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304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Are you aware that, without any public discussion and despite an $84.2 million revenue surplus, we, the Dallas College trustees, voted recently for a tuition increase, which I opposed because I do not believe in balancing the budget on the backs of our 102,882 part-time students and 30,730 full-time students?
In addition to our Dallas County students, also being impacted are 63,700 out-of-county Texans, 536 out-of-state American citizens and 14,500 international students.
How can we claim that students are our first priority when we have excess income but vote to have students — 25% of whom are at poverty level — pay a higher tuition in order to provide for some nonexistent “shortage?” Check with your trustee; see how they voted.
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Catalina E. Garcia, Dallas
Dallas College trustee, District 1
Re: “The numbers really add up — With more data centers being built, Texas is tapping into an economy-boosting industry,” by Dale Petroskey and Josh Levi,” Wednesday Opinion.
I noticed within this column, the whole electricity and water usage/consumption was not mentioned, and these are key factors.
Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming up to 50 times more energy per square foot than a typical commercial office.
Data centers are among the top 10 water-consuming commercial industries in the United States. Some communities are concerned that data centers are draining local water supplies.
It also doesn’t account for the disposal of the used water, which can lead to water pollution as well.
Jobs and growth are good, but if you don’t have enough electricity and water for the residents of Texas, jobs don’t amount to much.
Michael Richardson, Lewisville
Petroskey and Levi make an argument about how good data centers are for Texas. Yes, they do create jobs both in the construction and operations roles. So that’s nice. However, what they lightly brush over are the significant, nay huge, utility sucks data centers are.
Jane and Joe Homeowner are experiencing upsurges in energy costs driven by energy demands by data centers. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that data centers could be responsible for consuming 9% of the country’s electricity generation by 2030. That is twice as much as what is being consumed today. Water is another precious resource data centers consume like a cotton-mouthed elephant.
All this means that Texas needs to hold the data centers accountable for using alternative forms of energy and smart water usage. While some of you may be rolling your eyes thinking I am one of those anti-oil/gas-tree hugger types, nothing could be further from the truth.
I just don’t want to continue to help subsidize data center utility abuse. Y’all know the “Public” Utility Commission will never stick up for us, so start bugging your congressional reps now.
Mark E. Dyslin, Dallas
We read this week that our longtime Dallas restaurateur, Al Biernat, announced that he is no longer able to communicate with us via Facebook. It was only in February that Biernat and his family announced that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Biernat is one of those rare individuals who remembered names and spoke to his customers as if they were personal friends. Sending prayers of comfort for Biernat and his family.
Thank you, Al, for all the memories you gave us.
Barry Alan Rothschild, Dallas/Preston Hollow
In the book Current Problems in American History, published in 1933, it explained the trouble with tariffs then, which also still applies now. The consumer loses and has to pay more for American-made products that are protected from competition.
Our government raises a tariff to protect a golden calf, then other governments also raise tariffs to protect their golden calf. The owners of the golden calf get very rich, the politicians get rich, and we get poor.
Donald and Deborah Wright, Lake Dallas
Re: “Pope shouldn’t meddle in vote,” by Kevin B. Halter, Wednesday Letters.
As head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis is the spiritual adviser to approximately 62 million Catholic Americans. In our current toxic political environment, the pontiff has every right to suggest that voters “choose the lesser of two evils,” especially when so many Protestant and evangelical preachers have promoted one certain candidate for president for years.
Put another way, he implies that, while no candidate is perfect, we must pick the one who is most capable and morally fit for the job. Far from being a “disgrace,” as Halter puts it, Pope Francis’ advice is good for voters in all of the world’s democracies.
Holmes Brannon, Plano
Re: “Stop plan to cut DART funds in its tracks,” by Ruben Landa, Tuesday Opinion.
Landa uses the voter’s wish as criteria to keep DART. So, let me get this straight. When it suits the planning commission, they want to listen to the voice of the voters. However, when they want to go another direction, they completely ignore the overwhelming position of voters to reject rezoning, as the City Plan Commission did in approving the rezoning plan for the Far North Dallas Pepper Square rezoning that constituents tried to stop.
Voters will remember at the next election. DART needs major changes to become viable and gain increased use. DART was poorly planned from the start. Keeping the status quo is a waste of taxpayer money.
John Joyce, Far North Dallas
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