What do you do when you have a high tax rate, a high debt rate, a dropping sales tax rate, high utilities, and a low property base? Wrong answers are: raise taxes, borrow more, discourage sales, and raise utility fees.
 
On the other hand, if we could increase property values, more property taxes would flow to city funds and property owners could sell for a gain. It is the one area that we can grow and that would finance city operations.
 
Unfortunately, it is the hardest area for government to address successfully. However, some hope is on the horizon.
 
You've seen this chart before. We are among the lowest tax base-per-capita cities in the area. Successfully addressing that low value is the surest answer.
 

Garland's tax base per capita; 28% below average of cities shown

 
Almost all Metroplex cities are seeing a property base decline. Fort Worth is an exception because natural gas discoveries have boosted their land values and tax collections. Of the major cities shown below, Garland's declines are twice the average. Next year's declines are likely to be similar.
 

Garland had the second largest decline in property tax values.

 
Sales tax collections have not traditionally varied as much in Garland as other cities. Of course, when your sales are basic items that are recession-proof, that is to be expected. Now that we have a much larger sales tax base, we face the same roller-coaster ride as other cities. We're getting a good ride but the results are a bit nauseating.
 

Garland has the fourth largest decline in sales tax. Garland’s decline the past three months has averaged -10.7%.

 
If the proposed tax rate (70.46¢/$100) is approved, Garland's rate would be even higher among area cities. Sachse will likely take a large jump to cover their last bond program and they are trying to get the best buys they can while construction costs are down. Dallas and Fort Worth look high but they also have 20% homestead exemptions that bring their rates for homeowners lower. Of 31 area cities over 25,000 population, if the homestead exemption is factored, Garland is still the eighth highest.
 

Garland has the eight highest proposed property tax rate.

 
Much has been made this year of Garland's high debt rate. As shown below, we're having to pay 63% more in taxes to cover our payments than the average among the cities shown. On the other side of the equation, we're actually spending 17% below the average on the operations side where we pay for public safety positions, administration, and so many other departments.
 

Garland’s O&M tax rate is almost 8 cents (17%) below the average. Garland’s Debt Service tax rate is 12 cents (63%) higher than the average.

 
To add insult to injury, while all Metroplex cities are challenged (even Fort Worth with higher values still faces the second highest tax rate), almost none are increasing tax rates. We and Sachse are very alone in this category. And in Sachse's case, they have a plausible reason for the sudden jump. Reports earlier tonight indicated few appeared at their meeting to express opposition to the increase.
 

Average is distorted by Sachse’s 14.5 cent increase – excluding Sachse the averages are (0.11) cents in O&M, 0.27 cents in Debt Service, and 0.15 cents total.

 
I've done what I can for the last three years to caution against continually raising the debt and taxes. I haven't succeeding in preventing the current squeeze we face but I do think I've been able to slow the march.
 
Data is from the Garland Budget and Research Dept.
 

City of Garland Press Release:

Garland Library Receives Award For Library Service to Citizens

The City of Garland Library Department has received the “Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award,” for the fourth straight year. The award is sponsored by the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association, an affiliate organization of the Texas Municipal League promoting professional library service, the improvement of methods, and the maintenance of high standards of professional ethics. A representative presented the award to Members of the Library Advisory Board at a City Council Meeting, August 4, 2009.
 
The Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award 2009 recognizes only 33 out of 565 public libraries in the State of Texas for meeting high standards in ten key service areas. Those areas include summer reading programs; service to underserved populations; providing enhanced service to the public; marketing and publicity; policy; cultural, topical and educational programming; literacy support; collaborative efforts; professional staff training; and, web presence. For more information about Garland's Library services, visit www.nmls.lib.tx.us.
 

 
Previous posts recognizing the this running acknowledgment of our libraries are here and here.
 

One of the highest priorities for any governmental body is providing safety for citizens. That is true in Garland as much as anywhere. Rumors and concerns have surrounded this year's budget process as the proposals in the budget are studied by council members, employees, and the public. The hottest item in this year's budget is a slightly more than 1% temporary pay reduction being proposed.
 
A couple previous posts have dealt with this same subject, here and here.
 
Among many fire fighters and police officers, concern has been expressed whether safety levels can be maintained if employees all take three extra days off each year to compensate them for the pay reduction. Management has said yes. The rank and file have said not so fast.
 

The chiefs from both departments testified that safety levels will not suffer.
 
An article in last Sunday's Dallas Morning News documents Fire Chief Danny Grammer's presentation to Council and the questions and concerns expressed. The video is also available (Item 6) at CGTV at the city website.
 

From the Dallas Morning News:

Garland to use fire inspectors to maintain station staffing levels

09:48 AM CDT on Sunday, August 23, 2009
By RAY LESZCYNSKI / The Dallas Morning News
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com
 
Garland Fire Chief Dan Grammer and City Manager Bill Dollar unveiled a plan Thursday to reassign two of the city's three arson inspectors to fire operations in order to provide fire employees with additional days off without impacting operation or service times.
 
The issue had been the biggest impasse during the city's budget process, delaying the chief's presentation a week. Under Dollar's proposal, all Garland employees are to receive three days off in return for a temporary 1.15 percent reduction in pay.
 
Grammer said the reassignments will cause limitations in the areas of investigations, public education and follow-up inspections. But staffing levels at all stations will remain intact, which is the news most City Council members seemed eager to hear.
 
"Are you going to assure me and the public that you can maintain that same level of service, of protection to our citizens and our properties?" Mayor Ron Jones asked the chief.
 
"You are assuring us, then, that you support the city manager's budget. Is that correct?" asked Mayor Pro Tem Laura Cox. "And you believe that the 36 hours additional time off will not result in any direct impact on citizens who call the fire department in emergencies?"
 
"One of the rumors that was going around was that we were going to have to close stations or close stations part of the time. We have heard tonight that that's not going to happen," council member Doug Athas noted.
 
The chief found a way to please the council with his remarks and, in return, the council had praise for the department.
 
That was a far different scenario from two nights earlier, when members and supporters of the Garland Fire Fighters Association stood in opposition to the budget in a public hearing.
 
The council has given no indication that it will pursue the fire association's request to look at utility funds as a means of offsetting the temporary salary and bilingual pay cuts and the elimination of the arson investigation positions. As provided by state law regarding competitive matters, the utility budget talks Thursday were closed to the public.
 
The city's final public hearing on the budget is Wednesday. The budget is scheduled to be adopted Sept. 1.
 
Earlier in the week, the comments got personal as bonuses and incentives given to staff members in the city manager's current and previous budgets were challenged by the fire association.
 
Dollar said Thursday he felt compelled to comment and embarked on a 12-minute statement prior to the chief's presentation. He pointed out that the city had spent $79 million over the course of the last decade on police and fire stations, a fire training facility and equipment. He said public safety expenditures alone were equal to 6 cents on the debt side of the city's strained tax rate – which stands to go over 70 cents per $100 assessed valuation in 2009-10.
 
Those expenditures have not been lost on the council, either, and Grammer was pressed to confirm.
 
"It's not just the opinion inside the department but outside among other cities. There's nobody in the metroplex that has better equipment than Garland. Period," the chief said.
 

Dashboard Report

For the time that I've been on the Council and before, Bryan Bradford, director (and District 1 resident), and his department, Budget and Research, have prepared a monthly synopsis of different economic windows to the city, the Management Dashboard Report. We receive a paper copy with lots of graphs and other information. I've wanted to share it many times but I've not had it electronically. I've thought about preparing a summary but the graphs carry the stories.
 
As more people learned of the report, Bryan kept fielding requests for copies. Putting it online makes handling those requests so much simpler. And it makes sharing it with readers so much simpler too.
 
Here are the categories currently detailed:
 

On the Watch List in the latest report, these areas reflected negative trends:
 

 
A quick look tells you that revenue to the city is down whether for new construction (building permits), sales tax, municipal court revenue, EMS, or electricity use. Lower revenue at the municipal court and for EMS services is good for residents because it signals less offenses and less emergency calls, but it doesn't help balance the budget. An increased number of police calls, more graffiti, and more animal service calls are not so good.
 
Check out the report for yourself and get a better month-to-month picture of how we are doing as a city.
 
My appreciation to Bryan Bradford and all the others at Budget and Research, plus the many other employees that produce and collect this data.
 

Two Garland artists were featured simultaneously during the I've Got Energy Texas PTA award ceremonies in Austin last Saturday. On the left, Shae Athas was recognized with an Award of Merit in Print Advertising and Ben Ballard received an Award of Excellence for Photography. Both reside in District 1.

 
A number of students from Garland were recently notified that they were being recognized by the Texas PTA for last year's Environmental Awareness Program themed I've Got Energy. The awards ceremony was Saturday at the Blanton Museum of Art on The University of Texas campus in Austin. A complete list of winners is here .
 
