It is voting time yet again in our fair city! Short ballot….big decisions. I'm going to go a bit out of order. And, as always, this is strictly for your entertainment.
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DCAD Place 1: This contested election is for a board position that oversees the process of your property tax appraisals! While I think the angst towards County Appraisal Districts is a bit overwrought (they don't set the tax rates…see more on that below), it is still an important role. So, naturally, we have NO INFORMATION about the two candidates.
Ekambar Kumar Singirikonda (goes by Kumar) appears to be an IT engineer for Toyota and pretty civically involved. P. Wylie Burge, no idea. There is a podiatrist in South Dallas with a similar name.
So, I'll go with Kumar.
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Dallas College Board: We elect the board of governors for our local community college system. This race pits incumbent Catalina Garcia against long-time DISD board member Edwin Flores. Folks, look. This is a 6 year term. Dr Garcia, good or bad, is 86 years of age. Math is important. I don't know a ton about Flores and honestly don't really need to.
Going with Flores.
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And now the main event…The City of Dallas Bond package. We, the humble voters, are being asked to approve the taking out up to $1.25B in debt across 10 different buckets. That is a TON of money. And it is organized in a manner that makes understanding it challenging. I have no doubt there is a lot of fluff.
Prop A: Streets & Infrastructure ($520mm). By far the biggest, by far the simplest. YES
Prop B: Parks ($345mm). The mayor has a goal that there will be a park, big or small, within a 10 minute walk of every citizen in Dallas. I have some issues with how the city is taking care of our current parks (did you know that our parks employees work in buildings that would have been long condemned if they were privately owned? Yeah.), but this is overall a good investment. YES
Prop C: Flood mitigation ($52mm). This is one of two that has a little pushback from a single councilmember. The claim is there are other sources of funds to do this work. My two thoughts on that….1) ok, why aren't we already tapping those funds, and 2) based on my experience on a board that had a related project, and anecdotal observations driving around during heavy rains, this needs to be "both funding streams" priority. YES
Prop D: Libraries ($43.5mm). 2 new libraries and multiple upgrades to existing ones. Libraries are still important, especially in poorer communities. YES
Prop E: Arts ($75mm). This one is aimed at significant repairs and maintenance at City owned facilities, like the Dallas Museum of Art. While I feel these should have been covered by normal operations, and would very much like some private money investment, we need to keep what we have in good shape. SOFT YES.
Prop F: Public Safety ($90mm). New policy academy, new fire station, general repair and maintenance. YES
Prop G: Econ Development ($73mm). This one is the biggest blackhole of the bunch. Some of the money is for attracting development, some is for housing, some is "council discretionary" for 3 council members (not District 10 naturally). It contains more "housing" funds than the "housing" proposal (next on the list). I do not care for the lack of clarity at all. SOFT NO
Prop H: Housing ($26mm). This one is also opposed by the aforementioned councilmember. Do we need more lower-income housing in the City? Yes. Do we have a ton of other sources of funding for housing? Also yes. And are we doing our best in utilizing those funds? In my experience, mixed bag. SOFT NO.
Prop I: Homeless solutions ($19mm). This one focuses on very local solutions (unlike previous bonds). YES
Prop J: IT upgrade ($5mm). My only question is "is this even close to enough"? YES
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DCAD Place 1: This contested election is for a board position that oversees the process of your property tax appraisals! While I think the angst towards County Appraisal Districts is a bit overwrought (they don't set the tax rates…see more on that below), it is still an important role. So, naturally, we have NO INFORMATION about the two candidates.
Ekambar Kumar Singirikonda (goes by Kumar) appears to be an IT engineer for Toyota and pretty civically involved. P. Wylie Burge, no idea. There is a podiatrist in South Dallas with a similar name.
So, I'll go with Kumar.
----
Dallas College Board: We elect the board of governors for our local community college system. This race pits incumbent Catalina Garcia against long-time DISD board member Edwin Flores. Folks, look. This is a 6 year term. Dr Garcia, good or bad, is 86 years of age. Math is important. I don't know a ton about Flores and honestly don't really need to.
Going with Flores.
----
And now the main event…The City of Dallas Bond package. We, the humble voters, are being asked to approve the taking out up to $1.25B in debt across 10 different buckets. That is a TON of money. And it is organized in a manner that makes understanding it challenging. I have no doubt there is a lot of fluff.
Prop A: Streets & Infrastructure ($520mm). By far the biggest, by far the simplest. YES
Prop B: Parks ($345mm). The mayor has a goal that there will be a park, big or small, within a 10 minute walk of every citizen in Dallas. I have some issues with how the city is taking care of our current parks (did you know that our parks employees work in buildings that would have been long condemned if they were privately owned? Yeah.), but this is overall a good investment. YES
Prop C: Flood mitigation ($52mm). This is one of two that has a little pushback from a single councilmember. The claim is there are other sources of funds to do this work. My two thoughts on that….1) ok, why aren't we already tapping those funds, and 2) based on my experience on a board that had a related project, and anecdotal observations driving around during heavy rains, this needs to be "both funding streams" priority. YES
Prop D: Libraries ($43.5mm). 2 new libraries and multiple upgrades to existing ones. Libraries are still important, especially in poorer communities. YES
Prop E: Arts ($75mm). This one is aimed at significant repairs and maintenance at City owned facilities, like the Dallas Museum of Art. While I feel these should have been covered by normal operations, and would very much like some private money investment, we need to keep what we have in good shape. SOFT YES.
Prop F: Public Safety ($90mm). New policy academy, new fire station, general repair and maintenance. YES
Prop G: Econ Development ($73mm). This one is the biggest blackhole of the bunch. Some of the money is for attracting development, some is for housing, some is "council discretionary" for 3 council members (not District 10 naturally). It contains more "housing" funds than the "housing" proposal (next on the list). I do not care for the lack of clarity at all. SOFT NO
Prop H: Housing ($26mm). This one is also opposed by the aforementioned councilmember. Do we need more lower-income housing in the City? Yes. Do we have a ton of other sources of funding for housing? Also yes. And are we doing our best in utilizing those funds? In my experience, mixed bag. SOFT NO.
Prop I: Homeless solutions ($19mm). This one focuses on very local solutions (unlike previous bonds). YES
Prop J: IT upgrade ($5mm). My only question is "is this even close to enough"? YES
