Our city has never been closer to delivering on a promise made to police officers in the early years of the Dallas Cowboys’ Jimmy Johnson era.
Proponents say a vote for the City’s Proposition A (not to be confused with the County’s Prop A for homelessness funding) would ensure that 1990 promise of a new police academy finally gets the public funding it needs to be completed. It’s been a long, winding journey to this point, and no one has suffered more than the thousands of police recruits who have trained at a run-down “temporary” Red Bird warehouse-style facility far below the standards of most Texas high school football programs.
To support the men and women who keep us safe today and in the future, I’m voting for this proposition, and I hope you will too.
The Dallas Citizens Council, a GoldHam Group client, is one of the organizations overseeing the City of Dallas Proposition A campaign. Other groups that endorsed the package include the Dallas Regional Chamber, the Dallas Police Association, the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, the Black Firefighters Association, the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas, the National Black Police Association, and the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization, Dallas chapter.
The bulk of the proposed $443 million package is earmarked for the in-progress Law Enforcement Training Center at the University of North Texas at Dallas and a planned Public Safety Training Complex at the City-owned Dallas Executive Airport. Other funding would go toward a new police property & evidence room and crime lab ($150 million), and a fire station to replace a 1950s-era station in Downtown ($22 million).
The remaining $40 million has drawn some opposition, mostly because of a baseless claim that those dollars would somehow add momentum for a controversial relocation of City Hall. The money would fund moving emergency operations and the 911 center out of the City Hall basement, most likely to a City-owned building behind Jack Evans Police Headquarters. City officials have proposed that move for years, long before a potential City Hall relocation was on the table. This August 2023 memo proves as much.
City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert presented a six-point Public Safety Bond Accountability & Transparency Plan by memo last week to address concerns from some about whether the bond dollars would be spent as promised. It asks the independent City Auditor to “take any necessary and proper actions… to ensure sufficient and adequate expenditure controls… remain in place and [are] adhered to during the implementation of this bond program.”
As former Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown wrote recently for The Dallas Morning News, “Having managed major crises from command centers, I know firsthand that running 24/7 communications out of a concrete basement exposes critical computer-aided dispatch and radio systems to infrastructure failures from other floors… Our dispatchers, the first of our first responders, deserve a modern workspace that supports mental clarity, retention and peak performance under extreme pressure.”
Chief Brown served his hometown police department for more than 33 years before spending three years leading the Chicago Police Department. He is a law enforcement expert who guided our city through numerous crises and drove crime down to lows not seen in decades. I trust his judgment, and you should too.
Early voting starts tomorrow, October 19. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.
For more on this and other hot topics, join me over on the new Meetings of Interest Community Page. I’ll be posting updates, videos, GIFs, and more throughout the week. It’s like a Facebook page, but (hopefully) without all the personal attacks and misinformation.
📖 Table of Contents
🗞️ ICYMI: Highlights From Last Week
Dallas City Council members voted on Wednesday, October 14, to:
Approve an amended version of Item 4: Dallas will pay Dallas County up to $8.5 million to book and hold City jail prisoners at Lew Sterrett from this month through September 2027.
Approve Item 5: The Dallas Public Facility Corporation will develop and own a 420-unit mixed-income complex at 1910 E. Wheatland Rd. near the UNT Dallas DART station, and lease it for 75 years to an affiliate of Hoque Global and Anchor Capital. The City gives up about $3.66 million in General Fund tax revenue over 60 years. In return, the DPFC expects $55.9 million in fees, and staff projects $79.8 million in rent savings for residents. Read more from the Dallas Business Journal.
Approve Item 6: This is The Bridge’s second and final one-year renewal of its rapid re-housing contract, adding $119,549 from the federal Emergency Solutions Grant and bringing the total to $394,458. The money pays for short-term rent help and case management for people leaving homelessness through the City’s only low-barrier shelter.
Approve Item 9: Black & Veatch gets another $5.6 million to manage construction on the Mill Creek/Peaks Branch/State-Thomas drainage tunnel, originally due for completion in 2024 and now projected to be “substantially complete” in 2028.
Approve Item 16: Staff found that 10 state grant resolutions approved over the past year lacked the wording and formatting the Governor’s Office now requires, mainly naming who signs, who handles the money, and who runs each project. Council amended all 10 at once.
