Dallas, TX
Letters to the Editor — Thoughts on zoning and housing in Dallas
City Council must protect Dallas
Re: “Opposing ForwardDallas isn’t racist or snobbish — It’s a zoning policy regardless of what City Hall says,” by Jim Schutze, July 21 Opinion.
I oppose ForwardDallas 2.0 with the same sense of danger this proposal brings to our American and Texan way of life as I did with the presence of short-term rentals in our single-family neighborhoods.
Why must we continue to defend these incursions on the character of life in our neighborhoods? Neighborhoods are America’s home. The backbone of family life. The places of choice to live peacefully, raise our children and retire.
ForwardDallas 2.0 pillages the American idea of home where the conviviality of neighbors, a child’s freedom to roam and the pride in homeownership are weakened for want of higher density. And why, when there are other solutions?
ForwardDallas 2.0 is so ill-suited to fostering family life that the word forward in its title is a misnomer for planning. While the proposal purports to carry Dallas forward, it will destroy enough of our city’s character as to decidedly take us two steps back.
I call on the Dallas City Council to protect our neighborhoods. Protect our Dallas. Vote for an exemption for R-zoned, historic/conservation and planned development districts, and neighborhood stabilization overlays.
Dennis C. D’Amico, Dallas/Caruth Hills
Applause for environmental justice
The most important and hard-fought outcome of ForwardDallas is completely missing from much of the media frenzy zeroing in on single-family housing. Downwinders at Risk and front-line neighborhoods have been fighting, negotiating, persuading and winning major environmental justice gains in ForwardDallas since its first soft launch in 2019.
The communities we fight for do not have stable neighborhoods because they are constantly at risk of industrial development as a result of planning efforts undergone in the ‘60s and ‘80s.
Where were the protectors of single-family neighborhoods when Floral Farms was being dumped on leading to Shingle Mountain? What about today as GAF threatens single-family neighborhoods in West Dallas or TAMKO Building Products factory in Joppa?
I wish I saw the same passion from concerned citizens fighting for their neighbors living next to cancerous factories as I’ve seen them fighting against a hypothetical duplex.
ForwardDallas is the first city-led plan that acknowledges this history and provides meaningful recommendations that will move the needle forward. It is not perfect, but planned unit development staff should be commended for making this policy impactful regarding environmental justice.
Evelyn Mayo, Dallas
City staffers’ ties questioned
I was wondering which members of the Dallas City Council and the City Plan Commission reside in a historical district or conservation district and thus would be protected from the provisions of the proposed ForwardDallas initiative.
Further, which members have significant holdings in rental properties that could be extended into currently protected single-family zoned neighborhoods if ForwardDallas guidelines are imposed.
Noble Hetherington, Dallas/Oak Cliff
More people fuels more culture
Re: “Handing developers the keys,” by Anne Stone and “Gatekeepers, protect our city,” by Mike Sundin, July 19 Letters.
These letters seem very concerned with protecting the culture of Dallas by maintaining widespread single-family zoning. Not to be rude, but when people think of Dallas-Fort Worth, they don’t think of culture. Maybe traffic.
Medium- to high-density buildings dominate the world’s great cities. New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and Rome are all not known for their suburbs.
Similarly, skyscrapers surround the cultural centers of Dallas, such as the Bishop Arts District. This is no coincidence. Culture arises when people come together. More people means more culture.
Single-family zoning puts everyone in a separate box to drive their car everywhere. Medium-density mixed-development spaces encourage walkability and intermingling of people while maintaining human-scale architecture.
If that’s not convincing, then consider that single-family zoning requires higher property taxes.
Thomas Urech, Richardson
Cutting housing costs is priority
What a Sunday Opinion section you published July 14. I read about two Russian dissidents now in the U. S., the housing crsis and a respected past Dallas mayor criticizing Joe Biden.
After considerable examination of public policy and economic inequality, I have come to the conclusion that the experts who have identified the housing crisis in America as the No. 1 factor in economic inequality are absolutely correct.
