Now that school has started again, I would like to express a deep concern of mine. We have all read about the problems Plano faced with drugs over the past year, including some major arrests that were made this summer.
I am very pleased that Plano was able to make these arrests, and I hope it will have a dramatic effect on the drug usage among school-age children.
My concern is that we need to be more aware than ever that we are just as much at risk in our neighborhood. We could actually be more at risk because drug trafficking doesn’t seem to go away, but just moves around.
Drug traffickers have taken a hit in Plano, but I fear they will move to another neighborhood. I don’t want them to think that ours would be a good alternative.
As we listened to the stories of the kids who were sucked into drug usage in Plano, the same theme kept playing over and over: Parents suspected but did not pursue.
The way we can keep drugs out is by being good parents. Nosy parents.
We started this school year with Chief Ben Click and a number of his officers representing gang enforcement, drug enforcement, as well as other areas, talking with the high school faculty about what to look for and be alert for.
But we have the opportunity to see and talk with our kids, more than anyone does. We have a great neighborhood and the hardest-working people in the City. We won’t have it any other way.
On another topic, I won’t be sad to say good-bye to this summer. It definitely has been a hot one, but so far the City has performed very well in making sure our water needs have been met. They say you cannot build a church for Easter Sunday, but when it comes to our water system, we are fortunate to have a system made for the extreme conditions of drought.
Our City was faced with drought conditions in the ’50s and did face serious shortages. We can thank City Councils after that time for making sure our system would perform better in the future.
The City will continue this process with another $140 million planned in water system enhancements and rehabilitation over the next three years. We hope that these continued upgrades can be achieved without increases in water rates, but if not, we must continue to make this investment.
We may have another drought next year, or maybe not one for many years, but we don’t want to face an inability to service the citizens of Dallas with water.
