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Sunday, May 19, 2013
City of Dallas Park Maintenance Services Newsletter
Please feel free to distribute this among your groups
(Click
Here for the Park Maintenance
Newsletter (pdf)). Just to remind you,
with the newsletter, we are trying to reach out to all the HOA’s, neighborhood
associations, friends groups and other organizations to inform you of what we
are doing in the maintenance division.
Also, I have one last request, if you haven’t done so already, please add me
to your email distribution list so that I could try to make it to some of your
meetings to provide you with updated information and answer any
questions/concerns that you might have with issues pertaining to the City of
Dallas Park Maintenance division.
Thank you,
Jeremy E. McMahon
Community Program Coordinator
Park Maintenance Services Division, West and North Dallas
City of Dallas – Park and Recreation Department
542 E. Jefferson Blvd.
jeremy.mcmahon@dallascityhall.com
Update from the Cotton Belt
Concerned Citizens Coalition
At a meeting on Cotton Belt Funding at the North
Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) on
July 11, the following information was discussed.
Below are high points, some of which went further
than just the funding issues. (Reminder: NCTCOG is
the entity that is partnering with DART to
plan/implement the Cotton Belt)
The
group researching the Independent Funding Initiative
(iFi) has identified partners within the private
sector and those partners want to concurrently
pursue financing the revenue streams and obtaining
the funds. They are ready to issue a letter of
intent and commence the process. If they do this, it
will open the competitive bidding process and
subsequent due diligence actions required.
The T representatives who are working on the
Western portion of the Cotton Belt are moving
forward and need to know if their design should use
“push/pull” vehicles, or if they need to change
their focus to use the FRA compliant vehicles, i.e.
the Denton County Transit Authority (DCTA) hybrid
diesel/electric vehicle. Consistency is essential to
ensure interoperability where the two portions of
the Cotton Belt interconnect.
If DART waits to commence the Eastern portion of
the Cotton Belt Line(using the 2030 plan) , the T
may use the existing push/pull technology. Long
term, that could mean we might have something even
less desirable than the DCTA diesel/electric hybrid
although Dallas representatives indicated after the
meeting, the city of Dallas would not agree to a
change in the technology.
DART is looking at three different options for
the area between Preston Road and Central
Expressway. Per DART Staff, the
analysis/design work on this portion of the Cotton
Belt is 20% complete for each of these options.
- Shallow grade (presented as an option on December 7,
2011)
- Deep trench (original Natinsky Plan)
- Tunnel (new proposal/concept)
DART is considering dropping the Preston Road
Station because there is no platform space and no
room for double tracks. However, they did state
transportation officials are looking at a “round
about” in that area to improve motor vehicular
traffic.
What you can do:
We
really have no control over the Independent Funding
Initiative (iFi); however, we can initiate a series
of steps to make our intent and our presence more
visible.
In most cases,
wearing identifiers (name tags with CBCCC on them
which we are getting printed) and taking notes on
proceedings which the Steering Committee can publish
on Facebook or distribute via the CBCCC email
account is all that is required. In some cases,
volunteers might coordinate with the Steering
Committee to speak on a topic of key concern
identified by concerned citizens. These “speeches”
are limited to a maximum of three minutes and need
to be based on data and fact, rather than emotional
content. We need a number of different individuals
at these meetings to let DART know how wide-spread
concern is.
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Take a ride on the Denton County Transit Authority
(DCTA) trains powered by the diesel/hybrid engines
and use email to let us know your “rating” of the
engine on noise, vibration, etc.
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Write a personal email or letter to the mayor and
city council representative for your district
expressing your individual concerns.
"Keeping DART on the Right
Track"
CALLING ALL RESIDENTS
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If your homeowner
association encompasses the Cotton Belt rail
line or the proposed rail stations
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If your homeowner
association borders the streets which have rail
line crossings
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If your homeowners
will be able to see/hear the trains or the
elevated overpasses
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If you plan to use the
Cotton Belt or any of the roadways which will be
affected
YOU NEED TO GET INVOLVED
NOW. Once construction on the Cotton Belt
begins, it will be too late. You need to weigh in
NOW to have input and influence on the design,
possible vibration, and noise, sight, and traffic
concerns.
If your homeowners want to have an overview of the
current proposed plan presented to them, call DART
at 214-749-2590 or email Lawrence Meshack
jmeshack@dart.org.
They will come to your HOA meeting and tell you
about the current plan. Read on for further
information.
The north Dallas area Cotton Belt
Focus Group met Wednesday, December 7th, at Parkhill
Junior High. DART representatives showed plans
that include four rail stations in north Dallas:
Knoll Trail, Preston, Renner Village (two station
options proposed: Davenport or Coit on Tx A&M
property), and UTD. (No freight trains will be
running on the Cotton Belt in north Dallas).
By spring of 2012, DART expects to
have the final alignment decided, have any
mitigation recommendations in place, and have
preliminary station designs. A computer model is
being used to determine ridership potential.
Environmental concerns include:
traffic impact, noise and vibration, socioeconomic
factors, water resources, and vegetation and habitat
disturbance. Current discussions of mitigation of
these concerns include alignment modifications and
warnings at street crossings, and quiet zones.
Trenching at varying depths along the north Dallas
corridor is proposed; this, along with problematic
location of stations and parking concerns, elevated
roads over the rail, and water issues are all
on-going issues as the project goes forward.
This is why YOUR INPUT IS CRITICAL NOW—GET
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD INVOLVED.
For more on the
Cotton Belt Rail Line issue see the
October 11th NDNA Meeting Summary
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