This evening, I attended Texas District 32 Representative Colin Allred’s town hall on transportation and infrastructure. Congressman Allred was joined by Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, representative from the United States Virgin Islands and chair of the New Democrats Coalition task force on Infrastructure, and TxDOT Dallas District Director Mohamed “Mo” Bur, P.E.
Allred, Plaskett and Bur took questions from constituents on various transportation issues including the future of transportation and technology in DFW, federal funding of infrastructure projects, and the future of high speed rail in Texas. Allred said the “culture of Texas” is such that you cannot force Texan’s to change their transportation habits. Government can only provide affordable transportation options which are better alternatives than what they are currently doing. In the future, this may include public transportation, electric cars and driverless vehicle options.
Allred also took questions as to what he is doing to fix pot holes in the local road. He gave what I believe was a very reasonable answer — the federal government is not involved in fixing potholes — that is what local government does. Allred did say it was the responsibility of the federal government to be a partner in provide funding for major infrastructure projects so that the local government does not have use its resources on large projects. This gives local leaders the freedom to allocate its resources on fixing things like potholes.
He and I both agree that you don’t want the federal government dictating where to spend transportation dollars when we are the ones who drive on the streets daily and know where the local problematic issues are located.
“I believe in local control when it comes to many of these things (transportation),” Allred said. “I don’t want DC or Austin to go around telling cities especially how to meet their own needs. That’s not our role. What we can do is provide a pot of money and say what do you need and they can draw that money down. As projects come up that need funding, I can go to bat for that project.”
After the town hall, I introduced myself as the councilman-elect for Garland’s District 7. He assured me that we have an ally in Washington when it comes to transportation projects, as well as any other local issue we may have.
I look forward to working with Congressman Allred in the future as we help to keep Garland Moving Forward figuratively and literally.
At the end of each post, I will include a musical selection. Let’s keep this fun.