Since the end of February, at least 22 cars have been torched in Oak Cliff and South Dallas. Only today, after a weekend in which four cars were burned, including a deputy county constable’s, has the city announced something called a "coordinated effort" to fight the arsons.
To answer the question in the headline, of course not. We have more clout, we’re more politically sophisticated, and we have less patience with inaction downtown. After one week, we would have stormed city hall — and I mean that literally — to get something done.
Mayor Park Cities and his minions on the council, like Oak Cliff’s "Trinity River" Dave Neumann, talk big about bringing jobs and investment to the area south of the Trinity. But how are they going to do that if it takes four weeks for the city to respond to a series of car fires? That seems like kind of a basic city service — crime wave, do something.
That lack of response — hell, that lack of interest — won’t instill confidence in businesses and employers that are thinking about moving there. They’ll assume Oak Cliff and south Dallas are still the city’s step-children, and who can argue with that after watching the bosses downtown drag their heels on this one?