Three ceremonies for different grade levels were necessary to recognize all the students and relatives that made the trip. Awards were also presented for last year's Reflections participants. Numerous Garland students joined students from across the state at the ceremonies, including several from District 1.
 
The red recycling containers from Garland's Environmental Waste program were featured by several artists.
 

Artists and families were given free admission to the Blanton Museum of Art. Above is the atrium and a specially commissioned exhibit for the Blanton, Stacked Waters. Obviously enjoying the museum are Tom Jeffcoat, Shae Athas (maybe enjoying too much?), and Mathew Jeffcoat, who won an Award of Excellence in Video for his Dominoes video, starring over 2000 dominoes.

 
Congratulations to all the artists that were recognized and thanks for bringing attention to the City of Garland's efforts to be environmentally friendly. I'm sure Lonnie Banks, director of environmental services, very much appreciates that these artists are so environmentally aware. I want to also recognize him and his department's efforts that have set such a noticeable standard.
 

City of Garland Press Release:

Garland’s Transportation and Engineering Chief
Elected Vice President of International Organization

Robert Wunderlich

Garland, Texas – August 21, 2009 – Robert C. Wunderlich, P.E., was elected Vice President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. As Vice President, Wunderlich will serve as a member of the Executive Committee, helping to shape ITE’s priorities and strategic direction. He will also act as a representative for ITE to both members and the public. ITE is an international educational and scientific association responsible for meeting mobility and safety needs. The announcement was made at the Annual Business Meeting during the ITE 2010 Annual Meeting and Exhibit. More than 1,000 transportation professionals were on hand to participate in the four day event.
 
Wunderlich is the Senior Managing Director of Transportation and Engineering for the City of Garland. He manages four departments that plan, design, construct, operate and maintain street and drainage infrastructure. The city’s population of 225,000 places it among the one hundred largest cities in the United States and ten largest cities in Texas. Wunderlich is a member of the City Manager’s Executive Management Team where he helps set policies, budgets and priorities. He serves on the Information Technology Board and as liaison to the City Council’s Development Services Committee. Wunderlich oversees a street, transportation and drainage capital improvements program of about $30 million annually and a yearly street reconstruction and repair program of $9 million. Prior to joining the City of Garland, Wunderlich was a Principal Associate with a national transportation consulting firm. He managed public and private projects in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kentucky and Mexico City. Wunderlich previously served as an Assistant Director of Transportation for the City of Arlington, and was also a Senior Traffic Engineer with the City of Austin, and a researcher at the Texas Transportation Institute.
 
Wunderlich has been a member of ITE for 27 years, participating in the Board of Direction from 2006–2008 and serving as the Public Agency Council Chair from 2004–2006. He has also been a member of the Coordinating Council from 2004–2006. He has served on numerous ITE committees, including Parking Generation Technical Review, 2004; Online Learning Program technical content reviewer, 2002 and content advisory committee, 2001; Access Management Brochure, 1998; Trip Generation Handbook reviewer, 1998, focus group, 1994–1996, subcommittee on data collection, 1996 and subcommittee on shopping centers, 1995.
 
At the local level, Wunderlich has been actively involved with the ITE Texas District. He has held the position of newsletter editor, 1990 and 1991, section representative, 1991 and 1992, secretary-treasurer, 1997, vice president, 1998 and president, 1999. From 2003–2005 he served as the student chapter liaison.
 
In 2008 Wunderlich received the Community Support Award for the Teens in the Driver Seat program. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Texas District Transportation Engineer of the Year award and the Community Partner Award from the Garland Chamber of Commerce.
 
ITE facilitates the application of technology and scientific principles to research, planning, functional design, implementation, operation, policy development and management for any mode of ground transportation. Through its products and services, ITE promotes professional development of its members, supports and encourages education, stimulates research, develops public awareness programs and serves as a conduit for the exchange of professional information.
 
Founded in 1930, ITE is a community of transportation professionals including, transportation engineers, transportation planners, consultants, educators and researchers. ITE has a network of nearly 17,000 members, working in more than 90 countries.
 

 
In many areas, Garland employees are officers in state and national organizations. As I mentioned in the last post, our employees are great innovators and many are leaders in their field. Their peers have recognized them over and over for those qualities.
 
Congratulations to Robert for ascending to the international level!
 

If cities were a business and councils were the board of directors, which local cities would be doing the best job returning value to their residents? Businesses usually point to their stock price, which should be, generally speaking, a combination of company assets, management capabilities, return on investment, and demand. How would we measure those same factors for a city? One indication might be the asset value of the entire city divided by the number of residents. (It wouldn't be exact and any conclusions drawn would need to be cautious but it would be indicative to a degree.)
 
I have made the argument over and over that we need to Grow the City. Obviously, if we were successful doing that, the total appraised value — the tax base — divided by the number of citizens would be rising. I don't currently have that data to know if that is happening but look where we are today.
 

Tax Base Per Capita – Metroplex Comparison (in thousands)
Garland’s tax base per capita is 28% below the average.

This data is from Garland's Office of Budget and Research. We don't look too hot in this comparison. We have a high debt rate and we have a high tax rate. We don't see here much return in asset value for what we have been paying.
 
We run a very tight ship and our employees are some of the best innovators of any governmental organization. We have over 30% less employees per capita compared to the average of cities around us. The value isn't being absorbed by local government. Historically, we've just not leveraged our assets well in the ways that create growth.
 
We are a very unique city with challenges. We have handled those challenges relatively well for decades. We are also a city with unique opportunities. How we address the former and capitalize on the latter is our real challenge and our measure.
 
We can remain in this pattern or we can Grow the City. To do so will mean different prioritizations, promoting ourselves, re-inventing some of the ways we do business and how we regulate, and it means short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.
 
Success would mean lower taxes, stronger neighborhoods, healthy businesses, and more opportunities that we call "quality of life."
 
We have made some strides in the last couple years. We've started to do the things that will make a difference. We're in the process of changing our development regulations to be more competitive and adaptive. We are in the process of identifying areas of the city most challenged economically and will be strategizing how to bring more value and services to those areas. We have started to market the city but that effort has been woefully ignored for many years. We will capitalize on the eastern extension of SH-190, not refuse exits as the city did when I-635 was being planned. We've focused more closely on helping neighborhoods than any city in the area and more than most in the country.
 
We've turned in the right direction but I would be much happier if the momentum was greater. The current economy is a challenge. Like most cities, our measures are seeing declines rather than growth. If we hadn't prepared as we have, we would definitely be seeing greater declines and a longer recovery would be ahead.
 
Looking at the data above, our "stock price" isn't too high. We need to keep in mind where we are and continue to push to create more value for our residents and businesses. Those are our investors.
 

Garland Police Department News Release:

Labor Day DWI Patrols

Starting this weekend Garland Police will have additional officers patrolling Garland streets for drunk drivers. The timing of the extra patrols coincides with the dates leading up to and following Labor Day weekend. The additional 18 days of enforcement will start Friday August 21 and run through Monday September 7.
 
The additional patrols are funded by the IMPAIRED DRIVER MOBILIZATION GRANT sponsored by TxDOT. The grant’s aim is enforcing DWI laws for all drivers with a special emphasis on Driving Under the Influence by Minors.
 
By mid-August, Garland Police had made 325 arrests for D.W.I. and filed 24 additional cases of Driving Under the Influence by Minors.
 
In Texas someone is hurt or killed in an alcohol-related crash every 19 minutes and drunk-driving claims 5 lives every day. This year Garland has had six fatality crashes.
 

PLEASE HAVE A SAFE HOLIDAY – DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE

 

The momentum carrying the story of the Bankhead Highway in Texas and its ties to Garland have made strong strides today in an article by Ray Leszcynski in the Dallas Morning News. The article gives credit to Garland native and researcher Jerry Flook for the being the impetus to this momentum. I recently featured a four-part installment covering Mr Flook's research paper that was presented to the Texas Historical Commission; the first was here. Links to the other installments are easy to follow from there, including a PDF of the paper available for download at the final installment.
 
Today's article ties the Garland perspective to other parts of the Metroplex. The paper-version features a number of photos that are not available online at the DMN site. I suggest keeping your copy or grabbing one at the newsstand. Also, additional information has been posted at the DMN Garland Blog, including images of vintage maps.
 

From the Dallas Morning News, Aug 18:

Research yields recognition for historically significant Bankhead Highway

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By RAY LESZCYNSKI / The Dallas Morning News
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com
 
With its century-old buildings, annual parades and downtown businesses that savor their link to history, Garland's Main Street is a lot like Main Street in a lot of other places.
 

