Dallas City Council – Page 5 – The Other Side Dallas

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 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 10, 2020September 10, 2020

BREAKING: Defund DPD 2.0 May Take $77M From Police Budget

Is a second Defund DPD moment coming to Dallas?

Next Generation Action Network is seeking a Seventy-seven million dollar decrease in the Dallas Police budget per two separate persons with knowledge of the situation.

Defund DPD has been a rallying cry since the George Floyd death with several members of city council vocally supporting fewer dollars headed to DPD. At yesterday’s meeting of Dallas City Council it appeared there were enough votes to move $7M in overtime from the Dallas Police budget.

Mayor Eric Johnson tweets about measures defunding DPD

Mayor Eric Johnson has tweeted that more than 500 people have emailed City Council about defunding police during the violent crime spike. It is unclear how the Dallas Budget will end up with members of Dallas City Council openly attacking one another in meetings and on social media.

Defund DPD 2.0 – Reaction to Alexander Arrest?

One source who reported NGAN may be seeking this level of funding change said it may be related to the arrest this past weekend of Dominique Alexander.

Neither Next Generation Action Network nor Mayor Johnson has responded to an email for comment.

Dominique Alexander may push for Defund DPD 2

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.

July 29, 2020July 29, 2020

DPA President Mata Cleared

DPA President Mata has been cleared by a grand jury. They have decided not to indict Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata on a charge of tampering with evidence in the September 2018 Botham Jean murder investigation.

DPA President Mata and The Botham Jean/Amanda Guyger Case

The issue in question related to Mata’s actions during the investigation of the Botham Jean murder. Immediately after the shooting, Mata asked that a dash cam be turned off while talking to then-Officer Amber Guyger in a patrol car outside the apartment where it happened.

Mata attorney Robert Rodgers said in a statement, “It is a tremendous relief that things like the constitution, law and facts still matter. Mike Mata did absolutely nothing wrong in protecting an officer’s rights.”

During the Amber Guyger murder trial, prosecutors used security camera video to suggest the Dallas Police Association acted improperly when Mata arrived on the scene after the shooting. He is seen leaning into a patrol car Guyger was sitting in the back of and told another officer to turn off a dash cam while Guyger was on the phone with her attorney.

The Texas Fraternal Order Of Police President Steve Stribley said in a statement back in October 2019, they support Mata, saying he responded to the Guyger shooting in his capacity as President of the Dallas Police Association and he had a legal responsibility to request recording devices in a squad car to be turned off as Guyger was going to talk to her attorney on the phone.

The DPA website has no comments on the Mata matter or other recent stories about Lieutenant Brian William Deininger or Senior Corporal Daniel Collins.

July 22, 2020July 23, 2020

Any Dallas Police Department Discipline?

Dallas Police Department discipline is clearly lacking.

A leaked copy of the After Action Report made its way to Central Track this morning. While it is a draft, it represents an ongoing lack of discipline in the City of Dallas and the Police Department.

In a statement to Central Track from City Manager TC Broadnax and Police Chief Renee Hall they said, “The City Manager’s Office and DPD will continue to be transparent and thorough to avoid misinformation.“

The statement itself is concerning because they do not reflect on the fact that Chief Hall states no tear gas (CS) was used on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. She lied to City Council previously and the City Manager stood with his employee in a contentious City Council meeting in June.

The lies from that night were amplified by Council Member Omar Narvaez.

Chief Hall Lied To City Council Showing Lack Of Dallas Police Department Discipline — We think DMagazine misspelled “lie.”

Omar Narvaez Falls For Chief Hall Lies — It appears “progressive” stalwart Omar Narvaez stands with Dallas Police Department over peaceful protestors. Why?

Dallas Police Department Discipline Issues Ongoing

Several issues exist with this report. One major issue from the “draft” report is why was a lieutenant was running the scene? Remember, Chief Hall was “kicking back” during police operations and did not take command of the incident in any way.

Dallas Police Department Discipline Issues Start At The Top With Chief Hall

Chief Hall’s lack of involvement left a lieutenant in charge of the operation.

Lieutenant Brian Payne is listed as the person running the arrest operation on the bridge. What isn’t listed is a report from two Dallas Police employees that this is the same Brian Payne who was arrested in the Fort Worth area approximately a decade ago after a road rage incident over a Walmart parking space. Was this the right person to run this operation given his history of poor anger management?

Congratulations to Central Track. Like our frequent reports on Dallas Police here and here among others, we are hoping shining a little light on an otherwise toxic department might help clean it out.

Dallas Police Department’s Public Information Officers have not responded to emails requesting comment.

Dallas Police Prelim After Action Report- Protest For Equality Download

The full preliminary eport can be found here.