Defer to November 10 Z1 (Preston Royal): This is the rebuild of the corner flattened by the 2019 tornado. Developer Leland Burk wants a new planned development on 7.3 acres at Preston and Royal: three towers of 18, 19, and 12 stories with apartments, for-sale condos, and a hotel, plus a two-story restaurant village. Some neighbors are not on board, as you may have noticed from all those “NO skyscrapers, NO Rezoning” yard signs in North Dallas. City Plan Commissioners still recommended approval 10–4.
Follow the CPC recommendation to approve Z7 (Club Vivo, 1930 Pacific), renewing the bar and dance hall permit at Harwood and Pacific for two years, with hours from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Approve PH1 (Texas Capital ticker), granting Texas Capital permission to put a digital stock ticker on its headquarters at 2000 McKinney Avenue. The ticker will wrap up to three sides of the awning along Harwood and McKinney, with messages changing every 8 seconds instead of the standard 20.
Approve PH3 (Pettis Norman, ceremonial), placing ceremonial “Pettis Norman” street-topper signs on the Houston Street Viaduct. Norman played tight end for the Cowboys from 1962 to 1970, marched for civil rights, and later founded the Dallas Together Forum. Read more from NBC 5.
Defer PH5 (Exchange Place) to October 28. Mayor Eric Johnson and Council Members Jesse Moreno and Gay Donnell Willis want to rename North Harwood between Woodall Rodgers and Harry Hines “Exchange Place” to welcome the Texas Stock Exchange, which is moving its headquarters to what would become One Exchange Place. Harwood has had its name since 1872, so this needs a three-quarters vote to waive the rule against changing historic street names. Plan Commissioners approved it 13–1. Moreno also held the item under advisement in September, after an initial vote failed to meet the three-quarters threshold. Read more from the Dallas Business Journal.
Three Council members want to rename Downtown’s Cesar Chavez Boulevard to United Farm Workers Way, The Dallas Morning News reports. The proposal comes months after a New York Times investigation detailed allegations that the late Chavez sexually abused women and girls.
TxDOT will close I-30 in both directions between I-35E and I-45 from 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, using the same detours as earlier closures, according to this memo. Starting the week of Oct. 26, the City will also begin rebuilding the Young Street intersections at Market and Record, with lane closures expected through December.
🔢 Number of Interest
$740 million
The gap between Interstate 345’s estimated reconstruction cost of $1.65 billion and the $910 million TxDOT has programmed so far. Read more.
🤝 Meetings of Interest: October 19 - 23, 2026
Monday, October 19
🎭 Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Briefing: Update on the Sanitation and Code Compliance AI Camera System
City Detect, the computer vision system now mounted on 50 Sanitation brush trucks, scans neighborhoods for roof damage, high weeds, dumping, graffiti, tires and stray shopping carts, according to this briefing. Officials will stress that the system blurs faces and license plates and that a person reviews every flag before the City does anything. So far, they’ve reviewed 5,318 observations, issued 2,928 “friendly reminder” courtesy notices, conducted 473 field inspections, recorded 374 voluntary fixes, issued 34 direct abatements, and opened 101 formal enforcement cases. The deck closes with this line: “Technology identifies potential conditions. People make the decisions.” For now, anyway.
14.13 MB • PDF File
Also on this agenda: library hours expansion, Dallas Film Commission overview, and a potential revision to City code regulating overgrown alleys.
🤑 Special Called Committee on Finance, 11 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Briefing: FY 2026-27 Debt Program Overview and Planned Debt Transactions
Staff will lay out the fiscal year 2027 debt lineup, and it’s busy. On Oct. 28, Council will vote on up to $312 million in GO bonds. That covers the third $250 million tranche of the 2024 bond program plus a refinancing of about $57.7 million in older debt, with an estimated $1.8 million in savings. Officials expect to issue more than $1.5 billion in bonds this spring for the convention center master plan and $72 million for Fair Park, backed by hotel taxes.
9.98 MB • PDF File
Committee members are also expected to interview candidates for City Auditor and recommend finalists for full City Council consideration.
🚌 Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Briefing: DART Quarterly Update
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) leaders will make their quarterly visit just weeks after DART issued the first $21.2 million payment from its new General Mobility Program to Dallas on Oct. 1. The City is expected to receive about $211 million over six years. A proposed DART governance overhaul would give Dallas 40 to 50% of the board vote and at least seven seats, but the Legislature still needs to amend state law next session. Crimes against persons fell 20% from last year, and DART issued an RFQ for an 18-acre development at Westmoreland Station.