From left: Garland businessman Robert Smith, Mayor Pro Tem Laura Cox, state Rep. Carol Kent, researcher Jerry Flook and City Council member John Willis pushed for historical recognition of the Bankhead Highway. Credit: Melanie Burford/DMN [Click to enlarge]

Exactly alike, as it turns out. An effort to celebrate the city's heritage led to the rediscovery of the Bankhead Highway, the nation's first paved road between Washington, D.C., and San Diego.
 
Not only is Main Street in Garland part of the Bankhead, so is Main Street in Grand Prairie, Lancaster Avenue in Fort Worth, Davis Street in Oak Cliff and hundreds of other streets like them across 13 states.
 
"Garland sort of has a dearth of Texas historical markers, so I was wondering what we could pursue," said native Jerry Flook, who researched the project. "Definitely, the Bankhead showed to be eligible."
 
Although it was commissioned in 1916 as the nation's second transcontinental highway, the Bankhead had no official designation in Texas.
 
"There was no program for recognizing historic highways across the state," Garland City Council member John Willis said.
 
So Garland officials turned to their first-term state representative, Carol Kent, and she went to work establishing the Texas Historic Roads and Highways Program and getting the Bankhead designated as a Texas Historic Highway. Willis and Mayor Pro Tem Laura Cox went to Austin to offer testimony, and HB 2642 and 2644 were signed into law June 19.
 
With the enabling legislation approved, Robert Smith, who has just renovated a building on the downtown square, paid for a historic marker. It's now in the hands of the Texas Historical Commission.
 
"The state is not funding the markers, but this is where Garland is a great example," Kent said. "Volunteers step up and fund the signage or the marker downtown. What you see right here amongst these people is what we want to have happen across the state."
 
Kent said 37 Texas House districts are touched by the Bankhead. She would like to see an association that links the communities and provides a network for their activities.
 
Flook said that is what happened in connection with the Dixie Overland Highway, a road in East Texas that he researched while living in Forney.
 
"They never sought a historic marker, but they had an association that had road trips, garage sale days and multiple communities working together," he said. "That would seem to be logical for the Bankhead, too."
 
Grand Prairie Mayor Pro Tem Ruthe Jackson suggests an annual Bankhead Highway Day.
 
"Somebody needs to take that up who's not 88 years old going on 89," said Jackson, who followed the route into the city when her parents moved from Oak Cliff in 1931.
 
Michael Amonett, president of the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League, is eager to link the history to Davis Street.
 
"What's cool is that Davis goes through Winnetka Heights, King's Highway and Bishop Arts," he said. "It connects three historic areas.
 
"But Davis Street is also part of a 350-acre privately funded land use study for rezoning. My hope would be it gives them pause to realize the history of the area they're tinkering with," Amonett said. "People don't want to see all new and shiny. They want to see part of who we were, and that's what we have here."
 
West of Oak Cliff, Davis Street becomes Grand Prairie's Main Street. The road is also designated State Highway 180 and generally remembered as the Bankhead, but Jackson says that's not the exact route.
 
"It's not Highway 180 as we know today. It's kind of wandered paths," she said. "We still have two little bridges from the old Bankhead Highway. You can see them a lot better in the wintertime when the trees around them have lost their leaves."
 
Grand Prairie spokeswoman Amy Sprinkles said the city has plans to mark the highway this year, soon after it celebrates its 100th year of incorporation.
 
Recognizing history is at the heart of Kent's legislation, rather than dedicating a new highway in the name of a historical figure, which has been the trend in Texas.
 
"These are historic paths, not just celebratory roads," Kent said. "It's not honorific. The Bankhead is an actual, historic, traveled-upon route."
 

 
UPDATE: The Bankhead Hwy also ran through Abilene. Follow this link to a short but very nicely done presentation by the Abilene Preservation League.
 

In the final installment (of four) of Jerry Flook's research on the Bankhead Highway in Garland, Mr Flook details why the Bankhead Highway is now just a memory, but an important element of Garland's past that very much influences how we grew to the Garland of today. Mr Flook concludes his narrative with a description of the route the Bankhead took through Garland. A local map is available here.
 
The first installment was posted here, the second here, and the third here.
 
A complete copy of Mr Flook's Bankhead Highway paper is downloadable here . The paper is supplemented with source notes and a bibliography.
 
It has been a pleasure for me to be able to present Mr Flook's research efforts that illustrate the richness of Garland's history. His efforts and that of others are how we remember our past and treasure the unique character of Garland. My heartfelt thanks to Mr Flook for graciously allowing me this honor. Also, my appreciation to the Garland Landmark Society that has made the photos I have used available to everyone on their website.
 

By Jerry Flook:

HISTORY OF THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF GARLAND, TEXAS, A CITY ON ITS ROUTE

 

The Bankhead Highway Gets Name Changes

 

By the time the Bankhead Highway was completed America’s network of named “auto trails” had become quite complex and confusing to the traveler. Several of the named highways had branch routes. The Bankhead Highway had at least three branch routes. Many of these named trails shared portions of their route with other named highways. In fact, the Bankhead Highway and the Dixie Overland Highway shared the same route between Dallas and San Diego. Many of the named routes also had segments with state highway numbers, as did the Bankhead Highway, which was also Texas State Highway 1. Each named auto trail did, however, have its official identifying signage. The Bankhead Highway sign was the black letters “BH” on a white background with wide yellow stripes across the sign’s top and bottom.

From the Garland Landmark Society: The J. C. Jubilee, a Labor Day fundraising celebration of the Garland Jaycees, has occurred annually since 1946. This 1956 photo caught W.J. 'Mo' Wooldridge, monitored by his son, Jay, painting a promotional Jubilee sign on the Skillern's Drug Store window in the [old Garland Shopping Center]. [Photo is not a part of Mr Flook's narrative.]

 
In an effort to standardize and simplify the identification of the nation’s major highways, the federal administration in 1926 officially discarded word names such as Bankhead, Dixie, Jefferson, Lincoln, etc., in favor of numbers. As a result, the Bankhead Highway’s new official federal designation became Texas Highway 1, but was also assigned U.S. Highway 67 between Texarkana and Dallas and U.S. Highway 80 from Dallas westward. It was, however, several years before local usage abandoned the Bankhead name. In Georgia the Bankhead Highway name is still attached to much of its original route through the state. In Texas the current visitors’ center in Mt. Vernon is named the Bankhead Highway Visitors’ Center, and many other Texas towns retain the name on surviving segments of its route. The name remained attached to Garland’s main street at least until the early 1950s, and there is still a bypassed one-block portion of the route which retains the Bankhead name.
 
In 1931 the portion of the Bankhead Highway route between Texarkana and Dallas (including Garland) was designated part of the “Broadway of America Highway,” a tourist highway extending from New York City to San Diego via such cities as Washington, D.C., Nashville, Texarkana, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Abilene, El Paso, Phoenix and Tucson. (It is interesting to note that the practice of giving word names to auto trails had not been totally abandoned.) At that time it was reported that some 93% of the route was paved and that all grade crossings would be replaced with overpasses. Also in 1931 the local paper noted that the heavy traffic on the Bankhead Highway through the area was demanding further improvements in the route. The stop signs on the local Square had to be replaced by the city’s first traffic lights. And because the Bankhead paving between Garland and Dallas was only 18 feet wide, right-of-way was being sought to widen it to 36 to 40 feet. It is generally accepted that the economic benefits deriving from the Bankhead and other such highway projects during the 1930s provided for many a buffer against the hardships of the Great Depression.
 
In 1936 a dramatic increase in tourist traffic through Garland over the Bankhead Highway en route to the Texas Centennial in Dallas created both new economic opportunities and demands for upgrading. The highway was widened through downtown and the city installed Centennial decorations for the highway and the Square. A local entrepreneur organized a room-rental bureau for accommodation of tourists. And the tourist cabin park on the west side of town was enlarged. The Memorial Fountain on the Square was refurbished and re-landscaped. The Chamber of Commerce erected on the Bankhead Highway at the city limits signs reading, “Entering Garland, the City of Beautiful Homes.”
 
Even though we have concentrated here on the growth in commercial development in Garland in conjunction with the Bankhead Highway, during the 1920s there was a significant residential development on its route as well. In fact, some six blocks on either side of the Bankhead Highway west of downtown became Garland’s “Silk Stocking Row,” boasting dramatic mostly Tudor-style brick homes of the town’s most prosperous businessmen. Even though now zoned for commercial use, a few of these beautiful houses survive, evincing the glory days of the Bankhead Highway.
 
In 1921, as the Bankhead Highway, extending some 3,000 miles from coast to coast, approached completion, it was estimated that its total cost would exceed $100,000,000. No later estimates have been seen. Nevertheless, the economic benefits it afforded from coast to coast during its lifetime are incalculable. Inevitably the usefulness of the Bankhead Highway, which in most places was but two lanes wide, diminished as traffic loads burgeoned in the 1940s and 1950s. With the passage of the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, drivers quickly opted for the wider, safer, and faster new interstates, which generally bypassed the downtowns once served by the Bankhead. The economies of these downtowns, until then so dependent on the traffic over the old highway, fell rapidly into decline. Garland was no exception, much of its Bankhead traffic diverting to Interstate Highway 30. Although there has been more than one effort at revitalization, its downtown has yet to fully recover the vitality of its Bankhead Highway days.
 
