City Council – Page 7 – The Other Side Dallas

December 9, 2020December 8, 2020

City Fines Impact

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.

November 13, 2020November 13, 2020

Our Calling: Homeless Left In Cold

Our Calling Left In Cold Caring For Homeless

Our Calling and the homeless were left out in the cold when Our Calling, located just outside Downtown Dallas, was not included when Dallas City Council approved an exception for churches to operate as emergency homeless shelters during extreme cold.

City Council and staff has worked for years on a policy that would create a legal way for churches to open their doors to the homeless on freezing nights. Staff from Our Calling said a change made in the final hour will now leave 270 people out in the cold.

“I think what they are communicating is they don’t care about minorities that are poor, and they sure don’t want them Downtown, and now they don’t even want them a half mile away from Downtown,” said Pastor Wayne Walker, with Our Calling, which is a discipleship ministry to the unsheltered homeless.

Two years ago, the city gave Pastor Wayne Walker a citation for sheltering the homeless during a freezing night.

Our Calling is located immediately outside Downtown, near The Cedars, a community experiencing economic revitalization, bringing calls of racism and privilege.

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano, Adam Bazaldua, and Omar Narvaez – the Woke Caucus as some refer to them – seemed to justify limiting the homeless at Our Calling.

“We are listening to our constituents, we have enough shelter Downtown. We do. This was supposed to spread it out throughout the city,” said Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano.

This same constituency pushed defunding the police earlier in the year and re-programming funds away from the police department. Their previous stances seem more in favor of bike lanes than actually social services for those in need.

Earlier this year these same members of City Council were prepared to push through $1.9M in CARES Act funding for the Lorenzo Hotel until D12 City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn called attention to the issue.

Additionally, these more challenged socioeconomic areas of Dallas received a smaller percentage of the city rental assistance program than their more wealthy neighbors.

Our Calling

Our Calling is on the frontline of the battle to cure homelessness. They’re on the streets every day meeting the unsheltered homeless of Dallas County, learning their stories, identifying their needs, and theysay connecting their hearts to Christ. We have formed lasting connections with thousands of individuals who we are proud to be able to include among our friends.

October 19, 2020October 20, 2020

Street Racing Isn’t Criminal Enough To Police Per Chad West

Chad West says street racing is a problem, but you can’t “police your way out of it.” This statement has made some local residents angry.

“Number one call in my district is speed racing and it has been before COVID and it actually got worse,” District 1 City Council Member Chad West said.

He said right now a task force is working on long term solutions. Temporary speed cones have been placed on Hampton to take it from three to two lanes of traffic in each direction. They’re currently asking residents what they think.

On West 12th, between Hampton and Edgefield Avenue, the road has been permanently reduced from two lanes of traffic in each direction to one. However, even with the changes, residents still want to see more done.

“What I would like to see is for them to have speed bumps on this side of 12th street which is south of Hampton,” Emilio Urbina said.

The father of three said even on his small residential street there’s speeding.

Gabriel Gonzales said he thinks more police enforcement is needed.

“You can’t stop them when you don’t see them,” he said.

“One of the challenges is that Dallas has a no chase policy,” West said. “Our officers, unless the speed racer has committed a felony or has a felony warrant or a misdemeanor that involves violence, they can’t chase them. Where as every city around us has chase policies. They can chase speed racers.”

Council Member West appears to recognize that other departments do policestreet racing by police enforcement – including chasing suspects – and that the department is tying its own hands by not following suspects.

Street Racing Issues

As recently as August street racing caused a fatality accident in Dallas.

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.

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020

Shock and Fail: The Lorenzo Hotel Was To Get COVID19 Relief Dollars?

The Lorenzo Hotel almost got $1.9M in CARES Act funding through a provision City Manager’s staff tried to push through this week.

Cara Mendelsohn, Dallas City Council member for District 12, on Thursday called out the city manager’s office for seemingly trying to hide the proposed $1.9M in COVID19 relief money to a prominent hotel developer.

The agenda item was described in a presentation as a $1.8 million debt payment, with no mention the money would be for the Lorenzo Hotel in the Cedars.

A deal the city council reached in 2013 used federal HUD money to turn a blighted abandoned building into the boutique Lorenzo Hotel. Visit Dallas has been unable to help and like many hotels is struggling. If the owner does not make the payments to HUD that is owes, the city is the guarantor.

Lorenzo Hotel or Rental Assistance

Months ago we did a story about rental assistance going to richer landlords and not South or West Dallas tenants in need. $1.9M would be almost 20% of the budget alloted for rental assistance. Instead of dollars going into an upscale private entity it is worth asking if those dollars would be better spent towards many with rental assistance needs.

