Meetings of Interest: Sunday, November 5, 2023

Meetings of Interest: Terms of Service ⏳

November 05, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Good evening:

Dallas City Council members currently serve two-year terms and are limited to serving four consecutive terms. This week, the Dallas Charter Review Commission will discuss whether to recommend expanding the terms to three or four years and how to potentially adjust term limits.

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As the chart above notes, council members in Houston, Austin, and El Paso serve four-year terms. So do those in Phoenix, San Jose, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Jacksonville.

In City Hall time, two years is not a lot of time to get much done. It can also feel like City Council members are in a never-ending campaign cycle, always looking over their shoulders at potential challengers. And while City staff would never admit it, they too are forced to schedule important decisions around campaign cycles.

Expanding the terms to three or four years, the same length of the current mayoral term, could give our elected representatives a little more cushion to make decisions without worrying so much about campaign implications.

Changing the terms is a logistical challenge, and it opens up other questions about new term limits and whether to stagger terms.

Read more about the potential changes to term lengths and limits

.

More on the charter review process, including how to submit your own proposed amendments, can be found

.

❎ Highlights From Last Week's Meetings:

--  Dallas City Council members on Wednesday provided feedback to City staff on the draft Dallas Bike Plan. Challenges remain, including retrofitting infrastructure that was built with a focus on vehicles and securing funding for priority projects. Some council members highlighted proposed bike lanes that they said are dangerously misplaced or would take away too much capacity on heavily used thoroughfares. The final plan is expected to be brought to City Council for adoption in early 2024, 

-- The Community Bond Task Force (CBTF) yesterday morning held what is expected to be its final meeting. Task force members made some changes to funding recommendations that came from five subcommittees, but the total allocations for each of five major categories remain the same as what we reported last week (linked here). We will detail the allocation proposals here before a December 6 briefing to City Council.

📝 Memos of Interest:

-- The City's housing department is launching engagement efforts to select equity strategy target areas consistent with the City's housing policy,

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-- Here's

for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas redevelopment and Fair Park updates.

-- A recent bond rating agency report reflects "the City’s sound financial profile, disciplined, forward-looking financial management practices, healthy reserves, and ample liquidity,"

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-- Check out all the latest City Hall memos

and

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Meetings of Interest

Monday, November 6, 2023

🏞

 Parks, Trails, and the Environment Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- The Dallas Park & Recreation Department and the Trust for Public Land are partnering to transform city-owned properties into parks across Dallas, according to

. The goal is to focus on neighborhoods that currently lack a park within a 10-minute walk. See the timeline on the initiative above, which indicates the first new parks could open by Summer 2025.

-- The inaugural Southwest Airlines Showcase at Cedar Crest, a Dallas Park & Recreation golf course, is taking place from November 13-15. The nationally televised amateur golf invitational spotlights the talents of top college-aged athletes from diverse backgrounds. It is free to attend. Learn more in

, which also notes recent improvements at Cedar Crest.

-- Recent state law changes will require the City to update its parkland dedication ordinance, including how fees and land dedication are calculated.

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-- The committee will also discuss recommendations on regulating vaping.

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🗿

 Landmark Commission, 9 a.m. Briefing, 1 p.m. Public Hearing, Council Briefing Room, 6ES, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- Discussion Item 1 includes revised plans for renovations and a three-story addition (above, far right) for Downtown's historic Magnolia Hotel at 1401 Commerce Street, across from the AT&T Discovery District. DDI continues to work closely with hotel building owners Newcrest Image to advance this project.

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💹

,

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

-- The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program offers long-term, low cost, private financing for energy efficiency, water conservation and distributed generation projects.

notes Downtown projects that benefited from the program, including the JW Marriott Dallas Arts District, Butler Brothers apartments and hotel building, and Jackson Street garage and apartments. The City Council will consider changes to the program next month, according to the briefing.

Tuesday, November 7

💧

Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- Dallas 311 fielded more than 460,000 service requests last fiscal year, with nearly 112,000 of those regarding code concerns,

. The briefing also covers forthcoming updates to the 311 online portal and mobile app.

-- The committee continues its review of the decades-long practice of fluoridating drinking water to prevent tooth decay. Last month, committee members heard from experts on the topic.

, they will hear from opponents of a practice that is "recommended by nearly all public health, medical, and dental organizations," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It is recommended by the American Dental Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, US Public Health Service, and World Health Organization." The CDC says community water fluoridation is

. Some City Council members apparently do not agree.

🤑

City of Dallas Economic Development Corporation, 9 a.m., Room 6DN, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- The nonprofit board will discuss the latest on its search for a permanent CEO, among other topics.

🚉

-- DART ridership is steadily climbing back to pre-pandemic levels, and the agency is investing in security, cleanliness, and reliability,

. The briefing will also cover the decision earlier this year to remove a planned Downtown subway (D2) from the agency's 20-year financial plan, and the latest on performance of the Dallas Streetcar that runs from Downtown to Oak Cliff.

--

includes a host of transportation updates, including how the City plans to spend $90 million in DART "excess sales tax revenues" that the agency agreed to send back to the City of Dallas for specific transportation-related projects.

-- Self-driving ride-share car company Cruise recently paused all driverless operations, including in Texas,

. The company had previously planned to roll out operations in Dallas before the end of the year, and

about the service posed by City Council members during an October briefing. Under state law, cities have no regulatory authority over autonomous vehicles.

📃

 Charter Review Commission, 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- As noted above, the commission will discuss the possibility of changing City Council member and mayoral terms to three or four years. Terms are currently two years for council members and four years for the mayor. They are also considering proposals for staggering terms and changes to term limits.

.

-- The commission will also further discuss a proposal to move municipal elections to November of odd years.

Wednesday, November 8

🏛

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

-- Watch the meeting live

.

Thursday, November 9

🚎

Regional Transportation Council, 1 p.m., North Central Texas Council of Governments, 616 Six Flags Dr., Arlington

-- Watch this meeting live

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Quote of the Week

 

DDI Vice President of Planning & Policy Evan Sheets, on collaboration with the City of Dallas on potential changes to Cesar Chavez Boulevard near the Farmers Market to slow traffic and improve public safety.

 

“We reached out to the city to find out from a transportation standpoint about what they’re willing to look at, and fortunately they were all on board that it’s not designed the way it should be and needs to be updated."

 

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

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Were you forwarded this newsletter?

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Have a great week.

Best,

Scott GoldsteinChief of External Affairs& Government Relations

Downtown Dallas, Inc.

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