12 February 29 - March 6, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents popular right-wing social media handle, posted a video showing a North Texas teacher in a pink dress, hat and boots. The X account stated that the educator sometimes works in “full drag,” and the clip quickly went viral. Lewisville ISD confirmed to the Observer on Feb. 16 that the teacher had been placed on administrative leave. Reached for com- ment afterwards, a district spokesperson said that there hasn’t been a change in his employment status. (She did not respond to a question about Abbott’s post.) The staff member at the center of the or- deal, Rachmad Tjachyadi, is now making national and international headlines. The Daily Mail in the U.K. dubbed him a “cross- dressing teacher,” as did The New York Post. And at least one other Texas leader is joining Abbott in calling out Hebron High. State Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Re- publican, shared the governor’s post on X, along with the caption: “Well said @GovAb- bott [flexed biceps emoji].” But while GOP politicians are using the viral moment as more ammo for school vouchers, Democrats are blasting the right for taking aim at a constituent. “Gov. Abbott is only participating in this online fodder to appeal to a right wing base and promote his failed school voucher scam,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told the Observer in an emailed statement. “Abbott has a long history of attack- ing public school teachers, and his reckless at- tempt to accredit this rogue social media account only shows how far he is willing to go when pushing a dangerous MAGA agenda.” Kardal Coleman, chair of the Dallas County Democratic Party, accused the gov- ernor of concentrating on the “wrong things” at the expense of Texas students. “He’s wasting his time fighting a GOP-in- vented culture war against self-expression and trying to shore up support for his wildly unpopular voucher scam, when there are very real problems in our public schools that he should be working to fix instead,” Cole- man continued. “Texas is facing a massive teacher shortage, and yet the governor has rebuffed all efforts by lawmakers to increase teacher pay or provide any other help for public schools with our state’s record- breaking budget surplus.” Abbott’s pet issue of school voucher leg- islation suffered repeated bipartisan defeats during multiple special sessions last year. Still, he’s refused to drop the fixation, and critics accuse him of holding teacher raises hostage. In the days ahead of next month’s prima- ries, Abbott has campaigned against mem- bers of his own party who refuse to fall in line with the school-voucher conga. The Saturday X post in question did rile up some constituents, however. One social media user (who describes himself as being “in ministry,” no less) menacingly replied: “Got an urge to clean my guns... Weird??” It seems that many conservatives, though, don’t actually give a damn. Just 2% of poten- tial GOP primary voters cited vouchers, edu- cation savings accounts or school choice as a key factor in their upcoming House primary vote, according to a UT/Texas Politics Project poll published this month. Meanwhile, a wave of Tjachyadi support has washed over the region, with students demanding his return in a Change.org peti- tion. More than 13,525 signatories have backed the effort as of last week. Students had urged the teacher to wear the dress, according to the petition. The Collin County Democrats told the Observer in an emailed statement that Tjachyadi had donned the outfit on Valen- tine’s Day, which was a “spirit day.” The party further promoted inclusivity and di- versity and condemned the “political attack” on Tjachyadi, who’d worked to provide “safe spaces” for kids. Some petitioners described the belea- guered teacher as among the best instruc- tors they’ve ever had. “We view the politicization of this inno- cent gesture and dress as a troubling mani- festation of toxic behavior by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Republican Party as a whole,” the Collin County Democratic Party continued. “This incident represents yet an- other attack, not only on LGBTQIA+ Texans but on all teachers as well, and we vehe- mently condemn this divisive approach.” ▼ HOUSING ‘AN UNDER-INVESTMENT’ DALLAS HOUSING BOND DOLLARS FALL SHORT OF HOPES, EXPECTATIONS. BY JACOB VAUGHN F or the last few months, a group called the Dallas Housing Coalition has been advocating for a $200 million alloca- tion toward housing in the city’s 2024 bond package. But when all was said and done, housing is getting only about $26.4 million, technically. The amount is just a bit more than 10% of the goal — a hard pill for local housing advocates to swallow. Around $1.25 billion is set to be included in the bond package. Here’s how all the allo- cations look: $521.2 million for streets and transportation, $345.3 million for parks and recreation, $52.1 million for flood protection and storm drainage, $45.5 million for librar- ies, $75.2 million for cultural arts facilities, $90 million for public safety, $72.3 million for economic development, $26.4 million for housing infrastructure, $19 million for homelessness and $5 million for informa- tion technology. Bryan Tony, a principal organizer of the