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We all know Dallas can be a culture of backroom handshakes and certain neighborhoods making policy for their neighbors less well off. Our goal remains to have a debate about these issues and require accountability and transparency from local city, county, and school officials. These issues may be about the Dallas City Council, Dallas Police, or Dallas Independent School District.
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The City of Dallas is launching a survey to understand city fines impact on our community and has launched a community survey to better understand their important to residents. They are seeking how fines, imposed fees and financial penalties impact community members.
The survey is part of the City’s efforts to address the problem of fines and fees as a means of revenue. The City of Dallas was selected to join the inaugural class of leaders in the Cities & Counties for Fine and Fee Justice network earlier this year.
The network, established by PolicyLink, the San Francisco Financial Justice Project, and the Fines and Fees Justice Center, was established to unite local places committed to meaningful fine and fee reform, that works better for people and for government.
This work is part of a growing national movement recognizing the disproportionate fines and fees have on people of color and people who are struggling to make ends meet. For residents living on low incomes, a cascade of consequences sets in when they cannot pay: their debt can grow, their driver’s license can be suspended, their credit score goes down, and their employment and economic mobility opportunities are diminished.
The survey seems aimed at helping those who break the law face no consequences and appears to be part of a larger “Get Out Of Jail Free” system that is happening in Dallas and continuing to promote a social justice focus from the City Council rather than protection of the community.
Questions included are below and in some cases do not seem to relate to city fines impact, but they appear to justify larger social justice goals.
The questions above also seem to focus on student debt and car loans – again necessitating the question – does the City of Dallas have fines for purposes of a stick to encourage compliance or are we focused on elimanting any hardship citizens may find.
City Fines Impact Beyond The City Limits
“Since being accepted into the cohort, City staff across multiple departments and external partners have been working diligently to evaluate and assess our current fines and fees structure,” said Chief of Equity and Inclusion Liz Cedillo-Pereira. “Community feedback from the survey is essential and will help us develop a strategy to equitably address fines and fees”
The city fines impact survey is available in English and Spanish and is open to the public until December 18. It can be found here.
In May 2020, the partners announced ten jurisdictions selected to join the network to pursue bold, innovative solutions to reform unjust fines and fees over the course of 18 months. Dallas joins Allegheny County, PA, Chicago, IL, Durham, NC, Philadelphia, PA, Providence, RI, Sacramento, CA, Seattle/King County, WA, Shelby County, TN, and St. Paul, MN.
Risqué Reneé Hall may be the new moniker for outgoing Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall.
Hall who is about to leave as the embattled police chief of Dallas may have more to answer for than just her lack of leadership and supervision during the Dallas George Floyd protests and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge debacle. Internal reports at the time showed Hall lied about the events around the bridge event.
Those may be minor issues in comparison.
A year and a half ago there were media rumors about her relationship with Dominique Alexander and the conflict of interest it posed in the Dominique Alexander case. She has often publicly put him out front in an advisory role for the Citizens Police Oversight Board.
Additionally, he brags regularly about his close ties to her. It appears those ties are closer than previously known as two current Dallas Police officers noted Hall and Alexander have been intimate and that the relationship has clouded her judgement.
Alexander has multiple arrests to his credit outside his activism. A year ago when he and Hall are reported to have been involved, Alexander was being arrested on a felony assault charge in a domestic violence case involving his girlfriend.
Alexander faced charges of assault causing serious bodily injury and a misdemeanor assault in the cases.
Alexander was convicted of shaking a 2-year-old baby in 2011. He was sentenced to five years but released on probation shortly after his sentencing. Alexander has also been convicted of theft, making a false police report and evading arrest. He’s also been indicted in Denton County for felony theft.
This is one of the people the police chief chooses to spend time with in both official and unofficial capacities.
Risqué Reneé Hall Continued…?
The behavior in this case calls into question why TC Broadnax is following the same plan as last time.
