OPINION: SOUTHERN DALLAS

As a young man, I had a conversation with an older fellow from Fort Worth and remember asking about a specific neighborhood there, "and can you buy beer there?" He looked at me like I'd lost my mind and said, "Son, the only thing dry in Fort Worth is the bottom of your shoe."

Not if it's raining, I thought, but quickly explained that in Dallas, where we were at that moment, some parts of town were "wet," meaning a person could buy a six-pack at the 7-Eleven or even get a drink at a restaurant. Other parts, like Oak Cliff, where I grew up, were "dry," meaning one had to cross the river to buy alcohol. (Where you drank it was another story.)

"Heard about that," the Fort Worth guy said. "That's why I'd never live over here. Wouldn't work here, either."

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Jim Schutze, in his writings at the Dallas Observer, has made it abundantly clear that he's no fan of the board's "Bridging the Gap" project intended to raise living standards in southern Dallas. He's certainly entitled to his opinion.

So it was with some special interest that I plowed through his latest for the Observer's print edition, "Oak Cliff Becomes Cool Embracing What Other Parts Of Dallas Have Fought: Builders, Bikes And Immigrants."

Set aside some time this weekend and give it a read. (Actually, set aside a lot of time. At 5,800 words -- jeez, doesn't the Observer have any editors -- it's a lot to absorb and digest. Then again, written in the unique Schutze style, it's an entertaining and illuminating read.)

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Colleague Mike Hashimoto blogged this morning on this troubling story about some Dallas high schools chaining their doors shut during the school day.

Sorry that I can't reproduce the map here, but out of 31 DISD high schools inspected this week, the eight schools cited for keeping exit doors locked were all in the southern half of the city. So I hope those who read this blog will speak up and spread the word of this outrageously dangerous practice.

I don't agree with several points Mike makes in his post -- particularly his questioning how Hinojosa could not know, especially at the "learning community" schools that he personally focuses on. My experiences at Spruce (the high school I focus most of my time on; it was not cited on the list) is that there are many, many doors. And I'm not sure "chains" jump out at a touring person who may be more focused on students and teacher performance. Again, maybe I'm too quick to give Hinojosa the benefit of the doubt.

That said, I agree with Mike's fundamental point: "Making sure everyone can get out of a burning building is about as black-and-white an issue as you'll find." I hope southern Dallas parents and others who care will raise their voices to find better solutions for balancing fire safety issues with other security challenges.

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I've not been a member of the Terri Hodge Fan Club. But I give her credit for doing the right thing and urging her supporters to abandon ill-conceived efforts to round up votes for her. Of course, Hodge is now a felon and can't serve in the seat. But for some reason, former City Council member Diane Ragsdale and others have been trying to convince District 100 residents to waste their votes on Hodge and let precinct chairs decide who will represent the area. Bad idea.

Thankfully, Hodge has finally said what she should have said the moment she pleaded guilty: Stop it. Don't vote for me. Don't urge your friends to vote for me. Hodge released a statement yesterday, making clear that she does not support any effort to round up votes for her. "I urge that these activities cease immediately," she said.

I hope that Ragsdale and others are listening. And I hope that Hodge is sending the same message privately as she's conveying in her public statement.

Of course, Hodge did not suggest that her allies actually vote for the only candidate on the ballot who is eligible to serve in the Legislature -- Eric Johnson. I guess that would be asking too much.

The more I look at the ridiculous state of politics in southern Dallas (the latest of which is the Diane Ragsdale robo-call on behalf of admitted felon Terri Hodge), the more I think it's time for an enormous political shakeup.

The one thing that's been consistent over the past 50 years is that southern Dallas has been staunchly Democratic. And I really do have to ask: What has your loyalty to the Democratic Party gotten for you? It has fed corruption. It has fed incumbent politicians' attitude of entitlement -- as in, How dare you, Eric Johnson, even consider coming in here and challenging Terri Hodge for her state House seat? And in terms of actual development, I don't see where the Democrats have done much to change anything for southern Dallas residents. Maybe they'd start to deliver if they knew the Republicans are standing by, ready to give it a try.

Anyone who knows me would be shocked to read the words above, because I'm no Republican. But I wonder if the Democrats would take politics in southern Dallas so cavalierly if they actually faced some competition. And Republicans wouldn't continue to ignore southern Dallas if they felt they actually had a fighting chance to win there.

