Shortly after 7 p.m. Monday night, something incredible happened at Plano City Hall. There were items on the agenda for the City Council to discuss regarding Dallas Area Rapid Transit, so that night, as is now usually the case, citizens came to speak. Specifically, the Council was to vote to approve alternative transit services from the company Via, in preparation for the city’s possible vote to leave its longtime transit partner, DART, in May.
When the general public comment period began, maybe a half-dozen people spoke in favor of DART and its services, with a handful speaking about other issues, as has been the case in many cities for months. That’s not the incredible part.
The incredible part happened when, once the meeting progressed to the two items on the agenda regarding DART, Plano City Manager Mark Israelson took the mic and said, “Over the last several weeks, talks have become much more focused around a potential offer that we have heard from the chair of the DART board. There are several actions that would need to happen over the next two weeks for that offer to really materialize. But those are very meaningful actions.”…