State of City - 2011
Mayor Charles England gave his State of the City address Tuesday night to a near capacity crowd at The Summit.
Hosted by the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce, the event featured fine dining, and silent and live auctions.
Prior to Mayor England taking the podium, School Superintendent Dr. Susan Hull announced the Grand Prairie Independent School District’s Teachers of the Year:
Ashley Garrett - Garner Elementary School
Diondria Phillips - Crosswinds High School
In Mayor England’s lively speech, he summarized the 2010 accomplishments and gave the city’s goals for 2011.
Top Ten 2010 Accomplishments:
- Opened the 56,000 square-foot Summit at Central Park for active adults age 50+.
- Opened the Public Safety Headquarters.
- Opened the Lake Parks Operations Center featuring Fire Station #7, Lake Sector Police substation and the Lake Park Administration building at the Lynn Creek Entrance.
- Opened Central Park and the first phase of improvements at SH 161 between Warrior and Arkansas, a 172-acre park with lakes, waterfalls and trails.
- Cleared former Army-Navy store site to make way for a new Dallas County Courthouse to be built downtown.
- Completed Mayfield Road widening from SH 360 to Great Southwest Parkway.
- Opened Arkansas Lane as a widened four-lane divided road from Robinson to Carrier.
- Cleared former police station to make way for a Parkland Clinic.
- Rehabilitated and sold nine 4GOV and 46 4HOME homes, taking them out of foreclosure and putting homeowners in them.
- Began Construction of a new Airport terminal
Top Goals for 2011
- Begin building frontage roads on I-30.
- Work with downtown merchants to renovate building facades to their 1950s glory.
- Open new terminal at Grand Prairie Airport.
- Extend Lake Ridge Parkway from Polo Road to I-20; and widen it from Polo Road to Joe Pool Lake.
- Open January Lane extension between SH 161 and Randol Mill.
- Extend Crossland Boulevard from Robinson Road to SH 161.
- Extend Forum Drive from Waterwood Drive to SH 161.
- Begin construction of Gifford Street from Bagdad to MacArthur; and extension of Bagdad to I-30.
- Connect Sara Jane between Great Southwest and SH 360 behind the outlet mall land.
- Build Lynn Creek Parkway from entrance of Lynn Creek Park to SH 360
