That's right kids, Flower Mound is getting an 18 story hotel and a fast track to becoming the next "got to live there" place in North Texas. Meanwhile Dallas releases low level felons to accommodate more space in the local jails. Although most will go right back to their neighborhoods and continue living their lives, some will find their way to Lancaster as a part of the natural migration to cheap homes in new neighborhoods. After all, where else can you buy a 2800 square foot home for 119,000 dollars! I compare Lancaster to places like Flower Mound because I see the potential for this city to take real advantage of the historical aspect of its environment. Flower Mound started out the same way. Sure they have a lake and several other natural traits that help their presence in the north but so does the southern sector! Why is it then, that Lancaster seems to run out of steam when faced with some of the same opportunities? The reason, I think, is that Lancaster settles. Settles for increased taxes without true tangible benefit to infrastructure, education or representation. Your streets are horrible but your stadium looks like the Acropolis. Your Recreational Center is fantastic but your police department leaks. Finally, and maybe most absurdly, you have the highest marketable housing growth in the area yet no grocery or retail support for those that live there! Furthermore, no one is even looking to come! Sure you have larger warehouses and factory interest looking at the fringes of your city for cheap land and even cheaper labor. All of that is good but what are the real benefits to the average Lancaster resident? Better streets? Better schools? What? That's right nothing but the ability to say that they are in Lancaster...or at least close to Lancaster. Isn't that a little like saying you are a lucky man because your sister-in-law is so pretty? You get no direct benefit yet you hope that other cities will see you as successful for the things that are close to you.
I'd venture to say Desoto laughs at Lancaster behind closed doors because the more you settle for inferior development, poorly managed school finance, and horrible retail prospects the better they look to local and national businesses for future store and retail locations. Of course, you do have the market cornered on prostitution and transportation. Maybe Joe should be a little nicer to Dart and possibly organize the prostitutes along Dallas Ave and I20. After all, there is an untapped tax market there and I'm sure both the city and LISD could use the boost.
3 comments:
Namon, the city is hoping to develop the area at Houston School and I-20 to piggyback off UNT development.
Of course, that presumes that UNT becomes the 20K or bigger school that Royce West believes it will, and that this happens sooner rather than later.
Sure, it's possible... but, with a Hilton already in the area, in Duncanville, can the city get a Hilton-level hotel in Lanc? Don't hold your breath.
With the level of crime, truck driver ruled intersection at Dallas Ave., and a reputation for being "difficult" to deal with there is little chance that Lancaster will ever see the light of day on a high level hotel.
Namon, where do I begin? You have stated many problems facing our community but I would like to suggest a few commits here in your blog.
1) Real leadership gets people to face reality. “Showing the way and generating followers” might be the measurement of success for a politician who seeks power and get their way, but it should not be the measure of success in real leadership. Real leaders must demand people to make adjustments in values, thinking, and priorities to deal with threats, have capacity for new realities, and take advantage of opportunities.
2) Real leaders must engage the community to do adaptive work. Basically, it is about ensuring that what gets generated is inclusive, moral, constructive, and substantive.
3) Involves the pursuit of insight and wisdom, this wisdom is not simply experience or intelligence, but discerning which values to promote and protect and which values to be challenged or changed.
4) A leader must ensure his/her personal cause is an asset and not a liability in the use of leadership.
Let’s look at what a real leader does:
• Gets people to face reality as it pertains to their condition, threats, and opportunities
• Mobilizes the group to do adaptive work and adjust their values, habits, practices, and priorities
• Pursues the needed insight and wisdom to lead
• Takes responsibility for being the source of movement
The counterfeit leader does:
• Places an excessive emphasis on getting people to follow
• Is preoccupied with dominance as a control mechanism
• Fails to fully engage the group and its many factions
• Is unwilling to look for solutions beyond one’s comfort zone and the prevailing group paradigm
• Holds conviction that the leader alone has the truth and knows the way forward
I see Lancaster facing a development challenge that will require our leaders to:
• Create a robust environment to keep people from getting distracted
• Develop in stages: give the people time to discover what works
• Find the right combination of levers to develop new values and capabilities
• Give people a stake in developing their capacity
I like to share this story of David Hornbeck, Source: “The Toughest Job in America,” The Merrow Report (PBS Television, April 2000), available at www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/transcripts/tough.pdf
Hornbeck was the superintendent of Philadelphia’s school system of some 270,000 students, a very daunting task. Hornbeck, an honorable man with honorable intent and probably the finest and most knowledgeable administrator in the county at that time, still failed at achieving his agenda called “Children Achieving”.
Why? I believe the key factor was the superintendent (Hornbeck) didn’t adequately work with the various stakeholders to get on board and help face up to the needed changes. We must also take ownership as a community as to the development of this fine city, where it involves education and economic success. In the case of Dr. Lewis, he will have to mobilize the entire system to do adaptive work and evolve all factions to shoulder their share of the work of modifying values, habits, practices, and priorities, so that progress can slowly evolve. This work takes time and must be paced so the community can adjust to new realities. What is needed is a more measured approach of action, feedback, learning, and corrective action in order to produce a successful outcome. I am not saying that I totally agree with Dr. Lewis’s & the school boards plans to build new schools, but his plans to improve the children’s ability to read, write, and perform mathematics at a higher level is the utmost importance as all school districts should be.
I have learnt this recently as an ex-P&Z commissioner during the “The Preserve” public hearings. I might have wanted to see new housing start-ups, but not at the expense of lowering the quality of life for Lancaster. (As I reflect back, some of the plan was great, but I see your point that much of it was a smoke screen and hopefully that future development south of Lancaster will produce a more attractive plan to achieve more for the city and its citizens).
My challenge to you Namon, it is easy to point out the problems, but how about some solutions? Do you possess the real leaderships skills needed to raise the quality of life here in Lancaster or know someone who does? The art of war and winning would be coming up with a strategy, but to fight factions within itself would be a losing battle and destructive. Why not create a winning environment that “all”(ethnicity, rich & poor, business & non-business) can focus on, like a laser beam, to make Lancaster the true place to be proud of and live in. Please reread my bullets that Lancaster leaders will need in order to face a development challenge. I understand your pain, but its time to bury the hatchet and move forward with an optimist view in making Lancaster great. Please don’t hold back your opinions, we need to keep people responsible and accountable, but solutions need to follow criticisms. Thanks.
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