DART’s an afterthought
DART has made it clear through repeated service failures that it is not meeting the needs of Dallas. But the deeper problem is that the Dallas City Council has allowed this to continue with minimal oversight, accountability and engagement with the people who rely on these routes every day.
If the city intends to keep DART as its transit provider, then the council must stop operating on the sidelines and start asserting real authority. That means demanding transparency, enforcing performance standards and refusing to let service cuts happen behind closed doors.
The Inwood Road route — a key route connecting Oak Cliff to far North Dallas — was eliminated by DART without any notice to the public. This created significant challenges for many residents who depended on public transportation. The changes were made without input from the City Council or residents. Such limited notice left many people without time to make alternative arrangements for essential travel. For workers who rely on DART buses to commute, this change has caused considerable inconvenience and hardship. Many now face longer travel times, additional transfers or limited access to reliable transportation to and from their jobs. Others have been forced to rely on ride-share services, if they can even afford them.
Affordable, reliable transportation is a core public service, and the City Council cannot keep treating it like an afterthought. Public transportation is meant to serve the public.
Opinion
Delia Crossley, Dallas
Shaken by Epstein files
The recent revelations contained in the Epstein files have left me, like so many others, shaken to my core. The magnitude of the abuse, the power that shielded it and the sheer number of individuals who looked away demand more than outrage. They demand soul-searching.
In a well-known hadith, the Prophet Muhammad tells of a man so crushed by guilt over his sins that he begged his sons to cremate him after death, grind his remains to powder and scatter the ashes across the sea. He believed that if he could make himself disappear completely, God would not be able to judge him. He believed he could outrun God. He could not.
God gathered every particle and reassembled him whole. God then asked why he had tried to flee, and the man answered simply: I was afraid of You. God, seeing that fear, forgave him.
For those who enabled the abuse of children and then arranged their own silence: The ashes do not stay scattered. They never do. History has a long memory. So does God.
Amir Malik, Plano
Militant legacy
Re: “Israel: Attacker’s brother was militant — Four family members of Ayman Ghazali were killed in Israeli strike,” Monday news story.
According to this report, the naturalized citizen who attacked a Michigan synagogue with more than 100 children in its preschool was the brother of a Hezbollah commander. This should be a reminder that forces waging war against Israel to free Palestine also want to exterminate Jews around the world.
It reinforces the urgency to vet immigrants more thoroughly, especially those from hotbeds of antisemitism in the Middle East.
Ken Ashby, Dallas
Radical food proposal
Re: “Is MAHA alive and well?” by Abby McCloskey, March 15 Opinion.
McCloskey’s column highlighted the fact that our children are less healthy. The statistics are shocking. In fact, the health of Americans in general is declining. Americans are increasingly eating their way to poor health and early death.
Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, brain deterioration and a host of other diseases are increasing, largely due to what we eat. The ethically challenged food industry has purposefully hooked us on fat, salt, sugar and ultra-processed foods. On TV, we are assaulted with a blizzard of fast-food ads. America’s favorite food is pizza!
I have a radical proposal. The surgeon general should declare a fast-food emergency, as was done with tobacco. Fast and ultra-processed foods should be dealt with like cigarettes and other tobacco products are. TV and radio ads should be banned. Black box warnings should be required to be on fast-food and fast-casual restaurant menus. Like cigarettes and alcohol, make it unlawful to sell fast-food to those under age 18.
I know I’m only dreaming, but I had the same dream about cigarettes years ago. I was wrong, thankfully. I could be wrong again.
Fred Moss, Dallas
City that Pei built
The Dallas Morning News has printed so many pictures of City Hall, designed by world-famous architect I.M. Pei, that I have fallen head over heels in love with her. The imposing lady needs better jewelry, however, in a city where a park is defined by grass and trees, not more concrete. Dallas, take care of her.
This edifice has an equally remarkable sister, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, also designed by Pei, at Pearl and Flora Streets, not far from Klyde Warren Park. Her lovely swirls and circles, inside and outside, make her graceful and almost ready to attend the ball; however, for a princess, she looks a little shabby. Dallas, take care of her.
Pei graced Dallas with yet a third sister, one of the glorious Fountain Place towers grows heavenward from a garden of fountains — so beautiful, they’re envied by Paris.
As we observe these three works of art, we can see Pei envisioned three different masterworks for one special city. Dallas is the city that I.M. Pei built, and Dallas is close to destroying one of these masterworks? Wake up, Dallas, ASAP.
Martha-Allison Blewer, Coppell
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com