Differing Viewpoints With Respect, Without Drama
Dallas Police are responding to a reported shooting at Northpark Mall. One person is in custody per the Dallas Police Public Information Officer.
We will update with new information as it becomes available.
Nearly a year ago a similar shooting occured at the Galleria Mall – also in North Dallas.
The wacky Barry Wernick campaign continues emulating Donald Trump and his dirty tricks in a recently released video where his campaign team admits doctoring a Facebook photo to make runoff opponent Jaynie Schultz more liberal.
The video below makes clear the campaign knew it was doctoring a Facebook photo because they could not run on public safety effectively against Jaynie Schultz.
Schultz who has campaigned for increased accountability of Dallas Police also has said she supports increased interaction between Dallas Police, Richardson Police, and other first responders. She also tackles the growing issue of panhandling on the major thoroughfares through D11. Her website says she wants to “build trust and transparent communication to fight crime.”
Wernick was rumored to be an Eric Johnson/Keep Dallas Safe supported candidate, but one source says KDS is exasperated by the neophytes running the campaign and its general direction.
One person outside Keep Dallas Safe stated “the GQP has taken over Barry’s campaign with Brad Namdar preparing his Congressional run against Colin Allred and GOP State Chairman Allen West offering a low key endorsement to have a single Dallas City Council member viewed as “conservative.”
The source close to campaign discussions said, “Namdar thinks he is kingmaker despite him increasing the likelihood of Barry losing.”
He continued,” Their strategy is bewildering. In 2020, Biden won the district by almost twenty points, but here is Barry rushing to line up with the alt right instead of focusing on getting things done for the district.”
Dallas ISD‘s VOLY Volunteer system is waiting for your volunteer application to help fill needs on the Dallas ISD Calendar.
Many local schools in the area can use your support despite students not being on campus yet. Please complete the application linked above.
VOLY is a candidate tracking system which pairs volunteers with schools or missions they choose. It also provides background information on standards and practices expected of volunteers and performs a background check on prospective volunteers to keep our students safe.
Dallas ISD does regularly need volunteers and many Parent Teacher Associations require their volunteer members to use the school’s volunteer system for approval. It takes just a few minutes to complete your identification information and check off which schools, subjects, and areas of interest you would like to participate.
Hensley Field Redevelopment back and it will cause more headaches. This time Dallas City Council will have no one to blame, but itself. Per a tweet from Mayor Johnson this morning, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved a contract to create a master plan for redeveloping Hensley Field in southern Dallas.
In January, Mayor Eric Johnson and a Trump White House official toured the former Naval Air Station Dallas. The gargantuan site known as Hensley Field is the one the city hopes to redevelop.
Both the Mayor and the Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, Scott Turner viewed the 738 acre site, which fronts Mountain Creek Lake, as a blank slate.
“I see incredible potential. A large site like this where you could do some mixed use housing. You could do some work force development and training. You could partner with Dallas Baptist University and some of our educational institutions. You’ve got multi-modal transportation opportunities here. It could be absolutely catalytic for the city,” said Johnson.
“To see the type of potential as the mayor said that’s here is very encouraging,” said Turner.
Mayor Johnson was there, and told Turner afterwards, he wanted to speak with him about Hensley Field. “I immediately said I want to come see it. I want to tour it. I want to see it for myself,” Turner said.
Johnson agreed.
“He said I’ll come see it, I want to put my feet on the ground there and I want to come look at it to help me understand it better so I can communicate it to the people I need to help things get rolling. So I’m confident we’ll make some progress. I’m very confident.”
Turner, a Republican and Johnson, a Democrat both served as State Representatives in the Texas Legislature and have remained friends since they moved on.
Johnson said, “He (Turner) really in a very convincing and heartfelt way expressed on behalf of the administration he works for their desire to be partners and work with local government on a bipartisan basis to get stuff done.”
The city’s Director of Environmental Quality and Sustainability, James McGuire said developing a site like Hensley Field from the ground up is rare. The city said while the Navy agreed to fully clean-up the contaminated site nearly 20 years ago, progress has stalled in recent years.
The Hensley Field Redevelopment could end up costing the city millions. The city current has not fulfilled its obligations to the mess created by Shingle Mountain despite a recent arrest. The past decade has been marred by city council choices to increase tax revenue with the equivalent of get rich quick schemes which always cost the taxpayer including the choice to frak on park land and more recently the plans for Reverchon Park.
The Shingle Mountain landowner and operator was arrested by the Dallas city marshal arrested on Thursday, according to a statement from Dallas City Council member Tennell Atkins.
Atkins said several city departments, including code compliance, searched the property in the 9200 block of Teagarden Road and found “numerous violations of local and state laws – including the illegal dumping of an estimated 1,000 tons of material.”
“As I have stated on numerous occasions, I expect all property owners in the City of Dallas to follow the laws intended to protect the public and the environment,” Atkins said. “We will continue to do everything that we can to ensure that this property owner is no exception.”