If you had real competition among the major parties for southern Dallas votes, I'm convinced that the level of corruption would decline dramatically because we would have an element of watchdog politics that currently doesn't exist. Representation would improve because incumbents would understand that they can and will be unseated if they don't perform. And besides, competition is just generally healthier than one-party rule. Ask the Mexicans what it was like under the PRI for seven decades.

This time around, southern Dallas residents, I think you should shake things up. Vote Republican and watch how quickly both parties turn their attention to you.

I missed this obituary in our own newspaper this morning, but caught up with the very sad news on Dallas Progress: Bishop Larry McGriff, pastor of the Church of the Living God and a "walk the talk" southern Dallas leader passed away overnight. (Thank you, Michael Davis, for a heartfelt tribute in a writing assignment I know you wished had not come to pass.)

Bishop McGriff had married another prominent pastor, Karen Hollie, of Lifeway Church in Red Bird, in December and our newspaper covered the ceremony in a story you can read here.

I never met Bishop McGriff, but reading these various reports, it's clear that his loss will be felt not just by family and friends but many, many people he helped -- both in his work to improve quality-of-life issues in southern Dallas as well as his work with his wife Karen to find common ground between people of different religious faiths.

Alert Reader Lorlee Bartos sent me the following message today:

Last night, I got a robo call from Diane Ragsdale urging me to vote for Terri Hodge -- who she advises is still on the ballot -- and this will be our way of thanking her for her 14 years of service and will give us more opportunity and choices.

Man -- I simply don't know what to say, I was so furious.

Imagine that: A former City Council member from South Dallas, who currently runs a community development corporation that receives taxpayer funding, is calling for voters to choose Hodge, an admitted felon, over the only law-abiding and eligible candidate on the Democratic ballot -- Eric Johnson. Since this was a "robo-call," someone has put up a lot of money to get Ragsdale's message out -- a message that effectively says, "Vote for Crime!" and "Waste your democratic privilege and waste your vote on someone who will never serve a day in office because she cannot legally be seated. Waste it as a way of saying thanks to Terri Hodge for her service."

This is a supreme act of irresponsibility by Diane Ragsdale. If voters heed her robo-call, well, they will get what they deserve, as I've said before.

Several times in the past year, I've written about efforts to establish a charter school in West Dallas.

Since it is now a done deal --Uplift Education is now accepting applications for sixth- and seventh-grade West Dallas students for the 2010 -11 school year -- this seems like a good time to remind parents that the school is conducting an application lottery for students. The deadline for that is March 31. The West Dallas Preparatory School is located at 2650 Canada Drive in a building made available under an agreement with the Dallas Housing Authority. The lottery will focus on attracting students from key West Dallas zip codes - 75212, 75207 and 75247

And as another reminder, Uplift plans to hold an information meeting for parents Tomorrow, (Saturday,. Feb. 20) 9 a.m. at Williams Preparatory, one of Uplift's Dallas-area campuses, which is located at 1750 Viceroy Dr.

The Williams campus, which opened in 2007-08, has about 650 children and will graduate its first class next year. More significant, the kids from the West Dallas charter eventually will feed into Williams, which enjoys a partnership with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. UTSW provides access to its campus and laboratories. Williams is also a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) school by the Texas High School Project.

So what does all this mean for West Dallas? A lot, namely that a new educational avenue are opening up.

I was just up in Frisco a couple of nights ago, enjoying a fantastic dinner and theater experience. On the long drive up from Dallas, I found myself wondering what it must be like for Dallas residents -- particularly those in southern Dallas -- who have to commute that distance every day, twice a day, to reach their jobs in the ritzy shops and restaurants like the one I was at.

When you look at the commute times for residents in our five southern Dallas bases, and look at the map of the places those workers commute to, then you realize that there's a big problem. When places like Frisco, with lots of wealth and lots of places in need of low-cost labor, fail to construct adequate low-income housing for those workers, they have to live in places that do supply such housing (like Dallas). So it only makes sense that Frisco should make the responsible choice of building the housing that suits the people working there.

Sounds logical, but I was amazed at the angry comments from more than 100 Frisco residents at a Frisco City Council meeting Tuesday who flat-out didn't want any semblance of affordable housing in their community. There's a threat of a lawsuit to stop the City Council from proceeding after a vote yesterday to approve new affordable housing, which would include some Section 8 housing.

