Dallas mayor has positive outlook on 2012

by BRAD WATSON

WFAA

Posted on January 1, 2012 at 10:01 PM

Updated yesterday at 10:45 PM

DALLAS ? Six months into his first term and his first budget behind him, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings looks ahead to 2012 and likes what he sees.

"You see all these things happening and you say, 'Wow, this is an exciting time in Dallas' history.' So understanding that is, I think, the key to us being successful in other areas," Rawlings said.

The mayor said long-planned projects will permanently transform the city in 2012.

The Margaret Hunt Hill bridge will open.

The deck park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway will be complete.

Another downtown park, Belo Garden, will offer more green space amidst the concrete.

The Dallas owned-and-operated City Performance Hall in the Arts District should open in September.

And the Perot Museum of Nature and Science downtown will almost be done.

All are exciting improvements, but what also excites Rawlings are the results of a city-financed poll that found Dallasites are much more positive than the rest of the nation.

"In Dallas, 65 percent of us said the best days are ahead of us and only 15 percent said the best days are behind us, so that sense of optimism is very real," Rawlings said.

But Rawlings also wants to channel that optimism to solve some very big problems.

Public schools must improve in all areas of the city. He sees a role in hiring the new superintendent.

"We've got to attract a great superintendent of schools, and the way we do that is to have the mayor have open arms with a reform-minded individual that wants to do change and say, 'We will get the business community behind you,'" Rawlings said.

The other challenge is improving southern Dallas.

"We've got to create an environment for growth," the mayor said. "We can't just go spend some money and it's going to happen. We've got to show how people and how capital has gone in southern Dallas and had great return on that capital."

Rawlings also expects a great marketing job in 2012. "I mean, this is a great city, and we need to tell the story in an exciting way to the people that it's not on their radar screen," he said.

It's certainly on the mayor's screen at City Hall.

E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/politics/Dallas-mayor-has-positive-outlook-on-2012-136516858.html

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