Citizens Against Taxpayer-owned Hotel

[UNTflyer]

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-04-30/n...-about-a-mayor/

Marshaled against [Mayor Tom Leppert] this brisk March evening is Anne Raymond, the head of the hastily formed Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel. But there's no denying reality; she is merely the capable mouthpiece for the vested interests of the anti-hotel crowd. The real money behind their movement flows from Harlan Crow, her boss at Crow Holdings and the owner of the Hilton Anatole hotel, which stands to lose profits aplenty if a city-financed hotel opens its lavish doors downtown.

Leppert is not only a savvy dresser—baby blue French cuff shirt, multicolored tie and gold watch—but also a savvy speaker. He lashes out against Crow without naming him, as if he's just some faceless corporate profiteer who wants to deny the city its economic potential rather than the familiar son of one of its beloved real estate titans—Trammell Crow—for whom Leppert himself once worked.

The mayor mentions this "individual" several times throughout the evening, wagging his index finger each time. This person has poured millions into the campaign, he says, and his family has been fighting the hotel for 25 years to protect its financial interest.

[KRAM1]

Man, I thought this was common knowledge. Crow has been known to be the driving force behind the "anti-hotel" folks from the very start. As with lots of these things...follow the money. It will lead you to the leaders in both camps in most cases. Dallas seems to be such a dysfunctional city that it amazes me that anything gets done. I was born and "all but raised" to adulthood in Dallas, so I do love the city, but it's leadership is really dysfunctional. I think that image does more to hurt Dallas on a national and international stage than anything else. You can just count on a big "dust up" between factions (mostly framed along racial lines) when ever a significant school board or city council issue arises. I think Mayor Leppart is doing his part to try to get the city of Dallas (and the DISD) for that matter to move beyond it's petty bickering self, but it seems he is having a very challenging time of it.

It's sort of like GMG.com...whenever things get a little sensitive, someone has to start throwing the name calling around. And, we all know where things go from there.

[SilverEagle]

Man, I thought this was common knowledge. Crow has been known to be the driving force behind the "anti-hotel" folks from the very start. As with lots of these things...follow the money. It will lead you to the leaders in both camps in most cases. Dallas seems to be such a dysfunctional city that it amazes me that anything gets done. I was born and "all but raised" to adulthood in Dallas, so I do love the city, but it's leadership is really dysfunctional. I think that image does more to hurt Dallas on a national and international stage than anything else. You can just count on a big "dust up" between factions (mostly framed along racial lines) when ever a significant school board or city council issue arises. I think Mayor Leppart is doing his part to try to get the city of Dallas (and the DISD) for that matter to move beyond it's petty bickering self, but it seems he is having a very challenging time of it.

It's sort of like GMG.com...whenever things get a little sensitive, someone has to start throwing the name calling around. And, we all know where things go from there.

Life's too short to live in Dallas.........

Edited May 7, 2009 by SilverEagle