Additionally, this is another example of city economic development not creating trust between itself and the citizens it serves. The current Economic Development Director Courtney Pogue has been rumored to be leaving for some time now.

October 2, 2020October 2, 2020

Did Dallas Defund 9-1-1 Call Takers Too?

Where are the 9-1-1 call takers?

Multiple news reports said a man died early Sunday after he was shot while in his vehicle outside the Westin Galleria, Dallas police say. This comes less than a week after the Dallas City Council voted to defund Dallas Police overtime, but a social media account suggests the response was slowed due to lack of 9-1-1 call takers.

Officers responded about 2:47 a.m. to the shooting call in the 13340 block of Dallas Parkway, where witnesses told police a group of males in a dark-colored sedan shot at a white Mercedes in front of the hotel.

Both the shooter’s vehicle and the victim left the area, but police found the victim near the service road with a gunshot wound.

9-1-1 Call Takers Inaction An Ongoing Problem

9-1-1 call takers are an ongoing problem in numerous big cities. Dave Statter of Statter911 has a long history of reporting issues with Washington, DC’s Operation Center.

Dallas appears to be having some of the same issues per the social media responses above including a fight in progress and uninterrupted” automatic gun fire.

September 30, 2020September 30, 2020

Stay On Guard

The City of Dallas is launching Stay On Guard – a public awareness campaign – designed to slow spread of COVID19 through personal testimonials from residents, community leaders and organizations.

“We know this year has been very difficult for many of us and we’re all tired of staying at home, wearing masks, and seeing our friends and loved ones through screens; but now is not the time to let our guard down,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. “We must continue to encourage each resident to stay on guard as businesses reopen, students return to school, and families participate in fall sporting events and holiday celebrations.”

Stay On Guard

The Stay On Guard campaign focuses on four priorities: home, work, school and health — shining a light on essential workers who live in high density, multigenerational households, those who can’t work from home or may not have the option to maintain social distance from co-workers; children and college students returning to in-person learning and the school staff who are supporting them. The campaign encourages all Dallas residents to Stay on Guard by keeping their health a priority and get a free test when in doubt of their COVID19 status.

“Some of us are already planning holiday celebrations and visits with family and friends, but I want to remind everyone that our fight against the deadly coronavirus is far from over,” said Council Member Thomas. “As a nation we have surpassed a grim milestone of 200,000 thousand deaths due to COVID19 and here in Dallas County, we’ve lost more than 1,000 residents.”

Stay On Guard Dallas is a bilingual campaign that engages residents to become advocates within their communities to slow the spread of COVID19. Dallas residents may creating PSAs and promote them on social media with the tags #StayOnGuard or #EnGuardiaDallas.

Residents and business leaders can find a complete social media strategy in English and Spanish, including sample posts, downloadable logos, social media graphics and more to promote the campaign at DallasCityHall.com/StayOnGuard. Dallas has been described as a hot zone for COVID19 this summer.

“These months will be a very critical for our City, so we ask all Dallas residents to stay safe at home, work, school and take every precaution to stay healthy as we approach cold and flu season,” said Dr. Baggett. “Get tested before you go back to school and work, wear a mask, wash your hands and avoid large crowds.”

The Stay On Guard campaign kicks off at noon Sept. 30 with a virtual proclamation featuring Mayor Johnson, Council Member Thomas, and Dr. Baggett. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, City of Dallas Cable Channel and Spectrum Ch. 95.

For more information, please visit dallascityhall.com /COVID19 or call 214-670-INFO (4636).

September 24, 2020September 24, 2020

City Budget Choices Leaves Everybody Unhappy

The Dallas City Council budget choices appear to have everyone mad after a 9-6 vote which cuts $7M from the police overtime budget, but adds another $8M in year over year spending.

The council passed the new budget late Wednesday that increases overall police funding despite promises from progressive members of the council to to slash it. In the backdrop were a crowd of marchers who assembled outside City Hall to protest police violence.

Budget Choices

The budget places an emphasis on ending historical inequities by injecting more money into disadvantaged southern Dallas neighborhoods. There are millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief for programs like rental assistance filling some of those gaps, but Dallas’ own program ended up sending money to North Dallas.

Local activists did try to cut nearly forty percent from the Dallas Police Department budget – but their proposal for a $200M cut – won no votes. The $200M cut is well over the $77M cut previously rumored for Defund DPD 2.0.

