With Toyota moving in 4,000 workers into its newly minted North American headquarters in Plano, North Texas faces another round of growing…
With Toyota moving in 4,000 workers into its newly minted North American headquarters in Plano, North Texas faces another round of growing pains.
Housing costs are up, and new units are in short supply despite fast-paced construction in the northern suburbs. Traffic congestion is going to get worse. And more schools will be needed as young corporate families transfer to the region. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of the hottest local economies in the nation, and these are challenges born of success.
That success doesn’t affect all portions of the region equally, though. The city of Dallas has to resolve some educational, economic development and demographic challenges to keep from becoming the hole in the doughnut in coming decades. Dallas used to be the center for corporate relocations, but that distinction is going to the suburbs — and with it the economic ripple effect of families with disposable income living and working outside Dallas’ boundaries.
Don’t get us wrong: It’s great for the region’s economic vitality when businesses leave high-tax states for our open land to build sprawling campuses, the opportunity for more house for the buck, and strong schools. Nonetheless, these are precisely the areas that Dallas needs to improve upon if it is going to effectively compete with the northern suburbs to attract and retain corporations and to encourage middle-class workers to live in city boundaries.
Having a major corporation hammer down stakes in your community is an investment bonanza, and the city is still a strong competitor. AT&T’s move brought 700 jobs to downtown Dallas, which by any measure is an economic development coup. Plus, the internationally know nameplate increases the region’s visibility globally, adds significant economic activity, increases cultural philanthropy and reaffirms downtown as a desirable place to work and live.
However, major international corporations have options, and cities know it. Municipalities like Dallas are not just competing against cities in other states, but are competing against neighboring cities, too. And for Dallas, this means doing a better job of reversing trends that have been underway for decades.
The city has taken steps in this direction, with Mayor Mike Rawlings’ GrowSouth program being the most high-profile initiative. But as the mayor has said many times, Dallas has to get better faster, and that may involve rethinking economic development investment and housing policies that have tilted growth first to northern Dallas neighborhoods and more recently to northern Dallas suburbs.
For example, roughly 40 percent of children in Dallas live in poverty. And Dallas has one of the largest neighborhood income inequality gaps in the nation. Plus, only 1 in 4 students earns a postsecondary degree within six years of high school graduation, an unacceptable ratio. It is difficult to sell a company on moving to a city with these educational challenges.
We applaud the contribution that Toyota will make to this area. And we’re hoping to see a few more Toyotas setting up roots within Dallas’ borders. How Dallas can compete Invest in basic infrastructure improvements to strengthen neighborhoods. Implement policies to reverse Dallas’ entrenched poverty. Improve the school system. Attract economic development and training opportunities to southern Dallas. Get more middle-class families to buy homes in the city.
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