7 September 18 - 24, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ordinance. But City Hall has a problem with the disconnect between those technicalities and what the Dallas electorate actually thinks they voted for. When most Dallasites think about Prop. U, they go back to Dallas HERO’s simple, im- possible-to-argue message that more cops and better salaries are good for public safety. People want to feel safer, and Dallas HERO has told them that Prop. U is the way to make that happen. The organization has also harped on the need for accountability, which weakens City Hall’s “trust us” approach the early budget drafts took. The stance weakens even fur- ther when a person can Google around and find information that seems to conflict with what they’re being told to trust. Ongoing is- sues with the Office of the Inspector Gen- eral — both the hiring and firing of an underqualified individual and the lawsuit filed by a former inspector general who al- leges retaliation for pointing out improper spending — further underscore this feeling that Dallasites can’t, or shouldn’t, have faith in the people charged with leading their city. This brings us back to the memo Dallas’ Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland filed last Friday. The memo, released in the afternoon of a Friday, is eight pages long and, through tables and charts and paragraphs bolded for empha- sis, explains that, in the city’s reading of Prop. U, the proposed budget is legally compliant. The memo states that because the city is pay- ing 50% of the year-over-year growth in unre- stricted revenue into the pension system, they are exempt from funding initiatives such as starting salary raises and additional hiring. That, the city states, is being done out of the city manager’s commitment to public safety. A jargony, esoteric charter amendment got Dallas into this mess, but jargony, eso- teric memos won’t get us out of it. We’d wa- ger that most Dallasites don’t know that city manager memos exist. Fewer care to check for them when they get dropped on Friday evenings. And even fewer still see eight pages of legal justifications and think, “Ah, yes. Some light reading.” When it comes to Prop. U and its difficul- ties, City Hall isn’t speaking to Dallasites where it matters. If skittles are what voters have an appetite for, Marilla Street has to find a way to make their stance on the char- ter amendment quick and sweet. Not double down on legal technicalities while offering transparency via memo system. The charter must be amended every 10 years, but if the city decides to pursue early edits, voters could see new amendments on their ballots as soon as Nov. 2026. Whether City Hall chooses to move forward with that plan remains to be seen, but it’s likely, seeing as most of Marilla Street has made it clear that Prop. U is problematic. Regard- less, they have at least another year and two budget cycles to grapple with this new law. The first step will be figuring out how to talk about Prop. U with voters, lest they erode even more trust and support. Dallas HERO certainly has. Ages 12 and under, always free OLD TOWN LEWISVILLE FREE ADMISSION BEFORE 6 PM BOTH DAYS $15 after 6 PM FESTIVAL Western LIVE MUSIC ON SIX STAGES 21st Annual Padrino Foods WORLD TAMALE EATING CHAMPIONSHIP Featuring Joey “Jaws” Chestnut KID KOUNTRY PLAYGROUND INDIGENOUS A.C.E. DANCERS AND SINGERS Presented by Frost Bank SATURDAY, SEPT. 27 NOON–11:30 PM Shane Smith AND THE SAINTS PRESENTED BY FRIDAY, SEPT. 26 4–11:30 PM PRESENTED BY GretchenWilson LEWISVILLE
