Meetings of Interest: Eddie's Way 🤝

Mayor Eric L. Johnson issued a “tax cut challenge” to encourage his colleagues to come up with last-minute budget amendments to help lower the fiscal 2026 property tax rate. Several of them accepted the challenge, and the City Council approved six amendments that lowered the tax rate by .09 cents per $100 valuation in a marathon meeting that ran past 1 a.m. Still, Johnson, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno, and City Council member Cara Mendelsohn voted against the budget. Read more from WFAA and this memo summarizing all the amendments.

In one of the more colorful Board of Adjustment meetings in recent memory, City Council member Cara Mendelsohn was questioned under cross-examination over her views and past public comments on Dallas poker rooms on Tuesday night. The City Council-appointed board ultimately reinstated a permit for Champions Social Club to operate a private poker room in Far North Dallas, reversing a building official’s earlier decision. Dallas Morning News editorial columnist Robert Wilonsky was there and covered it as only he can.

City Plan Commissioners on Thursday approved a zoning change to clear the way for the first H-E-B store in Dallas, WFAA reports. The proposed rezoning for the store at the southeast corner of Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway still needs City Council approval in coming weeks. Some area residents are pushing back on the plan because of concerns over potential traffic and crime, they say.

Dallas police will exhibit early schematic designs of a planned new academy as part of recruitment efforts during the State Fair of Texas, according to this memo, which includes the above preliminary image.

The City is seeking applicants for a new 24-member (!) Bicycle Advisory Committee, as called for in the City Council-approved Bike Plan, according to this memo. Apply here by Oct. 17.

The Skillman/Southwest Branch Library’s last day of operations will be this Saturday, Sept. 27, following City Council’s approval of a plan to close the library as part of the fiscal 2026 budget, according to this memo detailing the closure process. The building could be auctioned off by early next year.

The average number of zoning cases coming before the City Plan Commission dropped in the last quarter, according to this memo. City staff says it’s too early to tell if it is a blip or a more ominous sign for the economy.

Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, September 19, 2025.

City staff is expected to brief committee members on an updated project management agreement tied to a planned WNBA Dallas Wings practice facility on Far West Oak Cliff park land.

Committee members will also be briefed in closed session on advanced schematic drawings of the Wings facility.

Item 9 is an annual $8.7 million contract with Dallas County to send City arrestees to the Lew Sterrett Criminal Justice Center just west of Downtown on Commerce Street.

Item 17 authorizes additional funds needed to prepare a Fair Park building for the temporary relocation of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) from the Downtown convention center. According to this memo, the former Women’s Museum building where TBAAL is moving was found to be in significantly worse condition than what OVG Fair Park initially indicated. OVG is part of the public-private team recently ousted as manager of Fair Park operations.

Item 18 would authorize additional funding for project management of the WNBA Dallas Wings practice facility to be developed on Far West Oak Cliff park land. Read more here.

Item 46 is an amendment to a funding agreement between the City of Dallas and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for a long-awaited McKinney Avenue/Cole Avenue two-way conversion project. The $51 million project to convert 3-lane one-way roadways to two-way is expected to start in July 2027 and be completed in August 2029. Most of the funding is covered by federal money.

Item 69 will terminate the City’s sister city agreements with cities in Russia and China. The move is in compliance with a recently passed state law requiring Texas cities to terminate such agreements with cities in China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia by Oct. 1.

Item 72 amends the official City Council Calendar for the remainder of this year to account for two committee changes approved by City Council last month. Mayor Eric L. Johnson recently announced new committees for the 2025-27 term. Here’s the updated calendar.

Item 76 is a resolution appointing a yet-to-be-named interim Inspector General. City Council members had to let the last one go because he was not a attorney, as required by a new voter-approved City Charter amendment.

Board members will be briefed on a proposed development agreement with nonprofit Fair Park First to develop a long-planned community park in Fair Park. I serve on the Park Board representing District 10, which includes Lake Highlands.