10 February 6 - 12, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ POLITICS FROZEN AND UNFROZEN REP. JASMINE CROCKETT DESCRIBES FUNDING FREEZE ‘PANIC.’ BY EMMA RUBY O fficials across all levels of Dallas’ government were sent scrambling last week as details of President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze emerged on Jan. 28. The memorandum, titled “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs” was expected to go into effect Tuesday evening before a judge issued a block on the order that lasts until Feb. 3. But the Office of Management Budget rescinded the pivotal memo calling for he freeze on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Before the freeze was unfroze, however, Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett told reporters that the issue had caused “panic” among her family, friends and colleagues who were uncertain whether the order would affect issues such as student loan disbursement or SNAP food assistance. Even her hairstylist had expressed worry over the sweeping freeze earlier in the day, Crockett said. “The president did say as he campaigned that he would be a dictator on day one. It sounds like he’s going to continue to try his best to be a dictator,” Crockett told reporters during her congressional swearing-in ceremony held in Fair Park. “The reality is that we go through appropriations every single year. … We have monies that have been appropriated by law and no swipe of a pen can just delete that.” Crockett added that she was concerned that the freeze would hurt infrastructure projects in her district where contracts have already been issued based on the money promised by Congress. In Dallas County, dozens of programs receive lifeline funding through federal programs. Just minutes after the freeze directive was blocked by a federal judge, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins spoke to the media about widespread effects a stall in funding could have across Dallas. “We have scrambled today to see what would be impacted. Parkland [hospital], schools,” Jenkins said. “These pauses would’ve been extremely detrimental.” More than $150 million of Dallas County’s budget appropriations come through federal funds, assisting programs that Jenkins said would not be possible without those funds. Part of last Tuesday’s chaos was the un- certainty of what programs would be hit by Trump’s funding freeze. Spokespersons for University of Texas at Arlington and Univer- sity of Texas at Dallas told the Observer that the schools were assessing whether the memorandum would apply to student loan payments or research funding. UT Dallas has directed students working on research projects that have already received federal funding to continue their work, and the the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday afternoon that the order would not affect federal student loans or Pell Grants. A statement released by the city of Dallas said the city was also taking stock of what programs could take a financial hit had the funding freeze gone into effect. But trouble with the federal Medicaid program portal added uncertainty to the order. Although Medicaid was said not to be affected by the order, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon took to social media to warn about the website tanking across all 50 states, a glitch that Crockett referred to as quite the coincidence. “Everyone is paying attention, I will say that [Trump is] awakening everyone,” Crockett said. “This administration is sending out mixed signals. At the end of the day, whichever signals they’re sending out, I personally believe from my legal training that all of it is illegal.” ▼ PUBLIC SAFETY WALK THIS WAY (IF YOU CAN) DALLAS ISN’T ALL THAT SAFE FOR WALKERS. BY ALYSSA FIELDS K atie Kerl was walking to her Uber on a Thursday night in January when an- other car raced around the parked rideshare vehicle and struck her and her friend. According to reports, the 23-year-old recent graduate died on impact and her friend was hospitalized. Kerl’s death reveals a safety crisis in Dallas — poor pedestrian con- ditions resulting in a high rate of fatal crashes. Despite thousands of miles of sidewalk and city and state initiatives to protect pe- destrians, Dallas still reports pedestrian fa- tality rates significantly higher than comparatively sized cities, according to a re- port from SafeStep.pro. There were 73 fatal pedestrian crashes in Dallas in 2024 and 151 severe injuries. It is a high but perhaps unsurprising figure for a city with a walk score of 46. Walk scores are determined by the online realty service Redfin. A team of urban planners determines the walkability of an area based on the avail- ability of walking routes to nearby amenities. A score between 25 and 49 means most errands within that area will require a car. There is no major city in Texas that has a score over 49 As of 2021, there were 4,536 miles of side- walk in Dallas, but a large percentage of them were damaged and many of the exist- ing sidewalks do not connect. There are even fewer routes that connect neighbor- hoods across high-speed, multi-lane high- ways. Pedestrians are geographically restricted by infrastructure or forced to play a high-risk game of chicken. “It’s about time beyond time to make our infrastructure safe for pedestrians, cyclists, and other forms of micro-mobility, not just cars. And connecting sidewalks is a huge piece of that,” said City Council Member Chad West in an interview with KERA in 2021. Walkability is crucial in cities with high populations, but walkable accessibility to re- sources in large Texas cities isn’t common. San Antonio and Austin are both categorized as car-dependent cities by Walk Score. But, Dallas, scoring better walkability scores than those cities, has significantly higher pedes- trian fatality rates. There were 371 pedes- trian-involved crashes in Austin in 2023, and 577 in San Antonio. There were 831 in Dallas. The issue doesn’t end with major cities, however. Pedestrians accounted for 20% of all roadway fatalities on Texas roads, ac- cording to Neal Johnson, a research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Johnson is also a spokesperson for Walk Bike Safe Texas, a collaboration between Texas A&M and the Texas Department of Transportation. He said pedestrian fatalities have increased 69% in the last decade. The changing shape and design of vehicles over the last 10 years has decreased the surviv- ability of crashes, he said. “More SUVs, more larger trucks, and also the design of them and how the impact and the size of them is creating a physics prob- lem where it’s hurting more, killing more pedestrians than it used to,” said Johnson. Pedestrian fatalities are most common at night when visibility is low. Johnson added that a lot of fatalities oc- cur when pedestrians cross major roadways, overestimating how prepared fast-moving vehicles are to stop. Poorly designed roads, improper signage and cognitive and physical distractions also lead to pedestrian-related incidents. Johnson noted that most crashes are preventable, at least to some degree. But prevention lies in the hands of all roadway users, whether they are traveling by car or by foot. “Just one decision on the part of one of those road users, whether that be the person walking or the person driving, probably could have made that different,” he said. “Different design of the roadway or different infrastructure in place, et cetera, all those things, any of those factors could have helped prevent [a] crash.” Dallas, recognizing the problem it is fac- ing, launched Vision Zero Dallas, an initia- tive that promotes public safety and aims to cut traffic-related deaths in half by 2030. Though only 2% of Dallasites walk to work, pedestrians account for 30% of traffic deaths. The program prioritizes spreading pedestrian safety education and improving and expanding the existing sidewalk system, although recent numbers indicate traffic-re- lated deaths in Dallas have remained consis- tent in recent years without falling much. “Increasing the safety of our streets will be critical to enticing more people to walk and bicycle for transportation and recre- ation,” reads the Vision Zero Dallas Action Plan. Handling the pedestrian fatality cri- sis is a heavy lift that requires effort from all parties. Pedestrians should be aware of YouTube / C-SPAN U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas is one of Donald Trump’s loudest critics. Lauren Drewes Daniels Unfair Park from p8 Just how safe are Dallas sidewalks for pedestrians?
