In Dallas you must pay the piper for his own mess.

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Dallas does it again.

The city of Dallas took some huge donations to build the Klyde Warren Park. And it is truly great. So great that record crowds throng there every weekend enjoying the Dallas Spring weather and the new recreational area just off the arts district. It reminds one of Chicago or New York.  Now here is the rub.  The city of Dallas doesn’t want to pay for upkeep.

Just like they have stalled on the upkeep of the arts district itself. Budget is too tight building new bridges. (Who is going to pay for repainting them every dozen or so years?)

So the masterminds down at I.M. Pei’s Criminal Hall came up with a brainstorm. Let’s tax the businesses that run along side the park a maintenance fee. Perfect. Those businesses whose parking is blocked and who have trashed spilled into their laws and across their parking lots, ‘lets let them pay to have the city’s mess cleaned up.’

But wait. The businesses say they don’t want to pay. The DMA especially take offense of having to pay. So too do the banks, the Fed and any number of commercial properties that border the park.  It is once again a case of Dallas reaching head-long into a “civic improvement” project without thinking it through.

We were good at this under Mayor Lepert and his cohorts. (And he had the audacity to call Obama an empty suit.)  We’ve got his bridge to nowhere and now the park that the city can’t keep clean. What’s next.  Oh yeah…two more bridges.  And the city wants to place more parks throughout downtown.  And who will pay for their upkeep?

I can also lay some of the blame in tis game on former mayor Laura Miller for running the cowboys away from a downtown Dallas address.  Think of the revenue that would have brought into city coffers and I bet Jerry’s crew would clean up after themselves and leave a little left over for civic duties.

Dallas is run by a bunch of rich white guys. And most of them are dullards when it comes to truly planning for a great city. Bridges and parks are fine. But infrastructure is what we need. Infrastructure we are willing to pay for and to maintain.

If you decide to take a bunch of cash from a rich white guy and build a park across the street from me, don’t knock on my door looking for a tax increase to pick up the trash and to water the grass.  That’s on you, City Hall. You got yourself in this mess…now pay for it.