Sunday, August 20, 2023

Good evening, ,

  Mayor Eric L. Johnson on Friday announced some of the most important decisions a Dallas mayor makes every two years. He assigned his 14 City Council colleagues to committees for the 2023-25 term.

Share

In our city's "weak mayor" form of government, making committee assignments is one of the few absolute mayoral powers that does not require City Council approval. The appointments show who the mayor entrusts to address citywide policy priorities and who city staff and the public must work with to get things done. Almost every policy matter of significance is vetted by a City Council committee before it goes to the full body for a vote.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia and his deputies are called before the Public Safety Committee to report on the latest crime trends and department policy changes, such as the recent decision to require less serious crimes be reported online instead of by calling 911. The Economic Development and Transportation and Infrastructure committees will continue to oversee aspects of the nearly $3 billion expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas. The recently renamed Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee is charged with supporting the mayor's initiatives to make ours the best park system in the state and to increase the number of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park.

For organizations like DDI, that means we look to the relevant committee members, particularly the committee chairs, to work with us on major policy matters. Earlier this year, for example, members of the DDI leadership team briefed the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at their request on the

implementation of our strategic 360 Plan for Downtown

.

Below are the rosters of the eight standing committees. You can read more about the mayor's top priorities for each committee, as well as his assignments for ad-hoc committees in

his Friday memo to the City Council here

. The mayor may make changes to his committee assignments at any time.

Economic Development

Tennell Atkins (Chair)Omar Narvaez (Vice Chair)Carolyn King ArnoldAdam BazalduaPaul RidleyKathy StewartChad WestGovernment Performance and Financial ManagementChad West (Chair)Paula Blackmon (Vice Chair)Cara MendelsohnJesse MorenoJaime ResendezHousing and Homelessness SolutionsJesse Moreno (Chair)Cara Mendelsohn (Vice Chair)Zarin GraceyChad WestGay Donnell WillisParks, Trails, and the EnvironmentKathy Stewart (Chair)Jesse Moreno (Vice Chair)Carolyn King ArnoldAdam BazalduaPaula BlackmonOmar NarvaezChad West

Public SafetyCara Mendelsohn (Chair)Kathy Stewart (Vice Chair)Tennell AtkinsJesse MorenoGay Donnell WillisQuality of Life, Arts, and CultureAdam Bazaldua (Chair)Jaime Resendez (Vice Chair)Paula BlackmonZarin GraceyPaul RidleyJaynie SchultzGay Donnell WillisTransportation and InfrastructureOmar Narvaez (Chair)Zarin Gracey (Vice Chair)Tennell AtkinsCara MendelsohnJaime ResendezJaynie SchultzKathy StewartWorkforce, Education, and EquityJaynie Schultz (Chair)Carolyn King Arnold (Vice Chair)Adam BazalduaPaula BlackmonJaime ResendezPaul RidleyGay Donnell Willis

📝 Memos of Interest:

-- Prompted by

this 8-page memo from City Council member Cara Mendelsohn

outlining her budget concerns and recommendations, Mayor Johnson

is asking City Manager T.C. Broadnax to deliver an updated budget proposal

for fiscal 2023-24 based on a "no-new-revenue" tax rate. That means cutting about $121 million from the proposed budget

we wrote about earlier this month

. The mayor has set a deadline of 5 p.m. on September 1 for the updated budget to be distributed to the City Council so that they can discuss it during the scheduled budget workshop five days later, on September 6.

-- City staff worked with a consultant on a

12-month implementation plan of the housing policy

approved by City Council in April. Plans include the formation of an Inclusive Housing Task Force and so much community engagement it can barely fit on a single PowerPoint slide (see below).

-- City garbage and recycling operations "have experienced increased service delays in recent weeks, largely associated with the extreme summer heat,"

according to this memo

.

-- Check out all the latest City Hall memos

here

and

here

.

Community engagement plans regarding the city's new housing policy.

Meetings of Interest

*Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn (don't call her Caroline) King Arnold would like to see the author of "Exhibit A" in her office.

