City of Dallas – The Other Side Dallas

May 7, 2023May 8, 2023

Same Stuff Different Day

Same Stuff Different Day is the moniker for Dallas after an abysmal turnout in yesterday’s city and school board elections.

Incumbent mayor Eric Johnson and D12 city council member Cara Mendelsohn won uncontested races – though Johnson had almost 7 percent of his races voters go to write in candidates.

Same Stuff Different Day Not New For Dallas

Incumbents won across the board leaving only open races to be decided.

City council members earn two year seats during elections whereas the mayor will fill a four year term.

District 1

Chad West beat both Mariana Griggs who ran a campaign without fundraising and Albert Mata, a political newcomer and data engineering professional.

This will be West’s third term on city council.

District 2

Jesse Moreno, the popular former Park Board member and owner of La Popular Tamale House easily beat challenger Sukhbir Kaur.

District 3

Outgoing city council member Casey Thomas publicly endorsed Zarin Gracey to replace him and Gracey will go to a run off with Joe Tave. Gracey is a pastor and served on both the City Plan Commission and the Dallas Public Facility Corporation.

Tave is a retired teacher and talk show host.

The two held off a field of five.

District 4

District 4 voters will continue to have Carolyn King Arnold speaking for them on the record. She handled first time challenger and accountant Jamie Smith for her fourth election victory.

Ms. Arnold also serves as Mayor Pro Tem on Dallas City Council.

District 5

Jaime Resendez, the former school board member and lawyer, easily beat Terry Perkins and Yolanda Faye Williams.

The two have previously faced Resendez – always coming up short in the Pleasant Grove district.

District 6

Like District 5, Omar Narvaez beat a familiar opponent. This is his fourth election to city council and fourth time beating former city council member Monica Alonzo.

Narvaez has also been selected to serve as Mayor Pro Tem.

District 7

Adam Bazaldua narrowly avoided a runoff election against Tracy Dotie Hill, a local real estate broker.

The four person race finished with Bazaldua just over the fifty percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Bazaldua previously challenged Tracy Dotie Hill for Democratic Precinct Chair 1084 – losing that race almost two to one.

District 8

Tennell Atkins continues on city council. He beat Subrina Lynn Brenham and Davante Peters for his second fourth term.

Atkins was elected in 2007 and served through 2015 when he was term limited out of office. He was then elected again in 2017.

Atkins is a perfect example of the same stuff different day Dallas mentality.

District 9

Former Chief of Staff to Mayor Mike Rawlings Paula Blackmon was re-elected to her third term.

Her district includes White Rock Lake and far East Dallas.

District 10

The former Uptown Dallas Inc. executive director Kathy Stewart won this four way open race without a run off.

Other candidates included former city community development commissioner Brian Hasenbauer, online news site publisher Sirrano Keith Baldeo. Baldeo had previously run for the seat.

Outgoing city council member Adam McGough had endorsed Kathy Stewart in the race.

District 11

Perhaps the ugliest race this year was in D11 where three time candidate Candy Evans lost to Jaynie Schultz.

Schultz won her second term and Candy Evans lost her third race for the seat in six years. She previously challenged Lee Kleinman in 2019 and didn’t make the runoff in 2021.

District 13

Like in District 11, Gay Donnell Willis won her second term.

She was opposed by rental property manager Priscilla Shacklett.

District 13 includes large swaths of northwest Dallas and wraps the Park City area.

District 14

Paul Ridley, a retired lawyer, staved off two opponents in District 14.

Amanda Tenpenny Schultz, a real estate broker, and Joseph F. Miller, a retired transit engineer, combined could not keep Ridley from winning without a runoff. Schultz is a former park board member.

All in all it appears city voters were unmoved by crime numbers and exploding property taxes enough to get out and vote.

March 22, 2022March 22, 2022

DPD Honored For Violent Crime Reduction Day After Mass Shooting

The Dallas Police Department has curious timing. A press release dropped Monday saying DPD Honored for Violent Crime Reduction just one day after a mass shooting involving ten victims and no suspect in downtown Dallas.

Garcia’s plans have been mostly kept under wraps from citizens and journalists. The award also comes after Dallas was hit by a data breach which affected nearly twenty thousand cases including assaults, rape, and other crimes against persons.

DPD Honored For Violent Crime Reduction – Numbers, Not Neighborhoods

Police Chief Eddie Garcia had a number of comments in the city press release.

Garcia said, “The Violent Crime Evidence-Based Reduction Plan is the result of work closely with criminologists, hearing from other departments within the City, and, most importantly, listening to our neighborhoods most impacted by violent crime. Our ultimate goal is the reduction of crime, with an increase in community trust. We will strive for both, as these concepts are not mutually exclusive. We will see further challenges in 2022 and our priority now is for our men and women to continue to partner with our community and strive to achieve an even safer Dallas.”

