Mayor Mike Rawlings: "South Dallas Is Not a Charity Case. It's A Business Opportunity." via DallasObserver.com

For months, Mayor Mike Rawlings has made it clear that he's got his eye on Southern Dallas. This afternoon, as promised, was the first of three public presentations he'll give on his Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan, which played to a packed house of bigwigs at the South Side Studios on Lamar. As he's done before, the mayor started by praising that part of town, which he called "the single greatest opportunity for growth in North Texas," and what he claimed is the potential for an increase of $8 billion in revenue for the city.

"It's real money," he told the crowd, adding later, to applause, "Southern Dallas is not a charity case. It's a business opportunity."

But the mayor also presented what he called a "top 10 list for leveraging this opportunity." He ran through a laundry list of to-dos, ranging from the civic equivalent of cheerleading to the very, very specific. It was an almost startlingly business-minded list, one that frequently sounded like a proposal to bolster up a flagging company. At one point, the mayor even referred to himself as "the city's top salesperson."

Read more...Mayor Mike Rawlings: "South Dallas Is Not a Charity Case. It's A Business Opportunity." - Dallas News - Unfair Park via DallasObserver.com