"If Dallas can't handle its own problem, it shouldn't become Frisco's," resident Dody Brigadier said Tuesday.

Amazing. The message here is: We love the cheap labor you send our way, but hey, we don't want those people actually living among us. Isn't that how the entire problem of the north-south divide got started in Dallas? Good for the Frisco City Council that they didn't let the protesters sway the council's better judgment. The fact is, all communities need to be balanced economically, racially and even politically.

If you want to know where the "island unto ourselves" mentality leads, just look at the north-south problem in Dallas. When you concentrate poverty in one area and wealth in another, you create enormous problems that endure for generations. Social segregation doesn't work. Never did, never will.

Justice of the Peace Thomas G. Jones has had a reputation of running a pretty chaotic courtroom, so chaotic ,that he's been sanctioned several times. And that doesn't begin to touch the surface of complaints about poor service and muddled legal interpretations.

But in his heavily Democratic southern Dallas district, voters have returned Jones to office - over and over again. Despite his record, he's been in this office an astounding 18 years.

With early voting underway and the March 2nd election day rapidly approaching, Jones is facing another paperwork challenge, this time from opponent Sylvia Rhodes-Bradley, who is disputing the voter signature petitions that Jones filed to be placed on the Democratic primary ballot.

Rhodes-Bradley contends that the Democratic party chair Darlene Ewing allowed Jones to amend his petitions after the filing deadline in violation of election code. She had begun to challenge that do over, but has been told that she needs to re-serve the Democratic Party.

Challenging the validity of an opponent's petition is Politics 101. It's an easy way to trip up a candidate. But a quick perusal of Jones' documents indicate that Rhodes-Bradley may have found a problem with Jones paperwork.

Be that as it may, Jones' fate rests with the voters in JP Precinct 1, Place 1, who after all these years of tolerating Jones, need to elect a new JP. This newspaper has taken the rare step to recommend in this race based on our deep concern that voters don't know that they have a viable choice this year -- Rhodes-Bradley.

Winning on a technicality is one way to oust an incumbent. But if voters really want to hold incumbents like Jones accountable, then they need to do it at the ballot box. And that means turning out to vote Jones out of office.
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The Center for Public Policy Priorities has launched a neat new interactive database that allows you to compare and contrast all kinds of statistics on children's health issues across the state. I compiled the following two charts for Dallas County. We outpace the state in terms of the percentage of children giving birth to other children. We particularly outpace the state for unwed teens 17 and younger, although the state pulls ahead for 18-19 year olds. As for inadequate prenatal care, again, we are higher than the state average.

We also outpace the statewide average for overall poverty and children living in poverty. And we outpace the statewide average for high school dropouts. Some of these statistics show wide gaps that run counter to the very narrow gap in median household income for Dallas County versus the statewide average.

I can't say I'm surprised by these figures, but it sure would be nice to see our numbers improve. Click on the images below to see them at full size.

The results of the Danny Defenbaugh-led investigation into Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes are front-page news today. This is particularly bad stuff for southern Dallas -- and southern Dallas County. That's where Precinct 5 is located and, thus, where a lot of this alleged funny business is going on.

Your tax dollars appear to be funding a really sketchy operation headed by an even sketchier constable. Please take time to learn about it here and make sure you get out and vote. Here were our thoughts on this race and two others that affect southern Dallas.

Click here to read more and comment.

Today's editorial page contains a recommendation of Pastor Stephen E. Broden in the congressional District 30 Republican primary. We were a bit surprised during our interview with Broden when he was unequivocal about the role that race should play in this election. "Color matters," he told us.

The other two candidates, Sheldon Goldstein and Charles Lingerfelt, are both white, and Broden is black, as is the 17-year incumbent Democrat holding the seat, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. Goldstein and Lingerfelt took strong issue with Broden's remark.

"I'm surprised that race should be brought into this," Goldstein told us. In a separate interview by phone, Lingerfelt said he was upset at the notion that, decades after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s appeal for all of us to judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, Broden appeared to be counseling exactly the opposite. Lingerfelt was particularly incensed, given the decades he's spent working with minority students and working hard to convince them that they should never regard their race as a barrier to success. Now he's being told by his opponent that, in fact, Lingerfelt should regard his own race as a barrier to success.

