Meetings of Interest: Policy Parasites 🦠

Good evening:

Politically fraught decisions at Dallas City Hall are like parasites.

Deferred year after year, or left untreated, they may overwhelm the host.

If this year’s budget deliberations have confirmed anything, it is that Dallas City Council members now find themselves fighting off quite a few parasites.

This year, they appear poised to start shuttering community pools that are deteriorating, underutilized, and have been or will be replaced by next generation aquatics facilities. Parks officials said last week that the average lifespan of a pool is about 15 to 20 years. The youngest of the nine Dallas community pools is about 50 years old. Most are more than 60 years old.

City leaders are also considering library closures to align with a more regional model. City officials have for two years tried to close the Skillman Southwestern Branch Library. In the face of community resistance, it looks like council members will again find the money to keep it open for at least three days per week for another year. The closure will likely come eventually, along with a few others that could make the decision more painful.

Last week’s budget debate also highlighted pressing Dallas Animal Services challenges, including millions in bond funds needed to upgrade or replace the current West Dallas shelter. Officials made a push for funds in last year’s bond program but came up empty.

And then there’s the wildly unpopular decision to switch thousands of households from alley to curb sanitation pickup, a discussion that has been ongoing at Dallas City Hall for at least 20 years.

Even City Hall itself is not immune. It is one of many City buildings with a massive deferred maintenance bill — about $81 million according to a recent discussion. Much of the rest of the City’s portfolio is also crumbling, as D Magazine notes in a recent report.

Few of these issues should come as a surprise. Most of them have been on the radar for years, even decades. Delaying the inevitable usually does not quell public opposition or cost.

Political parasites don’t die off. They just keep feeding.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week's Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: September 8 - 12, 2025

  • Tuesday, September 9

    • Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board Committee-of-the-Whole

    • Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board Special Meeting

  • Wednesday, September 10

    • Dallas City Council

  • Thursday, September 11

    • Regional Transportation Council (RTC)

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings of Interest

• City Council members tentatively approved three budget amendments to keep open the Skillman Southwestern Branch Library for three days per week, cut funding for professional development and conferences across departments, and keep open a southern Dallas council district office. Read more in this memo and from The Dallas Morning News. Final budget approval is expected on Sept. 17.

• City officials are working hard to keep AT&T’s headquarters in Dallas, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert told the Dallas Economic Development Corporation Board last week, the Dallas Business Journal reports.

📝 Memos of Interest

• The city manager’s proposed budget exceeds the requirements of a City Charter amendment narrowly approved last year to boost police pay and hiring, city officials explain in this detailed memo.

• Interested in giving input for the City’s ongoing zoning reform initiative? You can sign up for a good time via links in this memo.

• The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas accounted for 30 percent of all Downtown bird-to-building collisions between 2021 and 2024, according to the Texas Conservation Alliance. The design team at Downtown-based Perkins&Will is working to ensure the redeveloped convention center limits bird injuries and fatalities, according to this memo.

• City officials are planning at least four upcoming marketing campaigns, including one focused on encouraging people to shop in Dallas to boost sales tax revenues, an idea suggested last month by Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis. An outside marketing firm will be selected through a Request For Proposal (RFP) process to run the campaigns. Read more.

• When it comes to transitioning some residents from alley to curb sanitation pickup, Dallas has kicked the (trash) can down the road for decades, according to this memo in response to questions from Council Member Bill Roth.

• Here’s a roster of the senior City of Dallas leaders assigned to liaise with newly formed City Council committees.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, September 5, 2025.

🤝 Meetings of Interest: September 8 - 12, 2025

Tuesday, September 9

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Committee-of-the-Whole, 3 p.m., DART Conference Room C - 1st Floor, DART HQ, 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202

• Board members may discuss proposed service changes for 2026, which they are expected to vote on at the board meeting in the evening. Read more.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Special Board of Directors’ Meeting, 6 p.m., Board Room, DART HQ, 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202

• Board members are expected to vote on service changes that will result in an estimated $18 million in savings and will be implemented in January. An initial vote was delayed two weeks ago. Read more from KERA.

Wednesday, September 10

Dallas City Council, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Item 29 is a resolution to approve Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s $1.4 billion fiscal 2026 budget. Dallas and Fort Worth must approve the airport budget annually. Read more.

• Item 30 would make Pepsi the choice of a new generation of Dallas parks users at 66 recreation centers, golf courses, and aquatics facilities for at least the next 10 years. This item was last brought before City Council and deferred last month. Dallas parks officials say they’ve negotiated a tastier deal giving the City more revenues. Read more.

• Item 31 is a proposed single ordinance updating, repealing, or clarifying sections of city laws. The “Omnibus Ordinance” has been the subject of City Council deliberations since May (“Omnibusted”). Council members asked no questions about the matter following a briefing last week.

• Z2 is a zoning change to allow for development of a Dallas Wings practice facility at Joey Georgusis Park in West Oak Cliff. City Council members approved funding to develop the planned $55 million facility earlier this year. The Wings are expected to move to Downtown’s Memorial Auditorium for the 2027 WNBA season.

Thursday, September 11

Regional Transportation Council, 1 p.m., Transportation Council Room, North Central Texas Council of Governments, 616 Six Flags Dr., Arlington, TX 76011

• Regional public transportation providers could receive more than $206 million in federal funds in the current award cycle. This is how those funds could be allocated.

🗣️ Quote of Interest

Did I miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings and memos and other fun stuff? Hit me up.