Recent Dallas Morning News coverage of the proposed convention center expansion exposed a troubling pattern: flashy renderings replacing fundamental planning. City Council member Chad West summed it up perfectly when he compared the plan to finishing a house design without addressing drainage underneath.
Parking, transportation flow, infrastructure strain — these aren’t minor details. They are the difference between a functional civic asset and a financial sinkhole. Yet city staff, under Kimberly Bizor Tolbert’s leadership, presented a plan that glossed over these essentials.
Even more concerning, Dallas has not fully paid off the debt on the current convention center. Pushing forward with an expanded vision while ignoring existing obligations is not bold leadership, it’s fiscal recklessness.
Good planning starts with the unglamorous work: logistics, financing and long-term sustainability. Until City Hall demonstrates competence in those fundamentals, Dallas taxpayers should remain skeptical of grand promises wrapped in glossy presentations.
Mary Ellen Smith, Dallas
Copy interstate highways
Re: “A Positive Step Toward High-Speed Rail — Resolution contains thoughtful provisions and deserved City Council approval,” Thursday editorial.
The caveat “that the region not move forward with a Dallas-to-Fort Worth segment until the Dallas-to-Houston segment is a sure thing” merely confirms the Editorial Board is looking at this problem through the wrong lens. High-speed service between Dallas to Fort Worth wouldn’t happen anyway — particularly with a stop in Arlington — as a train can’t attain high speeds with stops 18 miles apart.
The right way to approach high-speed rail would be the way we built interstate highways. The U.S. Department of Transportation should plan a line from Vancouver to Galveston, then begin building it out in segments.
Houston-to-Dallas would be a strong contender for the opening segment. Few passengers would travel the entire distance, just as few take Interstate 35 from Duluth to Laredo, or Interstate 30 from Aledo to Little Rock. But traveling between the various segments, such as Denver-to-Arlington, Fort Worth-to-College Station or Dallas-to-Galveston, is what would make the service viable.
This is the pattern Brightline has used in Florida, and Caltrans is using between San Francisco and San Diego.
Ken Duble, Dallas/The Cedars
A ‘Liberty or Death’ flyer?
I recently received a postcard from state Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, which included the words, “Liberty or Death.” This message alarms me. Whose liberty and whose death is he referencing?
If Hopper alludes to the battle cry of the American Revolution, “Give me liberty or give me death,” is our representative calling for the violent overthrow of the state or federal government? If so, he is in violation of his oath of office, which requires him to ”preserve and protect the Constitution and laws of the United States and Texas.”
In our system, the voters through their legislators make or amend laws to remedy perceived injustices. We don’t resort to violence to change our government. Even a vague threat to the use of violence to effectuate change is to reject the rule of law on which our government and social order are based.
And if Hopper is not referring to the Revolutionary War, what “liberty” is he seeking? Freedom from paying property taxes or otherwise supporting public schools? Most important, whose “death” is at stake here? Am I the only one troubled by this level of hyperbole?
I hope others who find themselves now a part of Texas House District 64 will help end Hopper’s reign in Austin and beyond. Please vote!
Grace Weatherly, Argyle
What is freedom worth?
Re: “Trump’s Greenland Mess — In just a few days, the president has flipped hope to despair,” Thursday editorial.
This editorial concerning President Donald Trump’s Greenland mess was spot-on. The idea that our president would even consider challenging a NATO country and disparaging them in public was disgraceful, embarrassing and downright un-American.
Yes, after 9/11, NATO countries did come to our support. Canada, our friend, neighbor and trading partner, started Operation Yellow Ribbon, where more than 200 planes landed, at a risk to them, after U.S. airspace was shut down.
The argument is that we pay a lot of money into NATO, but what is freedom worth?
Martha J. Ryan, Plano
Blaming the wrong person
Re: “Some prices rising while others are lower,” Thursday Metro & Business story.
I find it amazing that this story about inflation by PolitiFact never mentions that inflation during President Joe Biden’s first three years averaged almost 6% annually. Instead, they repeat four times that it was 3% during his final year.
President Donald Trump did promise to lower inflation, but that mostly happens in a recession. It was lower in 2025 than it was since his final year of his first term.
Trump is being blamed for failing to undo the damage in one year that Biden did in four.
Les Gregory, Frisco
Dismantling democracy
I keep wishing that those in Congress, if they want to honor the office they were voted into, will wake up and see the writing on the wall. It’s not in invisible ink. It’s in permanent ink right now, and it needs to be heavily painted over.
Hard to believe that what our forefathers fought for almost 250 years ago in order to have a democracy is being dismantled rapidly before our eyes.
Nancy Wiener Marcus, Highland Park
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