In this summary of Dallas city news, a former Dallas City Council member is running for another office. There’s crazy talk about another convention center. A large piece of undeveloped land in Plano will no longer be undeveloped. And a senior Dallas Police Department officer was lured to another city.
Here’s what happened in Dallas this week:
Convention center again
Somehow, Dallas is in another crazy conversation about its convention center. At a meeting of the Dallas City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on December 8, a city-appointed advisor recommended the construction of a new convention center, calling the current facility obsolete, and claiming that it will prevent Dallas from attracting large conventions.
Hi. Hasn’t it already been proven that the convention center business has been declining for years, made even more dramatic by the pandemic and the rise of technologies like Zoom, and that cities are repeatedly being scammed by wasting their money on boondoggles like this?
Additionally, Dallas still owes more than $ 600 million for an expansion of the current convention center and the attached Omni Dallas Hotel.
Councilor Cara Mendelsohn said she was not in favor of upgrading and questioned the lack of public engagement. Thank you, Cara.
City officials and the consultant want the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to send the proposal to Dallas City Council, but the committee has postponed it until January.
PK news
Philip Kingston, who served three terms on the Dallas City Council (and whose campaign I donated $ 50), is running for the Dallas County Commissioner’s court for the seat currently occupied by JJ Koch. One of Koch’s greatest hits include his efforts during redistribution to keep white Republican voters in his district by submitting a card benefiting the neighborhood those voters live in; despite a mandate, do not wear a mask during a meeting; to be kicked out of the meeting by Judge Clay Jenkins; and then file a pointless lawsuit against Jenkins.
Kingston will initially face two other candidates, Tom Ervin and Andrew Sommerman in the Democratic primary.
Secluded farm
Plano City Council approved the development of one of the last remaining undeveloped land in Plano: a 142-acre portion of the Haggard family farm on Spring Creek Parkway, east of Dallas North Tollway. The Haggard family has owned land in Collin County since the 1850s. You are planning a mixed-use project with office, retail, hotel and residential construction.
Development has been in the works for nearly a decade and isn’t welcomed by everyone, including a group called Stop Haggard Farms that started back in 2014.
Top cop
Avery Moore, a 30-year Dallas Police Department veteran overseeing the investigation and tactical division, has been hired as a police chief in Tacoma, Washington. Moore was one of four finalists for the job, starting January 18.
Reallocation suit
The US Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas over maps created during the recent reallocation process. The lawsuit states that new cards disenfranchised black and Latino voters through a process called “vote dilution” that distributes colored voters to different areas to reduce the impact of their votes.
The lawsuit highlights congressional districts where Republicans have drawn ridiculous lines to reduce the percentage of black and Latin American voters, alleging that districts were drawn with discriminatory intent and without expert or citizen involvement.
The cards were approved by Governor Greg Abbott on October 25 and will take effect on January 18, 2022.
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