In the previous search for a new police chief, TC Broadnax used a secret panel to determine who would be selected as Dallas’ new police chief. He is doing the same again – calling into question is he incorporating the assistance of Dominique Alexander or other convicted felons into the process.
Neither Broadnax, nor Jon Fortune, Assistant City Manager for Public Safety, returned emails seeking comment about the police chief’s judgement or these allegations coming from inside the department.
The Laura Bush Foundation gave Dallas ISD families a little more to be thankful for. The foundation granted $500,000 to the school district for library materials.
The pre-Thanksgiving break grant allows Dallas ISD to both serve schools hit hard by last year’s tornado and also support schools in South Dallas also.
The donation is meant to help respond to last year’s major disaster. Meanwhile Dallas County and Dallas ISD are still responding to this year’s COVID19 pandemic. The most recent numbers show almost 1700 cases across Dallas ISD.
Laura Bush – Continuing To Lead At Home
The former First Lady has been a regular supporter of Dallas ISD, despite former colleagues at the Texas Education Agency withholding dollars from federal CARES Act funds for local school districts.
This weekend there was more school board election gaslighting. Jim Schutze who is writing for D Magazine disclosed a website: www.choosedisd.org is directing to his D Magazine author page.
This would be innocuous enough, but earlier in the week Schutze had accused Nancy Rodriguez of hurting black and brown children’s ability to find equity because another website (www.choosedallasisd.com) redirected to her page. He said at that time that Rodriguez would not return his messages, but Rodroguez offers different facts.
From her Facebook page: “I cannot tell you on what date I acquired it because I never acquired it. You had your facts wrong on the story about my party affiliation and you appear to have your facts wrong here as well.”
Schutze who has made known his affinity for Rodriguez’s opponent appearsa to be working not as opinion writer, but PR person for the pro-reform movement. Like, the Dallas Morning News, which launched its own attacks againsts against Rodriguez following Schutze’s lead has done scant coverage of the auditor report issues from February or why Marshall avoids responding to questions about his federal referral on the matter.
School Board Election
The school board runoff election is Tuesday, December 8, 2020. The race pits Dustin Marshall – the incumbent – behind Rodriguez who only raised $27000 going into the general election, but who took nearly 28,000 votes to marshall’s 24,775.
While the races are officially nonpartisan, Marshall has received large support from Empower Texans and other hard right interests. The campaign season has been noticably bereft of any serious discussion as to why students are failing in Dallas despite a decade of pro-business reform movement policies.
County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a written statement saying in part: “The improving numbers, while early, are an indication that residents are renewing their strength and engaging in shared sacrifice and patriotism to keep our community and our country strong until such time as the vaccine can be widely distributed and have its effect.”
Dallas County recently announced it is counting only positive antigen tests – also known as rapid tests – as probable cases. In other notifications of results, antibody and “household” results were included.
1675 New COVID19
November Dallas County hit 1500 daily cases. These rising cases are also contributing to the nearly 1600 in Dallas Independent School District. In early November, that number was less than 800.
The rising numbers do not appear to be stopping multiple public events where attendees forgo masks though meaning numbers will continue to rise.
An alleged Dallas serial killer arrested in Denton is linked to a shooting there. The Dallas police department announced they had arrested possible serial killer in connection to shootings in Dallas, Celina, Frisco, Prosper, and Denton.
Dallas Serial Killer Arrested Is Jeremy Harris
Harris, who police have described as an alleged “serial killer”, is accused of four murders in North Texas. The include the death of Southern Methodist University (SMU) student Jaden Urrea.
Jeremy Harris, who is 31, is also linked to at least four deaths — three in Dallas and one in Celina — after his arrest earlier this week. He was taken into custody after police found a victim, 60-year-old Blair Carter, dead inside a burning home in Celina on Wednesday.
Now, Harris has been charged with three other murders in Dallas, which police described as random killings.
Harris is being held in the Collin County Jail, and his bail is set at $3 million with four murder charges pending.
