Meetings of Interest - Dallas

01/05/2026

That viral Dallas Christmas display at a house on Deloache Avenue in Preston Hollow has been living in my Insta feed rent free for weeks. So, I figured I’d write a little something about it in this week’s edition of the newsletter. Link in bio for more.

11/24/2025

Driving around Dallas recently, my 9-year-old daughter lamented the rapid transition from Halloween to Christmas season, as if nothing of significance fell in between.

“What about Thanksgiving?” she asked.

Good question, especially in the city that built a park and chapel in the heart of Downtown Dallas dedicated to giving thanks.

So, in a nod to Sadie Goldstein’s poignant observation, the least we can do is contemplate what City of Dallas-related things we are thankful for this year.

I asked her and her little sister to get us started:

Sadie, 9, says: "I’m thankful for the people that keep the city safe and keep it clean and make sure it operates well — and the people that keep the parks operating."

Sawyer, 6, says: "I’m thankful for the parks in Downtown Dallas."

Can you tell their dad is a Park Board member and Downtown Dallas, Inc., consultant?

I’ll add that I am thankful for the life-changing relationships I’ve built with so many different people I never would have known if not for my work in and around Dallas City Hall.

Check out this week's edition of my Meetings of Interest newsletter to read more and share your own thoughts on what you're thankful for in the City of Dallas this year. Link in comments.

11/24/2025

Chad West for Dallas City Council has a host of questions and concerns about City of Dallas - City Hall's $2.6 million plan to outfit 50 sanitation trucks with AI-powered cameras to scan your property for Code violations. City Council members are expected to vote on the plan in December.

11/17/2025

Everything Eric Johnson had to say about Downtown Dallas in his 7th State of the City address on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.

11/03/2025

When it comes to big policy decisions, City Hall has no problem grinding its gears as slow as democracy allows.

Except for when City Hall occasionally moves so fast that it startles council members and the public, fueling theories about backroom deals and unseemly motives.

There’s a perception that recent deliberations on the future of City Hall, the 47-year-old I.M. Pei-designed leaning tower of concrete, are somehow moving too fast. Two top reporters at The Dallas Morning News write on today’s front page about what some are saying is a rushed decision.

Sure, the deliberations have picked up steam in recent weeks and there is a harder push for resolution now than ever before. But there is no question City staff has been sounding the alarm about the sad state of the building and the need for increased investment for well over a decade.

If you spend substantial time in the building like I have for 20 years, you would know from the problems you can see with your own eyeballs that costly repair decisions need to be made, like, yesterday.

A briefing scheduled for a joint meeting of two City Council committees on Monday includes a brief history dating to 2012. Council members were told then of nearly $400 million in needs for all city facilities, including City Hall. They opted not to ask voters for any facilities funds in that year’s bond package.

In 2017, city staff asked for a relatively modest $9.1 million for City Hall. City Council members ultimately put $7 million in a bond program, which was approved by voters.

In preparation for last year’s bond program, staff submitted a $61 million request for City Hall improvements. City Council members allocated $0, with one council member suggesting asking voters to approve even half that amount “would appear self-serving… where it’s not really something that’s benefiting the residents.”

Read more about the very real urgency of this decision -- and what else is on the agendas at City Hall this week -- in my latest edition of Meetings of Interest.

Link in first comment.

10/20/2025

On Tuesday, longstanding rumors that Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was planning to resign hit the mainstream media.

He promptly denied the rumors with a post on X that included a GIF of Leonardo DiCaprio’s “the show goes on” line from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

On Friday, the mayor was reminding us that he is still here.

Johnson issued a memo to his appointed chairs of two City Council committees. He asked them to hold a joint meeting of their public safety and government efficiency committees to study whether the City ought to take $25 million from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for participation in a program that could delegate immigration enforcement powers to Dallas police officers.

The memo came days after new Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux told the Community Police Oversight Board that he had turned down an offer to participate in the 287(g) program.

Read more on this and all that's happening this week at City of Dallas - City Hall in this week's Meetings of Interest newsletter - link in first comment.

10/17/2025

Talk of the future of Dallas City Hall will go up a notch next week. Members of the City Council Finance Committee, chaired by Chad West for Dallas City Council, will begin public deliberations on the matter with a not-yet-posted briefing entitled, "State of Dallas City Hall."