The old Bankhead Highway through downtown Garland is now named Main Street; from the west end of Main to I-635 it is South Garland Avenue; and thence to Gaston Avenue in Dallas it is Garland Road. From the east end of Main Street the route of the Bankhead continues a short distance eastward on Bankhead St.; thence eastward on East Avenue A; thence eastward on Hwy 66 to Commerce St.; thence to where Commerce St. ends at Mills Rd. The segment of the original route east of Mills Rd. across the Rowlett Creek bottoms has been abandoned, but the Bankhead route picks up again in Rowlett.
 
First Installment: The Good Roads Movement
Second Installment: Developing the Bankhead Highway
Third Installment: The Bankhead Highway Fulfills Economic Expectations

Posted with permission of Jerry Flook

 

 
UPDATE: Text above has been corrected to reflect that the Bankhead Highway Visitors Center is in Mt Vernon, not Mt Pleasant as mistakenly stated previously.
 

In the third installment (of four) of Jerry Flook's research on the Bankhead Highway in Garland, Mr Flook details the symbiotic relationship of how autos led to highways and how highways led to more autos. Locally, both led to an economic boom centered along the Bankhead Hwy that, as we will learn in the final installment, extended blocks away from the highway as more people moved to Garland and built new homes.
 
The first installment was posted here and the second here.
 

By Jerry Flook:

HISTORY OF THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF GARLAND, TEXAS, A CITY ON ITS ROUTE

 

The Bankhead Highway Fulfills Economic Expectations

 

From the Garland Landmark Society: Scogins Cafe, owned by Fulton and Ollie Scogin, about the time of it's opening in October, 1945. Formerly Boyd's Cafe, the redecorated eatery was located on the north side of Bankhead Ave., now Main Street, between 1st and 3rd Sts. and advertised "Garland's Finest Foods." [Photo is not a part of Mr Flook's narrative.]

Not surprisingly, the belief of the Garland News editor that the Bankhead Highway promised “fine opportunities” for Garland and other towns on its route proved to be accurate. The automobile had been the primary stimulus for the development of highways such as the Bankhead, but the improved highways in turn stimulated the evolution of motor transportation. The impact on auto traffic was almost immediate. For 19 hours one Sunday in June 1923 the Garland Chamber of Commerce counted autos passing through the Square on the Bankhead Highway. They counted 2,585 and estimated that 75% of them stopped for service, drinks, and food. Later that summer the paper declared: “People are moving to Garland so fast lately that what few gossips we have are being worked overtime to circulate their peculiarities and shortcomings.” In the same issue the paper noted that the iron hitching rack on the Square had been moved to a side street since there were so many autos it was dangerous to have teams on the Square.
 
Among the more visible improvements which the county bonds and the development of the Bankhead brought to Garland besides a paved and curbed main street were a new concrete bridge over Duck Creek on the west side of town. The Garland Square was landscaped with flowers and grass and a World War I memorial fountain erected there, presumably at least in part to make Garland’s downtown a more appealing stop for travelers on the Bankhead.
 
In 1923 Lake Garland, an impoundment of Duck Creek under the Bankhead Highway bridge, was purchased by a local entrepreneur, who dredged it and renovated the existing bath houses with an eye to creating an “auto tourist camp” there. A tourist cottage park, Anderson Park, was developed on the Highway east of town in 1931 and a second such operation, Crenshaw Tourist Park, eventually opened on the Highway at the west side of town. About that same time Garland’s first miniature golf course was opened on the Highway near Lake Garland Park.
 
Besides lodging and recreation for travelers on the Bankhead Highway various other businesses to serve them sprang up along the route through Garland. Although Garland’s Bankhead route extended through only 12 commercial blocks, by the mid-1940s auto travel-related businesses with Bankhead addresses included 5 auto dealerships, 3 auto repair garages, 3 auto supply stores, 9 restaurants, and 11 service stations. Although none of these is now in operation, several of the buildings that housed them still survive, adapted to other uses.
 
Parenthetically, it should be noted that apparently the Bankhead Highway was never officially designated by the War Department as a military highway, despite early predictions. It is, however, true that on 14 June 1920 the War Department launched an Army convoy over the route, thus giving the Bankhead Highway implied government recognition as the most important southern transcontinental route. The convoy consisted of 44 trucks, 7 automobiles, 4 motorcycles, 20 officers, 160 enlisted men, and the secretary of the Bankhead National Highway Association. The convoy stopped in every community on the way, presenting promotional programs. It finally reached Los Angeles on 6 October 1920. There is no report in the Garland News of the convoy coming through Garland, so it may have bypassed this part of its main route following one of its branch routes.
 
It is interesting to note that in 1924 Garland businessmen exulted over the completion of a paved route connecting Terrell on the Dixie Overland Highway to Rockwall on the Bankhead east of Garland. The Dixie Overland Highway at the time included an unpaved swampy section between Forney and the Dallas County line known as the “Forney Gap.” Since the “Gap” was impassable in rainy weather, the new connection would allow diversion of DOH traffic at those times through Garland on the Bankhead. The “Forney Gap” was not closed until 1931.
 
First Installment: The Good Roads Movement
Second Installment: Developing the Bankhead Highway
Fourth Installment: The Bankhead Highway Gets Name Changes

Posted with permission of Jerry Flook

 

In the second installment (of four) of Jerry Flook's research on the Bankhead Highway in Garland, Mr Flook details a series of events that marked the construction of the highway and its arrival in Garland. He draws heavily from old issues of the Garland News. The first installment was posted here.
 
As the highway was being planned, different routes were considered. One alternative considered would have located it in Oklahoma, missing Garland and most of Texas. This map of the route, by Steven Varner, shows the alternative. If the main route had changed, certainly the city wouldn't be as we know it today. Even locally, different routes were considered. There were a number of decisions that, had they been decided differently, would probably have resulted in Downtown not being where it now is. The details are here:
 

By Jerry Flook:

HISTORY OF THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF GARLAND, TEXAS, A CITY ON ITS ROUTE

 

Developing the Bankhead Highway

 

From the Garland Landmark Society: Morrison's Garage, shown here in the early '20's, provided gas, tires and mechanic service to the exploding population of automobile owners in the early 20th century. This establishment was located at the southeast corner of present Main and Seventh Sts., neither of which was a hard-surface road. [Photo is not a part of Mr Flook's narrative.]

In 1916 the federal government passed the Federal Aid Road Act, which supplied matching funds to the states for upgrading roads, especially those used as postal routes. The plan was authored by Logan Waller Page, director of the Office of Public Roads, and was sponsored in the U.S. Senate by John Hollis Bankhead, of Alabama. On 6 October 1916 the Bankhead Highway Association was formed in Birmingham, the route being named for Senator Bankhead, who came to be known as the “father of good roads in the U. S. Senate.”
 
The Bankhead Highway started at the so-called Zero Milestone, a monument erected near the White House in Washington, D.C., and ended in San Diego, California. Other major cities on its main route included Richmond, Virginia; Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; Athens, Decatur and Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Tupelo, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock and Hot Springs, Arkansas; Texarkana, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Midland, Odessa, and El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico; Tucson, Tempe, and Phoenix, Arizona; and El Centro, California. This southern route for the nation’s second transcontinental highway was viewed as having the advantages of being passable year-round and lying on a low grade without steep mountain climbs.
 
An item in the Garland News of 15 June 1917 suggests that Good Roads committees had already made considerable progress on an improved east-west route through the area. A brief mention on that date stated, “The ‘Sociability Run’ on the now well-connected highway from Texarkana to El Paso via Dallas and Ft. Worth should arrive at Garland about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and stop here 30 minutes.” One week later the paper reported, “Jerry W. Debenport, vice-president and general manager of the Texarkana-Dallas Highway, and a party of 12 automobiles filled with Good Roads enthusiasts passed through Garland. They proceeded to Mineral Wells, where a Good Roads Convention is being held. The State Highway Commission is taking part in the convention.” Then a month or so later the editor announced that officials of the Texarkana-Dallas Highway were to pay another visit, and he editorialized, “This highway when fully connected and completed will be a good thing for the towns on its route. It will carry many hundreds of interstate auto travelers. It will mean some increase in certain lines of business…. And it means a fine opportunity to advertise our town, to show it to strangers as a good place to come, to invest, and to grow up with Texas.”
 
The improved route referred to here became Texas State Highway 1, a designation assigned in 1917 as one of the original 26 state highways. Texas Highway 1 was to become part of the Bankhead Highway in 1920.
 
