April 2007



Vitory Park Presentation by Marc Hildenbrand

This past Tuesday Marc Hildenbrand, Chief of Staff ot Ross Perot Jr, gave a compelling presentation on the new Hillwood Development at Victory Park. Victory Park is a huge master planned community being built by the Perot family, designed as an upscale and hip urban environment.

What is striking is the huge amount of diversity within the community. From high end restaurants and retail, to public parks to sporting and entertainment venues, this master community will form the center of urban life near downtown Dallas.

Also, from his presentation you could get a strong sense of the pride the Perot family has in Dallas. While their development company is global, their marquee properties will be in Victory Park. Dallas benefits from the vision and effort of the Perot family.



Congressman Pete Sessions Enters the Lion’s Den

It is hard not to be in awe of Congressman Pete Sessions. Today, he came to the DRT to speak to the abnormally chatty and fraternally confrontational DRT membership. The Congressman fit right it. He spoke on several issues including the economy, China, SarBox, and the new congress. Congressman Sessions is a very gifted orator and thinker, whose views, while not popular with some, are grounded in a deep intellectual converservative background.

What is striking is his commitment to his constituency. Before he spoke, he met with several of the members, letting them discuss their views, opinions and complaints. His response to all was direct and insightful. What was interesting was when he handed his Blackberry to those that had complaints and asked them to email their concerns directly to his staff. This was incredible. Not satisfied to give a canned answer, he allowed people to directly and immediately communicate their concerns and issues to his staff members to get the response they required.

As a very busy member of congress, it can not be expected that he will know every issue on the minds of the people. But the fact that he responded to those with concerns by allowing them to communicate on his personal email device to his staff to get questions answered, is a tribute to public service and to Pete Session, the man.

It is easy to sit on the sidelines of politics and derired the effort of our public servants. But to meet one, especially on the caliber of Pete Sessions, and to know that he listens and facilitates the communication of our concerns to those that help him in serving his country, is truly awesome.

Dallas is very well served by Pete Sessions and the DRT is extremely appreciative that he took time to come and share his insights and views. For more information on Congressman Pete Sessions, go to http://sessions.house.gov/.