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| Water standing in this inner-city Garland neighborhood is a result of poor drainage that needs to be fixed. |
It needs to be discussed even more mightily in Garland right now, too!
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called for an investment of more than $1 trillion in infrastructure at all levels of government all across the country. The proposal was vague and pockmarked with numerous political questions.
However, regardless of whether you like or dislike Trump, the essence of that proposal at least has people talking about the need for rebuilding America's streets, highways, bridges, alleys, sidewalks, water lines, sewer lines, and so much more. It now is on the current national agenda.
Everything on that shopping list is something we need somewhere in Garland right now!
As the conversation on our country's infrastructure continues, I hope Garland won't hold back on this national trend and will take full advantage of whatever outside programs emerge to tackle the nation's deteriorating infrastructure. Too often we in Garland have dragged our collective feet when it comes to federal, state, and private monies available to us—to the city's detriment.
Our leaders love to cite the fact that spending on Garland streets has increased three-fold over the past four years, yet citizens continue to complain loudly about street conditions because the city fell so dreadfully behind on repairs during the aftermath of the Great Recession. Listening to Garland Streets Director Steve Oliver during Monday night's City Council Work Session, it was clear it will be years before ALL of Garland's streets, not just the main arteries, will be repaired to citizens' expectations.
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| Garland residents of this neighborhood wonder how long until their streets and drainage will be fixed. |
Garland has long prided itself on being able to "take care of ourselves with our own resources". While this is a commendable ideal, to continue to take this stance, while other cities in the Metroplex and across Texas eagerly encourage the investment of "outside" money in their communities, will only push us further and further behind.
Our city's central and south side especially need massive help and intervention. The outcry about pitiful streets, miserable alleys, and lumpy sidewalks, as well as bridges needing repair or replacement, poor drainage, and parks needing overhaul—among other issues—focus on these older parts of town. During last night's Work Session District 5 Councilmember Rich Aubin's description of the condition of some alleys in New World Addition was heartbreaking. And New World is by far not the worst in the city. Also, the closing of our city's only hospital due to so many unpaid medical bills (and 25% of our population without health insurance or other means to pay for health care) has exposed the city's soft underbelly of desperate need.
It's going to take a massive dose of well-managed funds to help these geographic sectors in our city catch up quickly with the rest of the thriving and booming DFW Metroplex, including Garland around the George Bush Freeway and northward.
Holding back and failing to plan and get in line for any new monies set to roll out of Washington or Austin or anywhere else would be a colossal mistake of monumental proportions.
I've mentioned before that Kay and I own some investment properties in a city in Phoenix's West Valley. Every time we visit, we play a game of "Who can find a pothole first?" Neither one of us ever wins. Why? Far into the heart of the Great Recession, which hit the Phoenix area particularly deeply, that city continued—much to our amazement—to fix its roads and build new government buildings, parks, and programs. When I asked how that could be, with home values dropping so dramatically, I was told that despite the city's anti-Obama leanings, the people were more than eager to take advantage of the "Obama Stimulus Package" and any other federal or state money they could capture. Regardless whether they liked or disliked Obama, to them available money was money they were willing to accept.
Garland, of course, mostly joined the Texas attitude of turning up its nose at the Obama stimulus. A decade later, Garland's potholed streets are still years away from all being fixed, while that Arizona city's streets and new facilities are a shining draw for residents, visitors, and new businesses. So in retrospect, which city was smarter and provided better for its citizens?
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| Flooding issues are part of infrastructure needs in Garland. |
Besides federal and state money, the city desperately needs to attract large-scale investors willing to help us lift ALL of Garland to the next level of prosperity and energy. We can do that only by proving we are a progressive city ready to take on the challenges we face!
We literally need to take down the invisible signs at our city limits that tell investors "we prefer only our homegrown developers and investors, so go somewhere else with your money". Instead we need to put out the message that ALL of Garland is a great place to invest and international and national investors and developers are welcome ALL over our city.
One of our homegrown banks—Texas Brand Bank at Shiloh and Miller—is opening its newest branch in The Cedars in downtown Dallas only blocks from the announced location for the new Houston-Dallas bullet high-speed train station. Its first branch was in Dallas' Uptown. Why? Because those two areas are among the hottest spots in Dallas right now for new investment. The bank's Garland-based board and leaders are certainly not afraid to go where the return on investment will be high.
Garland needs to figure out how to garner that kind of reputation—and draw in the money from nearby cities, too.
While The Cedars is one of the hottest markets in Dallas, its infrastructure needs may be as great as Garland's central and south side, so keep your eyes on that looming magical fast transformation and see if we can't learn some important lessons from it.
Studies have shown that when an area's infrastructure improves, citizens rally to do their share to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods, too.
New streets, sidewalks, street lights, and so forth encourage citizens to paint their houses, upgrade their kitchens and baths, and generally overall make their homes and neighborhoods a better place to live.
As a citizen and elder of The Chickasaw Nation, I've seen firsthand how the tribe during the past 40 years has literally pulled itself up out of the depths of poverty into the front ranks of the more than 500 recognized U.S. tribes in prosperity and leadership.
The pattern that has worked so well for the tribe is one that Garland can use. The Chickasaws have looked under every rock, under every river, anywhere, everywhere they can to acquire the resources necessary to rebuild their infrastructure and fuel the new prosperity. When Oklahoma doesn't have the money to rebuild a road within its historic boundaries, the Nation finds it and does it itself. When Oklahoma can't take proper care of a state park within its traditional boundaries, the Nation takes it over—and does a great job of managing it. And the tribe hasn't stopped and settled back celebrating its many phenomenal successes. It continues to march on from one successful enterprise to the next—always making sure to bring along "the least of these" with the rolling upward innovative tide of prosperity.
"A rising tide lifts all boats," says a popular saying. And we need a rising tide to lift our Garland boats so we don't miss out—and continue to be thought of as the "poor cousins"— on what is happening all across the DFW Metroplex and throughout Texas' booming economy.
The Chickasaw tribe has succeeded so marvelously because of its outstanding, bold leadership that faces reality and encourages the kind of widespread self-development, redevelopment, and investment that leads to longer-lasting prosperity.
It is no secret that Garland is not a wealthy community. Our poverty level is high. Our average income and wealth—compared to our neighbors to the north, west, and east—is low. Our number of millionaires is small. We certainly don't have, like such cities as Frisco do, any billionaires who spill cash all over our city. We are a decent, working-class community that needs an infusion of cash and aid to get our city's infrastructure rolling again like it should be.
We've come out of the Great Recession with lots of needs—a massive number of streets, especially those in residential areas (last on Oliver's list to receive the full treatment!) and roads still in major disrepair, with drainage so bad some people in Orchard Hills are literally losing their backyards, and with a bushel full of other burgeoning needs, such as a new animal shelter.
Let's stay vigilant about what is happening in Washington and all around us in the DFW Metroplex and make sure we get our fair share of the bigger pie that is cooking in the oven right now!
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| The standing water in this Garland neighborhood was a breeding ground for mosquitoes until neighbors called and complained numerous times over a period of nearly a year; then it was finally fixed. |
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