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022

Dallas Racial Equity Plan Looks Like Dallas CRT

A new Dallas racial equity plan is out and it looks like Dallas’ version of Critical Race Theory to critics.

A series of meetings are scheduled by the Office of Equity and Inclusion, but not all are happy about it.

It is not clear if the City of Dallas will attempt to overcome accusations that the City of Dallas is now advancing another social equity goal which is both not realistic and will not do anything to overcome the economic gaps it purports to fix.

The city website says:

Equity means that each person has the resources and services necessary to thrive in each person’s own unique identities, circumstances, and histories.
Equity focuses on eliminating disparities while improving outcomes for all.
Racial equity is a situation that is achieved when people are thriving and neither race nor ethnicity statistically dictates, determines, or predicts one’s social outcome or ability to thrive.

Dallas Racial Equity Plan

Critics point to a series of mismanaged steps by current leadership in Dallas and on City Council.

They point to bait and switch economic development programs run by the former director, Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson, and a South Dallas/Fair Park Opportunity Fund which has been missing trust since it was founded, but has been a cash cow for politically connected minority political operatives.

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021

White Protestors At Dealey Protected By Dallas Police

White protestors at Dealey Montessori are being protected by Dallas Police Officers despite blocking walking paths of parents picking up their children and repeatedly wandering onto school property. Dallas Police are also not responding to calls for assault against children at Dealey.

Dealey had been COVID19 free until the mask mandate lifted and then it shot to seven cases once the protesting students were allowed to attend class unmasked. They have since been withdrawn.

Dealey Montessori has now had four protests this semester starting in September and again in October due to districtwide mask mandates. Prior to the second event, The Gents Place corporate blog asked which is more appropriate the AK47 or M16 in a blog post that seemed to threaten students and staff. The parent leading the protests at the time was the Chief Culture Officer for The Gents Place.

At the time, Adam McGough was the only member of Dallas City Council to request Dallas Police assistance. Requests to Gay Donnel Willis and Jaynie Schultz went unanswered.

More concerning now is the lack of response from Dallas ISD to parent concerns. Four separate families report Dealey Montessori staff and principal Beth Wing do not respond to calls, emails, and do not communicate in a timely manner about these events.

These familes say in addition to no answers from Beth Wing or Ryan Zysk, there is no communication at all and the district is shutting down conversation with the very people who support the school.

“Dallas ISD Board Services will not even allow speakers against the management of the school,” said another parent who continued, “they want emails, but then they do not respond.”

One parent noted she had found what appeared to be a recent threat on her son’s social media accounts about a shooting and their was no response from school staff.

“What is the use in a see something, say something policy if the people you say it to ignore you?,” the parent asked.

Wing also disappointed school families for her late cancellation of a school play that had run for years.

City Officials With Two Responses

The furstration is mounting though for parents.

Today’s protest included Lynn Strawn Daenport – a local education gadfly – who is known to be a QAnon afficionado. QAnon has been growing in local political power among Republicans. Earlier this year Gen. Mike Flynn suggested a coup at the Dallas Convention Center.

Davenport’s husband works for Dallas based Top Golf and a small group of parents are considering a counter protest at both The Gents Place and Top Golf to respond to what they describe as ongoing harassment.

“If they continue to harrass and threaten our children, we will hit them in the pocketbook,” said one parent.

While Dallas Police do not have time to deal with threats against children, local city officials are harrassing local homeowners over other First Amendment issues.

White Protestors At Dealey Montessori v Black Protestors at Dealey Plaza

In a statement by Public Information Officer Melinda Gutierrez “the Dallas Police Department will not interfere with a lawful and peaceful assembly of any individuals or groups expressing their first amendment rights.”

She would not respond to follow up questions about why white COVID19 protestors are being handled so differently from black protestors during the George Floyd protest.

In the June 2020 protests officers injured numerous protestors leading to an After Action Report with a number of excuses, but no blame.

In addition to assaulting protestors, several bystanders were injured also.

Dallas Police have not stopped with the George Floyd protests. More recently a man was beaten by officer Melvin Williams in Deep Ellum, but their history of assaults against citizens is not new.

In the past year alone a DPD officer has been arrested for Family Violence Assault and another for sexual assault of a child. DPD sources are still not speaking about the family detained in their own home without cause.

September 9, 2021September 9, 2021

Crime Up And DPD Overtime Down

Dallas crime up and DPD overtime is down per a Dallas City Council vote earlier which removed additional funds from the Dallas City budget.

City Council is putting the finishing touches on next year’s budget which will be finalized on September 22, 2021.

