6 May 9 - 15, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents for the fifth floor in December, according to The Dallas Morning News. But in April, the city said they would have to leave, citing addi- tional work that was needed after the 11-story office building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway failed a city inspection. Now, the Ad Hoc Committee on General Investigating & Ethics will consider whether to have the city auditor conduct an audit or an investigation into Dallas’ due dil- igence in the purchase and renovation of the new permitting office. In an email to residents, Dallas City Council member Chad West said he was dis- appointed with the whole situation. “Like many of you, I am incredibly frus- trated with the recent failures in inspections at the new permit office on Stemmons Free- way,” West’s email said. He told the interim city manager about his disappointment and requested full transparency regarding how this happened. “... more importantly, we need a plan moving forward to fix the prob- lems, pass the inspections, and enable De- velopment Services personnel to do their jobs,” West said. “As I’ve said before, the permit office is the city’s key to construction jobs, new housing and preservation of our existing homes, and tax revenue, all of which are paramount to the city’s success.” In a city memo on April 19, Dallas City Council member Jesse Moreno asked his own questions of city staff about how this happened. “I am deeply concerned about the developments at 7800 North Stemmons Freeway,” Moreno said in his memo. “City facilities should be a safe and welcoming en- vironment for all our employees.” Moreno received answers to his questions in an April 26 memo from Assistant City Manager Robert. M. Perez. He said the build- ing went through several evaluations before employees moved in. In June 2022, the Build- ing Services Department and Bond and Con- struction Management completed a site assessment. Besides two non-functioning el- evators, no immediate needs were identified. The city also hired a third-party consul- tant to complete a property condition as- sessment, which found some immediate needs, like fixes to the elevators. Later, an environmental assessment on the property found asbestos on floors one and eight. As- bestos remediation was done by Oct. 29, 2022, but those floors weren’t occupied. It will cost another $1.4 million to con- tinue housing the development services em- ployees at their old building for 18 months. Between mid-December 2023 and April 9 this year, nearly 70 employees had occupied the building. Some were accessing floors that hadn’t cleared for occupancy, Perez’s memo said. He said the cost of getting the building into full compliance will be re- vealed at the meeting of the Ad Hoc Com- mittee on General Investigating & Ethics. ▼ CANNABIS (ALMOST) LEGAL WEED? MARIJUANA TO BE RESCHEDULED IN U.S. BY JACOB VAUGHN A fter months of talks within the agency, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is finally moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to a report from The Associ- ated Press. The proposal still needs to be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, but it would recognize the med- ical uses of cannabis and acknowledge that it has less potential for abuse compared with the country’s most dangerous drugs. Once the White House OMB signs off on the pro- posal, the DEA will take public comments about removing marijuana from its current clas- sification as a Schedule I drug. Other Schedule I drugs include LSD and heroin. If approved, the proposal would reclassify mari- juana as a Sched- ule III drug. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would remove it from under an IRS code that pre- vents marijuana businesses from claiming tax deductions for business expenses, ac- cording to NBC. The Associated Press confirmed the move last week through five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. While it is significant, the DEA’s actions won’t legalize recreational cannabis use in the U.S. This comes after President Joe Biden previously called for a review of federal marijuana laws in October 2022 and par- doned thousands who were federally con- victed of simple possession. This could all mean something, or possi- bly nothing for the Lone Star State. Daryoush Austin Zamhariri, creator and chief editor of the Fort Worth-based Texas Cannabis Collective news site, told the Ob- server in February that rescheduling mari- juana could have a tremendous impact on the state. He explained that Texas has trigger laws that match federal scheduling as long as the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) doesn’t intercede in less than 30 days. On the other hand, though, Texas