4 January 30 - February 5, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Different But Same? Dallas council names Kimberly Tolbert city manager. BY EMMA RUBY T his announcement will come as a sur- prise to few: Kimberly Bizor Tolbert was officially been named Dallas’ next city manager by the City Council in a vote of 13-2 on Jan. 22. Tolbert is the first Black woman to be named to Dallas’ top leadership role. Last week’s announcement came nearly one year after former City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation. Tolbert has been serving in the interim role since her former boss’ departure and has spent the majority of her career serv- ing in Dallas’ government. Two other fi- nalists — William Johnson, an assistant city manager for Fort Worth, and Mario Lara, an assistant city manager for Sacra- mento — were considered by the City Council for the job. Several public speakers spoke in favor of Tolbert, and one spoke in support of Lara. Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, who chairs the committee charged with organizing the search, motioned to pay Tolbert $450,000 annually for the job. “I believe this city manager has the ex- pertise and compassion that I do. She be- lieved in talking to the people, she believed in going to the community,” Atkins told the council. “We are one city, one Dallas, and we are going to show that with this new city manager.” Atkins added that he is aware the search for a city manager garnered some bad pub- licity and criticism from other council mem- bers, but defended the yearlong search as transparent. Council Member Adam Bazaldua also spoke in Tolbert’s favor, saying he is “proud” that the best candidate for the job was a Black woman. “Even inferring that this is a DEI hire is absurd,” Bazaldua said. “What we did was an exhaustive search of talent across the country, and what we ended up with was something I already knew, which is that we have the best here in the city of Dallas.” Under Tolbert’s interim reign, the ForwardDallas land use plan won pas- sage, a $1.25 billion city bond was ap- proved by voters, Dallas’ nearly $40 million budget deficit was remedied and the fire and police pension was stabi- lized. A wave of high-level resignations also plagued the city during Tolbert’s test-run, with many — including former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia — fol- lowing Broadnax down south to lead Austin’s municipal government. As city manager, Tolbert will now be tasked with hiring Dallas’ next police and fire chiefs and working through the Dallas HERO charter amendments passed by vot- ers in November. Amendment S opens the city up to citizen lawsuits if state or local or- dinances are unenforced, while U calls for the hiring of 900 additional police officers and increased funding for the police depart- ment. Though some in City Hall have stated the amendments should be a wake up call for Marilla Street, Tolbert — the only in- ternal candidate in the city manager search — breezed along the inside track throughout the last year. In a statement to the Observer earlier this month, Tolbert said she believes she is capable of bringing the change that voters seem to want. “The work is already underway, and I think the beauty is that during my time of being the interim city manager, I’ve ap- proached this job with bold actions,” Tolbert said. “This has not been business as usual, status quo. And it’s really given me an op- portunity to really do a deep dive into some of the challenges that we face and we’ve al- ready begun to address those.” But Council Member Cara Men- delsohn, one of two council members who voted against Tolbert’s appointment, ar- gued that the problems facing Dallas re- quire a new set of eyes to address. Mendelsohn listed the deferred mainte- nance on City Hall and the downtown convention center, Dallas’ homelessness response and lackluster police response times as top priorities that signal the need for a new city leader. Stating that she knew her vote would “be in the minority,” Mendelsohn advocated for a candidate that would approach the job with “transparency and accountability.” “When I think about the decision of hir- ing a city manager I see department after de- partment that is in need of reform,” Mendelsohn said. “Dallas is a city with ex- traordinary promise but it is clear we need changes.” ▼ SAFETY STEER CLEAR INTERSTATE 35 IS ONE OF THE SCARIEST ROADS IN WINTER. BY ALYSSA FIELDS A survey of 3,000 drivers named In- terstate 35 Texas’ most feared road to drive in the winter. It’s not sur- prising considering the icy conditions that have accompanied the recent coldsnaps make the sprawling road a fatal game of bumper cars. The highway is one of the deadliest in the country. Low visibility and a propensity for ice in the winter don’t help matters. There are reportedly 12 fatalities per 100 miles on I-35, which stretches from Laredo, near the Mexico border, crosses through San Anto- nio, Austin and Dallas, and ends all the way up in Duluth, Minnesota. The study, conducted by Gunther VW Daytona, surveyed 3,000 respondents spread across all 50 states. Five roads in Texas were named the most feared in the winter, with I-35 being the worst of them. Of the five, three run through Dallas. The other Dallas-area routes listed are Interstate 45, connecting Dallas and Houston, and Inter- state 20, which offers a path between Dallas and Forth Worth. “Winter driving presents unique chal- lenges, from sudden ice patches to blinding snowstorms, making certain roads far more treacherous than others,” Joe Gunther IV of Gunther VW Daytona said in the study. We may not have blinding snowstorms in North Texas, but the joy of seeing flurries around these parts can be distracting. The organization had tips for faring well in the winter weather. First and foremost is to simply slow down. Perhaps that’s hard to do in the state that has the fastest highway speed limits, but try your best, especially when roads are icy. Quit tailgating too. Allow yourself more room to stop. Generally, proceed with caution — brake slow, steer smoothly and accelerate gradu- ally. Check your tires; it’s unlikely Dallas will ever require heavy-duty snow tires, or tread chains, but keep your pressure up to in- crease traction. Remove all snow from your vehicle before driving, and watch for black ice. The deceptive patches of ice look like resting water, but one bad patch can cata- pult you to your demise. Above all else, stay home when road con- ditions are bad. If the biting temperatures weren’t enough to convince you to get back in bed, maybe the heightened risk of acci- dent will. In 2021, following 36 uninterrupted hours of below-freezing temperatures, a 133 vehicle pile-up on I-35 West, on the Fort Worth portion, caused the death of six peo- ple. The accident was a result of deficient de-icing measures and revealed a lack of proper monitoring of the highway. This year, Fort Worth spent days salting road- ways ahead of a winter storm. “Our survey highlights the highways and routes that drivers fear most during the colder months, underscoring the im- portance of preparation and caution,” Gunther said. “Proper vehicle mainte- nance, reduced speeds and emergency preparedness can make all the difference. Above all, if conditions are truly danger- ous, sometimes the safest decision is to stay off the road entirely.” ▼ POLICE BIG BROTHER COP DALLAS POLICE TO RENEW CONTRACT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING BANNED BY META. BY EMMA RUBY F unding from the Homeland Security Grant program has given the Dallas Police Department access to a “web- based intelligence” platform called Cob- webs for the last three years, and an easy-to-overlook item on last week’s City Council consent agenda renewed the con- tract for another three. The Cobwebs system, founded by Israeli Defense Force veterans in 2015, is used by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment (ICE) and the New York and Los An- geles police departments. According to a city memo, the technology is an “efficient tool” that is used to survey the social media ac- counts of criminal suspects. The platform is able to extrapolate information “from multi- ple social media platforms” about a specific person. “Data obtained through this software in- cludes associated persons, places fre- quented and patterns of activities about a potential suspect,” the memo reads. “This type of data assists DPD in stopping criminal enterprises quickly and effectively in their efforts to reduce crime.” A DPD spokesperson told the Observer the technology is used to “monitor open- source social media for threats against | UNFAIR PARK | Emma Ruby Kimberley Bizor Tolbert (right) beat out candidates from outside of Dallas to become the new city manager. >> p6