The biggest fireworks were when Dallas Police Department’s overtime budget was cut by $10M and moved into city reserves awaiting results of an audit. The vote was 8-7 in favor of defunding the department and ignores recent failures of officer availability to respond to three children assaulted last week.

Crime Up And DPD Overtime Down – Again

Citizens can still contact their member of City Council prior to the final vote on September 22, 2021.

August 30, 2021August 30, 2021

Dallas Data Breach Gets Worse

The City of Dallas data breach gets worse in a breaking story first reported by the Dallas Morning News.

City officials discovered an additional fifteen terabytes of missing Dallas Police Department evidence in the ongoing audit initially reported because of a District Attorney disclosure to defense counsel.

Police Chief Eddie García told Dallas City Council members that crimes against people were most likely not affected, but Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot would not go so far.

Dallas Data Breach Gets Worse And Continues IT Problems

Other Side Dallas will continue monitoring this story that was first learned about by City Manager TC Broadnax in April 2021, but not disclosed until John Creuzot was required to disclose the defense attorneys.

The disclosure led to the release of an alleged murderer.

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021

Melvin Williams On Administrative Leave Following Deep Ellum Assault

Melvin Williams, the Dallas Police officer, seen in a video last week assaulting a man on the ground, is on administrative leave.

Williams is also assigned to the Special Weapons and Tactics unit, or SWAT.

Dallas Police are investigating him for possible use of excessive force during the recent arrest in Deep Ellum. The investigation comes after Dallas Texas TV shows an officer pushing the man into a light post. The officer then punches him at least six times while he was on the ground before two other officers intervene and remove the attacking officer.

Melvin Williams: Three Use of Force Cases

Williams also has two other use of force investigations ongoing. The prior two cases were of men who were seriously injured during 2020’s George Floyd demonstrations.

Local police have a long history of assaulting, or killing, defenseless citizens.

Eddie Garcia’s department has not been forthcoming about either Williams’ name or his involvement in the prior two cases. While Garcia himself praised the officers for removing Williams from the subject, two police sources say they did not self report the issue to superiors or Internal Affairs.

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021

Dallas Trash Delays

Dallas trash services will be experiencing delays per Tim Oliver, the City of Dallas Interim Director of Sanitation Services.

The City of Dallas is experiencing a laborer shortage within the Department of Sanitation Services, resulting in intermittent service delays for customers.

Sanitation has adjusted operations to prioritize on-time garbage collection for customers. This means all available staff are assigned to garbage collection routes first. Per a city press release, blue roll cart collection of recyclable materials may be delayed by one or two days in various areas of the city, on a rotating basis, over the next several weeks, until staffing levels stabilize. IT has been reported that recycling has been missed by more than a week in some cases.

The City of Dallas says it is not necessary for customers to report missed recycling collection to 311 unless materials have not been collected after more than forty-eight hours. Areas primarily serviced by automated truck routes will be less affected by this disruption.

Residents can find updates on garbage, recycling, and brush and bulky trash collections on Sanitation’s website, on NextDoor, and the Dallas Sanitation app (App Store / Google Play). Sanitation customers enrolled in the City of Dallas ePay system also receive service advisories directly via email.

Dallas Trash Issues Ongoing

At its last meeting, Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax was given another raise along with the City Secretary despite multiple service issues throughout the city.

Last October, Dallas fell one spot in a national survey of cities by Orkin. It fell on spot to sixteen due to a lower rat population per a national survey though those numbers did not account for changes due to COVID19.

That report came roughly a month after Dallas said it would be limiting residential bulk pickup.

July 23, 2020June 12, 2021

DPD = Drinking Performing Duties?

Are Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers drinking performing duties? Several have voiced confusion by the DPD response to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge incident and the decision making that followed.

There are currently multiple accounts of what happened on the bridge from Chief Hall’s statements at the time, City Council Members who have backed her account, and citizen protestors who suffered the attack. A question exists about decision making and who had authority to make decisions. This includes why Lt. Brian Payne, an officer previously arrested in Ft. Worth for a road rage incident, was in charge of arrests on the bridge that night.

Another, bigger, question though is why is does this poor decision making continue to pervade the City of Dallas and its police department. Example? Lieutenant Brian William Deininger.

Deininger is currently assigned to teach the Standard Field Sobriety Testing program at the Dallas Police Department Academy. The problem with that is he was found unresponsive in his vehicle less than a year ago with multiple open containers of beer, not remembering how he got there, and denying medical any relevant medical history.

Granted mistakes happen to all of us and persons are innocent until convicted, but aren’t officers supposed to be held to a higher standard given the position they are placed in daily?

According to one police officer we spoke with, Deininger is an example of the problems with DPD right now.

