Meetings of Interest: Loose Change 🪙🧾

The Dallas Police Association (DPA) is rebuking Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat to defund the Dallas Police Department. The Republican governor last week threatened to cut millions of dollars in state public safety funding to Dallas, Houston, and Austin over policies in those cities that he says limit police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. DPA President Sean Pease said Dallas cops have long collaborated with federal partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “Public safety should never become a political bargaining chip,” he said.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board members on Thursday appointed David Leininger interim President & CEO, the same role he held from 2020-21. Leininger also previously served as the agency’s CFO for nine years. Read more.

The City’s living wage floor has increased by 122% since 2015 — from $10.37 to $23.06 per hour this fiscal year — driven by rising cost-of-living data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator. The living wage policy, approved in 2015, currently applies to 275 active general services contracts valued at approximately $1.6 billion, with further upward pressure on procurement costs expected as older contracts are re-solicited. Read more.

Dallas Fire-Rescue mistakenly paid a former firefighter for 20 months after he resigned. Now, the City of Dallas is suing him to get the money back in what officials say was an isolated incident. Read more.

Eric Dominguez, a seasoned government affairs and public policy official, has been named the new head of the City’s Office of Government Affairs, the division that leads communications with local, state, and federal government officials. Read more about him and his career here.

Parks officials are changing Fair Park concert procedures, including adding decibel limits to all music agreements after loud noise from a recent festival upset neighbors across the city. Read more.

Digital advertising boards are coming to more sidewalks in Downtown, Uptown, Oak Lawn, and other neighborhoods, part of the City Council-backed initiative to generate a new revenue stream. Read about the latest proposed locations and how you can give input here.

Check out the complete city manager memo packet for Friday, April 17, 2026.

This related briefing from CBRE explores potential public-private housing projects that would be integrated with North Oak Cliff and Park Forest libraries.

Here’s a memo update on the $1.65 billion plan to trench Interstate 345, the elevated highway that runs from I-30 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway on the east side of Downtown. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is conducting engineering investigations and various studies and has so far identified $370 million in funding.

Officials are tightening up how the City prices and manages curb space ahead of World Cup and other big events, with higher rates in busy districts, new event pricing, and early steps toward expanding paid parking areas. It’s all tied to the parking and curb management policy approved by City Council members in 2024. Read more.

Dallas’s Vision Zero program recorded its lowest traffic fatality count since the program launched — 168 total fatal crashes citywide in 2025, down from a high of 218 in 2022. But the City is still far from its 2030 goal of zero fatalities and a 50% reduction in severe injuries. Learn more.

This companion briefing zooms out to the broader affordable housing crisis, detailing the city’s current development pipeline, subsidy tools, and key sites in play to boost supply and slow rising rents. The presentation notes $45 million available in bonds and other sources.

Committee members will discuss the appointment of an interim city attorney to replace Tammy Palomino, who is retiring at the end of the month. They will also discuss potential search firms to conduct the national search for Palomino’s permanent replacement.

Item 4 authorizes an application for and acceptance of $3 million in state grant funds to be put toward the planned $40 million community park at Fair Park.

Item 6 will designate the FIFA World Cup 2026 an officially recognized City of Dallas Special Event, running from June 10 - July 19, to support coordinated planning, public awareness, and preparedness. Read more about the designation.

Item 12 is a proposed ordinance to put new guardrails on unsanctioned street feedings, long a public health and safety challenge in Downtown and other areas of the city.

Item 20 is an amendment to the decades-long use agreement between the City and the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) to facilitate design, construction, and improvements to the museum using more than $20 million in 2024 voter-approved bond funds.

Item 40 resets how the City signs off on low‑income housing tax credit projects and oversees its two big housing corporations (DHFC and DPFC), which are key to getting multifamily deals financed. The update adds clearer criteria and more flexible, year‑to‑year staff scoring instead of hard‑coding priorities in policy — and it drops an earlier supermajority vote idea that would have made controversial projects harder to pass.

Item 52 is the appointment of a to-be-named interim city attorney to take over upon Tammy Palomino’s retirement at the end of this month.

Z3 is proposed zoning changes to clear the way for a long-promised Central Market at Lemmon and McKinney avenues in Uptown.