8 July 16 - 22, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents and a social lifeline.” According to the budget briefing, the clo- sure of the four recreation centers would save the parks department just over $1 million. The board, though, agreed unanimously that that wasn’t a trade-off they were willing to make. Board member Rudy Karimi said he was “emotionally moved” by the impas- sioned pleas of the Marcus Annex loyalists, and argued that even in an aggressive budget season, “we can’t have situations like that. We can’t be affecting individuals like that.” Board member Sally Pretorius Hodge said that even considering the facility’s clo- sure became “a huge source of angst” for the community. The line item, which also sug- gested closing the Arcadia and Umphress recreation centers and the Teen Tech Cen- ter, was struck. In the weeks since, the Park Department has pointed to Marcus Annex as an example of public feedback working. On Facebook, the department posted a message thanking the women who advocated for the center, stating, “Their stories, their passion and their voices were heard, and their input will influence the decisions being made in our Dallas Parks system!” So for now, Marcus Annex is safe. But we’ve seen this play out before. In fall 2024, budget woes put Dallas’ community pools under the spotlight, but public pushback kept the centers open. Hours were reduced, though, and according to analysis by the Dallas Morning News, at- tendance ultimately fell throughout the fol- lowing summer. By September 2025, the park department confirmed that three of the nine community pools would close. That won’t be the fate of Marcus Annex, if the seniors have anything to say about it. “I’m at the center four or five times a week. … This is a community for some folks where that’s the people that they see every day and that’s it,” said Dallas resident Kathy Bell. “I live alone and have no local family, but I’m able to get out and do these things.” ▼ HOMELESSNESS FEEDING THE HOMELESS IS CONTROVERSIAL? DOWNTOWN HOMELESS VOLUNTEERS SAY THEY ARE ‘NOT GOING TO BE BULLIED’ AMID CRACKDOWN BY AUSTIN WOOD O rganizations distributing food to homeless individuals in downtown Dallas say the city’s crackdown is persisting as the World Cup winds down. As morning temperatures sat in the low 90s on July 5, organizers for Sandwich Sun- days moved their twice-monthly street feed- ing from behind Dallas City Hall to the shaded section of the plaza. From a row of coolers parked on a sidewalk, volunteers handed out over 200 sandwiches and hot meals, roughly the same number of bottles of water and some canned goods to home- less individuals. Organizers also said that 10 people were registered to vote at an ex- panded distribution dubbed “The People’s Picnic.” But while volunteers started lugging sup- plies to the plaza, security guards ap- proached the group almost immediately, Wade Padgett, vice president of the People of Dallas Houseless Aid, said. He told them to vacate the property. After organizers re- fused, Dallas Police units arrived, who were in turn followed by city code officers. That’s when the group’s president was cited for il- legal vending under Chapter 50 of the Dallas City Code. In May, the group was forced to vacate its longstanding corner for the first time after code compliance officers said their tables were blocking sidewalk traffic. A few weeks prior, the Dallas City Council voted to amend the code to include charitable distri- butions in its definition of a vendor — al- though stopping short of requiring permits for distributions — following pressure from downtown residents and shelters. “Every time they’ve set up a regulation or a rule, we have tried to comply to the best of our ability, and it just feels like every time, as soon as we were compliant with it, they found a reason why we weren’t compliant,” Padgett said. Shifting expectations Homeless feeding events in downtown have become a controversial subject in re- cent years amidst Dallas’ push to combat the issue in the inner core. Residents have raised concerns of large groups assembling for the handouts and the trash often left behind. In The Dallas Morning News, Downtown Dal- las Inc President Jennifer Scripps wrote in an editorial that “Street feeding undermines the very strategy Dallas has embraced to re- duce and ultimately solve homelessness: connecting people to housing and services.” Organizations feeding the homeless al- ready have to comply with a few ground rules. First, as Padgett’s group learned in April, tables or stands can’t touch the ground. Second, prepared meals must be kept at safe food temperatures. Organiza- tions must also notify the code depart- ment at least a day in advance and bring enough trash bags to clean up after a dis- tribution is over. Padgett said the group complies with all of those standards, although he admitted the coolers were the code issue Sunday. But the restrictions, he said, are contradictory and inconsistent. “They said, well, you can’t distribute on coolers or anything touching the ground on public property, but they want us to hand everything out by hand, so they want us to walk down and distribute by hand,” he said. “Well, the coolers keep cold things cold and the hot things hot… So it doesn’t always seem like it’s about food safety.” The group is considering legal action against the city, Padgett said, adding that he does not know why they’re being targeted — mostly because of lack of clear direction from the city. “In one newsletter and then their web- site, they say, ‘Hey, we thank you for what you’re doing, we encourage you to go to these other units to distribute,’” he said. “On the other, they’re like, ‘Well, you can distrib- ute but don’t do it that way. “I’m not gonna guess what the reasoning is,” he added. “The fact is that when we try to meet the goals that they set forward, again, it feels like every week there’s some- thing different.” ‘Keeping our streets clean’ Some city officials have previously ex- pressed dissatisfaction with the state of downtown homeless food service. In a 2025 Morning News interview, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert called street feeding “problematic.” The city did not return a request for com- ment on the citation issued on July 5 or on how new regulations have been communi- cated to groups. City council members were divided on how to approach the issue in April. Some, in- cluding Jesse Moreno, argued that adding a permit requirement would reduce street trash and help fight foodborne illnesses. Others, led by Adam Bazaldua, said the move could be seen as restricting an act of faith — something which the city settled a lawsuit for in 2014 after even stricter feeding regulations were proposed. “It’s not our place to take that away. So I am opposed to trying to restrict something that is clearly, to me, a First Amendment right that a couple of neighbors don’t like,” Cara Mendelsohn, District 12 council mem- ber, said. “We need to do a better job enforc- ing the codes we already have on our books, which are reasonable, but not try to limit something that’s clearly an expression of faith and compassion.” Mendelsohn also said staff had failed to provide confirmed reports of foodborne ill- ness stemming from street feedings when asked, adding that the issue being used to justify further restrictions “seems not plau- sible to me.” As the council ultimately deferred the permitting discussion to a still-to-be-held committee meeting, the issue underlying the debate was mentioned by several council members and clear to those watching the meeting. The city has its own plan for fight- ing homelessness, and street feedings don’t fit neatly in that picture. In 2025, the city and Housing Forward launched the Street to Home initiative, a robust program designed to con- A local group is trying to help feed the homeless in downton Dallas. Adobe Stock Off the Chopping Block from p7 >> p9
