One of the most difficult things to do in the reporting business is write what a politician tells you when you know that what the politician is saying is absolutely, positively, not true. That is why I now officially feel sorry for Dave Levinthal, who has had to shoulder much of the burden at Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper during the run-up to the vote on the Belo Parkway.
This morning, Levinthal was forced to write that the bosses downtown don’t have a "Plan B" if the anti-toll road side wins on Nov. 6. "I haven’t asked staff to look at an alternative plan. I’m not planning for that contingency," said City Council member Dave Neumann, chairman of the council’s Trinity River Project Committee.
Yes, and tomorrow will not be Saturday.
We have been told repeatedly that Dallas will dry up and blow away if the toll road is taken out of the park. And now we are expected to believe that there is no contingency plan for what Mayor Park Cities calls one of the biggest catastrophes in city history? "If it passes, if that happens, there’s a real problem. We lose funding mechanisms. Yet we’re faced with all the issues we have now. Traffic congestion doesn’t go away. Air quality doesn’t go away."
This is, obviously, not true. Leppert didn’t run his famous construction business that way, and if Neumann runs his clothing business without taking into account possible reverses, it won’t be around much longer. If the toll road is taken out of the park, every single one of the Vote No! people (well, maybe not Ron Kirk and Laura Miller) will stand up the next day and announce they have suddenly discovered a new way to build the highway.
And thanks, Dave, for noting that the mayor was living in Honolulu when the original bond package passed. How did you sneak that past the copy desk?
