10 April 25 - MAy 1, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents this park is, to figure out what pieces of this park they are committed to retaining.” For Dallas County Heritage Society to keep managing the park, the city would have to put more money into it, he said. His hope is that whoever takes over man- agement of the park long term has a more equitable financial arrangement with the city. If the city invests in the park, those dollars could be matched by private do- nors, which could take the park from be- ing average or good to outstanding, he added. Meadows has been told by philan- thropists that they’d be happy to invest in the park but only after seeing equal invest- ment from the city. Since recent news about the park broke, much of the reaction he’s seen has been dis- heartening to Meadows. If people care about the park, he said they should stay in contact with the park and recreation direc- tor and their representatives about it. “The reason that the park is in the posi- tion it’s in right now and the condition that it is in is because people just kind of have forgotten about it,” he said. “They haven’t come out here. They haven’t used it. They haven’t made contributions to it. I don’t know of a single park or cultural as- set that flourishes when nobody visits, or not enough people visit or not enough people contribute.” He said there have been some loyal peo- ple who have contributed to the park over the years, but this needs to happen on a greater scale if it is to reach its full potential. “I think it’s got such great bones and such great potential to be much more than it is right now,” Meadows said. “I think it can be, but people are going to have to step up and get active and advocate for it. Rather than hand-wringing and being angry, you know, turn that around and say, ‘OK, I’m going to do something about it.’” ▼ CITY COUNCIL ‘IT’S A REAL SHAME’ IMPORTANT PROJECTS LEFT OUT OF DALLAS’ 2024 BOND PACKAGE. BY JACOB VAUGHN T here are just over 800 projects in the $1.25 billion 2024 bond package for Dallas. That’s a lot of stuff for a lot of money. The bond is divided into 10 proposi- tions: streets and transportation ($521,200,000), parks and recreation ($345,270,000), flood protection and storm drainage ($52,100,000), libraries ($43,530,000), cultural arts facilities ($75,200,000), public safety ($90,000,000), economic development ($72,300,000), housing ($26,400,000), homelessness ($19,000,000), and informa- tion technology ($5,000,000.) Late last month, the city released a list of the proposed projects in the bond, which is subject to change. It includes $50 million for a new Dallas Police Department training fa- cility at UNT Dallas, $25 million set aside to replace the State Highway 356 bridge over the Elm Fork Trinity River, $30 million for a new habitat at the Dallas Zoo and so much more. But, there are some items that didn’t make the cut. For example, Dallas Animal Services (DAS) could have really used that new shel- ter it was asking for as part of the bond package. DAS’ current facility was primar- ily designed for animal control and hous- ing, not to be a well-flowing, inviting adoption center for visitors and staff. The facility is showing wear and tear, is rou- tinely over capacity and has issues with dis- ease control. DAS was hoping to fix some of this with a new $114 million shelter. The site would have been double the size of the current fa- cility. The money would have covered the cost of site development, the new building, a livestock building, all of the animal care enclosures and contractor fees. “This is a shelter that would bring us into 2050 and beyond,” MeLissa Webber, DAS director, said last year of the proposed shelter. In- stead, since the new shelter didn’t make it in the bond, DAS will be stuck in 2006, the year the current facility was built. There was also District 14’s Glencoe Skatepark project that died after neighborhood oppo- sition. The skatepark would have cost just about $500,000 and sit on a 5,000–9,000-square-foot piece of land in Glencoe Park off Central Expressway, just south of Mockingbird Lane. Though the park had support from local skaters and the area’s park board representative, there was too much local opposition to get it in the bond. “So, when you start seeing just a mas- sive amount of those folks just oppose this amenity, I mean the right thing to do is say, ‘Hey, look, while on paper this might be a great suggestion for Glencoe, in reality, it’s not going to fly,’” Rudy Karimi, District 14’s park board representative, told the Ob- server at the time. While the district won’t get a new skatepark, the money will still be used on another skatepark somewhere else in the city. Dallas City Council member Adam Ba- zaldua was really passionate about includ- ing fixes to City