POTHOLES AND POLITICS

The streets are a mess and, in a way, we are to blame

Some of you regularly read our online daily news digest at advocatemag.com or find yourself directed to the site from our Facebook or Twitter feeds. I know this because I received plenty of reaction to an online-only item I wrote a few weeks ago concerning our son’s pothole experience.

I hadn’t expected that particular story to be a readership magnet — no animals, crime or restaurants were mentioned. Little did I know so many of you agreed about the pathetic condition of our streets.

Just a quick recap: Our son was driving home from college, and he wound up beached at a grocery store.

“I blew a tire, dad,” he said. “I’m here in the parking lot, and the tire is completely flat.”

Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, and the problem occurred in the last leg of a 250-mile journey. Unluckily, our car had a blown tire, a bent rim and a messed-up alignment.

$197.01.

That’s what it cost us for a new tire, installation and alignment. I think they threw in banging on the rim or free.

“You’re the eighth person in here this morning with a blown tire from a pothole,” the repair guy told me the following day at 11 a.m.

The pothole he hit was deep and wide plenty of space to suck in a small tire and regurgitate a damaged hunk of rubber and metal.

The good news is that after I noted the issue on the city website (you can also call 311), the pothole was repaired within 24 hours, just as promised for serious street damage.

But my pothole wasn’t the only dangerous street issue, as I found out after hearing from many of you. Streets throughout the city — north, south, east and west — are in poor condition not only from the March spate of winter weather, but moreso from years and years of neglect. Turns out that while we’ve focused our attention on big-ticket “worldclass-city-type” projects such as the Trinity Toll Road, the Downtown city-owned Omni convention center hotel, and the frequent tax breaks we’ve provided to developers, we forgot about our streets.

As a result, we’re $900 million in arrears on street repairs, meaning that’s how much money needs to be spent — today — to put most of our streets back in good condition.

Sadly, there’s no one to blame but ourselves. For years at budget time, the people who run our city made a conscious decision that replacing worn-out streets wasn’t enough of a priority.

And we kept sending them back Downtown because when voters don’t care, an incumbent rarely loses.

What can we do now?

Saturday, May 9, is the next council election; six councilmen are stepping down because of term limits, two more face challengers, and the mayor also is running for re-election. Other than in North Dallas, lots of races are up for grabs.

We’re offering brief election coverage in this month’s magazine, as well as online (short videos of each candidate) for those who don’t have time to attend a candidate gathering to eyeball them ourselves. Other media outlets are covering the election, too.

So we can do what we usually do — whine, complain and then not vote — or we can pay attention to who is running and take the time to help make the decision May 9 (remember to register through Dallas County by April 9).

Every time we hit a rough patch of street, and every time we run across uneven asphalt or poor striping or a plain old pothole, let’s tell ourselves: This year, we’re going to make a difference.

With so many reminders out there, how can we forget?

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

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Unfinished business

After six years of construction, one man’s incomplete dream home is on the market

Ricardo Torres bought the lot next door to his mother’s house, on Marlborough at Davis, in 2008 and started building his dream home.

And then, he just kept building. He started with plans for two stories on a little more than half the lot. Then he realized that a third story would offer a downtown view, so he went up one more. A game room could be a haven for his son and nephews, so he decided to knock through the back wall to build one, taking the house to nearly 5,000 square feet.

At night, the 34-year-old jeweler would dream and plan with his wife about all the things their home could be. The result is a house that has been under construction for the majority of a decade, and now Torres doesn’t have the money to complete it. He put the unfinished house on the market last year, and now it is listed for $250,000.

Torres started building the house shortly after his father died. He’s done a lot of the construction work himself, and he’s paid cash as often as possible, but he has acquired some debt. His mother took out a $45,000 home-equity loan on her house to help pay for construction, and Torres and his wife have borrowed about $20,000 on credit cards and personal loans. The Torreses pay $200 a month on the home-equity loan, and it’s all interest. In five years, the principal amount hasn’t lowered, he says.

Ask 10 ways why Torres hasn’t finished the house, and a solid answer remains elusive.

“We just thought it would be that easy,” he says. “I wish we could finish.”

A year into construction, Torres lost his job when the company he worked for went out of business, and he had trouble finding employment.

They made mistakes, spending money and time on extras such as custom-made silicone stamps for the concrete driveway, indoor lighting fixtures and furniture before making the house habitable.

City code violations related to construction led to court dates and fines.

Meanwhile, the old apartments on West Davis and Rosemont, adjacent to the house, were torn down, and the complex now known as Bell Bishop Arts went up. Across West Davis, St. Cecilia Church burned and was rebuilt. But the construction site on Marlborough remained.

The unfinished house occasionally comes up among Torres’ L.O. Daniel neighbors, in casual conversation or at neighborhood meetings. Even though the property is unsightly, most neighbors are sympathetic. The only adjacent neighbors are Torres’ mother and a commercial property, which probably has limited the number of complaints.

“It’s been such a nuisance for years that it’s something you just get used to,” says Justin Epker of the L.O. Daniel Neighborhood Association. —Rachel Stone