In the August edition of D Magazine, Joe Bob Briggs spends a week in Dallas without a car and gives his 10 decrees for making DART even better. In case you’ve missed the advertising, the DART Light Rail turns 10 this year, years after DART’s original executive director Maurice Carter was basically laughed out of town for suggesting the system use light rail.
DART is the most socialistic city service Dallas ever came up with. In fact, it’s not unlike the transist system built in Moscow under Stalin, where the infrastructure is massive, the stations are pristine symbols of civic pride, the trains and buses run on time and the service is almost free. It’s what communisim was supposed to be!
Briggs also points out that fares on the system only make up 11.6 percent of the cost for running the system. Yet with subsidies from member cities (a 1 percent sales tax) the system is working and train stations have become a commerce magnet.
So you’re asking, why should I care? Well according to studies by the North Central Texas Council of Government, Waxahachie and Ellis County could have two commuter rail lines connecting the county to the rest of the DART system within the next 20-50 years.
If history stands true, the train stations will continue to be economic and commercial magnets – and one of those train stations are supposed to end up in downtown Waxahachie.
Briggs also suggests that more parking downtown leads to less economic development. Bet you never thought you’d hear that. But Briggs points to Jane Jacobs who suggested that under the principals of urban traffic, more downtown parking spaces destroy downtown.
The more parking garages and parking lots you have, the more street life you lose. There’s very little parking in the West End; that’s why it hangs together as a neighborhood.
So pick up a copy or read the story online and discuss it amongst yourselves.
