5 February 26 - March 4, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents eral Ken Paxton during his impeachment hearing, the Texas Ethics Commission ad- opted a new rule requiring social media cre- ators to disclose when they are paid for political advertisements. Any payments over $100 must be reported, the commission voted. Some skeptics worried that the new ordinance was too focused on cracking down on individual influencers, rather than the groups that fund them. As news moves to online platforms, some strategists warn that content creators can burn a candidate just as quickly as they can fuel them. In the case of the TikToker who claimed Talarico described Allred as a “me- diocre Black man,” the creator noted that the conversation had been off the record. In traditional journalism, that would have made the quote inadmissible. For a content creator, though, “off the record” may only have as much meaning as a particular influ- encer is willing to give it. “There are no codes of ethics that you as a member of the press and free media abide by,” Dallas Jones, a Democratic strategist, told the Texas Tribune. “[Influencers] are not beholden to these things, so they can get out and use whatever four-letter words they can get out and say.” ▼ LIBRARIES CHECK IT OUT SURVEY ASKS WHAT RESIDENTS WANT FROM DALLAS LIBRARIES AS CLOSURES LOOM BY AUSTIN WOOD D allas residents are being asked what they want in a library system as the city weighs branch closures and staff reductions. The Friends of the Dallas Public Library, a nonprofit organization that raises support for the city’s libraries, is launching a 32-question survey in collaboration with the Dallas Public Library to assess residents’ at- titudes toward services and potential clo- sures. Residents have until Feb. 26 to respond to the survey. DPL staff unveiled plans at a January briefing of the city council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee to close four of 29 existing branch libraries as part of an on- going transition to a regional model cen- tered around five flagship locations. Staff encountered resistance from council mem- bers, some of whom said the branches iden- tified for closure served as crucial voting centers and community spaces. Two of the branches at risk of shutting down (Oak Lawn and Skyline) serve as im- portant polling places with historically high turnout, council members said. The Oak Lawn Branch also hosts a significant collec- tion of LGBTQ+ literature, which Council member Paul Ridley said was not taken into account in the selection process. “That isn’t reflected in this metric about the community significance,” said Ridley. “We talk about community need, but it doesn’t take into account the specialized collection at Oak Lawn. It also doesn’t ad- dress its integration into the community. And it’s important to this community, par- ticularly to the LGBTQ population.” Committee members also criticized the lack of transparency in the process at the meeting, with Council member Zarin Gracey noting that he had learned of the po- tential closure only through social media a few days earlier. “We all found out about this on social media. That should have never happened. As the chair [of the committee], that should never have happened. That right there is a huge problem,” said Gracey. “I’m very disappointed about that because we didn’t even have an opportunity to prepare our community.” ▼ ANIMAL WELFARE KITTY HALL MEETING CITY TO CONSIDER REGULATIONS, PROTECTIONS FOR STRAY, FERAL COMMUNITY CATS. BY EMMA RUBY I t has been nearly a year since we wrote of the Bishop Arts battle waged between a businessman and the neighbor- hood’s feline advocates. An armistice was brokered last fall, and the cats of Oak Cliff have presumably lived peacefully ever since. But the dispute shone a light on the gaps in Dallas’ code and policies that left community cats and business owners alike ex- posed. Now, the city council may consider policy amendments that define the role of community cats across town and offer guidance to property owners dealing with the felines. Community cats are outdoor cats that range from friendly to feral. What makes a free-roaming feline a community cat is the existence of a community member who cares for it. These volun- teers can leave food, water and shelter outside for the cat, and in highly populated areas like Bishop Arts, some individuals have begun maintaining colonies of the animals. The cat colonies are typically made up of kitties that have gone through Dallas’ pilot Trap Neuter and Return (TNR) pro- gram, which helps prevent additional cats from being born by re- lying on methods other than euthanasia for population control. Animal advocates say TNR is the most humane and effective way to manage feral cat populations, as removing the animals from an area completely only creates a vacuum that other ani- mals, such as possums or raccoons, move into. In a briefing to the council’s Quality of Life committee last week, Paul Ramon, director of Dallas Animal Services, outlined suggested policy changes, including explicitly defining commu- nity cats and community cat colonies in the Dallas city code for the first time. The new ordinance amendments would also clarify property owners’ rights regarding cats in the area and make it an offense to trap a community cat with the intent to relocate or eu- thanize it. “This would help define those guidelines for those who are trapping and those who are property owners as far as what they can and cannot do, because right now it’s unclear to them,” said Council member Chad West. “That was part of the issue we ran into; there is nothing [in the city’s code] right now.” Last year, when the Observer reported on the dispute be- tween cat rescuer Lisa Dennis and developer David Spence. Den- nis accused Spence of trapping Bishop Arts’ community cats in cages and relocating the felines to Grand Prairie. When we asked Dallas Animal Services and a handful of other experts whether that relocation would be considered illegal under state or local law, no one knew the answer. The city also didn’t know how many colonies actually exist in Dallas, despite Dallas Animal Services offering an online colony application that asks for a manager’s contact information and details about the colony’s location and size. In a statement, the department said it was “currently working on” strengthening the program. According to the presentation, Dallas Animal Services has his- torically dealt with community cats by the thousands. Between August 2023 and September 2025, nearly 8,500 service requests for feral community cats were submitted to the department. Of those requests, nearly 36% came from just five ZIP codes across the city. Department data suggest that south- ern and central Dallas have the highest number of community cat-related requests. In that same stretch of time, Dallas Animal Services took in 10,599 neonatal kittens, which require specialized care and cost the city significant resources. (Close to 6% of those kittens came from the ZIP code associated with Bishop Arts and the surround- ing area.) According to Ramon, that data helped the department justify the start of the TNR program, which may have prevented the birth of up to 9,000 kittens and the intake of 5,000 neonates in only a few years. “Population stabilization takes time and community concerns may persist during implementation. This approach is not a quick fix,” Ramon said. Over the next few weeks, officials will finalize the ordinance amendment language with the help of the animal advisory com- mission before bringing the recommendations back to the com- mittee in April. If approved, it could be seen by the full council in late May. A large population of free-roaming felines call the Bishop Arts District home. Nathan Hunsinger >> p6
