Hello, friend,

A little over four years ago, a group of Dallas City Council members flirted with their own version of the national “defund the police” fervor.

They pushed for a $7 million cut to the police overtime budget and for that money to be spent instead on what they said were other public safety related priorities, like bike lanes and improved street signals.

The “reimagining” of public safety faced a reality check in the form of public outcry. The plan mostly fell apart. Within months, across the nation, defunding was dead.

Fast forward to last week, when newly hired City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert laid out a plan for a mid-fiscal year budget shift of about the same amount of money to directly support Dallas police hiring and retention.

The Tolbert plan would send $7.7 million in federal pandemic relief funds previously earmarked for other departments to boost what Dallas residents have consistently identified as among their top priorities, including in the latest annual community survey.

The move comes three months after voters approved a City Charter change that mandates hiring 900 more officers. It is also three months before 10 current City Council members are up for re-election on May 3.

This time around, City Council members voiced no objections to the plan to, shall we say, refund the police. A formal vote is expected in May — after Election Day.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: Feb. 10 - 14

  • Monday, February 10

    • Workforce, Education, & Equity Committee

    • Public Safety Committee

  • Tuesday, February 11

    • North Central Texas Council of Governments

    • Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)

  • Wednesday, February 12

    • Dallas City Council

  • Thursday, February 13

    • City Plan Commission

    • Regional Transportation Council (RTC)

• 🗳️ Tracking May 2025 City Council Candidates

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings

• City Plan Commissioners approved a plan to transform the Pepper Square Far North Dallas shopping center into a mixed-use development with up to 984 apartments, The Dallas Morning News reports. The plan, which has faced some opposition, now heads to City Council.

• Mayor Eric L. Johnson says annual community survey results we shared here last week show Dallas is on the right track and investing in the areas that matter most to residents, NBC 5 reports.

• A new boardwalk over White Rock Lake? That’s what at least one City Council member views as a potential solution to trail erosion along Garland Road, reports NBC 5.

📝 Memos of Interest

• Here’s a look at how the City’s 2025 annual community survey may be edited based in part on input last week from City Council members.

• Two recent temporary cold weather homeless shelter operations served 2,318 and 1,849 people respectively in January, according to this memo. Austin Street Center managed both operations.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, February 7, 2025.

🤝 Meetings of Interest: Feb. 10 - 14

Monday, February 10

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

• Downtown Dallas-based AT&T shares some of the substantial investments the company has made in our region and state in recent years in this briefing.

• This digital access update highlights the city's ongoing efforts to bridge the digital divide.

• The Dallas Police Department isn’t the only law enforcement division in the city struggling to staff up. The above chart comes from this memo update on a Dallas security officer upskilling pilot program.

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

• Committee members will consider a proposal to boost the fiscal year police hiring goal from 250 to 400 officers and to make budget amendments to support the new goal. If approved, the full City Council may take the measure up later this month. Hiring is outpacing attrition so far this fiscal year, according to this update.

• Overall violent crime continues to trend down in Dallas through the first month of the year, according to police statistics. This includes a 47% drop in homicides. Business robberies have spiked by 30%.

• Dallas police response times ticked back up in January as compared to the same month last year. The average response time for anything besides the most serious emergencies is more than 90 minutes. For the lowest priority 911 calls— such as stolen vehicles, thefts, loud music, panhandling and sleeping in public — Dallas police officers averaged a response time over 4 hours. Explore the latest citywide public safety dashboard.

Tuesday, February 11

North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Public Meeting, 12 p.m., 616 Six Flags Dr., Arlington

• Regional transportation agency officials will present and seek feedback on long-range mobility planning, intercity passenger rail, and federal and regional funding proposals.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Committee-of-the-Whole, 1:30 p.m., DART Conference Room C - 1st Floor, 1401 Pacific Ave.

• DART Board members will discuss the possibility of increasing the required vote threshold for annual budget approval beyond a simple majority, as is currently required. Any such move would be a response to suburban board member concerns about Dallas’ board majority.

• Here’s an update on implementation of key priorities DART officials have identified in ongoing talks with leaders of almost every city the agency serves.

Wednesday, February 12

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

• Item 15 is a resolution of support for Sycamore Strategies’ application for state low-income housing tax credits for a mixed-income redevelopment of The Magnolia at 1401 Commerce Street in Downtown. A prior plan to transform the hotel into a five-star hotel fell through.

• Item 28 is a $2.5 million contract with nonprofit Housing Forward to support ongoing work to rehouse people experiencing chronic homelessness with federal pandemic relief dollars. Dallas and Collin counties have steadily reduced homelessness since 2021. Read more from The Dallas Morning News.

• Item 43 would authorize the city manager to enter into an event hosting agreement with the nonprofit regional 2026 FIFA World Cup organizing committee. Read more on the agreement in this memo.

• Item 44 directs the city manager to start the procurement process to hire a consultant to help City Council members conduct performance evaluations of their direct reports, including city manager. The council’s appointees have not had a review in more than two years, The Dallas Morning News editorial board recently reported.

Thursday, February 13

Dallas City Plan Commission Special Called Meeting, 9 a.m. Briefing, 12 p.m. Public Hearing, Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• This meeting features another public hearing on a proposed overhaul of the city’s off-street parking regulations. Read more from The Dallas Morning News.

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

• Billionaire oilman Ray L. Hunt’s attorney sent seven more letters to the North Central Texas Council of Governments in recent weeks regarding Hunt entities’ opposition to a proposed Dallas-to-Fort Worth high-speed rail alignment that would cut through their Downtown property. Members of the RTC last month approved spending up to $1 million to defend against a potential lawsuit from Hunt. However, Hunt Realty Investments Inc. CEO Chris Kleinert more recently told the Dallas Business Journal, “We’re not suing anybody.”

🗳️ Tracking May 2025 City Council Candidates

The Dallas City Council candidate filing period closes at 5 p.m. this Friday, February 14. Explore the candidates who have been certified to appear on the ballot so far at the link below. I’m updating the list daily.

🗣️ Quote of Interest

Did I miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings and memos and other fun stuff? Hit me up.