By Catie George, Director, Communications & Storytelling
The Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) hosted its final Public Policy event of 2024 on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel in Richardson. The State of the Region, presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and JPMorgan Chase & Co., focused on the challenges and opportunities currently facing North Texas.
With growth comes challenges
Michael Morris, Director of Transportation at the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), shared that the NCTCOG board approved its new demographic forecast, now predicting North Texas to have more than 12 million people by 2050.
“If we’re going to move and be a region of 12 million people, it sure would be nice to have high-speed rail connected directly to this transit system,” said Morris. “[And have it] connected directly to the infill development of our minority and lower-income communities all tied together in an integrated system.”
Nadine Lee, CEO of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), commented that the region is facing not only a transportation challenge but also a challenge with space.
“Do we want more green spaces to be dedicated to highway expansion, or do we want to actually capitalize on the mass transit investment that we’ve made over the last 40 years and build upon that and optimize the operation of that so that we can carry more people in the same amount of space that it takes to add a lane or two lanes to the highway?”
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins brought up health care as what he sees to be the region’s biggest challenge.
“For Dallas County and the region, one in four of people between the ages of 18 and 65 [are uninsured],” he said. “The number one cause of bankruptcy is a medical condition and a lack of insurance… When we’re competing against states that have Medicaid expansion and have an opportunity for those lower-wage workers to have health insurance, it puts us at a disadvantage.”
We need to solve tomorrow’s challenges by addressing them today
One solution to both the space and transportation challenges is to expand public transportation.
“The philosophy behind a lot of what we’re doing at DART is to try to move as many people as possible by mass transit so that we can free up the capacity for efficient goods movement,” said Lee.
Developing the future workforce is key
Judge Jenkins addressed education’s critical role in preparing the next generation of the workforce.
“The biggest opportunity is workforce readiness, and what we can do to help with the legislature on that is protect our public schools,” he said. “As people retire and as you get new employees, you want people to be workforce, military, or college ready when they graduate from high school.”
Thank you to our co-presenting sponsors, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Thank you to our gold sponsors, American Airlines and Wells Fargo. Thank you to our silver sponsors, Amazon, Bank of America, Oncor, Santander, Southwest Airlines, and Verizon. And thank you to our media partner, KRLD News Radio.
To learn more about the Public Policy team’s work, visit our website.