6 July 30 - August 5, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents good relationship with the city and with DPD.” In January, hundreds of protestors gath- ered on the bridge after Renee Good was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. That day, the protestors displayed signs reading “Dallas says ICE out for good” on one of the busiest highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “I think that visible displays of dissent against a fascist government are incredibly im- portant for the survival of humanity, not just in Texas, but everywhere in the world,” Mitchell said. “So it’s a great antidote to despair.” Bumps in the road In Fort Worth, the protests take place weekly on three bridges: an overpass of I-30 near Arlington Heights High School, an- other near West Loop 820 and a third on In- terstate 35W. The protests are organized by Fort Worth’s Indivisible 12 group, which runs the local Visibility Brigade chapter. While it is associated with the national orga- nization, each bridge has its own “host,” who independently dictates morning mes- sages. One of the hosts, Deborah Guerrero, started the protests shortly after President Donald Trump’s reelection. Of the three bridges, the group has ad- dressed ICE violence and other national is- sues while also maintaining a focus on local matters. Messages have criticized the state-appointed Fort Worth ISD board of di- rectors for program cuts amid a TEA take- over. At the end of June, the group branded Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker’s husband as a “data center lobbyist.” “I think I’m surprised at how effective I think it is,” Sabrina Ball, president of Indi- visible 12, said. “I feel like we’re reaching thousands of people every time we’re on the bridge.” There have been confrontations with au- thorities, she said. The group has not had many negative interactions with Fort Worth PD, though one officer told activists to vacate the bridge during a prior protest. Most of the issues are with TxDOT, representatives of which have told protestors to take their signs down when they are directly attached to the bridges. Under Texas state law, it is illegal to affix political messages in the right-of-way, according to the TxDOT website. “If they just continually harass you, it’s better just to alter how we do it so that we can still do it,” she said. “Because it’s a pain in the ass to go get all your stuff together and figure out a message, and then get out there and erect it or hold it, and then be harassed or be told to leave.” The Arlington protestors were also told by local police to remove signage that fea- tured an endorsement of an Arlington City Council candidate. Ball said the group has gotten a more pos- itive response from commuters with each successive protest, although there are still a decent amount of middle fingers flashed at protestors. Still, there have been incidents. At one protest, an elderly man holding an up- side-down American flag was accosted by another man who parked his car near the bridge to heckle protesters. Ball said the man was “dragged onto the street” before other protesters de-escalated the situation. “This guy is an older white gentleman, and he wears sun protection, like head to toe,” she said. “He’s completely covered, and when the guy finally looked him in the eyes, he stopped and he said, ‘I’m sorry. I thought you were a Mexican.’” Ball said that the group’s persistence and visibility could be key to changing perceptions. “If they come close, they see that it’s mainly senior citizens out there struggling in the heat,” she said. “I think that changes hearts and minds, that they just see the dedication and that people are passionate about something.” ‘Showing our faces’ Kocher and his fellow activists begin tak- ing down the signage around 9 a.m. Each panel and American flag are carefully loaded onto hand-pulled carts as other protestors get to work disassembling his PVC frame. There were considerably more honks than middle fingers, and the only interaction with local police was far from confrontational. It was a successful morning for Kocher, who said he plans to continue the protests for as long as he has a message to share. “I don’t know how much it is standing up to power or truth to power,” Kocher said. “I mean, we’re just a bunch of old guys up on the bridge, but we are out there. We’re showing our faces.” ▼ CITY HALL LET’S DO LUNCH HOW TO EAT LIKE A CITY COUNCIL MEMBER WITH CAMPAIGN FUNDS BY EMMA RUBY E ven though the Dallas City Council is out for the summer, there has been no shortage of stories stemming from City Hall. There have been ongoing legal threats surrounding the future of the downtown building. No one really knows how next year’s budget will shake out, but cuts are sure to come and be felt across town. Fur- loughs have affected non-uniformed city de- partments to help cut costs. Although morale is reportedly down, the Dallas Morn- ing News reports that a city manager-spon- sored pizza party may help cheer things up for some employees soon. The council’s summer break also signals the filing of a state-mandated, semi-annual report on how officeholder money is being spent. All officeholders in Texas are re- quired to file their reports by July 15, and the document makes public all expenditures and contributions received by an elected of- ficial in the first half of the year. Now, if you were an especially savvy po- litical journalist, you may look at these re- ports as a way of seeing who supports what. For instance, council member Cara Mendel- sohn, who has been outspoken in her sup- port for preserving the city hall building, contributed to the Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects in March. Those dots connect fairly easily. But we are the Observer, which means that semi-annual expense reports mean one thing, and one thing only: it’s time to check in on where the Dallas City Council is eating. Council members are allowed to expense their meals when the meal happens as part of that representative’s official duties. Tak- ing a community advocate to coffee to learn about an infrastructure project; planning a speech for an upcoming council meeting while inhaling pizzas, or combing over zon- ing cases with a side of Chinese takeout; that sort of thing. Some council members utilize this perk more than others. Take the aforementioned Mendelsohn, who may never have stepped into a restau- rant before in her life if this report is all we have to go off of. At the opposite end of the spectrum is council member Chad West, whose expense report includes a stop at nearly every restaurant in the Bishop Arts District over the past six months. Tribal All Day Cafe appears to be his favorite place, as he took meetings with constituents at the health food spot at least four times. Like with most things Dallas does, the city’s electronic filing system is a bit glitchy. Oftentimes, the report repeats entries, which could make it appear that a council member visited an establishment four or five times when really it was just one. To determine in- dividual visits, we are checking for unique transaction dates and charge amounts. For some council members, the reports offer a look into who the person behind the horseshoe really is. For instance, council member Jesse Moreno is a coffee guy. He’s swiped his card at Starbucks, Palmeri Cafe, La Casita Coffee, Killer Joe Neighborhood Cafe, Weekend Coffee and LA 57. Most of those charges detail that meetings took place while Moreno got his caffeine fix. Anyone who has looked into this particu- lar issue before knows that council member Paula Blackmon has a thing for Bread Zeppe- lin. Who among us doesn’t? Blackmon charged her Caesar-stuffed baguette to her of- ficeholder account on at least three occasions since January. But Bread Zeppelin may have been dethroned as Blackmon’s go-to spot; Cheba Hut, a cannabis-themed sub shop, was the District 9 lunch spot seven times. Council member Laura Cadena is also a repeat visitor of one establishment: Charco Broiler Steak House on Jefferson Boulevard. You know the place that I’m talking about, there’s a giant cow on the roof. Cadena visited at least three times in the first half of the year. (We’ll be reaching out to her office to find out about her order. This story is developing.) A handful of council members had only one or two food-related charges, and most were spots within that representative’s dis- trict (or close to it). Council member Adam Bazaldua made a stop at Far Out, while rep- resentative Gay Donnell Willis lunched at Henks Deli. Council member Jaime Resen- dez had a charge at Cielito Lindo. Six representatives — council members Visible Displays of Dissent from p4 Simon Pruitt Does this look like a city council member’s lunch to you?
