Meetings of Interest 18: May 12, 2024

Meetings of Interest: Curb Lane Enthusiasm 🅿️

May 12, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Good evening:

On the surface, the concept of “curb lane management” may not sound all that exciting.

But some of our biggest challenges in Downtown Dallas today relate to consistent availability of on-street parking, accessibility for delivery drivers, and safer travels for bike and scooter riders.

That is why City Council consideration on May 22 of the first On-Street Parking and Curb Management Policy is such a big deal for DDI and our stakeholders. Among the highlights of the nearly 100-page plan:

  • Dynamic or variable parking meter pricing to encourage more turnover of spots throughout the day. This is particularly helpful for small businesses that rely on street parking for customers.  

  • Potential to develop Parking Benefit Districts, which would allow for revenues to be collected and reinvested in the districts where it is generated. That money could be tapped for sidewalk widening, repairs or power-washing, landscaping, lighting, streetcar operations, bike infrastructure, and much more.

  • Prioritizing the goals of existing plans that call for things like protected bike lanes on designated streets.

The DDI team, including Vice President of Planning & Policy Evan Sheets, has been working with the City on this policy for years. Says Evan, “As a district that is home to a large percentage of the City’s on-street parking, Downtown has much to gain from these new tools to better support economic development, street-level retail, and businesses of all sizes.”

If approved, the ordinance amending the parking meter sections of the code will take effect on October 1. At that time, rates on all meters except those in Deep Ellum will be raised to at least $1/hour.

Deep Ellum meter rates will remain in place until May 8, 2026, “to provide time for additional off-street parking capacity to be developed and to coincide with substantial completion of the Commerce Street two-way conversion project,” a recent memo notes.

Read more, including the complete policy document, here.

Read on for more on:

  • Dallas police plans to tap a facial recognition database full of 30 billion faces to help solve crimes.

  • The latest women’s sports team to set up shop in Dallas.

  • Why a few Dallas City Council members are exploring an old idea to reduce Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) funding — and why it likely won’t work.

⚡ Highlights From Last Week's Meetings of Interest:

🎥 Matthews Southwest Inc., in collaboration with Talon Entertainment Finance, is set to renovate the South Side Studios in southern Dallas, with a goal of modernizing the city's largest and most historic production facility. On May 22, the City Council will vote whether to designate Dallas as a “Media Production Development Zone,” which could unlock state tax exemptions for film production facility projects including this one. Read more from The Dallas Morning News.

💸 Linda McMahon, the outgoing leader of The Real Estate Council (TREC), was formally appointed the first CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corporation (EDC), effective July 1. The EDC, established in January 2022, aims to boost Dallas's competitiveness and economic growth, particularly in southern Dallas. Her extensive experience is expected to drive significant economic advancement for Dallas and Downtown.

💼 The Dallas City Council:

🏞️ The Regional Transportation Council approved additional funding for development of potential future deck parks over Interstate 30 to the south of Downtown. The funds total $25 million for the project, which is estimated to cost $60 million.

Thanks to DDI's Nikia Summerlin, Urban Planning Manager, for monitoring hours of meetings every week and contributing to the above summaries.Questions? Nikia can be reached at [email protected].

📝 Memos of Interest:

— A few Dallas City Council members are exploring whether to divert some Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) sales tax funds to help tackle the city’s long-running pension challenges, as reported by Devyani Chhetri of The Dallas Morning News on Friday.

This is not a new idea. In fact, it has been vetted and shot down multiple times over the years, including in this 2017 Moody’s Investors Service report, which notes “DART’s Sales Tax Revenues Are Not Dallas’ to Divert.”

One of the potential flaws with the concept is that Dallas and the other DART service cities are on hook to pay off their share of DART’s outstanding debt. Per this 2019 memo, that figure stood at $4.1 billion for Dallas as of five years ago. At the time, it was estimated it would take about 13 years to pay off.