City Council members also did not support Mayor Eric Johnson’s plan to defund the bureaucracy or mention the pending departure of the City’s Economic Development Director Courtney Pogue.

September 11, 2020September 16, 2020

Mayor Eric Johnson’s Plans to Defund Dallas Bloated Bureaucracy

Defund Dallas may be the new cry against Defund DPD. Mayor Eric Johnson has recently stirred up controversy for trying to cut government salaries. It all started on September 1st when the mayor posted a tweet highlighting the discrepancy of salaries of Dallas among other government salaries.

Defund Dallas: Mayor Eric Johnson's chart showing government salaries

Apparently the Dallas City Manager, T.C Broadnax, makes more than the President of the United States. Which is certainly odd, considering the wide gap in responsibility between the two jobs. As well as the fact that even the top 10% of City Managers earn significantly less than what T.C Broadnax is currently earning (according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019)

Should this be the case? Is the wage worth the work? Mayor Eric Johnson doesn’t think so. In fact, the mayor himself wrote an opinion piece on The Dallas Morning News defending his budget amendment.

In it he states his proposal to decrease the salary of some Dallas government officials amidst the pandemic to make room for more services and lower taxes.

Mayor Eric Johnson’s Defund Dallas Program

The budget amendment in a nutshell cuts 10% off the salary of anyone who makes more than $60,000 annually (including the mayor himself who makes $80,000). This does not include anyone working for emergency services.

Cuts made from the salaries are to help fund more services such as better infrastructure (better roads and streetlights), better policing/ public safety, and lower property taxes.

Unfortunately there is no specifics as to what he means by better policing. Nor if the lower property taxes will be a main focus point or simply an extra treat in case there is left over funds. More details will be unveiled once he formally proposes the budget amendment on the 23rd.

Public Perception

When the straw vote was conducted not a single council member voted on even discussing a cut to salaries. Some people agreed with the mayor and where disappointed by the council. Some said the mayor should have also proposed to cut salaries from the Dallas police, and other cuts in general. Others made fun of the mayor for leaving after the straw vote. And a handful questioned the validity of his bloated bureaucracy claim.

As is with government in general, ineffectiveness and useless spending often persevere. Seeing as how the Dallas council has voted in the past its unlikely that the budget amendment will go through despite the COVID-19 struggle and mayor Eric Johnson’s attempts.

“If this is not the time … to trim the top 10% of salaries at the city of Dallas … then there will never be a time,” -Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson

September 9, 2020September 9, 2020

City Council To Defund DPD Overtime?

Defund DPD looks like it is becoming an election issue afterall.

Several members of Dallas City Council, including Adam Baladua and Chad West, are circulating the graphic below showing the reallocation of Dallas Police overtime to other focus areas. The argument they make is that crime prevention dollars are better spent than crime response.

It is not clear how some of these measures are anything except for pet projects in the city. Bike infrastructure and new solar panels have not been linked towards crime prevention in any way and arts funding, useful to the community at large, has little to nothing to do with crime prevention either.

One recent social media post noted it appears some members of city council are trying to balance the budget deficit on the backs of cops after the city council voted to waste millions on Visit Dallas earlier this summer.

Another poster noted that city council knows overtime is hard to budget for and with COVID19 and ongoing George Floyd protests these dollars are being used more quickly than usual.

Defund DPD – Not Really

One issue that is being raised very lightly is the total budget cut from the police force. Despite multiple city council members saying their budget priority was to Defund DPD in June the current reallocation argument amounts to only 0.8%. Where is the real ‘Defund’ movement and will these same members of city council continue to buy armored vehicles for the police as they did earlier this year.

September 3, 2020September 3, 2020

Have You Seen Our Missing Mayor?

Eric Johnson was a Missing Mayor at yesterday’s budget markup after approximately 1:30 PM when Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano took over the gavel and Eric Johnson was nowhere to be found.

Dallas City Council was to take up eighty-four budget amendments and did so in many cases without the Mayor. Mayor Johnson left proceedings when his amendments were defeated.

The city currently has a $3.8B budget with numerous holes given the loss of tax revenue from COVID19. During that time the City Council nearly unaimously gave Visit Dallas a new five year contract despite no evidence of actually succeeding in bringing convention or visitors to Dallas and a long history of marketing suburban hotels and events.

Missing Mayor – Again

Eric Johnson’s tenures as Mayor and as a State Representative have been marred by a frequent absenteeism. He was named to Pepperdine University’s Board of Regents further fueling speculation about his focus on Dallas.