A timeline of steps in the development of the Bankhead Highway in Texas, especially through the Garland, Texas, area follows:

Fall, 1917 The Bankhead Highway “pathfinders” established the first leg of the road from Washington to Memphis. 25 Oct 1918 “Scouts for the route of the Bankhead Highway will be here [Garland] November 6. This is probably the most important highway to be built in the South and will in all likelihood be designated a military road.”—Garland News. [This is the first instance of the use of the name “Bankhead Highway” in the local newspaper.] Apr 1919 The second leg of the highway, Memphis to El Paso, was established this month. Thus all of Texas State Highway 1 (Texarkana to El Paso) was incorporated into the Bankhead route. 11 Apr 1919 “Arthur P. Dyer, secretary of the Texas Bankhead Highway, addressed a meeting of Garland citizens Monday. He explained the importance of the highway as one of two year-round transcontinental routes. Twenty-one senators live on the highway route, which insures federal support. Dyer said Garland was the only town on the Texas route which had voluntarily organized and gone to work without asking for outside help and complimented the town’s live spirit.”—Garland News. 16 Jan 1920 “A desperate attempt is being made by Oklahoma to get the Bankhead Highway.”—Garland News. [This matter was settled somewhat later by the decision to keep the main route in Texas and a branch route through Oklahoma.] Apr 1920 The final leg of the Bankhead Highway was established between El Paso and San Diego. Jul 1920 The Dallas division of the Bankhead Highway Association was organized in a meeting at the Oriental Hotel. 20 Jul 1920 The War Department is proposing a “detour” route for military travel between Texarkana and Dallas by way of Paris, Sherman and McKinney. It would bypass the main route planned for the Bankhead Highway, “the greatest highway in the U.S.”—Garland News

In late 1920 and early 1921, as the Bankhead Highway approached completion, Dallas County labored over finalizing the highway’s route from Garland to Dallas. A new alignment of the Dallas-Garland road was chosen to parallel the SFRR between Reinhardt and present Miller Road, supplanting the old route of the “pike” over present Jupiter Road and Forest Lane. Then a major flap arose when it was proposed by the county to run the Bankhead through Garland along the route of present Avenue D, completely missing the Square by several blocks. Outcry from the downtown businessmen succeeded in returning the route to that portion of the “pike” (at that time Texas State 1, now Main Street) running through the Square.
 
First Installment: The Good Roads Movement
Third Installment: The Bankhead Highway Fulfills Economic Expectations

Posted with permission of Jerry Flook

 

The Zero Milestone across the South Lawn from the White House was the starting point for the Bankhead Highway and the Second Trans-Continental Convoy Source: Federal Highway Administration

Interest in the Bankhead Highway (map at the link), that originally ran from Washington, DC, through Garland, and on to San Diego, has grown quickly. Authorized by Congress in 1916, it was the second trans-continental highway and resulted from the Open Roads Movement that sought adequate infrastructure for cars and other vehicles. The Zero Milestone, photo on the right, was the beginning of the two trans-continental convoys, first on the Lincoln Highway and then the Bankhead less than a year later. I posted a picture that I took of the Zero Milestone in front of the White House in an earlier post.
 
Jerry Flook has been researching the Bankhead Hwy and local history for many years. In a recent message, he said, "I want to do what I can to raise awareness of Garland's history, which has been given far too little attention far too long." He has also helped other local communities to know more of their past.
 
In January, Mr Flook and District 1 resident Robert Smith appeared before the Garland Community Arts Commission seeking permission to place an official Texas Historical Monument on the Downtown square commemorating the highway. The commission approved the request and forwarded it to the Council where it received final approval. Since then, Rep Carol Kent, who represents part of west Garland and north Dallas, was successful introducing legislation during the last session designating the Bankhead Hwy as an historic Texas highway. "The Bankhead is a vital part of our state's history, and it is in danger of being forgotten," said Rep. Kent. "With the passage this law, we can celebrate this part of our Texas heritage, and also promote the Bankhead as a tool for economic development in towns and cities across our state." Setting the monument on the square will be at a future ceremony.
 
Garland has a colorful and rich history and the Bankhead Highway plays a prominent role. The highway entered Garland from Sachse and ran along present-day Commerce St (a block south of SH-66) to Downtown. The Downtown portion, long known as Bankhead St, was eventually renamed Main St. A small portion just east of Five Points is still named Bankhead St (map at the link). It continued west from Downtown where it intersected today's Garland Ave and turned south, continuing on to Dallas. (Full Garland route here.)
 
As part of the process to obtain the historic designation for Garland, Mr Flook prepared a research paper for the Dallas County Historical Society before advancing the report to Austin. I will present Mr Flook's research in four installments that will bring memories alive for longtime Garland residents and will fill-in some of the blanks for most others.
 

By Jerry Flook:

HISTORY OF THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY

PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF GARLAND, TEXAS, A CITY ON ITS ROUTE

 

The Good Roads Movement

 
The American obsession with the automobile began shortly before the turn of the 20th century and mushroomed at an astounding rate thereafter. The first auto excursion in Texas is widely believed to have been that run in October 1899 by Edward H. R. Green and George P. Dorris over a rutted dirt road between Terrell and Dallas.
 
The rate at which the obsession grew is suggested by the fact that by 1902 auto races were a featured attraction of the State Fair of Texas. In 1903 the first coast-to-coast auto excursion was run between San Francisco and New York City. In 1905 the Ford Motor Company produced 1,599 autos; two years later it built 14,887. And Garland, Texas, was as much a victim of the auto fascination as any other population in America. In 1910 the first ad for an automobile manufacturer—the Nelson Motor Car Company, of Chicago—appeared in the Garland News. In April 1911 the News reported that “Garland was filled with visiting autos Sunday.” And in August of that same year the paper named at least 21 Garland men who were proud owners of new automobiles.

From the Garland Landmark Society: The 1917 Reo Touring Car had "jump"seats allowing it to carry up to 7 passengers, and it might have still smelled new when this local family was photographed. Through automobile ownership was ballooning, Texans registered fewer than 195,000 vehicles statewide in 1917. [Photo is not a part of Mr Flook's narrative.]

 
Unfortunately America’s roads were ill-prepared to accommodate the automobile. Most were rutted wagon trails at best, alternately muddy or dusty. Even before the advent of the automobile, bicycle enthusiasts as early as the 1880s had begun to campaign for road improvement. By the turn of the 20th century, however, automobile clubs began taking the lead in the so-called Good Roads Movement. Eventually state and local entities grew increasingly supportive of the improvement of rural roads in an effort to boost rural economies and to help stem the migration of the farm population to the cities.
 
In 1911 and 1912 the Texas legislature voted some $5 million in bonds for rural road improvement. Early in 1913 the state legislature passed a bill providing for counties and cities to issue their own road bonds. Soon thereafter Texas governor O. B. Colquitt proclaimed November 5 and 6, 1913, to be “Good Roads Days,” acknowledging that the Good Roads Movement promised great progress for the state. Local authorities across the state complained, however, that short of the proclamation the state was not coming forth with much help in building better roads. And not everyone thought that a program of road improvement was a good idea, a vocal group of farmers insisting that it would primarily benefit the “automobilists” and bring about increases in property taxes and farm rents.
 
The Good Roads Movement was, however, increasingly successful in gaining support. Groups were organized to lobby lawmakers and local leaders, holding road conventions and disseminating published materials on the economic benefits of better roads. In 1913 the first coast-to-coast improved route, the Lincoln Highway, was pieced together by a Good Roads organization successfully convincing counties and cities to improve linked existing routes with their jurisdictions. Because the cooperation of these independent authorities was in most cases purely voluntary and their funding inconsistent, the quality of the improvements and maintenance could be piecemeal and undependable.
 
By the year the Lincoln Highway was opened, Garland, Texas, could boast 2 auto sales agencies and an auto repair service. And evidence of the influence of the Good Roads Movement was manifesting itself throughout Dallas County. The route of the gravel-paved Dallas-Greenville “pike,” later to be a segment of the Bankhead Highway, was relocated by the county from its original course just north of the Garland Square to pass through the Square. The Garland News at the time celebrated the change, referring to the “pike” as an “interstate route,” presumably a rather new concept. In October 1913 the Dallas County Highway Improvement Association was organized, led by the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the Dallas Automobile Club. The local paper said that volunteer work crews would be organized in every county town and autos would be volunteered to transport the crews to the work sites.
 
By 1914 the impact of the improved and relocated “pike” and the increasing role of the automobile were becoming evident in Garland. A large public well was dug on the Square and landscaped with grass and trees, and new ordinances were passed by the city council to regulate the operation of motor vehicles. In 1915 the local paper recorded the first motor delivery truck in town and a few months later the town’s only chemical fire wagon was remounted on a Ford auto chassis. Soon the editor of the paper was calling for the municipal speed limit to be lowered from 18 m.p.h. to a much more reasonable 12 m.p.h. By 1916 Garland was home to 2 auto repair garages, 4 auto sales agencies, 1 auto accessory store, 1 auto paint shop, and 2 motor jitney lines.
 
