Marcos Ronquillo: Voting for the Next Mayor of Dallas Starts TODAY
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Gems from The Diamond Doctor
Well, no, that is not Marco Ronquillo. That is Tab Hunter (God is he hot!) with me at the USA Film Festival’s grandest soiree Saturday night at a private home on Rheimes Place in Highland Park where we celebrated the finale of one of this city’s greatest arts programs. This year’s festival was incredible. Dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of excellence in the film and video arts, executive director Ann Alexander knocked it out of the park with this year’s line up, bringing Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker, Tab Hunter (!), Pat Boone, Candy Clark, Dallas native Peri Gilpin and the amazing Iris Apfel, among others, to town.
Tab Hunter & Pat Boone
Only a few hours before, I met Marcos in Oak Cliff at Burt Barr & Associates ,when I stopped by post work-out to find out what Marcos Ronquillo is all about. I’ll know more Tuesday: he is giving me time to answer questions about his vision for Dallas real estate. Voting for the next Mayor of Dallas and a new slate for City Council begins TODAY!
Eating BBQ with Marcos Ronquillo in Oak Cliff
I live in Preston Hollow. I cannot figure out how a billion dollar plus dollar toll road will help me, my neighbors, or the folks who live south of the Trinity. I cannot figure out how it will help the folks east of Central. What I really cannot figure out is how it will help reduce traffic congestion for those of us who drive south on I-35 to Austin or the Hill Country. About two months ago we were headed south to Hico to inter my son-in-law and it took almost 40 minutes to get through that bottleneck/mixmaster/mess which is the only way out of the city. I’m no “get on my bike gal” — I don’t even own a pair of Birkenstocks. But we have to do something about the traffic in this town and that something is not a billion dollar plus highway along a river.
I left this event with three things firmly set in my mind:
(1) The people in Oak Cliff hate the notion of a toll road in the Trinity River Area; they want that land for a beautiful park.
(2) I want to know more about Marcos Ronquillo. He was quoting the Brookings Institute and touched on my HUGE concerns that the City of Dallas is dying because we are losing our middle class.
(3) Dickey’s Barbecue does a pretty good job of catering. They have a wonderful stage presence coupled with great food.
Stay tuned. I’m still checking out how this Toll Road will impact our dirt. And real estate taxes! Our’s are among the HIGHEST in the nation. Better tell Mr. Ronquillo to put on his boxing gloves…
Arlene Dahl and Diane Baker
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You are absolutely correct about the Trinity toll road. The TxDOT traffic information that has been released to the public shows no reduction of congestion with this road. The NTTA (which has a contract to build the road, but insufficient money to do so) refuses to release its traffic data, presumably because that data will not support the building of this road.
Just like the size and scope of this road is ever-changing, so is the justification for it. A while back, the tol road was necessary to to fix the Mixmaster and build the parks in the flooplain. Well, that got shot down. Then, it was to relieve congeestion. When we didn’t buy that, it changed to helping the folks in Southeast Dallas get to their jobs more easily, ignoring the out-of-reach cost of daily use of this road. As each proposed justification was eliminated, a new one popped up, only to be shot down in its turn. This road cannot be constructed with available funds, and it would not do what its backers have promised even if it were built. Twenty yeas from now, people will just ask “What were those folks thinking?”
As for your comment about how high your real estate taxes are, if Texas law were changed to make sales of properties transparent as to price, then all properties would be taxed at near market value (especially commercial properties) and homeowners would not be subsidizing commercial real estate owners. Also, you must realize that your state income tax rate is the lowest in the country: 0%. Because Texas has no income tax, the burden of financing all the things that we want our governments to do (build highways, maintain schools, operate prisons, provide police and fire protection) falls on the sales tax and the property tax. Compared to most states, we are among the least taxed. I will leave a discussion of our ranking in education, health, and infrastructure to another time, even though there is a direct corrolation between our low taxes and our low performance in these areas.
True about the 0 state income tax, but property taxes are becoming onerous on the average homeowner.
Yes, property taxes are becoming onerous on the average homeowner, because the average homeowner is subsidizing both high-value residential properties as well as commercial and investment properties. While the average homeowner sees an assessment that is most likely within 90% or more of the fair market value of his property, those other types of properties often have fair market values that are more than double their assessed value. So the difference between those two values is not being taxed. If sales prices were transparent (as they are in many states, and as they once were in Texas), all properties would see assessed values much closer to fair market value, and the tax base would be more equitable to all taxpayers. This issue is simply one of fairness to all, yet powerful real estate interests have been fighting this for years. It is time to correct this discrepancy now.