Broden called me after the interview to make sure I understood why he said what he did. To prevail in a political contest in which an African American Democrat has held the seat for 17 uninterrupted years, any viable GOP challenger will have to attack Johnson's record vigorously. (And there is lots to attack.) If a white GOP candidate does that, he will be vulnerable to charges that he's a racist because that's the way lots of District 30 voters regard such criticism. He said that if a white and black candidate tell people exactly the same thing, black voters will tend to listen to the black candidate but disregard what the white candidate says.

I'm not quite ready to endorse that kind of thinking, because the path ahead contains an awfully slippery slope. Besides, voters in New Orleans just elected a white mayor, Mitch Landrieu -- the first time that's happened since 1978. Apparently, they concluded that race doesn't matter. What do you think? Is Broden simply stating the unspoken facts on the ground? Or is he playing the race card just to get a leg up on his opponents?

In this Sunday's Points section, we'll be running an interview with David C. Wiley, professor of health education at Texas State University and chairman of the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Wiley also is president of the American School Health Association. In the interview, he addresses many of the issued regarding teen pregnancy that have arisen in our Gap research regarding the vicious cycle of poverty, dropout rates and teen pregnancy. If you look at our database, one of the most shocking statistics concerns the high rate of teen pregnancy in southern Dallas. So this is an important issue worth addressing.

Wiley argues that too many people are using statistics and studies for political purposes. Some say the statistics are "proof" that abstinence-only works. Other say the statistics show it doesn't work. The truth, Wiley suggests, is somewhere in the middle. What does't work, he says, is the idea of using scare tactics to frighten kids into not having sex. It also is counterproductive to suggest that condoms shouldn't be used because they fail. When used properly, they only fail 2 percent of the time. But all this talk of failure is giving teens an excuse for not wearing them at all -- which could explain why pregnancy rates are going up.

The text of the entire interview appears on the extended page. The edited version appears in Sunday's Points. It's well worth reading.

A few weeks ago I posted Green Line figures from DART that reflected the number of passengers delivered downtown during the morning rush hour. Those numbers tended to make ridership on the new Green Line look bad, by virtue of the relatively few downtown-bound riders.

For example, average weekday ridership for the morning rush:
-- Red Line coming south brought 3,316 downtown
-- Green Line coming from Deep Ellum brought 177 downtown

Now I have DART's overall station-by-station numbers for last year, and they tell a different story. If you look at total boardings, instead of the rush hour ridership that's typical for office workers, Green Line numbers are respectable. Fair Park ridership stacks up against many other, long-established stations.

Examples of average daily boardings by station from November:
-- Green Line's Fair Park station -- 1,467
-- Blue Line's Kiest station -- 1,204
-- Red Line's Forest Lane station -- 1,442

Away from the center city, the big numbers are at the end of both the Red and Blue lines, all of which top 2,000 a day.

I've posted the full report over on the Dallas Transportation Blog.

Make no mistake -- every community needs a strong public school system.

But there are roles for charter schools. This editorial from the Detroit newspaper caught my eye. In particular, i noticed the turnaround by the state's governor on charters, and these paragraphs on how public schools and charters can provide results greater than the sum of their parts:

Chris Barbic, head of schools for the YES Academies, sees the relationship with the school system as "coopetition," meaning that charters and traditional public schools will compete to provide the highest quality education, and cooperate on methods that work.

YES gets those results by hiring highly qualified teachers -- it draws heavily from the Teach for America program, which has been virtually kept out of Michigan by teacher unions -- and by putting students through a rigorous course schedule over a nine-hour school day and a longer school year.
Detroit will be its first school outside of Houston. The University YES School will be a partnership with New Urban Learning, which operates the University Prep, Science and Math and Creative Studies schools in Detroit.

This certainly sounds to me that this kind of approach would work in West Dallas as well as other Dallas communities. West Dallas has a growing charter/private school base, but there is work to be done on the public school side. A key part of the YES program is that the kids get really good teachers.

Thoughts anyone?

An age-old question of economic development is how best to bring needed services to a community without adversely impacting families that live there. And West Dallas is not an exception. In fact, West Dallas is becoming a laboratory in creative modern urban design.

Late last week, the Dallas CityDesign Studio (a new city hall office) and a bunch of urban designers sat down to begin hammering out conceptional plans for West Dallas. Since late fall, they've been doing the footwork, talking with residents, developers and others is small groups.

And in the course of discussions last Friday, designers that included Larry Beasley, an internationally known designer from Vancouver, B.C. and Brent Brown, the design studio's director, took pen to a paper and came up with these ideas which they say balance the desire for residents in the Los Altos and La Bajada neighborhoods to have access to new shops and economic development without getting run over by out of control real estate speculation.