12.46 MB • PDF File
City Council members will vote Oct. 28 on an engineering contract for the Central Link study, which will help decide whether the Downtown streetcar connector route Council approved in 2017 still makes sense or should be replaced, according to this memo. Separately, regional planners cleared the streetcar to receive federal transit formula funds. That works out to about $687,000 a year, but it can only cover capital costs like vehicles and maintenance, not operating costs that drain the general fund. The full operations study is due in early 2027.
Also on the agenda: an update on Dallas Bike Plan implementation, new details on Dallas Executive Airport’s future growth, and the status of billions of dollars in state transportation projects in Dallas.
Wednesday, October 21
🗣️ Dallas City Council Briefing Meeting, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Briefing: Grading City Council Appointees
Council members will consider proposed scorecards for the five officials they hire and fire: the City Manager, City Attorney, City Auditor, City Secretary, and Inspector General. Consultant Nextgen People recommends five KPIs per official, with targets set to match peer cities like Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix. For the City Manager, the five are resident satisfaction, on-schedule bond and capital projects, spending against the adopted budget, strategic plans briefed to Council, and Council’s own annual rating. The deck says missing the bar “triggers a development plan, not a firing.” Once adopted, the scorecards would go live on ScoreDallas!, with a mid-year review in June and the annual evaluation in October.
216.12 KB • PDF File
A briefing on revisions to the City’s Convenience Store ordinance is not yet posted online.
Thursday, October 22
🏞️ Dallas Park & Recreation Board, 10 a.m., 6FN Conference Room, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Briefing: Conservation Management Update
Park staff will update board members on how they manage the city’s natural areas. It’s mostly a lesson in managing expectations. “Operation Goat” sent a herd to clear invasive privet along the Northaven Trail this month, and staff says the lessons learned are that communication, expectations, and follow-up treatment all matter. Prescribed burns are also on the table, with staff warning that “smoke without understanding creates opposition.” On the forestry side, the department has inventoried about 23,500 trees in 40 parks, including 6,440 at White Rock Lake and 343 ash trees around the lake. The most valuable tree that isn’t a cottonwood is a live oak worth $28,940.
4.77 MB • PDF File
Board members are expected to vote on a $14.6 million increase in federal grant funds for the planned Klyde Warren Park expansion.
📑 Dallas City Plan Commission, 10:30 a.m. Briefing, 12:30 p.m. Public Hearing, Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
Item 1: St. Paul’s Evangelical & Reformed Church wants to add two portable buildings and update the landscaping at its private school and child-care center at Lovers Lane and Fisher Road. The plan also adds trees to a residential buffer that came up short on the previously approved site plan. Staff recommends approval.
Item 2: The Perot Museum of Nature and Science north of Downtown wants to replace 3.59 acres of surface parking on Broom Street with a museum building of about 235,000 square feet, an outdoor exhibit area, and a six-level garage with 566 spaces. Staff recommends approval. Review the proposed development plan here.
Item 3: Terrence Maiden of RG University Hills LLC wants to build 326 single-family homes on 63.6 empty acres along University Hills Boulevard north of Camp Wisdom Road. Some of the lots are smaller than 4,500 square feet and face shared green space. Staff recommends approval. See the proposed development plan here.
Item 11: Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company wants to keep running its 22,898-square-foot pharmaceutical lab on Taylor Street in Deep Ellum. The site plan stays the same. The difference this time is that the renewed permit would have no expiration date, so it wouldn’t have to come back every three years. Staff recommends approval.
Item 20: After two delays, Dallas ISD’s request to rebuild W.W. Samuell High School on Prairie Creek Road is back. The new campus would hold up to 2,000 students, up from about 1,516 today. The district wants to rezone the main campus to townhouse zoning, which allows a zero-foot front setback for security fences and field lights. It would also rezone the north parking lot to single-family, since it plans to sell it.
🗣️ Quote of Interest
Supporting our public safety infrastructure is a fiscally sound investment in the safety and future of our city.
A note to readers: Meetings of Interest is an independent newsletter curated and authored by The GoldHam Group Managing Partner Scott Goldstein and edited by GoldHam Managing Partners Sam Goldstein and Vana Hammond. The content, perspectives, or commentary presented herein reflect the views of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of any other organization, institution, or individual, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Any affiliations are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great week.
Best,
Scott Goldstein
Managing Partner
The GoldHam Group
Sam Goldstein, Scott Goldstein, and Vana Hammond are co-founders of The GoldHam Group, a southern Dallas-based boutique communications, events, and public affairs firm.
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