Hall in the bond. That didn’t happen either. Bazaldua was the lone vote on council against the 2024 bond package. He didn’t respond to a request for comment, but in an Op-ed for The Dal- las Morning News, Bazaldua laid out the reasons he didn’t support the bond. One was the lack of funding for fixes at City Hall: “... our building is deteriorating, yet we have not allocated a single cent in this bond package toward necessary infra- structure for the critical workspace of front-line staff who interface with more than one million residents daily both in and outside of 1500 Marilla,” Bazaldua wrote. The other reason Bazaldua voted no on the bond was the lack of funds for housing. While he voted to approve the bond, City Council member Chad West told the Observer he’d also hoped for more money allocated toward housing. He said he was happy with the District 1 projects that made the cut, like major street and trans- portation items neighbors have been ask- ing for, renovations to the Martin Weiss Recreation Center and funding for a skate park. “I’m mostly disappointed with the lack of funding in the overall housing and homelessness solutions category,” West said. “I believe that our No. 1 issue facing the city that we’re not addressing well is housing, our lack of housing for our work- force, our first responders, teachers, medi- cal technicians, postmen and women. It’s a real shame that we didn’t make more of a commitment in the bond for those indi- viduals. ” Now that the bond is being sent to the voters, the gaps in funding for housing and homelessness will have to be filled in other ways, West said. Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon said she would like to have seen more money allocated for infrastructure projects, housing and homelessness. “I think we basically got most of the big proj- ects funded to some allocations,” Blackmon said. “The question is, was it funded enough, and that’s a different conversa- tion.” But, ultimately, Blackmon thinks the city will be able to make do with what it gets out of the bond and is encouraging people to vote yes on the propositions. “I think we can make it work with what we’re moving for- ward with,” she said. “We need the invest- ment.” Early voting for the bond will take place April 22–30. Election Day is May 4. ▼ CITY MANAGER ‘YOU NEED A CEO’ IN WHAT AREAS SHOULD DALLAS’ NEXT CITY MANAGER EXCEL? BY JACOB VAUGHN C ouncil member Paula Blacmon could tell by looking at City Manager T.C. Broadnax during bond discussions that he was done with the job. “You could just tell it was done,” Black- mon said. “It was just time. You can just tell it was time to go.” That’s why Blackmon, along with seven other council members, asked Broadnax to resign. Broadnax announced his resignation in February, saying he hopes his departure will allow Dallas to reset, refocus and transi- tion to a new city manager who can continue to move the city forward and will have a more effective working relationship with the mayor and City Council. Now, the city is embarking on a search for that new city manager. City Council members said they hope the next city manager is a good communicator who can work collaboratively with the council and mayor, as well as with regional partners. Blackmon joked that Dallas might need a therapist to work through its city man- ager woes. But she said the next person to fill the position should have a good under- standing of the city manager form of gov- ernment, in which the city manager acts as Dallas’ CEO and takes direction from the City Council. That’s important, Black- mon said, because “with that comes a cer- tain dynamic.” She wants to see a city manager who can manage and execute plans, and communicate with council along the way. She said the outgoing city manager was a great administrator who took the coun- cil’s direction and tried to implement what it wanted. But the council wasn’t matching the city manager’s rhythm and vice versa. “When we as a council are not in step together with that, and we’re maybe a step behind him or her, you don’t get the results that you want or need,” Blackmon said. “You need a CEO, you need a manager, you need somebody who exe- cutes. I’m not saying he [Broadnax] didn’t do it. I’m just saying I think us as council maybe didn’t give him clear direction on where to go.” Council member Gay Donnell Willis hopes the city can find a new city manager before the end of the year, before budget talks in 2025. She believes that stepping into the city manager’s role would be a great op- portunity for anyone. “I think this is just one of the most amazing jobs that would be open in this country,” Willis said. “What an amazing time to be in that CEO seat for Dallas, Texas.” Unfair Park from p8 Nathan Hunsinger Projects left out of the bond include a new animal shelter.
