Dallas City Manager -- City Can & Must be Denser, More Walkable

From: Dallas Morning News
By: Rudolph Bush // July 29, 2009

Linda Koop, the transportation guru of the Dallas City Council, said that citizens should expect Dallas to look a little more like Toronto in a decade.

Dallas has no choice but to build fewer roads and more sidewalks, she said.

"We cannot sustain building more and more highways year after year. Our air quality is teetering on the edge," she said.

Koop said that Dallas is poised for construction of a street car system that will change the way downtown, Oak Cliff and other central neighborhoods function.

"You're going to be able to live downtown and not have a car in Dallas," she said.
Council member Angela Hunt said developers in the city are keen on the benefits of density, but so far have been reluctant to take on the costs.

Wider sidewalks, parks, green medians and scaled lighting are all part of building an attractive urban landscape, she said.

Getting those has been easier said than done, she said.

"We still think streets," said Mayor Tom Leppert.