These ideas are a starting point and aren't cast in stone, but could be the start of something very special for West Dallas.

You don't hear a lot of good news these days from the four Dallas schools slated either for closure or re-tasking because of their repeated "academically unacceptable" ratings. But students at one of those schools -- L.G. Pinkston in West Dallas -- really stood out this weekend in an academic competition that has probably shocked and pleasantly surprised a lot of DISD insiders.

When you think of the performing arts, schools such as Booker T. Washington, Bryan Adams and Woodrow Wilson often come to mind as exemplary. They've got well established programs, a very active group of involved parents, and lots of good funding sources. Pinkston has none of these. But the school entered the Irma P. Hall Theatre Arts Festival on Saturday and went up against nine other Dallas schools -- including Booker T. Washington.

And Pinkston walked away with a gold medal in playwriting, a gold in acting and a gold in directing. The judges included various members of the Dallas Theatre Center and other notables within the performing arts community in the city. So it's quite a significant achievement for Pinkston, especially considering the high level of competition and all of the bad news that's come out of that school recently.

But more importantly, it sends an important message that's often overlooked within the academic community about the role that fine arts can play in stimulating the minds of at-risk students. (And they don't get much more at-risk than Pinkston, which is has one of the lowest income and highest drop-out rates in the city.) Very often, it's very hard to get these kids' attention long enough in any subject to nudge them all the way through to graduation. But as Dallas Theatre Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty noted in an interview with us published Sunday, the fine arts often can awaken at-risk kids in ways that core subject can't. The text of that interview follows.

Some interesting observations from a North Dallas resident who works in West Dallas as a director of a nonprofit literacy center. Freelancer Barbara B. Johnson proposes that perhaps material rewards for motivation -- something much more do-able in her North Dallas neighborhood than in the West Dallas neighborhood where she works -- backfire .

So which group of children is actually better off? Read more and comment here.

Eric Johnson is a classy guy, and he's smart enough to know that just because he's the only eligible candidate in the District 100 Democratic primary, his isn't the only name on the ballot. Alas, Terri Hodge has pulled out after admitting corruption-linked tax evasion. But that doesn't mean her supporters won't vote for her.

Here's the message Johnson sent out today. It's measured and cautious. With its appeal for unity, the message seems designed not to rub anyone's nose in this affair.

Dear Friend,

To serve the public as an elected official is a high calling and requires a great deal of personal sacrifice. I want to thank Rep. Hodge for her years of service to District 100 and the State of Texas.

As you may have heard by now, State Rep. Terri Hodge has pulled out of the race to represent District 100 in the Texas House of Representatives, leaving me as the only candidate in the race.

Whether you have been a supporter of mine from the beginning or you once supported Rep. Hodge, now is the time for us to unite. We are now on the same team and it is time to move District 100 forward. Together.

We are no longer in a political fight, but a fight for the future of our district and our city, and it is a fight that we must win.

I need your support. I need your help as a volunteer and, if you live in District 100, I need your vote on March 2nd.

We can never lose sight of what this election is really about: the people of District 100. It's about how we work together to improve our public schools, bring more high-paying jobs to our district, and make our neighborhoods safer.

I look forward to working with you to make District 100 and the Great State of Texas all they can be.

Are there differences between strategies to reverse soaring minority unemployment and strategies to put Americans back to work regardless of their race, gender and income?

And if not, should there be targeted efforts to attack minority unemployment, especially now when the nation's overall jobs picture is the worse it has been in years?

It's a dicey question. Different groups -- based more on income and educational differences than solely race -- have differ starting points. But unless people who want to work have the necessary job skills and opportunities, then this country will be paddling against global economic currents and floating backwards with each stroke.

But how does a policy maker acknowledge the very real and very persistent challenges in minority communities without feeding perceptions that disadvantaged communities and individuals need handouts to survive?

Here's what the National Council of La Raza wants the Obama administration to do, and to my knowledge none of these -- with the possible exception of a twist on the new hires proposal -- are in the White House or Congressional jobs initiatives. I've just noted the top line recommendations of NCLR and urge readers to click on this link for the details

1. Create millions of community jobs in hard-hit neighborhoods. An effective way to employ millions of people in a short time is to pay them to meet existing needs in their local communities. Congress should award grants to states for employing workers to repair and maintain buildings and grounds, work at community health centers, care for children before and after school, or provide services for seniors.

