DALLAS — For Shanay Wise, the pothole on the Malcolm X Boulevard bridge over the DART tracks was more than just another bump in the road -- it broke her axle.
"My car wobbled the rest of the way home," she said. "It’s dangerous."
She said the city of Dallas repaired the hole that damaged her car last fall, but others quickly appeared.
"They need to restore it properly instead of patching it up," she said.
Now the city has a plan to do rehabilitate the bridge entirely as part of its $1.25 billion bond proposal voters are set to approve at the ballot box in early May. The full list of projects can be found here.
While quotidian expenses of city government like salaries, code enforcement initiatives and standard pothole repair are not part of the bond effort, the city says street improvements like fixing the Malcolm X Boulevard bridge are included -- as is funding for libraries, the parks and recreation department and new police academy.
"This is not shiny new things, this is really taking care of the bare basics," said Dallas Museum of Art Deputy Director Tamara Wootton-Forsyth. The museum is set to receive $20 million for HVAC, fire suppression and electrical control improvements. "It’s very much behind the scenes, but it’s very, very important to our functioning to make sure the art in our care and the public who comes here are all safe," she said.
Some of the fire control system is older than the people who operate it, explained Ken Bennett, the museum's Chief Security and Operations Officer.
"We are at max capacity and can’t meet demand now," he said of the system of decade-old chillers that keep the building cool. "If we could come in and make those better, we can rest better. We know our art is going to be better protected, our building is going to operate better. And that’s what we’re looking for."
Early voting on approval for the project begins next month. The election is May 4.
Issuing bonds is one way municipalities raise money for projects. The bond is a debt that the city must pay back over time, in installments called debt service. The debt service is funded by taxpayer dollars, the city of Dallas said. However it said it estimates the bond issuances will not increase the city's debt service tax rate.
The bond will appear on the ballot as 10 separate propositions:
- $521.2 million for streets and transportation
- $345.2 million+ for parks and recreation
- $52.1 million for flood protection and storm drainage
- $43.5 million+ for libraries
- $75.2 million for cultural arts facilities
- $90 million for public safety
- $72.3 million for economic development
- $26.4 million for housing
- $19 million for homelessness
- $5 million for information technology