The City Council will vote on Wednesday to appoint a 15-member volunteer body (above) to review and propose amendments to the City of Dallas Charter, "the foundational document that outlines the structure, powers, and functions of our city's government,"

Mayor Johnson noted in a memo about the process earlier this this summer

.

If approved, the commission will be chaired by attorney Allen Vaught, "a former U.S. Army Reservist and ex-Texas state representative who, during the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, served as the mayor of Fallujah and was nearly blown up during his tour of duty,"

Robert Wilonsky wrote for The Dallas Morning News in 2017

. He also previously served as a mayoral appointee to the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System Board of Trustees and as

the first chair of the city's Veterans Affairs Commission

.

The proposed body also includes three former City Council members, Angela Hunt, Adam McGough, and Adam Medrano, and a former member of the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees, Miguel Solis. Council member Jaynie Schultz's nominee, Terry Lowery, retired as the Director of Dallas Water Utilities earlier this year.

Read on for what else is going on this week at City Hall and elsewhere with implications for DDI and Downtown.

Tuesday, August 22

🌆

Comprehensive Land Use Plan Committee (CLUP), 8:30 a.m., 6ES, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- This committee continues its work on proposed updates to the

ForwardDallas land use plan

. DDI President & CEO Jennifer Scripps is a committee member.

👷🏽‍♂️

Dallas Community Bond Task Force, 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- The Community Bond Task Force, on which I serve, will hear from public speakers on their priorities for the 2024 Bond Program. Speaker registration has now closed, but the public may still sign up to speak at future meetings

here

.

Wednesday, August 23

🏙

Dallas City Council Meeting, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

--

Item 3

authorizes a September 20 public hearing on the proposed tax rate for next fiscal year of $0.7393 per $100 valuation. The City Council may still lower that rate further at the September 20 meeting.

--

Item 19

will designate the 110 West Commerce Street, across the Trinity River from Downtown, as a location for a memorial plaque to mark the September 12, 1884, lynching of William Allen Taylor.

Dallas Morning News

columnist Sharon Grigsby wrote of the terrible murder and the effort to memorialize it

in a column earlier this year

.

--

Item 25

will allow for potential state economic development incentives to lure the Frontier Communications headquarters to the company's existing Uptown office at 1919 McKinney Avenue. Currently based in Norwalk, Connecticut, the company is considering relocating to Dallas or Tampa.

--

Item 40

is for approval of the aforementioned Charter Review Commission.

--

Public Hearing 1

is to receive public comments on the proposed fiscal 2023-24 budget.

--

Public Hearing 3

is the legally required annual public hearing to receive comments on the assessment rate paid by Downtown Improvement District (DID) property owners. Downtown Dallas, Inc., has run the DID for more than 30 years, providing enhanced security, clean, homeless outreach, and ambassadors services within the Central Business District. Hearings on all other active Dallas Public Improvement Districts are also on the agenda.

🚉

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Committee-of-the-Whole, 2:15 p.m., and Board of Directors, 6 p.m.

-- Item 25 authorizes distribution of the agency's proposed fiscal 2024 budget and 20-year financial plans to the cities DART serves. The 20-year plan no longer includes the proposed D2 line through Downtown.

Read more

.

-- Item 29 is a briefing on federal and state legislation and U.S. Supreme Court case law affecting DART operations.

Read more

.

Quote of the Week

DART Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich on the agency's decision to remove the proposed D2 Downtown rail line from its 20-year capital plan (as first reported by D Magazine's Matt Goodman) ...

“This decision is really about what’s needed Downtown based on current factors and our ability to move people through the Downtown area. Our rail lines run along the same alignment so there are lots of options for how to increase capacity through Downtown, which is what D2 was designed to do. At this point, there was a desire on everybody’s part to take this out of the financial plan. This was agreed to by the city of Dallas.”

Read more

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

Let me know

.

Were you forwarded this newsletter?

Subscribe here

.

Enjoy your week.

Best,

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