4 August 13 - 19, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ▼ RELIGION & POLITICS Suburban Sharia panic Sitting congressman encourages anti-Islam hysteria during McKin- ney mosque vote BY EMMA RUBY A North Texas congressman ap- peared before the McKinney City Council on Aug. 5 to urge the body to reject a long-awaited zoning application for a new neighborhood mosque. Keith Self has served as a U.S. Represen- tative for the district that includes McKin- ney since 2023, and may be reelected to a third term this November. Over the past year, Self has become one of the Texas GOP’s leading voices against Islam as anti-Muslim sentiment has spread across the state party. Last week, Self voiced his opposition to the 5.5-acre worship house designed by the Islamic Association of McKinney by stating his overall distrust of those who practice the Muslim faith. Self referenced a political con- troversy in the United Kingdom known as “grooming gangs,” which suggests that Brit- ish law enforcement may have failed to in- vestigate wide-scale child sexual abuse, as evidence of his claims. The matter has become politicized, with conservatives pointing out that in some cases, perpetrators of the crimes were of Middle Eastern descent. Self referenced some 250,000 non-muslim girls who have fallen victim to the gangs. That number is unveri- fied by official reports, but has spread widely over social media and been referenced by conservatives such as Elon Musk and British politician Rupert James Graham Lowe. Self is one of several Texas Republicans who have fully committed to an anti-Sharia law platform over the past year. Sharia is the body of religious law that informs the Is- lamic tradition, but many Texas Republicans have begun using the phrase as a dog whistle for religious extremism. Self warned that in- viting “political Islam” into North Texas would be a dangerous decision. “Child marriage, honor killings, don’t tell me that can’t happen here,” Self said. “There is no state cavalry coming to save you.” Self’s stark remarks were backed up by a crowd full of supporters. Throughout the eve- ning, more than 150 North Texans addressed the council, and many spoke against the spread of Islam across Texas, their fears of Sharia law and the need for immigrant communities to “adapt to our norms.” Former McKinney Mayor George Fuller was called a “traitor” af- ter advocating for the development. How did we get here? The major mosque planned for Virginia Parkway and Crutcher Crossing has been in the works for years, but has faced a steep uphill battle. In the summer of 2024, dozens of McKin- ney residents voiced opposition to the planned worship house when it was consid- ered by the Planning and Zoning Commission. While some neighbors offered veiled sugges- tions that their opposition to the development was rooted in their Christian faith, most were concerned about the impact the influx of traf- fic would have on a nearby neighborhood. A year earlier, the city had conducted a traffic survey to ensure the building’s com- patibility with the area. Nonetheless, the commission unanimously denied the appli- cation and urged the applicants to consider reducing the building’s footprint. “I do feel that most of [the neighbors] are good-hearted people with their concerns, and we respect those and we’ll try to answer those,” Samad Syed, former president of the McKinney Islamic Association, told the Ob- server at the time. “There’ll always be peo- ple who don’t like you, and I don’t think we can do anything about that, but our job is to educate and tell people who we are and try to be good neighbors.” The association spent the last two years redesigning the buildings and studying traf- fic and drainage impacts that development may have. But in that time, an anti-Muslim sentiment brewed across Texas, particularly in North Texas, where the development of a Muslim residential community called EPIC City inspired state investigations and de- nunciations from Gov. Greg Abbott, Attor- ney General Ken Paxton, Self and others. Abbott has been a leader of the anti-Mus- lim sentiment, taking steps to designate groups such as the Council on American-Is- lamic Relations as “foreign terrorist organiza- tions,” and targeting events such as a Grand Prairie swim party meant to celebrate the Eid holiday. A spokesperson for Abbott told The Dallas Morning News that the governor plans to pursue a “complete ban on Sharia law in Texas” during the 2027 legislative session. In September 2025, a sign announcing that the McKinney mosque would be “com- ing soon” was defaced with Christian imag- ery. Large crosses and the words “Jesus Christ” were spray-painted over the signage, and the act was investigated as vandalism. After hours of tense public comment, the council unanimously approved the Islamic As- sociation of McKinney’s zoning request, stat- ing that the plan is “fully compliant” with city rules. Approvals