Dallas Convention Center Hotel - The Issue of Creditability

After having worked with the Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert, for the last year on a community task force, I would say that he is a very smart guy, engaged when he speaks to you, passionate about the work that he does and willing to work long hours performing his duties as Mayor.

So initially when he explained the importance of a convention center hotel for the city of Dallas, I thought... cool. Knowing him, I was confident that he had commissioned studies to determine whether or not it made sense and fleshed it out with the numerous community groups that he meets with on a regular basis. Besides, he didn't stop the discussion with the hotel, he also discussed the need for an improved school district, code enforcement and increasing sustainable minority businesses in the community. (We talked about improving the sustainability of diverse art institutions, but I'll save that for another blog.) Most of all, I was impressed by his desire to respond to our toughest questions with what always felt like an honest answer and his challenge to us to participate in the change we sought in Dallas.

So when I saw my first Vote Yes ad, I was taken aback. Were they talking about the same person that I had so many conversations with? The person who though I was the youngest person at the table, always thanked me for my input. I mean really. But even more so than that, who were these people. They couldn't be the citizens of Dallas. Up until this, I'd heard wonderful things about his donating his salary for scholarships among other things.

Do we not believe that he would do research prior to bringing this to the people? Or are we all just afraid that the dip in the economy will keep us from recouping the financial outlay? My entrepreneurial spirit says that times of recession are times to prepare for the upturn, because it will come. And while there are many other areas to focus on, bringing conventions and tax revenue back to the city could promote business in downtown Dallas. We need more tax revenue to supplement Dallas homeowners with kids taking their children and their tax money to the suburbs in search of better schools.

So, I would say a few things about the Convention Center Hotel. I'm for bringing conventions, revenue and opportunity to the city of Dallas. If you don't want it, what is your plan to improve our school district and/or increase our tax base? And can you disagree without annihilating a mayor who has heretofore been well liked by the community? Or is that not even the people of Dallas, but Mr. Crow?