Massachusetts comes to Dallas in the form of a drug-screening company relocating to North Dallas. This is the first 2024 corporate relocation.
Psychemedics Corporation has been based in Action, Massachusetts, roughly twenty miles north of Boston.
The new headquarters address is 5220 Spring Valley Road, Suite 230, in Dallas.
In October announced the company launch a new five-panel drug screen test. The goal is to shift the focus of workplace screenings from marijuana to fentanyl.
Federal dollars are coming to Dallas and public input is being requested for the use of those dollars.
The City of Dallas Community Development Commission (CDC), along with staff from Budget and Management Services will hold a series of virtual neighborhood public meetings to inform residents of the potential uses of U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds.
The meetings are also designed to encourage residents to provide input on how the City uses these federal grant funds to address community needs.
The HUD grants serve low-and-moderate income residents and communities in Dallas. The FY 2022-23 Action Plan (annual budget) will be submitted to HUD August 2022. The meetings begin virtually Thursday, January 6 to January 20.
Federal Dollars Public Hearing Schedule
Dates and times are as follows:
January 6, 2022: 7:00 PM
January 10, 2022 : 10:00 AM
January 11, 2022 : 5:00 PM
January 13, 2022 : 12:00 PM
January 13, 2022 : 6:00 PM
January 20, 2022 : 6:00 PM (Telephone townhall meeting)
More information on the Consolidated Plan and meeting links are available here: https://bit.ly/3pkmDC5.
It is rumored that Mr. Mundinger will support SDC’s reorganization and transformation.
Goldman Sachs William Mundinger
Mr. Mundinger previously worked at Goldman Sachs where he was National Director of Development, Environmental, and Construction Services. There he provided development and oversight services in Dallas, the East and West Coasts and internationally.Mr. Mundinger will report to Dr. Eric A. Johnson, Chief of Economic Development and Neighborhood Services, whose tenure has been marked by inconsistency throughout.
If the appointment occurs, Mundinger will begin his tenure with the City of Dallas in mid August.
The appointment is expected to receive some negative attention and rumors of insiders controlling Dallas given Mundinger’s past employment with Goldman Sachs.
Can the City of Dallas expect more Economic Development bait and switch from the department led by Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson? It appears so when it comes to offering grants and then making the checks impossible to obtain.
In November, the city launched the BUILD grants program offering $3000 microgrants to small businesses and nonprofits hit hard by COVID19. The notice said checks would be out by December 28, 2020. Until we inquired last week through a Public Information Request no one had received notice.
One education based nonprofit noted they received notification Friday and were then given one businesses day to agree to additional terms and conditions not originally outlined in the program. Their reaction to this bait and switch was outrage.
In an email to Carolyn King Arnold the group noted they are already doing the city and county’s job by providing for homeless students who are not receiving services through City of Dallas.
Bait and Switch – Again
The bait and switch grant issue is particularly hard because the City of Dallas provided $3M to a South Dallas grocer with almost no strings attached. It reeked of the economic devlopment problems of the old South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund.
The issue is particularly relevant as six different entities contacted Other Side Dallas to complain about process and response.
One person noted this is another example of the City of Dallas giving away dollars to politically connected friends of city council members. In October, city staff tried to sneak through a proposal to give the Lorenzo Hotel nearly $2M. It was only stopped when Council Member Cara Mendolsohn (D12) asked questions.
To date there has been no response to emails from several city council members including Tennell Atkins who spearheaded the $3M to the now closed Save U More grocer, and has been a major recipient of campaign cash from Save U More’s representatives.
Ditty Mayor Eric Johnson who also received sizeable contributions on the repeated failings of Economic Development.
Ditto Casey Thomas (D3) who also has been silent on the matter.
Ditto Adam Bazaldua (D7) who has ignored several requests to discuss this issue and the South Dallas/Fair Park Opportunity Fund Board from current and former board members.
The issue has not escaped notice though.
Calvin Johnson, a candidate for the D7 city council seat in May said,”When it comes to city programs that help small business we have to be better organized on announcing all the requirements upfront.”
“We must set achievable timetables and follow through effectively on the back end when the assistance is approved and granted,” he continued.
It is unclear why his opponent Bazaldua has not taken this opportunity given his progressive public profile for slashing the police budget in favor of social programs.
Ditto North Dallas. Council Member Lee Kleinman (D11) who has been arguing against the Dallas Police Department’s mounted unit for years – which costs the city roughly $125000 annually – had no comment about either the Save U More issue or bait and switch grant programs. Kleinman is term limited and
24 Hour Dallas is holding a Drinks On Brink Zoominar this Tuesday, December 15, 2020.
Join 24HourDallas as they host Drinks On The Brink, a free Zoominar that explores Dallas’ independent bars and how they might navigate the coming months. Guest panelists include Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson of Dallas’ Economic Development office, Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, the Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation, and Jeff Brightwell, a partner at Dot’s Hop House.
You can register for this event at no cost to you here.
Neighborhood pubs, taverns, bars, and saloons have played pivotal roles in United States history. Paul Revere was known to frequent Boston’s Bell In Hand while first President George Washington favored Williamsburg’s Christiana Campbell tavern. The ideas, treaties, and revolutions that have shaped our nation have often been crafted and confirmed with a tip of a glass.
COVID19 and public health issues are concerns, but independent bars, pubs, and restaurants need financial relief they need to weather the pandemic. A major concern is what ideas, treaties, and revolutions are being lost with independent bars being lost to a pandemic.
24 Hour Dallas: Drinks On Brink
This is just the latest effort by the 24 Hour Dallas coalition to bring attention to issues hitting the Dallas service industry the hardest. 24 Hour Dallas had Seize The Night – Carpe Noctem – and race consciousness events in the summer and has existed to assist the Dallas service industry since 2015.
An exit may be coming for Courtney Pogue, Director for the City of Dallas Office of Economic Development. Anonymous city hall staff say Mr. Pogue is leaving his post by end of year.
Pogue has served in his current capacity for nearly three years. Prior to that he was in positions for just over two years in Clayton County (Atlanta area) and Cook County (Chicago area).
Per a social media profile, Mr. Pogue led the City of Dallas Office of Economic Development with an operating budget of approximately $8.5MM and a capital budget of $100MM annually via 19 Tax Increment Financing Districts and 14 Public Improvement Districts. Managed a staff of 35 within four (4) divisions: area redevelopment, business development, community development, and finance/administration. Initiated the 1st economic development plan in 15 years for the City of Dallas.
Secured approximately $3.0 billion in private investment and approximately 16,000 job commitments since November 2017.
As the Mayor and City Council debate today the Defund DPD or pay cuts to top level employees the economic development staff issued a Notice of Funding Availability that side stepped normal city procurement policy despite a long history of South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund being poor accountants of the public’s tax dollars.
Staff for the South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund also extended the deadline for applications. An anonymous city staff member noted the advisory board mostly applauded, but who and what is being funded is still up in the air. Previously the fund has mostly been a cash cow for certain connected individuals who use the fund as a low cost loan provider at taxpayer expense.
The advisory board has previously avoided a majore reform proposed by City Manager TC Broadnax – axing the ongoing social-services grants and focusing on loans.
It isn’t clear what actions the advisory board is taking to improve the outlook for the Fair Park area, but to date, it appears they are only providing acquiesence and not advice.
Trust Missing…Still and Forever?
Decades’ of city audits reveal the fund is broken and almost broke, after dispensing some $7 million of taxpayer money. The results? There is little to show for it except unpaid-loan lawsuits and just a handful of success stories fueled with forgivable loans.
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.
24 hour Dallas’ Night Shift Survey and More
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.