for specific building permits will still be considered on an individual basis. City staff acknowledged that construction and early development may result in some hiccups, such as traffic delays, but that inter- ruptions are to be expected of any develop- ment and can be worked through. Council member Justin Beller encouraged the crowd to resist the anti-Sharia message that he sees as “election year fear-mongering.” “Watching partisan politicians with power to gain use fear and outrage is disap- pointing,” said Beller. “Otherizing people and groups is a cheap way to gain power, and evidence that there are no concrete ideas to serve their constituents. There are enough legitimate concerns in the world without manufacturing new ones.” ▼ CITY HALL CALLING 911 FOR 911 THE CITY’S CASE FOR MOVING DALLAS’ 911 DISPATCH OUT OF DOWNTOWN BY EMMA RUBY S oon, Dallas voters should know whether or not they’ll be asked to ap- prove more than $900 million for public safety projects. The money could con- tribute to pension obligation bonds, funding for the new police training center in southern Dallas, and a $40 million relocation of 911 call services out of City Hall. If approved, the package propositions would be the second city bond package Dallas voters have been asked to consider in the last two years. That last bullet point is most intriguing. Moving Dallas’ emergency call centers out of City Hall is an argument that has emerged alongside the broader debate over whether City Hall is worth salvaging at all. As it stands right now, phone operators who an- swer emergency calls are based out of the City Hall basement. The Dallas City Council received a briefing on the proposed November public safety bond elec- tion on Aug. 5, and support seemed largely split across the horseshoe. The briefing outlined plans for a $40 million relocation of the city’s 911 and Emergency Operations Center, which some council members said should be put into an indi- vidual proposition because of the issue’s relation- ship with ongoing conversations surrounding the future of City Hall. At least two council mem- bers, Adam Bazaldua and Cara Mendelsohn, suggested that they will campaign against the bond if it is approved by the council. For now, the city is not considering moving the 311 call center. Some officials argue that the office’s cen- tral location has caused problems. When major events happen in the city’s core on weekends, holidays or off hours, responding police traffic can prevent Dallas’ emergency management team from getting to work, Dallas’ Director of Emergency Management and Crisis Response, Kevin Oden, said. “During the cheerleading incident last summer, we were not able to access City Hall in any reasonable amount of time,” said Oden during a June 10 council meeting, referencing the 2025 downtown cheerleading competi- tion that was evacuated after reports were made of a shooting. “We had to actually relo- cate to do coordination of that event, because of the traffic in and around downtown. And so we believe that moving these critical functions outside of where the center of government is, in addition to the traffic and the potential risks that downtown faces, expedited our ability to provide emergency operations.” According to Oden, this has been a problem nearly every time downtown has been struck by major incidents. After the July 7 ambush of police officers in 2016, “getting into downtown was next to impossible.” During major ice and snow storms, Oden has to find ways to keep employees based throughout downtown “24 hours a day,” just to ensure that those workers can maintain access to the building. In February, the council’s Finance Commit- tee unanimously recommended that the city manager move forward with relocating emer- gency operations out of City Hall “as quickly as possible.” (In government time, ASAP is at least a year.) Despite impassioned lobbying to pre- serve City Hall, the 911 issue has avoided much of the public scrutiny that other efforts to re- duce the building’s workforce have received. Oden noted in June that keeping emer- gency services out of a city’s core is gener- ally considered a best practice. Dallas’ peer cities, Austin and Houston, both have lo- cated their emergency management teams outside of their downtown hubs. At the end of July, The Dallas Morning News reported that a city-owned tower in the Cedars is the city’s preferred site for a new 911 dispatch center. City staff “anticipates that” the former IBM building “will serve as the project site,” a solicitation document ob- tained by The News states. Approval, how- ever, remains in the council’s hands. Ultimately, the move would be a multi -million-dollar expense, requested right in the throes of a budget season with no money. Hence why a November bond elec- tion is on the table. | UNFAIR PARK | Mike Brooks Mosques in North Texas have been the center of plenty of controversy lately. >> p6