Any publicly funded jobs initiative that aims to reach the communities hardest hit by the recession should:

Reserve 20% of grants to states for hiring in the nonprofit sector. I
Dedicate $1 billion of funding for hiring workers to maintain and rehabilitate abandoned and foreclosed properties.

Mandate that at least 30% of new jobs go to economically disadvantaged job seekers. Jobs seekers with low income and low levels of educational attainment, and those who are not currently receiving unemployment insurance, should be given priority consideration in the publicly funded jobs initiative.

2. Make affordable loan products available to nonprofits and CBOs for infrastructure and capital investments

3. Invest in the human capital of workers overlooked by ARRA. For many workers struggling in the current recession, investment today in education and skills development will prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. ARRA authorized millions of dollars for worker training programs in green jobs and health care in order to support their entry into emerging industries. The U.S. Department of Labor received an unprecedented number of applications from entities around the country hoping to train and place job seekers in these fields, but because funds were limited a significant number of worthy projects will go unfunded. Congress should authorize additional funding for human capital investment in emerging fields such as green jobs, but should target programs that:

Support the skills development and language acquisition of low-income, limited-English-proficient (LEP) workers. Future funding should prioritize programs that integrate skills training with basic literacy and English language skills in order to ensure that access to jobs in emerging industries is open to Latino and other underserved communities

4. Use the tax system to reward small businesses and nonprofits that hire new workers. In these uncertain times, businesses of all sizes, as well as nonprofit organizations, may have the immediate means to employ new workers but lack the confidence to hire. Policymakers should encourage hiring through a refundable tax credit for companies, including small businesses and nonprofits that hire new workers or expand the hours of workers on their payroll.

I keep writing this phrase: "Southern Dallas deserves better." I keep reading it in other people's headlines and commentaries. And it strikes me at how hollow it is, especially considering the voting record of southern Dallas residents.

Let's look at one voter in particular: Gloria Hogg. She's the precinct chair in District 100. Here's her take on this week's events: "If Hodge's name is still on the ballot, then I will vote Terri. That doesn't mean I don't like Johnson. We don't know a lot about Mr. Johnson. Terri has been out here fighting for her constituents for 14 years. Until I hear further, Gloria Hogg supports Terri Hodge."

My god. And she's actually in a Democratic Party leadership position.

It's time for me and everyone else to stop using trite phrases that sound great but mean nothing.

The fact is, voters everywhere deserve the people they vote for. When voters choose corrupt politicians like Terri Hodge and Don Hill, they deserve what they get. Nothing better, nothing worse. When voters like Hogg blindly choose Terri Hodge on a ballot, even when they know that she has pleaded guilty to corruption-linked tax evasion, they get what they deserve. In this case, it'll be zero representation if Hodge gets elected over challenger Eric Johnson, simply because it was too late to remove her name from the ballot.

No wonder southern Dallas suffers from lack of effective political representation. No wonder southern Dallas gets short shrift year after year. No wonder southern Dallas is perpetually relegated to second-tier status in terms of budgetary and developmental priorities.

Do southern Dallas voters "deserve" better? I'm rethinking the previous position I've taken on this, and I'm not so sure they do. They have a right, and should demand better. But if they knowingly allow people like Terri Hodge to take office year after year after year, I'm sorry, they don't deserve anything more than what they vote for.

Today's guilty plea and promised resignation of State Rep. Terri Hodge marks a major potential turning point for southern Dallas. There can no longer be any doubt that the FBI had a strong basis to investigate and seek prosecution in the City Hall corruption scandal that also ended the political careers of several of southern Dallas's highest profile politicians. It is time for the era of pay-to-play to end. It is time for southern Dallas politicians and businessmen to stop lining their own pockets on the backs of their constituents. It is time to end this phony notion that "giving something back to the community" means enriching a powerful few under the table.

Note the word "potential" in the first sentence. Nothing will change in southern Dallas unless voters wake up and actually start examining the records of the incumbents who claim to represent them. Too often, political dynasties develop in southern Dallas because voters wed themselves to names they know without examining the records behind those names. They always have to ask whether this person is actually doing something to help the community. If voters take a good, hard look, they will realize how poorly these politicians are performing, and they will demand change.