Second Installment: Developing the Bankhead Highway

Posted with permission of Jerry Flook

 

"Nobody's a bad guy in this" — so I am quoted in an article in today's Metro section of the Dallas Morning News. The genesis for the article is a proposal to tap $2 million from the Rate Mitigation Fund and use the money to offset city administraton plans to close that gap by temporarily reducing employee compensation.
 
While the article does not cover the depth of the proposal and the suggestion to use Rate Mitigation funds, it does refer to my earlier post where I explain that I think it illegal to use the Charter-protected funds for purposes other than those listed in the Charter. It doesn't suffice to artificially create a crisis and then rob the fund as a solution. As I explain, I won't violate the Charter and ignore the will of the voters in 1996 when that protection was first added to the Charter and then amended in 2004 when politicians sought creative ways to tap some of the funds.
 
I have been reviewing the budget presented to the Council last Tuesday and will post several items that should interest residents, especially taking a look at current debt loads. The DMN article by Ray Leszcynski does an excellent job describing the larger picture that envelopes this year's budget and the constraints we all face. I particularly recommend it for the concise synopsis of "where we're at."
 

From the Dallas Morning News, August 11:

Garland firefighters make proposal to balance city budget

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 11, 2009
By RAY LESZCYNSKI / The Dallas Morning News
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com
 
With a 1.15 percent pay cut on the board for all Garland employees in 2009-10, some of the city's protectors have turned into politicos.
 
The Garland Fire Fighters Association is circulating a proposal to use Garland Power & Light funds in place of $2 million in temporary pay cuts in the proposed budget.
 
That budget was presented formally to the City Council by City Manager Bill Dollar last week. It includes a half-cent debt service tax increase, making the tax rate 70.46 cents per $100 valuation. In Dallas County, only Cockrell Hill, Dallas, Lancaster and Rowlett have higher rates.
 
"GP&L is a utility revenue source for the city of Garland and the third-largest revenue source for the general fund," said Eric Brown, the fire association's vice president. "The top two – property values and sales taxes – are getting hammered. But we've got a stable third source. Is it not worth it to at least look at that third source and see if it can make a difference?"
 
Council member Doug Athas met with Brown, association president Chad Purcell and members of the police officers' association on July 30. Athas said the rates at the municipally owned utility are also high and that he would not be in favor of balancing the budget with higher utility rates or an increase to the operations and maintenance side of the tax rate.
 
"They're not bad guys. Nobody's a bad guy in this," Athas said. "They're just looking for solutions."
 
But solutions are hard to find in Garland this budget season. Dollar pointed to a 3.7 percent decline in property value and a nearly 11 percent decline in sales tax receipts. Bryan Bradford, the city's senior managing director of budget and research, earlier told the council there was a 60 percent decline in new construction this year and 9,000 unemployed people in the city of about 218,000.
 
Pressed by a constituent to either reconsider the firefighters' proposal or perhaps face trouble in the May 1 election, Athas posted a 2,000-word response on his blog.
 
"I was told that Station 10, the one closest to my home, might have to be taken out of service," he wrote. "The implication was that my family and neighbors would be less safe."
 
Athas does, however, credit the firefighters for standing up for all city employees, not just those in public safety.
 
"We didn't want to pit one department in the city against another," Purcell said. "Everybody is struggling. It doesn't matter what department we're in.
 
"The other thing we don't want to do is make citizens pay a price on top of the taxes. We're not asking for a rate increase."
 
Purcell said that 90 percent of the association's 229 members wouldn't say anything about taking the pay cut. But with staffing already stretched thin everywhere, he said the extra 24 hours time off being given to employees as trade-off for the pay cut has staffing and possible safety ramifications.
 
The council will have budget work sessions on Thursday and Aug. 20 and public hearings Aug. 18 and 26. It is scheduled to adopt the budget Sept. 1.
 
Debt service makes up 44 percent of the tax bill in Garland. From that, the city pays for its $126.1 million 1997 bond program, its $223.8 million 2004 bond program and $44.9 million in 2009 capital improvements.
 
Garland will not see utility rate increases, but for the average household water will go up $2.65, sewer $2.41 and the stormwater fee 24 cents.
 
And relief isn't coming for about three to five years, the budget director warned.
 
"We do not have any anticipation that we will struggle through this year's budget and then next year, everything will be OK," Bradford said.
 
Athas said the long-term forecast was one reason he was happy to see the employees get 3.5 percent raises in the 2008-09 budget.
 
"Last year, we could do it," he said. "This year is here, and it's hard. There's very little left to cut without a major impact to the taxpayers and the services they receive."
 

 
UPDATE: Comments closed to block spam hits.
 
Special Note: Outside spammers occasionally start bombarding a post and continue to do so until it is closed. That is what has happened to this post. I tried leaving it open but the spam continued coming. Multiple comments attract spam. I'm not referring to the posts below attributed to Mr Barnes. If he can identify himself, I'm happy to restore those posts. As to anyone wishing to comment on this subject, I would encourage a public discussion at a public forum such as the Garland Citizens Forum. That usually works better for a number of reasons. A back-and-forth discussion is more easily handled and others can find that particular thread and participate more easily.
 

A big jump in reports of unauthorized use of a vehicle and several incidents of robbery and sexual assault kept the district's crime statistics on par with recent months. These rises offset the drop in burglaries for the month.
 
Incidents of theft and shoplifting were the lowest in the last several months.
 
If you want to review the areas that have reported incidents over the last month, download the complete report here for address-by-address information that includes your neighborhood.
 

Friday morning's session of the First Tier Suburbs Council meeting in Mission, Kansas, was jointed attended by the Kansas City-area First Suburbs Coalition and members of the Urban Land Institute.

 
In June, I attended the summer meeting of the Steering Committee of the First Tier Suburbs Council held in the Kansas City area. Most of the meetings were in Mission, Kansas, but we toured numerous communities in Kansas and Missouri and had reports from even more. The current chair is Mayor Laura McConwell of Mission.
 
The FTS Council is a part of the National League of Cities. I currently serve as one of two Vice Chairs. My appointment to the steering committee followed several years of service by former mayor Bob Day so Garland has had a good record of participation for most of the history of the council. The meeting was enriched by participation of the local First Suburbs Coalition of the Mid-America Regional Council, similar to our North Central Texas Council of Governments.
 

Christy McFarland of the NLC provided these notes of some of the speakers and activities:

• Martin Rivarola, Lawrence Andre, Mike Scanlon, and Dean Katerndahl
  Using Mission as case study, the Steering Committee discussed how community visioning plays a role in redevelopment projects. Citizen engagement, form-based codes, and regional cooperation were key topics in a group discussion that helped lay the ground work for the days that followed.
• Scott Cannon, Duncanville, Texas
  Duncanville is rebuilding their main street downtown district. Committee Member Cannon explained to the group his city's vision of a mixed-use downtown that will help transform the city’s main corridor into a vibrant district.
• Bill Hudnut, Bill Ebel, Martin Rivarola, Jeff Berg, and Tom Valenti
  In collaboration with the Urban Land Institute and Mid-America Regional Council, speakers led an informative discussion related to first-tier suburbs and the opportunities for redevelopment. Urban scholars, city staff, and private redevelopers were represented on the panel, giving the committee and other guests a full-circle view of what the redevelopment process can entail.
• Bus Tour of the Kansas City-area first tier suburbs
  During an eight-stop bus tour, the committee was able to closely see some of the exciting redevelopment projects happening throughout the Kansas City region. Council members, mayors, city staff members, and developers were some of the speakers that helped guide the tour.

Next steps: The overriding themes that emerged from the meeting were the political elements of redevelopment, including community engagement/input, neighborhood associations, and the importance of political will; regional collaboration; and small business development.
 
The next FTS meeting will be during the fall conference of the NLC in San Antonio. We expect the meeting to be addressed toward the community engagement and input process, certainly one of my favorite topics.
 
Another note on MARC's First Suburbs Coalition: some of the publications compiled by the FSC are outstanding and certainly examples of best practices. Their Idea Book shows innovative ways to remodel typical American home types to add space and to modernize. It can be ordered online for a modest fee or downloaded free. Also the Green Idea Book goes further to show ways to remodel and to stay green.
 

Councilman Rick Williams and I will host the first televised Town Hall meeting this year. Traditionally, Council members present pictures or video of interests within their districts and then take phone calls from viewers. From my experience, no one is ever in the audience. If anyone was, he would have to write the question on a card and it would be given to the moderator. So, in the sense of the old-fashioned town hall meetings of yesteryear, with the free exchange of questions and answers, this isn't exactly that.
 