DPD requires you, as a Dallas Police Officer, to be cooperative in any investigation by any other agency, especially if you’re a suspect. While Irving Police Department may have been doing him a favor or “helping him out” as this commander suggests by charging him with Public Intoxication and not Driving While Intoxicated, it is clear Deininger was not fully cooperative.

The officer continues “Brian is most certainly asking for preferential treatment when they’re asking him to preform SFST’s. Since he refused and it’s on camera that he refused he should have been terminated.” It is unclear why the Internal Affairs Division did not take further action, but both officers and suspects have complained about the IAD complaint process.

After watching the video, it seems clear Deininger is asking for preferential treatment saying he would handle it any way the officer wanted to handle it. He knows the procedure that should be followed – though he may have been too intoxicated to follow it.

DPD Lt. Brian Deininger

This was not Deininger’s first brush with other law enforcement though. In 2011 he was a suspect in a domestic violence case. It is unclear if Dallas’ thin blue line assisted in the choking case in the 2800 block of McKinney Avenue, but charges were dropped when the victim chose not to press charges – common in domestic violence cases.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge incident may seem like an isolated case, but it appears DPD has an ongoing problem both recruiting officers and maintaining their understanding of laws and regulations that apply to them. They clearly can pass tests administered by the state, but can they follow common sense and make good decisions while on the beat?

The George Floyd Protests are exposing issues not only in May and June 2020, but a longer record of problems within the department that go beyond a singular event or police chief. The question is will Reneé Hall stay defensive about her command tenure or will she work to correct these problems that are evident for everyone to see.

July 18, 2020July 17, 2020

Obstacles Exist to Flip Texas Blue

A recent Dallas Morning News released a poll showing that Joe Biden had a 5-point lead over Donald Trump in Texas. Soon after #TurnTexasBlue began to trend on Twitter again and many people began cheering on the idea Biden could flip Texas blue. Austin Democrats are fundraising off the idea Biden will Flip Texas Blue.

Texas voting numbers have trended blue and increasingly since Donald Trump’s election. At the same time, President Trump’s national approval rating has declined since April 2020 – due in part to his COVID19 response and the large numbers of newly infected patients occurring both nationally and locally.

For starters, Joe Biden may not even win in Texas. If 2016 taught anything, it’s to not take polls for granted. That’s something even Joe himself admits.

Bias exists in all polls. Whether it be that the polls in 2016 couldn’t reach Trumps non-college educated base, or simply that people don’t always vote how they say they will or may deliberately mislead pollsters. Its possible these sources of error are still present in the 1,887 person DMN/UT-Tyler poll.

Secondly, Joe Biden’s potential plan for expanding into Texas is risky. The Biden campaign told Politico that they were actively trying to expand into traditionally red states like Texas and Georgia.

As Dallas Represenative Colin Allred said, a move in Texas is a “chance to go on the offensive”. The idea is that if Biden spends resources campaigning in Texas, then Trump will have to spend money on keeping Texas. This could then distract Trump from campaigning in swing states. However, as Republicans, and even some Democrats point out, if Biden tries to attack in Texas, he himself loses resources in those swing states.

“That was the problem with the Clinton campaign, their eyes got big,” says Democratic strategist Pete Giangreco. “I don’t want to hear about expansion plans or this other bullshit. Eyes like a laser beam. What they need to focus on is 270 [electoral votes].”

Lastly, even if Biden tried to take Texas, campaigning in the big cities might not even get him the win. In the last election, Trump won Texas by 807,179 votes.

Flip Texas Blue 2016 votes — Texas 2016 votes

Flip Texas Blue Is Harder Mathmatically Than It Sounds

Suppose Texas votes the same as they did in 2016. Now suppose Dallas and Travis (Austin) county voters who voted for Trump previously, vote for Biden in 2020 instead. Biden would still need to make up another 417,025 votes.

If Biden were then to flip all of Bexar County (San Antonio) to no red votes – all blue. He would still need 176,692 votes. Joe could try and get these votes from Harris County (Houston), but he would have to convince 32.36% of the people who previously voted for Trump, to now vote for him. He could also try Tarrant County (Fort Worth), but he would need to convince 51.07% of Trump supporters to now vote for him.

Winning over enough urban votes to counter the rural and sub-urbans votes is a hard task. Its definitely possible, but perhaps not probable this year.

If Biden hopes to seriously snatch Texas, he may also consider going after the hearts and minds of suburban Texan voters.

Rural voters would be extremely more difficult to get than the urban Texan vote.

“Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47…” didn’t work for Beto O’Rourke. Its possible, that despite being more moderate, Biden’s views will not resonate well with these rural voters.

People Moving May Flip Texas Blue

Another factor beyond 2020 though is the census. It is clear people are working to leave California and many other states. Texas continues to attract large employers out of California, Michigan, and New York.