own argument when he says Dallas is still not “ready” for some more challenging ways to address key issues. After all, doesn’t this off-repeated attitude that Dallas is “not ready” for truly innovative policies and initiatives go hand-in-hand with Dallas’ denial of its shortcomings?
Off-Duty Dallas Police Officer Arrested For Firing Gun From Car on Highway: I suppose it was just another Saturday night for Rafael Mendoza, the three year veteran of the Dallas police department who was arrested early Sunday morning after driving around with his sidearm dangling out the window, smoking weed, and taking potshots at cars on Interstate 30.
Business Odds And Ends: Someone got paid today: the Dallas-based pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, dropped a cool $5.3 billion acquiring Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc. And A.H. Belo Corporation announced its first quarter 2012 financials, reporting a net loss of $0.18 per share, which is less than expected, says Robert Decherd. I suspect Wick will be around to slice and dice Belo’s numbers in greater detail.
10 comments
Re: Dallas Needs To Accept Failure. That’s odd. I thought all of this focus on downtown housing, urban vitalization, DART, and much more was partly about Dallas addressing its shortcomings. So the very existence of the programs that Lindenberger discusses actually undermines his argument.
Accepting failure would mean looking for actual solutions instead of hiding behind big ticket projects.
We say, “Downtown Dallas is lacking fundamental pedestrian activity…”
They say, “But look at this big fancy hotel with LED lights! Isn’t that amazing and vibrant?”
We say, “Our public transit has failed to create meaningful connections within the city proper”
They say, “But we have the biggest LRT system in ALL of North America! Isn’t that amazing?”
We say, “The Arts District is lame”
They say, “But just look at all of this world class architecture! Isn’t it incredible?”
It’s all about appearances…how the city looks from afar. What they fail to recognize is the importance of the surface level. What impression does the city actually make? The leaders and big money-ed people of Dallas are all about the postcard, not the real thing.
Still trying to find where Lindenberger argues that Dallas is still not ready for change. His argument is that we need to think of more radical ways to fix our problems and that it won’t happen until we admit that we’ve failed. I think he makes a good argument.
Dallas is the perfect real-world example of the Emerald City: beautiful and shiny from afar but seriously flawed up-close. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
@downtown: You’re right, he does make a good argument. The “not ready” bit only creeps in at the very end of the piece when he is talking about adapting an auto policy like Mexico City’s daily driving restrictions. Yes, such a restriction in Dallas is unrealistic, especially given the political temperament of the area. All I mean to say “ready” is as loaded a word as “failure” in this context. If he had said “unrealistic,” or “unfeasible,” I probably wouldn’t have balked. But “ready” seems like part of the same old excuse. And so, point taken: “kills” is probably too strong a word on my part.
These criticisms amount to one or more of three things: Straw men, “What have you done for me lately” and “Why didn’t you reach your 50 year goal in 5?”
The argument for the downtown hotel was not to create pedestrian activity. It was to to get out of town business.
See, “The elected leaders of these cities believe that by building fancy hotels connected to their convention centers, they can lure more visitors from out of state.” Quoted from: http://www.governing.com/topics/economic-dev/Should-Cities-Be-in.html
“Our public transit has failed to create meaningful connections within the city proper.” Actually it has meaningful connections and that is also a straw man as DART is a regional system and is not only “within the city proper.” When I worked downtown and lived in an inner ring suburb, I rode DART. I took DART to lunch. The train was packed. Has it created all of the meaningful connections you want? No. Sorry but NYC had an over 100 year start and is geographically different. Chicago has a 100 year start.
Of course you didn’t address the actual point which was that we went from nothing to something and continue to grow the system. This is true of all the areas more or less. If these changes and trends aren’t evidence of a willingness to move forward after a recognized deficiency then I would ask what evidence could there be that would be realistic.
You might claim this is another “big ticket project” but then if we didn’t do it then folks like you would jump and and say we don’t have mass transit, rail or whatnot. There is no way we can satisfy your terms in a realistic way.
Actually the problem is that people criticize Dallas too much for the wrong things and don’t look at what they have that is working or going in the right direction.
Look at things like the revitalization of parts of Oak Cliff, restored urbanism, and Better Block like things. How do those actions even take place if Dallas is “not ready” or “can’t accept failure?”
Are there things to criticize? Of course but an unwillingness to move forward isn’t one of those.
Listening to Jim Schutze is an excellent idea. I do it constantly. I love him, and he loves me.
There just seems to be no genuine heart,soul,spirit nor core to Dallas.It is almost like No one lives here like NO ONE is HOME.How can you expect any vitality when those basics do not seem apparent?It is like a failure of the very involvement to the city flourishing.It has always seemed so superficial with little genuineness…compare it with say Milwaukee..a tiny city by comparison with endless spirit,redevelopment,in summer they have very successful ethnic themed “fiestas”…..and Dallas has so little to actually bring people and vitality together…what IS up with that?
J bennett, I am not quite sure what city you live in, but the city you describe is not Dallas. Do you by any chance live in one of the far-flung suburbs of Dallas? If so, I can understand why you have the attitude you do about Dallas.
It’s failure enough that DART can’t make a case to reluctant cities, but to then compound those failures by selling off key Dart stations (taxpayer purchased infrastructure) to privateers – utilizing the ways of the old Soviet Union?
What was the point here then? Could a carpetbagger like Platinum parking have ever owned that station without taxpayer subsidy? I think not. Yet that fiasco probably won’t deter Dart from returning to the taxpayer well again.
The more cynical would just label Dallas as the mother of all scams…..