Uber loves us! They really love us! But hang in there …



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It's official. Uber opens an office in Deep Ellum that will eventually employ 3,000 people. The company will have 400 people in place by the end of the year. The Mayor, the County Judge, the Governor, the Dallas Regional Chamber – everyone is excited by the decision to grant Uber $ 36 million in incentives to open up. ;a store. So good on us. I hope it works. I will leave aside for the moment my concerns as to whether the company will one day make a profit. It does not matter the 400 employees who were fired in July. Course correction. It's perfect.

Except wait a second here. A passage in the DMN story on the news caught my eye. That's it:

Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Government Council, has proposed $ 10-15 million to improve transportation in and around Uber's office. Among the ideas proposed, he suggested upgrading nearby sidewalks and bike lanes, turning the lands below Interstate 345 into recreation or parking spaces …

Sorry? Improving sidewalks and bike lanes looks good. But more parking on the surface? These people work at Uber. Why would they be excited about the parking lots? How does it make sense?

And a leisure area under the highway? You mean like the land grabbing that Royce West's kid tries by building football pitches? Despite what we learn about the pollution created by cars? Last week, a large study was published showing that exposure to tropospheric ozone, fine particles, nitrogen oxide, and black carbon (as is actually equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes each day. Why smoke when we can move to Dallas and play under our highways? Excellent incentive.

I do not know why Morris, COG's director of transportation, said what he did. But what is it should "Uber's arrangement on the edge of Deep Ellum makes it even more imperative to demolish I-345, the elevated highway that almost borders their new office. Develop this dead space, remodel the fabric of Deep Ellum and downtown – we can use Uber's move as a point of support to put this project at the top of our to-do list. I propose to commit 10 to 15 million dollars to get there. "

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