It has been an honor to serve as your councilman this past year.
During this time, your City Council voted on more than 1,300 agenda items, which had a direct financial impact to the city in excess of $1 billion. In order to make an informed decision on these items, the Council was provided with more than 21,000 pages of background reading and was briefed by staff on more than 400 items.
This past year, I was fortunate to accompany Mayor Leppert on his two economic missions, one to and one to . Without question, we are blessed to have Tom Leppert as our mayor. He is a man with incredible energy and vision, and he knows how to move the ball forward. Just a few of the issues we tackled were: the Trinity River project, Convention Center Hotel project, Reunion Arena, Verified Alarm Response, the Love Field Modernization Program, Secondary Metal Recyclers and Metal Thefts, Animal Control Ordinance, Code Compliance, Towing for No Insurance, Operations/Management of the Homeless Assistance Center, Fair Park Comprehensive Development Plan, Dallas Police Department staffing, Dallas Water Plan, Atmos Energy rate case and the Red Light Camera Enforcement Program, to name a few. Mayor Leppert is indeed a leader and has solid plans for our fine City. We are in good hands.
But that is enough about Dallas; now let’s talk about what is near and dear to my heart, which is District 10 and Lake Highlands, Texas.
Signs of economic redevelopment in our District are starting to show. We currently have under development and/or on the drawing board more than $550 million in projects! That’s right, more than a half-a-billion dollars! Every area of our District has the opportunity for redevelopment, and we must stay focused on attracting quality developers. This past year, we were able to attract four new developers in addition to Prescott Realty, which is developing the Town Center.
With that being said, a community should not be defined by just the number of new construction starts or the dollar amount of new development, but rather by its passion and its compassion, or put simply, its ability to clap for one another. When a community claps for each other, then real progress is made and good people knock the doors down to become part of our community and raise their families. Our ability to clap has been our signature and will remain our hallmark.
Again, it is an honor.
