It was a depressing night for me as the last precinct votes came in on Dallas’ Trinity Toll Road Plan on November 6. How can 42,279 voters be so wrong by approving a six-lane toll road in the middle of a planned world-class park?

I love Dallas. I stick up for every time someone throws it under the bus, which is quite often. But now…now I may just have to be driving that bus. These toll-road supporters have poured another slab of concrete in Dallas’ coffin with this vote.

The planned toll road is nothing more than a quick fix that only treats the symptoms—traffic congestion—and does nothing for the disease. By approving this measure, Dallas has also lost a great opportunity to embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR). A toll road equals more traffic, less green space and more noise.

A commenter on the Dallas Morning News Web site succinctly expressed my own thoughts: “What a sad, sad day in the history of this city. A misled majority (of the few voters that even bothered to turn out) has been swayed by the lies and threats spewing from our elected officials and the propaganda promulgated by this newspaper and other monied interests. Rejoice, Dallas! Now you finally get to pave your floodway and ruin your so-called ‘world class’ park! Will this Trinity ‘project’ be finished in my lifetime? Possibly. Will I remain in Dallas to see it happen?…”

For me, the answer to that last question is “I don’t know.” Why live in a city that doesn’t appear to embrace a balanced vision, one that appeals to big business as well as the needs of a creative working class?

“Waterfront revitalization is part of a nationwide shift from an industrial to a technological economy,” said Harris Steinberg, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Praxis design clinic, in the November 5 issue of the New York Times. “Waterfronts are really the playgrounds of the knowledge economy. This is what is going to attract the 20- and 30-somethings who will be the life blood of our future cities.”

Maybe this is the push I need to run for the District 2 seat on the Dallas City Council. I’m seriously considering it.