Even if University Park voters choose to withdraw from DART, the city will work to continue providing paratransit services to residents who need it.
The city council approved a resolution at its Feb. 17 meeting stating that the city intends to start searching for paratransit service providers within two weeks if a May 2 withdrawal vote is successful.
Some residents had raised concerns about the potential absence of paratransit services if University Park withdrew from DART.
At the Feb. 17 city council meeting, Walt Humann, who is widely recognized as helping to create the DART system in the 1980s, called for the city of University Park to remain in DART and reconsider its withdrawal election.
“We’re going to become a world-class metropolitan center like Tokyo, London, New York and other cities. We need a world-class transit system to meet with that eventuality,” Humann said. “University Park needs to be at that table with its leadership in helping mold what (the) transit system looks like.”
University Park Mayor Tommy Stewart indicated at his State of the City address recently that changes made by DART to appease member cities considering withdrawing from the transit agency likely won’t lead University Park to call off its election on the issue.
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“What we’re mainly concerned with is how much money we’ve paid into DART,” University Park Mayor Tommy Stewart said in response to a question during his address. “When we started in DART, we had ten routes. We’ve got one now. And we haven’t paid less money.”
University Park, Highland Park, Plano, Irving, Farmers Branch, and Addison have all decided to put the question of DART membership to voters.
Officials in some member cities that have called elections on their DART membership, including University Park, have argued that the amount they contribute to DART has dwarfed the value of the services they receive in return.
“In light of the dwindling services that DART has provided in the City of University Park and the increasing debt, the lack of proportionality, and the competitive disadvantage that our membership in DART has caused compared to competitor cities like Frisco and McKinney, I propose that we ask our voters, give our voters the opportunity, to withdraw from DART,” University Park City Council member Phillip Philbin said at the Jan. 6 meeting.
Some residents, though, argued that the city’s withdrawal from DART would remove access to transportation for people with disabilities, among others.
“Reliable transportation allows people with disabilities to get to work, job training, schools and universities,” resident Julie Collier said at the Jan. 6 meeting.
Since January, the Dallas City Council has greenlit giving up its majority control of the DART board for the first time in the transit agency’s history. Some of the cities that have called special elections on DART membership, including Plano, Irving and Addison have indicated they may call off their elections, NBC5 reported.
In other news:
- The City Council approved a $108,623.50 contract with Sports Fields Solutions for renovations to the Curtis Park baseball field. Officials say the work is expected to start around early May.
