Dallas will remove its rainbow, Black Lives Matter and other decorative crosswalks within 90 days and consider replacing them with some other form of public art, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert announced Friday.

In a memo to the City Council, Tolbert confirmed the city submitted a plan to the Texas Department of Transportation earlier in the day that would put Dallas in compliance with state standards for the road markings.

“While the City maintains that existing crosswalk designs do not present measurable public safety issues, we appreciate TxDOT’s partnership in sustaining safe and efficient multimodal transportation within Dallas,” she wrote.

The decision comes ahead of a Saturday deadline set by TxDOT, which had rejected the city’s request to keep 30 decorative crosswalks.

TxDOT had required a signed and sealed certification from a traffic engineer confirming the road markings complied with state standards, a document Tolbert has previously told the agency that the city couldn’t provide.

The deadline comes after a monthslong dispute over the crosswalks, which TxDOT says violate state standards requiring plain white markings.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the removal of decorative crosswalks around the state in October, calling markings like rainbow crosswalks “distractions” that promote political messages. Advocates argue they represent neighborhood pride, not safety hazards.

Cities refusing to comply risk losing state or federal transportation funding among other possible consequences, state transportation agency officials said.

“I wish our governor would spend time on things that actually moves the needle for our state instead of picking on vulnerable populations and low hanging fruit for political gain,” Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua told The Dallas Morning News late Friday. His district in South Dallas has 16 Black Lives Matter crosswalks.

“This just means we have to get creative,” he added.

Council member Paul Ridley, whose district includes rainbow and other artistic crosswalks, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday, but told The News earlier in the day he believed the city would submit a plan to the state by the end of the business day.

Ridley previously praised city officials for appealing to try to keep the crosswalks.

Gus Khankarli, the city’s transportation and public works director, didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.

Along with the South Dallas crosswalks, the installations in Dallas include 10 rainbow crosswalks in Oak Lawn and four individualized art crosswalks in Uptown.

Tolbert said in her memo that city officials plan to reach out to community leaders to “explore creative approaches that reflect neighborhood identity and character through community art initiatives.”

Crosswalks changes

REMOVAL: Dallas will remove the rainbow, Black Lives Matter and other decorative crosswalks within 90 days to comply with a Texas directive.

STATE PRESSURE: The move comes after state transportation officials rejected the city’s appeal, with funding at risk if Dallas failed to comply.

WHAT’S NEXT: City officials say they will explore other forms of public art to reflect neighborhood identity once the markings are removed.

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Over the next two weeks, Andrea Paz will have to use her imagination to make the most of the food she has in her pantry so she doesn’t have to buy anything at the supermarket.

It’s not because she doesn’t want to, but she lost four days of work due to the winter storm. Her pay will be reduced by almost $400, which represents two weeks’ worth of groceries for her and her two children.

“The rent is coming up and we have to pay all the bills; those payments can’t wait,” Paz told The Dallas Morning News. “We’re going to have to save as much as we can on food to recover.”

Paz works at a dry cleaner in North Dallas. The business closed on Friday afternoon, Jan. 23, and did not reopen until noon on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Those lost days represent almost half of her biweekly income.

“We still don’t know exactly how we’re going to do it,” Paz said, “but we’re going to have to figure out how to save money.”

The recent winter storm paralyzed North Texas for about four days, leaving thousands of workers without income. Some businesses and school districts remained closed on Thursday, Jan. 29 — six days.

This left thousands of hourly workers helpless, wondering how they would recover the money they lost to pay their rent and utilities, many of which are due on Sunday, Feb. 1.

Dietrich Henderson, a mechanic who also works delivering Amazon packages from his own car, is in almost the same situation as Paz.

Henderson has a mobile mechanic business, and during the winter storm, he was unable to go to work due to road conditions. He was also unable to deliver Amazon packages for the same reason.

“Between the two jobs, I lost about $2,000 in five days,” he told The News. “I’m going to have to work harder in February to make up for it.”

Henderson had a little more work in December, which allowed him to save some money that he will now use to pay February’s rent, but he will still have to figure out how to earn more income to pay for food and expenses for his family, which includes three children.

Charles Johnson has been an Uber driver for almost a year, and during the winter storm, he chose not to go to work so as not to put himself or his car at risk.

“I don’t think it was worth having an accident that would end up being more expensive,” Johnson told The News.

He estimates he lost about $800 in the four days he was unable to work, leaving him without vital income to pay next month’s rent.

“The good thing is that my apartment allows me to pay by credit card, so I’ll have to use that,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to be evicted for not paying my rent.”

A weather event like this week’s hits hourly workers directly in the pocketbook.

According to the Federal Reserve’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households 2024-2025, 37% of households in the country cannot pay a $400 emergency expense in cash.

Óscar Reyes works in construction and has not been to work since Friday, Jan. 23. Although he always tries to maintain a savings fund to cover emergencies or days when he cannot work, being out of work for almost a week throws his finances off balance.

“I have my family in Mexico and I always send them money, and if the money doesn’t arrive, well, I have to figure out how to make sure I don’t miss that commitment,” Reyes said.

On Thursday, he was told he couldn’t go to work because the site where they are building is still thawing, and he is not sure if he will be able to return this Friday.

“I’m not too worried because my expenses are covered,” he said, “but I have many coworkers who have been hit hard, and I’ve even had to lend money to some of them to pay their rent.”

Luis Arredondo went back to work on the streets on Thursday. Although he did not lose his income because he works for the City of Dallas, Arredondo said he always tries to be prepared in case something happens that leaves him without income.

“With this weather, you never know,” Arredondo said. “But thank God they had me taking some courses these days, and they are going to pay me.”

Equipped with a hammer and a bucket to remove water from the manholes, Arredondo checks the water meters to determine each home’s consumption and always treads carefully to avoid slipping on the ice.

“I started this job in October, and before that, I really struggled because I couldn’t work in the ice and had to find money to make ends meet,” Arredondo said. “But now I feel blessed because I’m going to get my full paycheck.”

A Dallas-area church says its future is uncertain after multiple inches of sleet and snow forced its sanctuary to collapse.

Leadership at Kingdom Culture Dallas in Cedar Hill said it happened sometime between Friday night and Tuesday morning.

Senior Leader Sherman Dumas said no one was in the building at the time.

They’d all left following a worship service on Friday night. Tuesday morning, staff found the roof of the sanctuary had given way.

“They FaceTimed me, and I’m like, you got to be kidding me, but it still didn’t hit until I got in the building and actually saw the devastation,” said Dumas.

Dumas said it’s too soon to know what the future holds.

He and his wife expanded their congregation from San Bernardino, California to Cedar Hill back in 2024.  

While they hope insurance will make them whole, online fundraisers already raised more than $20,000 to help in the meantime.

“Just kind of overnight, we’re a pop-up mobile church unexpectedly, and so that’s going to take a whole other level of resources to be able to manage this and manage wherever we’re going to be going,” he said.

This Sunday, Kingdom Culture will meet for worship at the neighboring Inspiring Body of Christ Church in Dallas.

They continue to look for a more long-term temporary home.

Even amid the wreckage, Dumas is finding reasons to hope that his congregation will be able to continue serving for years to come.

“If God allowed this to happen, there has to be something good on the other side of this that’s going to bring hope and be able to impact others to let them know that if they’re in a down moment, there’s always a way to be able to triumph over it,” he said.