6 June 20 - 26, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ TRANSPORTATION NOT SO FAST DALLAS WANTS TO SLOW THE ROLL ON HIGH-SPEED RAIL. BY EMMA RUBY D allas City Council signaled its oppo- sition to current plans for a high- speed rail line between Dallas and Fort Worth at a council meeting last week. The resolution was requested by Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, chair of the Economic Development Committee, after the commit- tee voiced disapproval for early designs of the train’s route and the lack of answers the city has received about financial impacts. Preliminary mockups for the rail show towering train tracks bisecting the area around Reunion Tower and its developable surroundings from the rest of downtown, to the ire of council members. “At this time, except for streetcar expan- sion projects currently under consideration, City Council does not support construction of any above ground rail lines through the Downtown, Uptown, and Victory Park areas of Dallas,” the memorandum filed by Atkins says. “[The] City Council commits to revisit the Dallas to Fort Worth high-speed rail dis- cussion after it receives the economic im- pact study.” During a March 6 briefing on the train, Dallas council members requested an eco- nomic impact survey on the rail line that the city has yet to produce. Assistant City Man- ager Robin Bentley told council members that a survey of the train’s fiscal impact on Dallas could take as many as three months to put together, and an evaluation of the re- gion-wide impact will be available sometime in the fall. In the meantime, Atkins’ memo states, there are “many [other] large projects” being developed in the city for the council to pri- oritize, including a streetcar expansion and the redevelopment of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and Fair Park. Michael Morris, director of transporta- tion for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, believes the Dallas City Council opposition is being voted on with- out council members hearing the most up- to-date information on the rail project. He hopes to present those updates “sometime in the next four weeks.” “[The resolution] really doesn’t change anything for me, because every question, ev- ery thought, every concern that has been raised on high-speed rail, we either have an- swered or are ready to answer,” Morris told the Observer Monday. “We’re going from the station they gave us to the rest of the region.” Currently, the council widely supports plans for the federally approved high-speed rail station in the Cedars, which is planned to be seven stories tall and could possibly support a 90-minute Dallas to Houston line. The project was resurrected last year when Amtrak signed on as a partner with Texas Central. Sensing an opportunity, NCTCOG — the body that coordinates the spending of federal transportation dollars for the region — began pushing for an ex- tension line that would allow riders to travel from Houston to Fort Worth through the Dallas station without having to change seats, much less trains. That “one-seat” goal, NCTCOG says, makes it necessary for the train’s path to travel above ground through West Dallas and Downtown Dallas before turning south to the Cedars. Morris says officials were aware of plans to connect a Dallas-Fort Worth train line to the Dallas-Houston bul- let train before the Cedars train station was selected for federal approval. Nothing has been finalized yet, and Mor- ris says a variety of solutions to Dallas’ con- cerns are being explored. “One option is to build a subway and then build a ten-story elevator to the ground and another six, seven-story eleva- tor to the platform. Seventeen stories,” Morris said. “You’d get off the train and move seventeen stories. That’s still an al- ternative. I don’t think it’s a very good al- ternative.” While proposed alignments for the Dal- las section of the rail line are above ground, the train would tunnel underground for the Arlington and Fort Worth segments. Morris said the above-ground design is key to keep- ing things efficient for riders traveling be- tween North Texas and Houston, and he estimates the 17-story elevator plan would add up to 40 minutes to travel times. Still, some Dallas city council members say it’s an unfair deal. “This is something that can work beauti- fully for all municipalities involved, for Ar- lington and for Fort Worth, but it needs to work beautifully for all cities involved,” Council Member Adam Bazaldua said in the Economic Development Committee brief- ing. “Right now, where we are in that pro- cess, we’re getting, once again, the short end of the stick as a regional entity.” An environmental impact survey on the proposed North Texas train line — which will have a stop in Arlington’s entertainment district in addition to the Dallas and Fort Worth stations — is expected to be com- pleted by NCTCOG in the next year. West of Dallas, Morris says there is “lots of excite- ment” surrounding the possibility of high- speed travel. “We know to develop really important projects is hard and complicated, and re- gardless of whatever the city of Dallas does we stand ready to partner with the city to develop a win-win situation, and I’m very optimistic we’ll be able to figure it out,” Morris