In the two previous ones that I participated, there weren't that many questions. There were a lot more ad lib questions from the moderator. (Read: "fill the time" questions.)
 
This is the chance to change history! It's not necessary to wait until the day and time of the broadcast to call and ask questions. Send them in now! Follow that link for a form that allows you to ask multiple questions. Worst case scenario, you miss the broadcast but catch your answer on a re-broadcast or through the video streaming portal at the city's website.
 

City of Garland Press Release:

City Council Town Meeting Broadcasts Scheduled

Garland, Texas -- Garland citizens will be able to ask questions or offer comments to their elected representatives in a series of Town Meeting broadcasts to be aired live on the City’s Government Access Channel, CGTV.
 
The first broadcast is set for Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 7 p.m., hosted by District 1 City Council Member Douglas Athas and District 7 City Council Member Rick Williams.
 
A call-in format allows residents to ask the Council representatives about issues related to their Districts. Each Council Member will give a “state of the district” report, and then citizens can call 972-205-9035 with their questions and comments. In addition, citizens may submit their questions and comments in advance via the City website at www.ci.garland.tx.us.
 
The schedule for the rest of the City Council Members’ Town Meeting Broadcasts is as follows:

 

September 8, 2009 – Districts 2 & 5
October 13, 2009 – Districts 3 & 4
December 8, 2009 – Districts 6 & 8

 

CGTV is available on Time Warner Cable channel 16 and on Verizon FIOS TV channel 44, or by video streaming from the City website.
 

For a number of years, it has been Council policy to pay the travel expenses of Council members' spouses to as many as three Council-related conferences per year. One of those would be here in Texas, the annual meeting of the Texas Municipal League, and two to the National League of Cities, which would be Washington, DC, in the spring and elsewhere in the fall.   That policy is currently under Council review and the Administrative Services Committee, until recently chaired by Council member Barbara Chick, has recommended that the city no longer pay for spousal travel. The new policy will be considered at the August 18 Regular Meeting and I expect it will be approved without comment or fanfare.   The city paying for spouses is the type of item that can get the immediate attention of citizens. At first blush it sounds like the abuse of taxpayer monies that has occurred in other cities.   When I first heard of the practice many years ago, I could not believe it. I didn't feel any better when I learned of one occasion in 2001 when it was sorely abused. A council member and his spouse essentially attempted to take a vacation at city expense. They traveled to the conference city but attended no meetings and reported local tour fees amounting to hundreds of dollars (I still have a copy of the expense report). Mayor Jim Spence would not approve it.   That one incident is the only one like it of which I'm aware. Within time and long before I was elected to the Council, I actually changed my mind and became supportive of the policy if kept within reason. I felt that Council members accompanied by their spouses were less likely to get in trouble and embarrass the city. Even one spouse can in effect chaperon several Council members. For all of us, Council or not, our spouses play important roles in our networking and socializing with others. Also, spouses are the ones that take the calls from constituents and write messages, give of themselves and their families when their partner is off at meetings and other functions, and generally do this and much more without any recognition or appreciation. Few cities do anything to recognize the contribution of the Council member's family. I doubt that most citizens would argue with those points and, if expenses were reasonable, would necessarily object.   The current policy allows reimbursement for airfare and meals. The city doesn't pay for children or extra rooms or anything else. Here is how much has been spent in recent years on spousal travel:   2005-06 $2,534 2006-07 $6,082 2007-08 $3,599   There has been $1,436 reimbursed this fiscal year and the year is drawing to a close. These are tough times but those aren't numbers that will close any budget gaps. It was estimated by the committee that if nine spouses attended two conferences each then the total for the year would be a maximum of about $13,000.   For me personally, I've come to be comfortable with the policy. I should also say that my wife has accompanied me to one conference; the expense for her airfare was less than $300. Whether the policy exists or not has no impact on our family finances. The existence of the policy would not be a factor deciding whether my wife would travel with me to a conference. There may be Council members in the future that won't have such options.   I assume I'll vote for the policy change, more than anything to close that door to abuse that has happened at least once here in Garland and being mindful of the travel abuse that has happened in other cities. But I can't help but wonder if the reason we've not had one of the scandals that regularly make headlines of politicians in faraway hotel rooms was because we've been much more sane about supporting involvement of the family.

 
UPDATE: As predicted, the policy was changed to eliminate reimbursement for spousal travel.
 

Mayor Ron Jones has named committee chairs and members for the Council committees, including a new committee for Marketing and Events. I've emphasized my name when it appears so it is easier to see where I will be serving.
 

 
In addition to these Council duties, I will also continue to serve as Vice-Chair of the First Tier Suburbs Council (National League of Cities), Secretary of the Greater Dallas Planning Council, and President of Texas Neighborhoods Together. That should be enough to keep me busy!
 

Every August the Council begins its budget discussions. For my time on the Council, we've been in lean years and setting a budget means making tough decisions. Even if I remain though the maximum of six years set in the Charter, it's not going to get easier. If you want to serve on the Council, aim for 2018. If we can avoid making the situation worse during the interim, a lot of our debt should be rolling off the books about then. You could do some really nice things for the city and be a hero.
 
As I mentioned recently, the Council expects that the City Manager will be recommending some sort of pay reduction for city employees to cover $2 million of a $7 million deficit. This has to be hard on employees and some are looking for ways to avoid situations that might arise that would negatively affect residents and businesses, especially in public safety.
 
I'm taking the unusual step of posting a recent email I received to move the dialogue forward. I've only posted one other email from a constituent so I do so this time with equal reservation. However, the author raises issues that are likely to arise plenty during budget discussions. It also quotes me from a meeting that I had with fire and police association members. The quotes are reasonably accurate but taken alone they do not stand with the background that residents deserve to know and understand. This preamble, the email, and my reply make for an unusually long post but these are big issues.
 
The primary point of the email was a recommendation from public safety employee representatives that the Council increase the amount of money transferred from GP&L to the General Fund, where it would be available for salaries. Some of the points may be a little confusing in the order presented but I think I address them all and bring it all together through my reply. Anyway, that's my hope.
 
UPDATE: In my reply below, I inadvertently dropped part of a sentence. The text inserted below to the original is clearly marked. I'm not exactly sure when the Rate Mitigation Fund was created but it was during the mayoral term of Jamie Ratliff. Citizens and that Council wanted to protect the fund. That protection was added to the Charter in 1996. The fund was created years before there was any serious discussion of electric deregulation in Texas so there was no connection between creation of the fund and later concerns about deregulation.
 

 
I live in District 1 and I do not agree with your position with regard to the upcoming budget. It is my understanding that you recently met with members of the police and fire associations and they proposed a viable means to avoid balancing the budget on the backs of city employees again this year.
 
A one time increase on the ROI from 7.4% to 8.3% was proposed. Using the "interest" from the current Rate Mitigation Fund (which was established originally to offset increases in electric rates when deregulation took place) would offset the increase of the ROI, so that the citizens will not see any increase in rates. Currently the Rate Mitigation Fund has 80+ million is estimated to make 2.5 million in interest in the coming budget year (based on the numbers presented at the budget retreat). Under this proposal, NO City Employees would have to take the 3 furlough days and the current banked positions would not be lost.
 
I understand that you stated you would not support this proposal and that you do not believe that the furlough is "taking anything away from employees, because they did not work and earn that money yet." Also when presented with the fact that if public safety is furloughed, equipment at Fire Station 10 would be shut down periodically throughout the year, that your response was, "we survived many years without that fire station, we will probably make it."
 
Councilman, I strongly suggest that you need to talk to your constituents before assuming that we would not support the nominal increase on the ROI rather than cutting the pay of the city employees. Make no mistake, contrary to your convoluted logic, forcing employees to take three days off work without pay is certainly a pay cut. It is very important to my family that there be enough police officers on the street to keep me safe and fire equipment to put out a fire. Those are basic city services that should be top priority in any budget. Further, cutting the pay of our hard working police and fire should never be the first option to balance the budget. Since you are up for election next May, I believe that you would be well served to make sure that your vote is in line with the voters in your district.
 

 
My reply:
 

 
First, I appreciate your writing and expressing your concerns.
 
Second, I did meet with representatives of both the fire and police associations Thursday. The quotes that you attribute to me are accurate but lack accurate context and the perspective of a lot of additional information.
 
The council has been advised that there is a $7 million gap that must be closed to balance the budget. To close about $2 million of that gap, the senior administrative staff is expected to propose reducing employee compensation and positions. To avoid salary reductions, fire and police representatives are proposing that the council increase the so-called Return on Investment taken from GP&L, from 7.4% to 8.2%, which would be enough to cover the $2 million.
 
