Burnt Orange Report

I guess I'm a slave to my demographics. :)

I disagree with the Dallas Morning News (which is in no way unusual) because I don't think we're talking about demographics, but rather party lines. If you're a Democrat, you probably don't agree the Blackwood Proposal because it removes a number of mechanisms that have ensured much-needed diversity in the City of Dallas. But forget about that, some of its most vocal proponents are Highland Park and North Dallas Republicans. If it looks like a power-hungry Republican agenda-pushing measure, it probably is, and therefore it's not for us. The current system might be slower and more cumbersome, but it engages more people from different backgrounds in the dialogue about what is best for Dallas. Don’t take my word for it, the Dallas League of Women Voters has a great page up at http://www.lwvdallas.org/strong_mayor.html where they evaluate the measure from their perspective. I hope that everyone will educate themselves about the problems that exist with this proposed form of government and then encourage their friends, family, and co-workers to vote against it come May.

The system in place in Dallas isn't "slow and cumbersome." It's broken. Completely and totally broken. We need a strong mayor, and we need one as soon as possible.

I had major concerns about this initiative... until I actually read the text of the proposal (which is to say, read all the changes it would make to the City Charter). Much of what I'd been told by opponents of the measure (that it would remove Council approval to all mayoral appointments, that it would give the mayor both a vote and a veto on the Council, etc) were simply not true. The "strong mayor" created in the proposed system is actually fairly weak -- we won't have a Chicago-style Daly government in Dallas.

I would suggest that the only reasonable means of educating one's self on the proposal is not to read the pro websites or the con websites, but read the proposed charter changes themselves. I was fairly anti-strong-mayor until I did so. Now I'm planning to vote "yes."

My experience with the Dallas system ended when Kirk was mayor.

Having the mayor as cheerleader in chief, with a city manager who revolving doors to the highest bidder is not a system that works.

Council manager stops working on big cities because the bureaucracy becomes strong enough to play the manager off the council.

I don't know the specifics, but a change would be a good thing.

BTW, how did Miller get so unpopular with blacks?

When I was last there, her anti-chicken legislation was pissing off Latinos.

I think it is very shortsighted to view this as a D vs. R issue or a referendum vote on Laura Miller. The proposal that is before us is the exact same structure of government Houston has been operating under for 55 years. The only exception to this is that Houston elects a Controller to manage the money, and in the Blackwood plan that office rests under the control of the city council as it does currently.

7 out of the Top 10 largest cities in the U.S. use this structure. It is true that El Paso just switched away from a strong mayor form of government but the reason for this was in the current mayor's words to the Dallas Morning News "Currently El Paso is not mature enough for a strong mayor form of government."

In this proposition the council will still have the authority to make laws, set policy and control the budget and the mayor has absolutely no veto power over anything. As for checks and balances, not only can the council impeach and remove the mayor, the ultimate check and balance is that the mayor, who will actually run the city, will be held ultimately responsible for the operation of the city by the voters. That is something that Dallas voters currently do not have due to the fact that the city is run by an unelected city manager.