Dallas Housing Coalition, said the group is considering the total housing bond alloca- tion to be around $65 million. He arrives at that number by combining what was allo- cated for housing ($26.4 million) and just under half of the economic development funds ($36.6 million), along with some dis- cretionary funds ($2 million) that he said will also be used for housing. That total is a tad more than the $61 million it seemed as though housing would get in recent weeks. Instead of marking all of that money for housing, city staff said some of that total had to be moved over to economic development if it was to be used for housing. “We will continue to monitor the use of these funds moving forward,” Tony said. He added that the coalition is excited to begin a larger effort to get people out to the polls to vote for the bond propositions for economic development, housing and homelessness. “We’ve got our work cut out for us be- cause in all likelihood it is still an underin- vestment,” he said. “It’s not where our goals were. Our goals were based on data and based on the amount of need we have for housing. So, because we’re not meeting that need through this bond election, we’ve missed that opportunity, we’re going to have to advocate even harder for other policy re- forms that affect housing affordability.” Some, including Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and City Council member Cara Mendelsohn, have argued housing didn’t need such a big allocation because the city has other avenues to create affordable hous- ing. But Tony said they’ll likely have to come back to advocate for housing in the next bond program or explore the idea of a stand- alone housing bond before then. While the coalition didn’t get the alloca- tion it wanted, Tony said every dollar mat- ters. The $26.4 million will likely be used for housing infrastructure in areas where there’s undeveloped or vacant land. “They don’t have adequate streets or sewage and side- walks,” Tony said. “Those are all expectations that any homebuyer would want and that de- velopers are required to put in before they build any housing.” He said to build the single-family devel- opments that some City Council members want will likely require subsidies to make them affordable. “It’ll be able to make proj- ects financially viable that otherwise wouldn’t be without that bond invest- ments,” Tony said. Some of the money specifically allocated for housing will go toward developing home- ownership opportunities. The economic de- velopment dollars for housing will likely go toward more mixed use and multifamily de- velopments. “The accountability is there, the clarity is there for these spending plans,” Tony said. “It’s a matter of priorities as a city.” The coalition understands that this is the first time Dallas has made a significant in- vestment in housing as part of a bond. Tony noted that the first time Austin did a hous- ing bond in 2006, it allocated some $55 mil- lion. “So, we’re right there,” he said. “But our housing affordability isn’t going to last this way forever by any means. We’re al- ready seeing the home prices rise exponen- tially. If Dallas truly wants to be a diverse city that has housing accessible for people at a variety of price points and we want to keep our talent and our workforce here, our mid- dle class households, we’ve got to repriori- tize housing and find more solutions or else those folks will move away.” Raul Reyes Jr., president of the advocacy group West Dallas 1, said he can look at the final housing allocation one of two ways: with frustration or constructively. “The city has acted on the expectation, not that they fully delivered the $200 million, but they did listen to the community, to the constitu- ent, to the advocacy that was being done on the matter,” he said. “It’s a start.” West Dallas 1 is also a member of the Dal- las Housing Coalition. Reyes Jr. said he has three kids who have all gone to college but are having trouble finding affordable hous- ing, and there are others out there just like them. This is partly why West Dallas 1 and the Dallas Housing Coalition need to con- tinue making the case for affordable housing in the city, he says. “There is a need and that need trickles out into other aspects of a community,” he said. “West Dallas is a community that’s being gen- trified, and we’re going through our own dis- placement issues as it relates to high property values, which translates into high taxation.” The median income in West Dallas is $42,000, which can be stretched only so far. “There needs to be an investment into the people, not just the dirt that is there,” Reyes Jr. said. “I’m encouraged. I’m not going to give up on this because I’m planning to con- tinue to live here and die here in Dallas.” Tony said there’s still hope for affordable housing in the city. “We’ve grown to over 200 members,” Tony said of the Dallas Housing Coalition. “As long as we exist and we have our mem- bers supporting us, we’re going to continue to do work to meet people where they are, engage people in the middle of the conver- sation who are being left out, not just the folks that are very passionate on either side of the issue. … I’m very hopeful.” Jacob Vaughn Members of the Sunrise Movement Dallas rally for housing on Jan. 21 Unfair Park from p10