Not surprisingly, the Dallas preservationist community is outraged that demolition would even be considered. Some say the City itself is to blame for years of deferred maintenance. But at least some of the building's deficiencies appear to have started a long time ago, even before the building opened in 1978.

Check out the link in the first comment to see what I'm talking about. Spoiler alert: It's still raining in the underground garage.

City of Dallas - City Hall

10/13/2025

The Dallas Police Department finished the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30th with the highest number of new hires since 2009, the year before overall staffing peaked.

The department hired 330 officers last year, exceeding a goal of 300 set by City Council, police officials will report to members of the Public Safety Committee tomorrow afternoon. The improvements come as attrition has also trended down in recent years, helping to grow the overall force to 3,280, the highest total since 2016.

Dallas has been digging out of a staffing hole for more than a decade. A pension crisis and national hiring woes kept the force hundreds short of its goal.

How city leaders made this progress — and how they intend to continue it — will be discussed in detail at the committee meeting. The work is years in the making, and includes qualification changes to broaden the applicant pool, financial incentives to keep veteran cops, and boosts in starting pay.

A new modern police academy is seen as a critical piece to continuing to build a force that currently trains at a dilapidated former strip center. The new academy is now expected to span two separate locations. A total cost is not yet known.

Additional officers can’t hit the streets fast enough, as the department continues to struggle to answer 911 calls quickly.

All of this will be discussed at tomorrow's meeting beginning at 1 p.m.

More on that and everything else you need to know about the latest City Hall happenings in this week's Meetings of Interest email newsletter (link in first comment).

10/06/2025

If I were to draft a “know before you go” note for members of the public visiting the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall, it would go something like this:

Plan to park in one of the metered spots or pay lots to the south of the building.

There are no publicly accessible entrances on the south side of the building, so you will then walk completely around to enter through the glass security vestibule on the northwest corner of the building, facing the reflecting pool and little-used plaza.

Once you clear the metal detectors, you will be on to the really fun part of determining whether to take the blue, red, or green elevators to access the office you are visiting. It is best to get specific guidance in advance because if you pick the wrong elevators, you may end up having to trek back down to the lobby to start over. Security restrictions in most upper floors bar the public from cutting across offices.

If the weather outside is hot, bring a sweater, pants, and extra warm socks to wear inside. If the weather outside is cold, wear layers so you can strip down once inside. If it is raining outside, be prepared for likely showers inside too.

If you are planning to visit Council Chambers on the sixth floor, please note you are barred from eating or drinking anything, including water, inside the chambers — even if the slow pace of the meeting requires you to be there for 10 hours or more.

Like 99% of government buildings, Dallas City Hall — the people’s house — usually does not feel very inviting to the people. Now, three years shy of its 50th birthday, the building’s future is reportedly up for debate at City Council.

Read more in this week's Meetings of Interest newsletter. Link in comments.

09/22/2025

By the time I befriended Eddie Spencer, he was years removed from more than three decades as a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department and, later, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.

He was the ideal mentor for a young Dallas Morning News cops reporter, which I was at the time. I would share tales of my interactions with spokespeople and other sources throughout the region, often frustrated by government employees who seemed intent on shielding public information from the public.

Ed would just shake his head and mutter something like, “That’s just not right, damn it.”

The right way, Eddie’s Way, was to view reporters as a conduit to the community that he served and cared deeply about. Eddie’s Way was to treat all people — reporters included — with respect, integrity, kindness, and a healthy sense of humor.

Eddie, also a former reporter for the Denton Record-Chronicle and the Dallas Times Herald, was beloved in old school journalism and law enforcement circles in this town. He died at age 78 last month after a brief battle with liver cancer.

Friends and family celebrated his life during a memorial service at First United Methodist Church Richardson on Wednesday, including the Dallas Police Honor Guard.

Retired Dallas journalist and author Jim Schutze was one of Eddie’s best and longest friends. Schutze spoke at the service, explaining that in the life of a city, crises are like kitchen fires.

Those kitchen fires can go two ways. They are either contained to the stove with minimal damage or they spread quickly and consume the whole house, the whole city.

Throughout a long career as the face and voice for two major Dallas law enforcement agencies, Eddie contained countless fires that otherwise may have consumed Dallas. He did so with calm, compassion, transparency.

He did it Eddie’s Way and we’re a better city for it.

Read more in this week's edition of Meetings of Interest.

Long-time Dallas Police Department spokesman helped our city through many crises.