The homeowner who has fought for the site’s cleanup since 2018 has a pending lawsuit against the city, the owner of the site, and the company that brought in the shingles.
According to the statement the case has been referred to the city attorney’s office and the city will ensure prompt cleanup, but the city’s injunction has been ongoing for years.
Blue Star Recycling LLC started collecting roofing shingles on a property just off of South Central Expressway. They had the intention of recycling them into asphalt type roading at some point. They also had been given permission from the city to store around 260 tons. Again, as noted above the current estimate is 1000 tons of material.
The Dallas ISD now includes a socially distant school open. Classes will begin 100% online on September 8, 2020 until at least October 6, 2020 per a Press Conference with Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.
Superintendent Hinijosa just announced the district will be 100% virtual for the first four weeks of school though October 6. He said he’s hoping to make a decision month to month because he knows how important it is to get kids back to in person school.
These decisions follow weeks of consideration of Back to School plans which may not have been sufficient to handle the current pandemic.
The decision on 100% sociall distant school openings effects all extra-curricular activities too. This includes strength and conditioning, band and drill team, all UIL and visual and performing arts activities.
This information was first reported by Townview Magnet Foundation.
North Texas Giving Day (NTGD) returns to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in just over four weeks.
NTGD has been operaring for eleven years and during that time the online event has transformed from an idea to help raise awareness of nonprofits to a movement that has ignited a broad culture of community-wide giving. During North Texas Giving Day, everyone has the opportunity to be a philanthropist to build a stronger and more vibrant community.
As North Texas Giving Day approaches we will highlight various nonprofits in the community and offer them a highlight.
The Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) created North Texas Giving Day. They say their charge is to put giving to work. To take generosity and amplify it. To take passion and focus it. To seed impact and harvest it year after year. They want Dallas to invest in each other. We nourish the best in our cities, our neighbors and our communities. Because we know where giving thrives, communities thrive, too.
As one of the largest community foundations in the nation, CFT professionally manages more than 1,000 charitable funds for families, companies, foundations and nonprofits and has awarded more than $2 billion in grants since its founding in 1953.
Dallas ISD jobs are available for teachers, substitute teachers, and other staff, but right now Dallas ISD needs volunteer help too distributing technology packs to elementary students.
Dallas ISD is actively recruiting volunteers to help the Technology Department distribute computers to elementary school students starting Monday, August 17, 2020.
Two shifts are available: 8 to 11 a.m. and 12 to 5 p.m. Volunteers must be cleared in the VOLY system.
If you have questions or need additional information, contact Partnership and Volunteer Services at 972-925-5440.
Additionally, Dallas ISD is seeking candidates for substitute teaching positions also. There have been reports of difficulty navigating the system previously, but administration says a new system is in place to help stream line the program.
This post was adapted from Townview Magnet Foundation.
24 Hour Dallas has a night shift survey. The link for shift workers who are employed overnight is here.
The survey is supposed to take three minutes and is designed so that 24 hour Dallas can better understand the needs of those who work overnight in and around Dallas.
The group aslo invites everyone who lives, works, or visits Dallas to also offer their thoughts via the survey also.
24 Hour Dallas has been working to identify multiple issues with service workers in Dallas. They recently also held a discussion on race and the economy.
Street racing continues to show Dallas Police leadership exposed as unable to handle crime on any level. There is some focus on the data showing crime increasing beyond last year’s ten year record rate, but minor crime is rising too.
Per City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn “Chief Hall has been here for three years. She’s had opportunity and support to produce plans and produce results, I don’t think we’ve seen that.”
Meanwhile others seem to take the opposite take openly supporting Chief Hall despite obvious errors with Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge event and her response to Dallas City Council afterwards.
It is said nothing will happen until someone dies, but that does not seem to be the tipping point. In February, a Pleasant Grove man was pronounced dead after being hit by a car that was street racing. The crash happened on S. Masters Drive and Cushing Drive in Southeast Dallas. Police said 45-year-old Kendrick Lyons was ejected from his vehicle and died.
In April, more than 200 citations were issued during one weekend of street racing, but the problem of racing and stunt-like driving has caused multiple fatalities.
Last May, Olivia Mendez, an 8-year-old girl in Pleasant Grove, was killed when a racer struck the car she was a passenger in.
On Christmas Eve, an off-duty Dallas police officer, Joseph George, died after he lost control of his 2015 Ford Mustang while racing with another car, according to police. He was a four-year veteran of the department.
Council Member Mendelsohn cited 128 homicides in 2020, one more than the same time last year when Dallas has its worst year since the 1990s. Aggravated Assault not related to family violence is nearly 28% higher in Dallas this year compared to last.
One area of improvement: property. Property crimes are down in Dallas significantly. Some estimate this is due to COVID19 and the nuhmber of people staying home.