Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn

The City of Dallas data loss of DPD files is being addressed in several ways. First, the Public Safety Committee and Government Performance and Financial Management Committees held a joint meeting to ask questions of senior management about the loss and the way it was notified to city council and law enforcement partners. Since then, the Ad Hoc Committee on General Investigations and Ethics has met and we are proceeding by recommending to the full council to hire an outside firm to complete a comprehensive investigation. Our next meeting will be in mid-October to interview and select the firm to accompany the recommendation. There is currently an FBI investigation into the matter and it must be completed before the outside investigation can begin.

National Night Out is coming up October 5th. If your neighborhood is hosting an event and would like DPD to stop by, we're helping coordinate that effort in District 12. Please email Luis.Delgado@dallascityhall.com.

There are lots of articles below on topics that may interest you! If there is a topic you would like to see addressed in the enews, just let us know!

Best, Cara

PS- New COVID testing and vaccination sites have been added to the city website, along with virus data, legal orders, business assistance, and more at: https://dallascityhall.com/Pages/Corona-Virus.aspx

A virtual town hall was held to hear from DART about the sound walls, green walls, and provide an update to residents on the status of selecting a sound wall color and finish.

The process DART guided, starting in 2019, in asking each track-adjacent property owner to pick a color and texture within many different voting groups was flawed and resulted in selections with lots of different colors and textures in a compact area. With DART's results, there were instances where a driver would see one color and texture on the left and a different color and texture on the right as they crossed intersections. This is not workable, and is unheard of by any transportation professional. Along the way, the idea of a green wall, possibly for a large portion of the sound walls, was explored, and many questions asked about the details and maintenance of a green wall. After receiving the answers, the city will not pursue a green wall because DART has no experience with green walls, and after 9 months of inquiry, still does not have a maintenance plan to assure an attractive wall that meets resident standards. If you would like to see the questions asked and the answers provided by DART, please see the link below to view the powerpoint.

The City of Dallas will make a uniform color and texture recommendation to DART soon. The proposed selection is a light tan with a rolled ashlar texture. This is similar to what TXDOT uses on the highways. The rolled ashlar texture was the texture voted on by the most track-adjacent property owners. The light tan color has been determined by city staff to need the least maintenance over the next decades, and was the second most voted color by track-adjacent property owners. Staff expects the natural color (top voted color) to need frequent cleaning and show more dirt than any other color option. The light tan color is closest to natural with the least maintenance.

Please complete this survey if you would like to have input. While track-adjacent property owners have the greatest impact, and I believe should have the greatest weight in this decision, the survey is open to the whole community, as we will all be impacted for decades to come.

Let's be real... there will not be a color or texture all people will agree on.

See the DART Powerpoint and the D12 Powerpoint here for more information, including the questions and answers about the green wall:

PLEASE COMPLETE THIS SURVEY BY SUNDAY OCTOBER 3! https://forms.gle/FLJyu9nhAJADn56Z8

The first photo below shows the rolled ashlar texture with a DARK tan color. The city is recommending a light tan color, which can be seen in the second photo (also available to be seen on Central Expressway at Spring Valley).

There aren't many trees left in the DART right-of-way, but there are a few. DART has not told me specifically they will be taking down more trees, but there has been an environmental protection of nests in trees that expires on October 1. It is likely that the trees not previously removed had nests in them and DART will soon remove them. Because they own the right-of-way, they are allowed to do so. Additionally, the multi-week forecast of DART activities posted in the last enews included trimming branches of trees that hang in the DART right-of-way. If you believe DART has removed a tree that is on your property, you can contact DART directly or through your attorney.

While cities all around us have been growing from new properties, Dallas is lagging! If we don't change this trajectory, we will be in significant fiscal trouble. Why aren't developers building in Dallas? Our planning and permit offices are not functioning well and developers have looked to cities with less red tape and quicker responses to do business. This is an example of the inefficiency at city hall creating spiraling problems for business owners, homeowners, and decreases in revenue, as they choose neighboring cities.

This budget creates duplicative programs, approves new programs never addressed in committees, and creates new services that have never been evaluated for community need. The hard work of evaluating departments for efficiencies and streamlined processes does not show in this budget.

There are things I support about the budget and commend the city manager for, like fully funding street maintenance, for the first time in more than a decade, fully funding street restriping, honoring the meet and confer agreement with DPD and DFR to pay a market rate increase so our officer's pay is competitive with all surrounding cities, hiring more police officers, maintaining city assets, and investing in homeless services.

But the item missing is the tax rate. With skyrocketing property values, most people will pay more for their property taxes, even though the rate went down .30 cents. The city will receive 4.16% more than last year in property tax revenue, with a 9.23% effective increase. The current tax rate is 77.63. The no-new-tax-rate would have been 70.7976, and this budget has a rate of 77.33, a difference of more than 6.5 cents. If all of the amendments I proposed were passed, the tax rate would have been 76.99, a .64 decrease, instead of .30.

This new budget adds 306 positions to the general fund and another 25 to enterprise and internal service funds this year. It is not sustainable for us to add this many staff members or grow the budget this big, this fast.

