Monday, July 3, 2023

Dear

:

Good morning. The Dallas City Council is in recess until August, but many city boards and commissions will continue meeting in July.

In fact, while some are in the middle of a long weekend, the Dallas Landmark Commission is convening at 9 a.m. today. What could be more patriotic than a meeting of a body charged with protecting Dallas history?

Dallas City Council member Chad West explains his motion to make permanent the "Street Seats" program.

Here are a few updates on what went down last week.

• The City Council voted to make permanent the DDI-backed Dallas Street Seats Pilot Program. The program, conceived at the height of the pandemic, allows restaurants, bars, retail establishments, and other entities a way to transition parking spaces into expanded seating or gathering places. In a motion made by Council member Chad West, the City Council also directed city staff to provide a briefing within 90 days on reducing fee and bond amounts for the program. Read more on the program.

• The federal government awarded Dallas a $6.5 million grant to finish designing and engineering the remainder of the Five Mile Creek trail in southern Oak Cliff, D Magazine's Matt Goodman reports.

• Mayor Eric L. Johnson on Friday released the report produced by his Task Force on Homelessness, Organizations, Policies, and Encampments (HOPE). Read it here. DDI's Chief of Public Safety and Field Operations Larry Gordon, a retired Dallas police sergeant, served on the task force.

 City of Dallas

📝 A few City Hall memos of interest:

• Mayor Johnson has named Alheli Garza as his chief of staff. Garza has been serving in the role in an interim capacity for the past three months, following the planned departure of Tristan Hallman.

• The City Hall ransomware attack in May continues to plague the Development Services Department, which handles commercial and residential permitting. Read more on what that means.

• The City will contract with a space planning consultant to help redesign the increasingly cramped mayor and city council offices. The consultant will be asked to assess the office space and provide cost estimates for design, demolition, construction, furniture, and more. Read more.

• Check out all the weekly City Manager Memos here.

Meetings of Interest

Monday, July 3

🏛 Landmark Commission, 9 a.m. briefing; 1 p.m public hearing; Dallas City Hall, 6ES Council Briefing Room

• The agenda includes approvals for window repairs, fencing, canopies, and roofing on the historic Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Downtown Dallas Arts District.

• The commission will also discuss proposed changes to 508 Park Avenue in Downtown's Harwood Street Historic District.

Thursday, July 6

🗺 City Plan Commission, 8 a.m. Thoroughfare Committee; 9 a.m. CPC briefing; 12:30 p.m. CPC public hearing; Dallas City Hall, Council Chambers

• The CPC Thoroughfare Committee will discuss the following Downtown street plan changes tied to ongoing projects and bike lanes:

  • Amend the plan to change Harwood Street between Jackson Street and Commerce Street from 64 feet of right-of-way and 44 feet of pavement to 58 feet of right-of-way and 40 feet of right-of-way.

  • Amend the plan to change the operation on Harwood Street between IH-30 and Main Street from two-lanes southbound, two-lanes northbound, and a center turn-lane to one-lane southbound, one-lane northbound, and directional bicycle lanes.

  • Amend the plan to change Wood Street between Griffin Street and Field Street from 80 feet of right-of-way and 36 feet of pavement to 60 feet of right-of-way and 36 feet of pavement, and update the existing right-of-way and pavement descriptions to reflect existing conditions.

• The CPC will consider authorizing a hearing to modify the boundaries of the districts that regulate Arts District signage. Read more.

Downtown Dallas Quote of the Week

Bon Appétit magazine in naming Downtown's Starship Bagel one of the best bagel shops in America (outside of New York):  "It was precisely owner Oren Salomon’s goal to bring New York bagel culture to Dallas. Salomon and his crew bake with an old-school bagel board, a wooden plank wrapped in soaked burlap. The board keeps one side of the bagel cool while the other side bakes. The result is that famous New York crunch on the outside and soft chewiness on the inside."

  Read more 

Did we miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to say hi?

Let me know

.

Have a safe and enjoyable July 4th.

Best,

Scott GoldsteinChief of External Affairs& Government RelationsDowntown Dallas, Inc.

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