Another challenge is that a tax rate cut is not technically up for the Dallas City Council to decide. The DART Board of Directors (a majority of which is appointed by the City Council) may vote to lower the voter-approved 1% sales tax for all 13 service cities. But it cannot be done under current law for any city individually. It is all or nothing.

That is why DART President & CEO Nadine Lee warned in a memo to City Council members last week that cutting the rate by 1/4% “would significantly and detrimentally impact services DART provides to our region.”

Lee estimates the cut would equate to $6 billion less revenues over the next 20 years, leading to across-the-board cuts to bus and rail service.

“A proposal to reduce the sales tax revenues to DART is one I, personally, could not support, due to its broad reaching and destructive impacts to the livelihoods of our employees who serve the community, as well as the residents of our communities who rely on us every single day,” she wrote.

***

— Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert appointed City Hall veteran Sarah Standifer director of Dallas Water Utilities (DWU), according to this memo. Standifer was serving in the role in an interim capacity since June of last year. Sarah is a pro who has been a key adviser to multiple mayors and city managers.

Tolbert also announced the hiring of Emily Liu as director of Planning and Urban Design. Liu is the former director of Louisville’s Metro Planning and Design Services.

More senior staff changes are on the horizon as Assistant City Manager Robert Perez was reportedly hired as Topeka’s next city manager.

***

— New annual motorized scooter permits are expected to take effect for Lime, Bird, and Spin on May 24.  Lime and Bird have already been permitted in Dallas. It appears Spin is a newbie in this annual permitting cycle as the previously permitted Superpedestrian shut down last year. Read more in this memo. — Check out all the latest City Hall memos here and here.

Meetings of Interest: May 13 - 17

Monday, May 13

💪 City Council Workforce, Education, and Equity Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— Among the scheduled presentations: “Planning Advances for High-Speed Rail between Dallas and Fort Worth.”

🚓 City Council Public Safety Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— Dallas Police are planning to use facial recognition with the above process to track violent suspects, investigate imminent threats, and help identify dead or incapacitated people, according to this briefing. The briefing notes DPD will use Clearview AI, which it calls “the current industry leader.”

The company is the subject of reporting and a 2023 book by New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill, Your Face Belongs To Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest To End Privacy As We Know It. Hill spoke about the company in an interview last year with NPR. She said Clearview says it has 30 billion faces in its database and that its technology is being used by thousands of police departments. Sounds interesting!

— Every category of violent crime except for business robberies declined through April of this year as compared to the same time last year, according to Dallas Police statistics. See the breakdown above.

— The City Council is expected to vote in August on a “First Responder Street Topper” program to honor fallen police officers and firefighters with street signs, according to this memo. The first phase of the program will include sites in Downtown.

Tuesday, May 14

🚌 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors; Committee-of-the-Whole at 3 p.m.; Special Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m.; Watch Live Here

— DART bus and light rail ridership continues to rise, exceeding budget estimates for the year to date, according to the above slide from this financial update.

Wednesday, May 15

🗣️ City Council Ad Hoc Canvassing Committee, 8:30 a.m., 5ES, 5th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— This is the routine acceptance of the May 4 bond election results. If approved as expected, the full City Council will also vote to accept the results on Wednesday.

🗣️ Dallas City Council Briefing and Budget Workshop, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— An update on the budget for the next two fiscal years is on this agenda. Briefing materials are not yet available.

— Council members will also continue deliberating Charter Review Commission recommendations.

Thursday, May 16

City Plan Commission, 9 a.m. Briefing; 12:30 p.m. Public Hearing, Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

🐘 Park and Recreation Board, 10 a.m., Dallas Zoo, The Flamingo Room, 650 S. R.L. Thornton Fwy

— Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI), leadership is scheduled to present high-level recommendations for how best to manage Downtown parks, including more than 20 acres of signature green space added to the core in recent years.

Did we miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings? Let me know.

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Happy Mother’s Day to all those we celebrate — especially the ones who tolerate me.Have a great week.Best,Scott Goldstein

Downtown Dallas, Inc.

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