Texas has a habit of kicking tough decisions down the road. Maybe next year we'll find money to build highways and expand rail, we tell ourselves. Cleaning up our air isn't that urgent – we're still breathing, right? Addressing the disparities between northern and southern Dallas is tougher than ever due to the economy. And the looming water crisis might just magically fix itself.

For too long, our state and our city have said "next year" when complex questions reared up. Next year is here; 2010 brings tough challenges on transportation, air quality, water and Dallas' "north-south gap." Spurring progress in these areas will be this newspaper's priority. Many of the solutions aren't cheap – or easy. But the price of doing nothing is too steep. Improving life in North Texas in the long-term requires taking action this year.

The goals:

•Create an economic development corporation to guide redevelopment efforts in southern Dallas.

•Increase parental involvement in the lives of southern Dallas children.

The plan:

Dallas spent decades creating a chasm between the pampered northern neighborhoods and the neglected south. That can't all be undone in 2010, but we can jumpstart efforts by tackling both macro issues at the City Hall level and micro issues at the street level.

City leaders have pledged to make the broad half of Dallas south of the Trinity River and Interstate 30 a priority, but too often, its needs get lost in a crush of competing issues. A dedicated team and dedicated funding are needed to attract businesses, distribute money and oversee large-scale projects. An economic development corporation would bring a big-picture approach to what has been a piecemeal effort.

City bureaucrats have balked at suggestions that they cede any measure of power. But whether leaders create a southern Dallas entity within City Hall or a separate development corporation, these struggling neighborhoods need an advocate that has both power and permanence.

While city leaders have a long to-do list in this area, southern Dallas residents also must take responsibility for improving their lives – and their children's. That starts with parental involvement.

Adult leadership – or the lack thereof – has a significant impact on everything from a kid's grades to whether he joins a gang. Too many children in southern Dallas live in chaos.

Our city's struggling neighborhoods should learn from other places tackling similar challenges. The military communities surrounding Fort Hood, where many children endure extraordinary stresses and tragedies, have developed several programs that could be adapted in southern Dallas.

The goal in both places is providing stability for children surrounded by upheaval, and parents must be the constant in their lives.

If 2010 is to be the year that life in southern Dallas significantly improves, city leaders and individual parents need to get to work.

The goal:

•Identify funding for the state's 50-year water strategy.

The plan:

State leaders saw the Texas' looming water crisis coming from a mile away. With a burgeoning population and scarce resources, they recognized that a plan was needed.

Local planners got to work on a 50-year strategy that includes more of everything – stepped-up conservation, increased efforts to preserve aquifers and the creation of new lakes. Unfortunately, that was the easy part.

Paying for the plan is the hard part at hand. And state leaders have been procrastinating.

Just as Texas' transportation issues can't be left to languish when the Legislature is not in session, this off-year is an important one when it comes to water planning. Texas needs a dedicated revenue stream to fund its long-term strategy.

Otherwise, these proposals will be subjected to legislative budget battles, where a host of issues duke it out for limited funds every two years. Water simply is too critical to Texas' well-being and its ability to grow to face such an uncertain future.

Just as the gas tax is supposed to pay for transportation projects, a reliable revenue stream is essential to ensuring that the water plan continues to move forward.

State Sen. Kip Averitt of Waco has been the plan's champion, but North Texas lawmakers must show leadership and lend their voices to this issue as well. During 2010, they should settle on the funding mechanism and begin building consensus.

Recent droughts, the changing climate and our growing population all suggest that the state's current supplies could run short sooner than once anticipated.

While legislators often like to live dangerously when it comes to deadlines, calling emergency sessions and cobbling together compromises as the clock winds down, that's not an option when it comes to water. Foresight is essential.

The state has a strategy. This year, we must work on a payment plan.

The goal:

•Reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions with an eye toward losing the title of carbon dioxide king.

The plan:

When it comes to spewing carbon dioxide, Texas is No. 1 with a bullet. No other state even comes close.

Plenty of state leaders don't seem to mind. They eschew concerns about climate change and complain that greenhouse regulations would be an unfair burden for Texas.

They're right about one thing: Limits on carbon emissions will be an expensive proposition for this state. So far, Texas' strategy has been to hope that CO2 regulation doesn't happen. But crossing our fingers doesn't constitute a plan. Texas must begin preparing now for a future in which pollution has a price attached to it.

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared that carbon dioxide threatens public health. So even if cap-and-trade regulations stall out in Congress, the EPA could move to curb carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Federal environmental officials already have raised questions about our state's air permitting processes. And with tougher federal ozone limits on the way and new regulations aimed at cement plants expected, our pollution-choked state could run into all sorts of roadblocks.

Until now, any attempt to reduce carbon emissions or even discuss them was summarily dismissed in Austin. But if state and local leaders begin taking even small steps to reduce greenhouse gases, they could limit the pain – and the price tag – that new regulations will bring. The state needs a comprehensive carbon reduction plan, a broad-based effort that includes everything from conservation to green building codes to limits on industry.

Continuing the state's devil-may-care approach to emissions will cost us all in the long term.

If Texas starts making modest changes now, we could avoid some of the expense and unpleasantness ahead. And perhaps one day the state could shed that carbon crown we've held for so long.

The goals:

•Expand the region's rail transit network to ease congestion and provide options for commuters.

•Identify significant sources of new money to fund needed highway projects.

The plan:

Just because this is an off-year for the Texas Legislature doesn't mean that we can punt our transportation problems to 2011. The last two sessions have been failures in terms of planning and funding rail and roads.

The Dallas-Fort Worth delegation has gone 0-for-2 in building consensus for a local option that would allow North Texas voters to approve new taxes and fees to pay for expanded rail. This year, our legislative leaders must regroup and begin work on a streamlined funding approach that could be adopted in 2011.

Crafting a local option remains the best option so regions can tailor plans to their needs. As the last few years have shown, hammering out details and trying to build support on the fly during a legislative session can doom a plan to defeat, so our delegation needs to do some heavy lifting in the off-season.

Similarly, 2010 is the time to have some tough conversations about how to keep the state's highway fund on firm financial footing. Oft-repeated campaign promises to root out waste won't come close to addressing a shortfall that's in the billions and multiplying.

New money is needed – and lots of it. No one likes talking about tax increases during an election year, but when it comes to paying for highways, we find ourselves in a deep hole and sinking fast. State Sen. John Carona has the right idea with his call to raise the gas tax and index it to inflation.

Rail and roads are pricey propositions, but North Texas' needs are urgent. Failure to act in 2010 will cost us dearly next year and beyond.