GP&L doesn't have that kind of cash. To get the money, GP&L would have to increase electric rates. Yet the GP&L ratepayers are already saddled with a rate much higher than most other electric providers in the area. A part of the reason is the amount already being transferred from GP&L to the city. The combined amount of the ROI and other transfers is actually much higher than 7.4%. I’m confident the total transfer is more than twice that percentage.
 
A high energy rate strongly threatens the economic vitality of the city and the jobs of all city employees, especially fire and police. Some departments, such as the utilities, pay their own way but all other employees are paid from the General Fund, which relies heavily on property taxes. A high energy rate literally pushes businesses and our industrial base out of town, to areas where they can operate less expensively and make profits. If we don’t protect our property base, which fell overall 3.7% this year, all fire and police positions will become subject to layoffs.
 
It would be unavoidable. Fire and police positions and operation of both departments take the bulk of the General Fund each year, 57% last year directly. Since 2001, employees paid through the General Fund – that are not police and fire – have decreased by 27, while within the public safety departments that number has increased 56. With a further shrinking of the General Fund and all other departments being staffed at minimal levels – 35% below the Metroplex average – there is no room to shrink except in fire and police. The only way to avoid the decline is to protect the property values in the city. We can’t afford to make politically-pleasing, short-sighted decisions that have long-range consequences.
 
However, the proposal you mention doesn't suggest a rate increase. Instead, it suggests the council authorize a $2 million transfer from the Rate Mitigation Fund, which was established by the citizens to pay certain debt and to protect electric ratepayers from rate spikes. The RMF cannot be used for salaries or any other improper uses. To pull off the transfer, the council is being asked to artificially create a cash crisis by taking more from GP&L than it can afford and then using that as an excuse to justify the transfer.
 
You are correct, I did say that I would not support such a proposal and I described it as a shell game. I wanted to be direct. Because you are a constituent and deserve to know my reasons, I will be even more direct. The proposal asks me to steal and commit an illegal act, one that would be a violation of my office to which I swore an oath. Additionally, when I took that oath, I swore specifically and intentionally to protect the City Charter. My passion for doing so is because my predecessor and others gave so little regard to following the law and the Charter.
 
The Rate Mitigation Fund was created, and then later added to the Charter in 1996, for two purposes. Long-range, it was established to cushion the city from the affects of a $1 billion debt for our portion of TMPA that currently runs to 2018. To date, the city has been able to make those payments without using the RMF but coming changes in the power industry and changing regulations are so completely unknown that we cannot predict future exposures. Literally, the whole city — buildings, cars, trucks, parks, everything — is collateral for that debt. To ignore the liabilities to the city and to improperly use reserve funds should result in the recall of the council and the firing of senior staff. Even short-range, the fund can only be used to avoid spikes in electric rates, cushioning periodic fluctuations. This has occurred a few times, usually for such events as the loss of power from TMPA’s power plant when there has been an emergency shutdown and GP&L is forced to buy more expensive power from other sources. Both of these events involve using the fund for emergency expenses that are outside the control of the city but would severely impact the city and ratepayers. Artificially creating a crisis to rob the reserve funds is not a lawful option.
 
Establishing these protections was so important to citizens that they voted to shield the fund by including it in the City Charter. The Charter directs how the fund and interest are to be used: Any such funds, and all accrued interest, shall only be used to reduce debt obligations of the City incurred in connection with providing electric energy to the City or to mitigate the City’s future electric utility rate requirements (Article XVII, Section 17). Earlier councils, unable to take money directly from the fund, tried to spend the interest being earned. The citizens voted in 2004 to again amend their City Charter to protect the interest so that it too was blocked from improper use by city councils and city employees.
 
Both Charter changes were initiated by citizens and were approved by very, very wide margins.
 
I will not be a party to any subterfuge that would betray the citizens of Garland by seeking some “creative” way to circumvent the law. I know neither association, or you, were aware of the history and very limited purpose of the RMF but I am.
 
I have not seen the city manager’s proposed budget and won’t until Tuesday, although we will get a preview Monday. I have heard enough and received enough briefings to fully expect that there will be a proposal to reduce employee compensation. Although the term furlough is being used, I’ve been told that is not accurate description of what will be proposed. I don’t yet know exactly what will be proposed or how that is to be implemented.
 
There are a number of legitimate ways to avoid the reduction, including: lay-off employees and use the savings to protect the remaining employees, raise taxes although we are already one of the highest-taxed cities in the Metroplex, raise fees for services, or raise utility rates and transfer the money to the General Fund. In each instance, someone has to pay the price.
 
In my discussions with the fire and police representatives, the statement was made that furloughs were taking money from the employees. Words have meaning and I did challenge that furloughs represented a taking. The city nor the council can take what has not been given. If furloughs mean days without pay that is not a taking. To claim so is synonymous to “you owe me this.” If employees are asked to work the same number of days for less money, then that is taking what has been given. I’ve watched recently as a lot of employees in a lot of industries have accepted pay cuts just to keep their jobs. Many of them are the same ones paying the taxes used to pay city employees.
 
Also, I was told that Station 10, the one closest to my home might have to be taken out of service. The implication was that my family and neighbors would be left less safe. My answer was that we had survived for decades without it and would be at no more risk that we had always been. I’m not swayed by arguments directed to me personally. My duty as a councilmember is to the citizens, not to myself. And if someone should doubt it … well, I’ll prove it by pointing to your quote.
 
I talk to and hear from District 1 constituents and city residents constantly, both in personal environments and public. I receive hundreds and hundreds of emails monthly. I have no doubt what the majority of my constituents expect. Public safety is high on their list but so are fiscal responsibility from their council representative and being able to meet their own financial needs.
 
Contrary to your assertion, cutting the compensation of city employees was not the first option to balancing the budget. Revenue to the city has been effectively declining for years. Almost every aspect of city government in the last few years has been trimmed over and over to keep a balance. There is little left to trim. Through all that, city employees have received raises that have kept them on par with city employees across the Metroplex and the police and fire departments have been expanded. Both departments have very modern buildings and the latest safety equipment. That equipment is regularly replaced on a schedule that makes many other cities envious. Now, after several years trimming everywhere except employee compensation, employees are being affected.
 
There are other areas that could be cut to offset that $2 million, but it still wouldn’t be enough:

• Close swimming pools two weeks earlier
• Eliminate senior medical transportation to local clinics and pharmacies
• Turn I-30 maintenance back to State
• Stop maintaining parkways and leave maintenance to abutting property owners
• Reduce and privatize entryway maintenance
• Eliminate irrigation in neighborhood parks
• Reduce temporary personnel 30% at South Branch library
• Reduce library magazines, newspapers, and databases by 50%
• Reduce library children’s programs and live homework assistance by 80%
• Eliminate Sunday hours at Central library and suspend accreditation
• Reduce hours at all recreation centers by 20 per week
• Reduce Animal Shelter hours by 15 per week
• Reduce Code Compliance to 2004 staffing levels (two positions)
• Expand the cycle for replacing traffic marking from three years to four
• Reduce some police and fire staffing levels

All those combined would be less than $1.5 million, less than 75% of what would be needed to close the $2 million gap. What other services to the citizens would you propose adding to the list? Of course, the easiest way to cover the deficit would be to layoff employees, which would have fiscal benefits this year and in future years. Which positions do you suggest?
 
Recent budgets have not been balanced on the backs of employees. Until now, all recent budgets have been balanced on the backs of the taxpayers. They are the ones paying more in taxes than their friends in sister cities. They are the ones that have had services reduced and fees increased. They are the ones that see their neighbors at natatoriums, on biking and pedestrian paths, at well-appointed community centers, well-provisioned parks, at nice public venues and wonder when they will get some of those same amenities. The only nice, new, city-owned public buildings in Garland are the police and fire administration buildings and all the new fire stations. Last year when revenues first started a strong decline and citizens were losing services but paying higher taxes and fees, city employees received more than fair raises. I'm not saying that Garland employees haven't been long asked to do more with less than most any other city employees in the area because they have. They have met that challenge year in and year out with innovation and very high performance. However, through all that, in recent years, they have received fair compensation that is equal to that paid across the region. Last year employees received 3.5% raises.
 
I ran for this office with a promise to make the hard decisions, to advocate and push to grow Garland so that we can afford those amenities found in our sister cities, so we can attract home buyers and businesses that will bring higher value to the city, and to move Garland ahead as a premier city regionally and nationally. To succeed on those goals requires a long-term vision. The best course to protect the viability of city employee jobs and compensation tomorrow, and to deliver to the citizens services comparable to the taxes they pay, means making tough decisions today. There's going to be some pain for all parties.
 
Finally, I’m far from convinced the “furloughs” are a good idea in every department. There are many considerations that could make them ineffective, be highly demoralizing for employees, or actually be more costly. Questions do need to be asked and proper consideration given.
 

 
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