4 June 25 - July 1, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents meeting was an especially “callous” treat- ment of the public. He was bothered by the decision to limit speakers who’d waited hours to only one minute to talk. “The end effect of that is going to be peo- ple not feeling engaged by their elected lead- ers, and they’re not going to show up to do this anymore because they feel like their voice doesn’t matter,” Gonzalez said. “And that’s really sad when it comes to municipal government because that’s the point. Mu- nicipal government, it’s the closest to us, and every voice is supposed to matter.” ▼ CITY COUNCIL WHERE DID THE DALLAS CITY COUNCIL GO? COUNCIL MEETING ENDS PREMATURELY AFTER QUORUM BROKE, WORLD CUP KICKED OFF. BY EMMA RUBY W e’d anticipated that the Observ- er’s Dallas City Council report would be all about the council’s deliberations surrounding two spe- cial-called agenda items likely to determine the future of the city’s municipal footprint. The items, which authorized the city manager to spend the summer shopping for real estate and allocated up to $3 million to do so, passed 9-5, with council member Adam Bazaldua absent when the votes were taken. Bazaldua attended the meeting virtu- ally at intermittent times. The fact that it took four hours to get through two agenda items would normally be interesting enough for us City Hall watchers. A handful of council members who have stood opposed to leaving the Marilla Street building that Dallas moved into 48 years ago introduced so many amendments on the items that we lost track. Their motions suggested that the city man- ager should consider everything from em- ployee parking to protest space when evaluating the four new sites where City Hall may soon move. Every amendment was ultimately shot down, but not before the morning hours had ticked away. In the end, though, it was what didn’t occur in the afternoon hours that re- ally caught our attention. After taking a break around 2:30 p.m., City Council failed to reconvene due to a lack of quorum. Quorum is the number of mem- bers legally required for official city govern- ing to take place; in Dallas, that number is nine. If nine of the horseshoe’s 15 members are present, business may proceed as usual. By our count, only eight representatives were there after the break. So where were the other seven? To answer our question, we look to Ar- lington, where the second North Texas match of the FIFA 2026 World Cup kicked off promptly at 3 p.m. on June 17. The Observer spoke with two individuals who confirmed that a handful of council members left the afternoon’s meeting in pursuit of greener World Cup pastures (or pitch, if you will), missing a briefing on the results of the survey in which community members were asked to share their thoughts on the city’s management, and a briefing on the next fiscal year’s budget, which has a $51 million deficit . Who exactly was invited to the game is unclear, but the afternoon’s attendance as we’ve been able to confirm it consisted of Gay Donnell Willis, Paul Ridley, Cara Mendelsohn, Maxie Johnson, Kathy Stewart and Bill Roth, who all returned to the horseshoe after the break. Council member Laura Cadena told the Observer in a statement that she’d moved to her office for the afternoon portion of the meeting after falling ill. Council members may attend meetings virtually, and unlike in committee meetings, virtual attendance counts toward the quorum for council- wide meetings. “Listening to residents and participating in council meetings is extremely important to me,” Cadena said. “I understand the frustration of residents who took time out of their day to attend and participate in the meeting, and I appreciate their engagement in the city’s work. However, even with my participation, there still would not have been enough members present to maintain quorum.” The eighth member of the council counted as present at the afternoon meeting was Chad West, who also tuned in virtually. West confirmed to the Observer that he at- tended the World Cup game in Arlington, but said that he’d planned to finish out the afternoon’s agenda nonetheless. “I was logged in virtually and had my video on. If quorum had been met, I was pre- pared to be a part of the meeting,” West said. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, City Man- ager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and council membesr Lori Blair and Zarin Gracey were at the match, according to social media posts. Jesse Moreno, Jaime Resendez, and Paula Blackmon did not respond to the Ob- server’s inquiry about their whereabouts. As stated, Bazaldua spent the majority of the day in virtual attendance; a representative from his office did not answer the Observ- er’s questions about his schedule. We asked council members whether they thought the afternoon’s briefings on budget problems and community feedback were appropriate to miss — regardless of whether their absence was due to the World Cup or any other reason. We asked the mayor’s office why the afternoon’s meeting wasn’t preemptively canceled if quorum may have been an issue, but did not receive a response. After all, community members who’d signed up to speak to the council during the public comment period spent half the day waiting around, only to be left behind. Tolbert’s office did not answer our ques- tion regarding when the council will hear the missed briefing items at the next meet- ing. The horseshoe breaks for the summer in July, and the next week was scheduled to be a voting agenda. Typically, briefing items are kept separate from voting meetings. The city of Dallas did not respond to our questions about how council members trav- eled to the stadium, but the Dallas Morning News reported that buses were provided to take them. The city also did not answer a question regarding whether taxpayer dol- lars were used to fly in a representative from the Kansas-based company that conducted the community feedback survey to give the scheduled presentation that never hap- pened as a result of the quorum threshold not being me. ▼ CITY BUDGET LET IT BLEED THE CITY IS FACING ITS LARGEST BUDGET SHORTFALL SINCE COVID-19. STAFFING, PARKS, LIBRARIES AND EVEN POLICE BUDGETS MAY TAKE A HIT. BY AUSTIN WOOD T he city of Dallas is facing a $51 mil- lion shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, as some council members say “everything should be on the table” to help bridge the gap. The City Council was set to get its first up- date on the city’s upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal year budget since May. (It didn’t. See above.) Revenue shortfalls estimated at around $33 million for the current fiscal year have al- ready forced the city to enact hiring freezes, and now council members may have to wrangle with an even larger deficit before approving the next budget. According to a publicly posted brief- ing, the city’s pro- jected revenues for the upcoming fiscal year fall roughly $51 million short of planned FY 2027 expenditures. It’s important to note that figures are still preliminary and that this isn’t the first time the city has faced a budget shortfall — in 2008, city staff estimated a $190 million gap in the wake of the Great Reces- sion. But the projected total represents the largest such hurdle since COVID-19, and it comes at a time when the city’s budget is in- creasingly constrained by shrinking tax reve- nue and legislative obstacles. Last year, in the face of a $36 million shortfall, City Council members approved a budget that closed the Skillman Southwest- ern Library and three community pools. What’s Driving the Shortfall? In the briefing, staff cited the city’s declining population — i.e., tax base — a stagnant Council of Chaos from p3 >> p6 “THE STATE HAS IMPOSED THIS ARTIFICIAL LIMIT ON OUR REVENUES.” -PAUL RIDLEY James Smith In defense of Mayor Eric Johnson and others cutting class for a World Cup match, Observer staff took an afternoon off for a Rangers game last week. You know, America’s pastime.
