{"id":74064,"date":"2025-12-03T06:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/74064\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:37:08","slug":"addison-leaders-undecided-on-holding-election-to-leave-dart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/74064\/","title":{"rendered":"Addison leaders undecided on holding election to leave DART"},"content":{"rendered":"

Breaking from a pattern among North Texas suburbs<\/a>, Addison\u2019s town council could not agree on scheduling an election to leave the Dallas Area Rapid Transit<\/a>, citing a need for more public input and negotiations with the public transportation system. <\/p>\n

At a special council meeting in Addison<\/a> on Tuesday night, several motions failed or died after hours of heated debate and passionate public comment, but leaders did not reach a decision on when or whether to ask voters if the town should exit DART<\/a>. Council members considered postponing their discussion but ultimately could not come to an agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want us, as the council, I want staff to have a lot of really good conversations with DART,\u201d said Addison Mayor Bruce Arfsten following the meeting. \u201cThey have a lot of work to do \u2026 because what we\u2019re doing isn\u2019t working right.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leaders in Plano, Irving, Highland Park and Farmers Branch are holding referendums next May, jeopardizing a system already fraught<\/a> with budget and service concerns. <\/p>\n

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Over 100 people packed into Addison\u2019s town hall Tuesday night and dozens spoke to the council mainly in opposition to scheduling a vote on exiting the DART system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is premature and irresponsible,\u201d Addison council member Chris DeFrancisco said about scheduling a vote. \u201cLeaving DART today<\/a> would be one of the most damaging, short-sighted decisions Addison can make. \u2026 We\u2019re not a town that walks away from major regional investments just when it\u2019s finally starting to pay off for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many residents decried the potential loss of DART after the opening of the long-awaited Silver Line<\/a>. The $2 billion, 10-stop route between DFW International Airport and Plano stops in Addison and opened in October. Several residents asked the council to reevaluate DART\u2019s value now that the line stops in the town. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real important regional matter, and it isn\u2019t one city versus another city at all. It is, what are we doing for the whole region?\u201d asked Addison\u2019s DART board representative Gary Slagel, who also represents Richardson, University Park and Highland Park. \u201cWe need to make it work better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Speakers highlighted the importance of regional public transit for people with disabilities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of Addison leaving DART doesn\u2019t just concern me, it scares me,\u201d said Garland resident Madison McNair, who has family in Addison and rides DART.<\/a> \u201cBecause for disabled people like me, that decision \u2026 would change our lives. It would take away freedom, opportunity, and connection \u2014 the very things that make Addison a community. It\u2019s a step backward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The special meeting in Addison was called by three council members, not the mayor or city manager, Arfsten said. <\/p>\n

Other North Texas city leaders have cited concerns with DART\u2019s service, costs and a lackluster return on investment in their support of a withdrawal from DART. <\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s 13 member cities contribute a one-cent sales tax to fund DART. Addison, a town of about 17,000 people in northern Dallas County, contributed $16.7 million in sales tax to DART in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the agency\u2019s data. A 2023 study by the firm EY showed that DART spent $9.5 million on services in the town. The study didn\u2019t consider the economic impact of the Silver Line. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re paying in more than we\u2019re getting, and it\u2019s going to Dallas, and I think that something should be changed,\u201d said Addison council member Howard Freed. \u201cWe all want public transportation.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDART\u2019s not the only answer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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Addison staff outlined goals for DART \u2014 including a revised financial model to support growth, a lower cost for member cities and an individual DART board member representing each member city.<\/p>\n

A decision at the ballot box in the four cities who have scheduled elections could still be avoided; cities have until 45 days before the scheduled votes to call them off. Plano leaders submitted a proposal to DART offering to call off its election if the agency agreed to refund the city sales tax and discontinue some non-rail transit services.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet clear when Addison\u2019s council will next consider scheduling an election to leave DART. <\/p>\n

Email tips on all things Collin County to lilly.kersh@dallasnews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breaking from a pattern among North Texas suburbs, Addison\u2019s town council could not agree on scheduling an election…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[8872,2261,409,160,162,161,840],"class_list":{"0":"post-74064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-addison","9":"tag-dart","10":"tag-election","11":"tag-plano","12":"tag-plano-headlines","13":"tag-plano-news","14":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}