Right now, Dallas is flush with ARPA money and lots of other federal dollars, but in 2 years, the budget will have grown beyond a level we can manage or pay for with only municipal dollars, causing drastic cuts in services or significant tax increases. Some homeowners may choose to leave Dallas to live in neighboring cities who have lower tax rates, less crime, consistent trash pick up, one day permit processing, and roads in better shape than ours.

The budget is the largest in Dallas history. It is approximately $500 million dollars larger this year because of all the federal dollars that have flowed into the city. If the tax rate can't be substantially lowered this year, I don't see a way (politically) it can ever happen.

I believe we must always be aware of our role in government. We can't fix every problem on a city budget. Some issues need to be addressed by the county, DART, state, or federal government, and there are some issues that are best left to non-profits and the faith community. Residents count on city government to do certain things - and we should focus on them and do them with excellence.

The majority of the city council does not believe the property tax rate is problematic, and some districts have a majority of residents who own homes below the homestead exemption, meaning they pay no property tax. To pass an amendment at city council, 8 votes are needed. Of the 7 amendments, several received 6 votes, with support from Mayor Johnson and Councilmembers Gay Donnell Willis, Paul Ridley, Paula Blackmon, and Adam McGough.

Unfortunately, this budget did not hit the mark and was not reflective of the values and priorities shared by District 12 residents. So with that, I voted NO, along with Vice Chair of Government Performance and Financial Management, Gay Donnell Willis, District 13.

This week at the Government Performance and Financial Management committee, budget listening sessions were added in early in 2022, so residents can share their priorities with councilmembers and the city manager before the draft budget is presented. This will allow greater input from residents and hopefully produce a budget more reflective of Dallas values. Here is an article from the Dallas Morning News about the budget:

For many ways that residents need assistance, your help starts with 311. You can contact 311 by phone (evening has shortest hold times) or by using the Our Dallas app, available for free in the App Store. If you call 311 and don't get the level of service you expect, please reach out to Madison.Johnson@Dallascityhall.com or Luis.Delgado@dallascityhall.com.

There are some service requests not available on the app. One example is to report a traffic signal that is dark. The reason is because of the urgent nature of the call. For requests not available on the app, please call 311 (always call 911 for emergency needs).

As reported previously, the Champions certificate of occupancy application to open a poker room at the former location of III Forks was denied, along with several other poker room applications in Dallas. Champions has appealed the ruling and the hearing will be in mid-November, but the date has not been determined. In the meantime, Champions resubmitted their application to open a restaurant with alcohol service, this time leaving out the poker aspect. This application was approved. There is no opening date confirmed on any certificate of occupancy application.

Several people have noted that the Champions website still promotes gambling and wonder how an application can be approved when it appears they will still have poker? The answer is, there is no illegal activity that has occurred. If you would like to be contacted about the appeal hearing, please email pokerrooms@dallascityattorney.org. As directed by the city attorney, I am not allowed to talk with residents about the poker room. Please direct any questions to district 12 staff, madison.johnson@dallascityhall.com or luis.delgado@dallascityhall.com.

It was an honor to be part of the Graduation Ceremony for Dallas Police Department class #376! Congratulations to all the new recruits on completing one of the most extensive police training programs in the country. Thank you for choosing to serve the residents of Dallas with honor, dedication, and service. Special shout out to new officers Coleman, Hernandez, and Gill, who are assigned to the North Central station.

As you know, panhandling and homeless encampments have increased with COVID. The city has taken a position of following the CDC to not break up encampments. By reporting encampments and panhandlers through 311 or the Our Dallas app, you are doing something to help! Why? Because the Office of Homeless Solutions responds based on the number of complaints. The complaints are logged and tracked on a city dashboard. The frequent requests bring the Office of Homeless Solutions to the site and they do outreach to encourage the person to leave for shelter and notify them that the area will be cleaned. There is usually several outreach attempts before the area is cleaned. If illegal activities are occurring, please report to 911. There is a workgroup of staff developing a plan that includes compassion and enforcement and I hope this plan will be presented at the October Government Performance and Financial Management committee meeting.

Here is a city presentation from 2016 that shows homeless encampments at Frankford and the North Dallas Tollway and Frankford and Kelly. https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council%20Meeting%20Documents/hou_2_homeless-services-and-encampment-protocol_combined_090616.pdf

There is no doubt that any big city is going to have people who are homeless. We need to ensure we have the proper program and tools to help them get into shelter and housing, rehab or therapy, depending on what their needs are. We also need enforcement tools to maintain the law and protect property rights.

Please help by calling 311 to report panhandlers, trash, and encampments, or 911 if there is a safety concern. The photos below are near the tollway and Frankford.

Dinner & quick meetings with the paramedics and fire fighters at District 12 fire stations #7 (Davenport at Preston), #10 (Frankford and Gibbons) & #13 (Frankford and Hillcrest). It was great to hear their suggestions and issues, and share with them the community appreciation and support!

Need help, got a question, or want to give input?

Email: Cara.Mendelsohn@DallasCityHall.com

Office phone: (214) 670-4067

Text phone: (214) 490-1036