said. ▼ PORN A PICTURE FOR PORN? TEXAS WANTS YOU TO GIVE UP YOUR PRIVACY SO YOU CAN ACCESS ONLINE PORN. BY JACOB VAUGHN I f your go-to site for adult content was Pornhub, you’re kind of out of luck in Texas unless you have a VPN. This is be- cause of a new law that requires porn sites to verify the age of their users. Pornhub’s par- ent company, Aylo, doesn’t appreciate the parameters of the new law, saying there are privacy concerns and other ways to verify ages besides requiring the websites to do it. So, Pornhub pulled out of Texas. If the company didn’t and continued to run the site without age verification, it could face state fines of $10,000 a day. House Bill 1181, the law requiring age verification, also stipu- lates penalties of up to $250,000 if a minor accesses sexual material on these sites. However, there are porn sites that have chosen to stay in the Lone Star State, giving us a glimpse of how Texas politicians want you to have to watch porn. To Gary Krupkin, a local First Amendment attorney, there are free speech and privacy concerns all around HB 1181. “Essentially, what the law is doing is making people provide information to the government so they can ac- cess that protected material,” Krupkin told the Observer. “What they’re trying to do is have a chilling effect on people that want to look at this particular type of material.” The process is a bit chilling. If you get on the porn website xhamster. com in Texas, you’ll be met with a page that says you must be 18 or older to access the site. “In order to comply with Texas law, we have implemented a procedure to verify the age of users accessing our website from Texas,” the site says. It then asks you to check a box that says you consent to the col- lection and processing of your biometric data, photo and ID (if applicable) for the sole purpose of confirming your age. The site says the age verification process is carried out by a third party, is highly se- cure and takes about one minute. Hit start age verification and you’re on your way to giving up your personal information to watch some porn. There are three ways the site allows you to verify your age. First, there’s age estima- tion where the site asks you to take a picture of yourself to use your biometric informa- tion to estimate and verify your age. You can also verify your age with a digital ID. If you choose this method, the site will instruct you to download the app Yoti, which will ask you to upload a picture of your photo ID (passport, drivers license, etc.) Now, if you’re asked to confirm your age, you can just scan a QR code in the app to do so. Lastly, you can choose to upload a picture of your ID and scan your face right on the site. HB 1181 prohibits these sites from retain- ing any of this identifying information. However, if this information is retained, it’s on the individual to bring damages against the websites. In March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in a divided decision saying it was constitutional. Krupkin still has his concerns. “It is invading your right to privately look at protected First Amendment material,” Krupkin said. To him, it’s all political the- ater. “I think it’s just performance art by Ken Paxton and his cronies,” he said. “To me, it’s just performance.” ▼ SPORTS GLOBE TROTTER LOU LOPEZ SÉNÉCHAL OF THE DALLAS WINGS FINALLY MAKES HER DEBUT. BY CHLOE SMITH A warm grin played across Lou Lopez Sénéchal’s face as she recalled the moments immediately following her surgery. She chuckled. “Right after my surgery, I remember buy- ing Legos,” the 6-foot-1 Dallas Wings guard said. “And I found it very fun. I wasn’t able to, you know, travel or do a lot. So I was in my apartment and did that a lot.” After knee surgery sidelined her during her entire rookie season with the Dallas Wings in 2023, the former University of Connecticut (UConn) women’s basketball star temporarily turned to a new career: Lego building. She also journaled, read and created social media content to help pass the time during her recovery. “Just trying to find new things that I didn’t really do as much before,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “Those little things outside of basketball that made my day a little bit better.” Lopez Sénéchal made her long-antici- pated WNBA debut on Wednesday, May 15, against the Chicago Sky, finally taking the court as the league’s first Mexican-born player. “I try not to feel pressure,” Lopez Sé- néchal said. “I feel like I see it more as a pos- itive thing, being from Mexico and France. Being able to represent two different coun- tries, it’s really special, so I try to use that.” As the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft, she entered a league widely recognized as one of the most challenging to join, with just 144 available roster spots. Ignited by a whole new game on and off the court, Lopez Sénéchal went into the 2024 campaign with the Dallas Wings re- built, riding high on a newfound perspective gained during rehab. “It definitely made me stronger mentally, understanding that there are always Unfair Park from p4 North Central Texas Council Of Governments Current renderings for the Dallas-Fort Worth high-speed train show a 75-foot tall track cutting Reunion Tower off from the rest of Downtown Dallas. >> p8