Harris may be linked to the shooting of two parents picking up their child earlier this week.
Two parents were shot Sunday night – victims of another reckless gun crime after an accident in 5900 block of Forest Lane in North Dallas. They were on their way to pick up their two year old child from a childcare provider per Dallas Police.
The parents are a 32-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman. They got into a car accident at around 9 p.m. near the Dallas North Tollway. The couple was on the way to their childcare provider.
The driver of the second vehicle, a 20-year-old man, shot the couple, police said. He remains at-large.
Two Parents Shot Today – Violent Crime, Murder Well Up Over 2019
There were 219 homicides in Dallas in all of 2019. The Dallas Police Department dashboard currently lists 233 as of November 16, 2020 with 45 days left in November.
Earlier this year the Dallas City Council voted to defund Dallas Police Department’s overtime budget removing officers from the street and reprogramming those dollars into bike lanes and solar power systems.
Additionally, Dallas Police officers have been openly attacked and Community Police Oversight Board appointees have taken to vigilantism.
Two Dallas MAGA supporters attack an unarmed woman on Ervay Street in Dallas per video from this weekend. They are claiming she threw eggs at them during a Trump Train Parade.
The suspects in this case operate out of Pantego, Texas, a small city adjacent to Arlington, Texas. They are Trevor Turnbow and Chris Covington.
Turnbow turned to social media to say he would not be firing himself after calls were made to Turnbow Construction.
Dallas Police Department has not responded to a request for comment as of this post.
Dallas MAGA Supporters Attack – Again
Dallas has had multiple incidents recently including a Nazi swastika painted on a city parking garage. This summer a Boogaloo Boy posted on Faxcebook his intent to “hunt antifa.” He was later arrested for illegally selling steroids by federal officials.
Virtual only instruction may be returning to Dallas ISD after the Thanksgiving Break per two sources in Dallas ISD administration meaning another major change to the Dallas ISD calendar.
Dallas ISD has shut down Caillet Elementary, a 586-student campus located in Northwest Dallas, this week over concerns about the coronavirus spreading among the school’s staff and students.
Virtual only instruction, or online classes, were mandated after five positive cases among staff and students within the span of a week.
The campus is the second school in Dallas ISD to be temporarily closed because of COVID19 concerns. Hotchkiss Elemenyary was closed in mid-October for three days, allowing school administrators and central staff to track down those who might have been in contact with positive cases, and perform a deep clean of the school.
Caillet will be closed until Nov. 17 when in-person instruction is expected to resume. On Nov. 16, rapid COVID tests will be provided to teachers and staff in the morning, and students in the afternoon.
According to the DISD’s tracker, there have been close to 900 cases of COVID19 among staff, teachers and students since the district started reporting data October 5, 2020. Almost a third of those cases have happened since the start of November, reflecting a larger trend of cases in Dallas County and Texas.
The state is closing in on one million confirmed cases of COVID-19, and Dallas County hit a single-day record on Tuesday, with 1,401 cases.
Jennifer Finley, the district’s director of health services, said that county health officials have indicated that there’s likely a wave of cases on the way.
With the holiday season — and flu season — right around the corner, and a general level of “COVID fatigue” in the community, Finley said she could potentially see a rise in cases within the school system.
COVID response teams have been created on each campus, and the district has been “trying to ramp up” its staff for contact tracing, Finley said, “as to not exceed our bandwidth” if cases at schools do start to climb.
At the beginning of the month, Dallas County officials reported 1500 new cases per day. Dallas County has clearly returned as a hot zone for infection rate well beyond our July numbers.
What Does A Return To Virtual Only Instruction Mean?
Dallas ISD’s Board of Trustees had already planned to take up lowering educational goals due to COVID19 at their Thursday, November 19 Board of Trustees meeting. Now it appears they will also consider a return to virtual only instruction predicting lowered standards will become the norm.
It is not clear if teachers whose pay is based on student success will enjoy this same standard on goal changes with a move back to virtual only instruction.