could reject the rescheduling and keep marijuana as a Schedule I drug, even though the state has a medical marijuana program and recog- nizes (at least to some degree) the medicinal uses of the drug. The state’s medical pro- gram is called the Texas Compassionate Use Program. But, if Texas matches the federal sched- uling, it could mean some good things for the state. Zamhariri guesses if that happens it won’t be such a big task to expand the state’s medical marijuana program in the next legislative session. “It’s almost been 10 years since we passed the Compassionate Use Act, and yet Texas’ remains one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the coun- try,” Zamhariri said. “Texas can and needs to do more for the patients that are in Com- passionate Use.” ▼ SCHOOL SAFETY ‘MORE VISIBILITY, MORE PRESENCE’ DALLAS ISD INCREASES CAMPUS SECURITY FOLLOWING SHOOTINGS. BY EMMA RUBY S chool campuses are known to get rowdy as the school year comes to an end, says Albert Martinez, Dallas ISD chief of police, but two recent gun violence incidents are pushing the school district to ramp up security protocols at high schools city-wide. The heightened security follows the re- cent on-campus shooting at Wilmer- Hutchins High School and last week’s off-campus shooting of two Roosevelt High School football players who were driving with a school employee. More police visibility on campus, in- creased personnel for arrival and dismissal, retraining staff on backpack searches, wands and metal detectors, and reworking daily schedules to maximize the number of staff available for active monitoring are all going into effect during the last month of the school year, the district said. “It’s the same safety measures as before. Just more visibility, more presence,” Marti- nez said. “What we are really trying to do is ensure that our students and our faculty know all that is important.” Last month, one student was shot and another was arrested at Wilmer-Hutchins High School. The shooting happened inside a classroom, and a student, 17-year-old Ja’kerian Rhodes-Ewing, was taken into custody. Dallas ISD said the student who was shot is “on the path to full recovery.” “Everyone at Dallas ISD wants the Wilmer-Hutchins High School community to know that our hearts are with them,” Dal- las ISD said in a statement. “Our investiga- tion revealed the handgun was brought into the school during the late entry process dur- ing which several safety protocols were not strictly followed.” Dallas ISD requires clear backpacks on campus, and Wilmer-Hutchins has metal detectors at entryways. The student was al- lowed into the building after setting off the metal detector without a further check, Martinez told the Dallas Morning News. Days after the shooting, around 50 students walked out of class, claiming that school leaders brushed over the incident and they did not feel safe in the school. Wilmer- Hutchins students told the Morning News that the school did not consistently utilize the entry-way metal detectors or enforce the clear bag policy. Martinez said the heightened presence of on-campus law enforcement and security protocol enforcement are as much a reassur- ance to students and staff as they are preven- tive of a crime. “It just brings reassurance that oh, look, there’s a patrol car here, there’s an officer there,” said Martinez. “What (students are) not seeing is the retraining on protocols, the discussions we are having on creating best practices and gold standards, so that we can implement those on every level throughout the district.” Classes at Roosevelt High School were recently cancelled for a day after two stu- dents were wounded in a drive-by shooting off-campus. The students, ages 16 and 17, were inside a school employee’s car at the time of the shooting. The employee drove the students back to campus in an attempt to get aid. The campus closed after receiving a “credible threat” that evening, the district said. The shooting is being investigated by the Dallas Police Department because it oc- curred off-campus, the district said. “Our mental health specialists are there for Wilmer-Hutchins, for Roosevelt and for other schools,” Martinez said. “We really don’t know why this happened … We are try- ing to figure out why it happened and, of course, take action to catch the person or the persons who did this.” ▼ CITY COUNCIL READING IS FUNDAMENTAL PLAN RECOMMENDS OVERHAUL OF CENTRAL LIBRARY. BY EMMA RUBY D allas City Council recently unani- mously adopted a 20-year library fa- cility plan that calls for a Unfair Park from p4 Danielle Lirette The move by the DEA could signal something bigger for cannabis reform in Texas. >> p8 “TEXAS CAN AND NEEDS TO DO MORE FOR PATIENTS THAT ARE IN COMPASSIONATE USE.” –DARYOUSH ZAMHARIRI
