Dallas City Council

Podcast: Council Member Chad West ‘Our Lack of Housing Is the Crisis of the Future’

By Shelby Skrhak / February 1, 2024 /

When Dallas homeowners hear the words denser zoning, they get nervous. A towering apartment next to their single-family home? But Dallas City Council Member Chad West is asking the hypothetical question, What if we considered selectively denser zoning like Austin today, or interestingly, looked back to Highland Park’s solution to affordable housing in the 1920s…

Read More

Will Dallas Add Legalized Gambling, Casinos to Its 2025 Texas Legislative Priorities? 

By April Towery / January 29, 2024 /

Dallas leaders began a preliminary discussion last week on what it would look like locally if gambling, casinos, and game rooms were legalized during the 2025 Texas legislative session.  District 1 Councilman Chad West, who chairs the Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, said the matter isn’t currently listed among Dallas’ legislative priorities but he…

Read More

Mendelsohn: Why Should Dallas Taxpayers Pay For City-Issued Debt to Get Affordable Housing? 

By April Towery / January 22, 2024 /

Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn raised an interesting point during a discussion about affordable housing at Friday’s Dallas City Council meeting on the 2024 bond election. Why spend bond dollars — which require issuing debt and paying interest — on affordable housing when there are already more than a dozen mechanisms in place that could accomplish the…

Read More

Glencoe Project Scrapped, But Funding For Dallas Skate Parks Remains in Board’s Bond Proposal

By April Towery / January 15, 2024 /

It’s back to the drawing board for the Dallas Park and Recreation Department and council-appointed advisory board as they shuffle projects in anticipation of a bond issue in May or November. At least one project — an addition to the Dallas skate parks lineup near the Glencoe Park neighborhood — is off the table, board…

Read More

What’s The Dallas Police And Fire Pension Fund Got to Do With Real Estate? More Than You Think

By April Towery / January 10, 2024 /

In a December meeting of the Dallas Mayor’s Ad Hoc Committee on Pensions, a new solution to the Dallas Police And Fire Pension fund’s $3 billion deficit was suggested: monetize the city’s real estate assets.  It’s one of numerous ideas that has been floated since the deficit came to light in 2015. Other suggestions include…

Read More