Instead, they balk at change. They balk at the idea of a "newcomer" coming in and actually doing something. They blindly support ineffectual (and corrupt) politicians like Terri Hodge, while refusing to consider the merits of people like Eric Johnson. Why? Because he went to Harvard. He's a high achiever. He really did something with his life. Therefore, he cannot be one of us and represent us.

Just take a look at Hodge's answers to our questions regarding the pressing issues facing her district (Johnson says it's education; she thinks it's eminent domain), and look at the way she minimizes the importance of educational achievement. Something is terribly wrong with this picture -- especially the fact that she was probably heading toward victory in the primary before today's announcement. Who knows? She might still win even though she can't serve because it's too late to get her name off the ballot.

I can't say I'll be shocked if Terri Hodge works behind the scenes to put a crony on the ballot -- all in an effort to thwart Eric Johnson from winning the primary election and, by default, winning the general election. But if southern Dallas voters (the vast bulk of District 100's constituency) allow such an effort to succeed, they will richly deserve the poor representation they already receive and will receive in the future.

Some political races fall below the radar even though the position being contested carries great responsibility.

Anyone who has read the DMN stories about Dallas County constables should be more than slightly concerned about the cloud over at least two constable posts. And one JP court has been an administrative disaster for many, many years.

Simply put, residents in these precincts deserve better. But only residents in these precincts can vote out elected officials who for whatever reason aren't doing the job expected of them.

So this is why the DMN decided to recommend against incumbents and in favor of breaking with the past in the following contests. If voters want change, then they must demand it at the ballot box.


JP PRECINCT 1, PLACE 1

Candidate Sylvia Rhodes-Bradley, a self-employed mediator, is far superior to Jones, who the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct recently said demonstrates "incompetence in performing the duties of his office." The 37-year-old Rhodes-Bradley, a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, is a strong communicator and seems to possess the skills necessary to restore professionalism to this operation, one of the busiest JP courts in the state.

CONSTABLE PRECINCT 5

Beth Villarreal, 38, is the best choice over Cortes and two other challengers because she could provide a clean break with the precinct's clouded present. She lives in Oak Cliff and is a patrol and community relations police officer in the town of Italy in Ellis County. While Michael Orozco, a deputy constable in Precinct 3, has more constable experience, we believe Villarreal would restore public trust. Chief Ozumba Lnuk-X, a former security guard and regular speaker at Dallas City Council meetings, also is on the ballot.

CONSTABLE PRECINCT 1

In a race filled with constable insiders, Robert McIntyre, a former chief deputy in Precinct 5, brings the most experience and the best hope for change to the race against Evans. McIntyre, 64, has more than 25 years of law enforcement experience and is a volunteer reserve with the Lancaster ISD Police Department. Andrew Harris, now a Precinct 3 deputy, and Calvin Jones, a former deputy constable, both were fired in 2008 by Evans and are suing the county over their dismissals.

Some people like to spend their weekends watching sports on TV or going to the movies. I spent much of Sunday arguing with a blogger about the Inland Port. This guy posted an item that contained all kinds of inuendo, unsubstantiated allegations and just-pure garbage spruced up as fact. So I couldn't let it go. I wasn't just going to leave that stuff hanging out there, unchallenged.

But it's made me realize that there is a small movement of residents in southern Dallas County who are vehemently opposed to the International Inland Port of Dallas. We see it as the best hope for generating jobs in southern Dallas and providing a major economic engine for the entire region. These protesters see it as giant turd being deposited on their doorsteps. They see a future full of pollution from smoke-belching trucks, traffic congestion from the constant flow of cargo containers, and residential displacement as the port expands to its planned 243,000 boundaries.

They have a point. And although I rejected the blogger on Sunday as someone who was unable to produce facts to back up his wild allegations -- not to mention his irresponsible support for the alleged shakedown of port developer Richard Allen -- I don't want to suggest that opponents of the port don't deserve to be heard.

But I will continue to insist that the opponents answer these questions: What better use do you propose for the vast amount of undeveloped and underdeveloped land in southern Dallas and Dallas County? What better proposal do you have to generate employment for an area that has extraordinarily high jobless rates? How will you lure investors and businesses to open shop in southern Dallas if you run off the very few who are putting their money into the Inland Port? And if you really think the shakedown that Richard Allen allegedly suffered was a good thing, how do you propose to convince other outside developers and business people that they won't suffer a similar fate if they try to invest in southern Dallas?