The approaches to correcting the crisis are multiple and varied, but doable. It is not acceptable to have housing eat up 60% or more of one’s wages.
The nation’s No. 1 economic priority must be to lower housing costs for working Americans to the 20% range. It’s doable, not pie in the sky.
Furthermore, much of the anger and desperation experienced by so many will dissipate. Our leaders must make this a priority. They need to educate the public why this is so important and how all of us are part of the solution.
Jerry Frankel, Plano
The many costs of moving
Re: “Stop hogging the houses, boomers — Millennials don’t stand a chance against empty nesters controlling a third of the market,” by Dallas Cothrum, July 7 Opinion.
It has been alluded to that property taxes are higher if you move and mortgage rates are also higher.
To elaborate, I, too, live in a four-bedroom, two-story house with pool on a creek. I’d love to downsize.
But as a 72-year-old, my taxes in Collin County have been frozen — thank you so much. They are wonderfully low.
Thanks to Gov. Greg Abbott , they are even lower. If I move, I’ll pick up the tax rate of the smaller home whose owner didn’t benefit from the seven years of frozen taxes. I estimate that’s a $300 monthly hit.
Further, while many boomers are mortgage free, I am not. A new mortgage would have a 5.5% rate, compared with my current 3.5% — a further $300 monthly increase. See why I can’t afford to move?
Gary Tutt, McKinney
Lack of houses inventory
Dallas Cothrum, you missed the boat on this one. I, for one, would be happy to see a young family in our too-big-for-us house in Lake Highlands. But where would we go?
As a boomer, I am looking for a smaller home, a newer build to reduce maintenance, one story, a lot with trees that still is small enough not to require extensive yard work — all in the city of Dallas.
I’ve been looking on and off for seven years. The problem, as I see it, is a total lack of inventory. Houses being built today are huge and multistory. Who is building houses designed for boomers?
Jenine A. Bucker, Dallas
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The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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For a moment, it looked like FC Dallas was on its way to another statement win at home tonight.
Petar Musa scored two first half goals, to extend his Golden Boot leading tally to nine goals. But after Dallas grabbed control, the Galaxy found a way back before halftime with goals from Lucas Sanabria and Joseph Paintsil.
The second half brought more chances and more frustration for Dallas, which finished the night with 13 shots to LA’s nine. In the end, the point stretched Dallas’ unbeaten run to five games, though just like last week, it felt like another match where Dallas left points on the table.
Key Moments
7’ – GOAL! After a poor pass back by a LA defender, Petar Musa was free to go one-on-one with the LA goalkeeper. After a touch to get ahead of a defender, Musa slotted home his eighth goal of the season from outside the penalty box.
21’ – Offside! Joaquin Valiente sent a floating ball over the Galaxy defense, where Musa was able to get behind the defense and make an easy play for what appeared to be his second goal of the night. The play was called offside despite a fairly lengthy review period.
38’ – GOAL! This one counts! Musa gets his second of the night off a great ball from Chris Cappis. Logan Farrington picked off the ball in the midfield. He then played Cappis wide to the left of the penalty area. Cappis immediately played a ball back across the goal for Musa to slide in and finish for his ninth of the season.
43’ – Goal LA. Lucas Sanabria got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He took a couple of touches to get outside the penalty box before firing a shot that beat Michael Collodi at the near post.
45+4’ – Goal LA. Gabriel Pec got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He pulled the ball back a bit, which caught a pair of Dallas defenders. This allowed Joseph Painstil to get free behind the Dallas defense as Pec played him through inside the penalty area. Pec immediately smashed home a shot above Collodi to tie the game.
75’ – Another offside goal. This time on a corner kick for Dallas, after a scrum in the penalty box, Kaick hammered home what looked to be the go-ahead goal. But after a few seconds the flag was raised due to a deflection on Osaze Urhoghide, who was in an offside position.
Instant Reaction
Yeah, this is another disappointing result for this team. In a real way, it felt like the first half against Houston from last month. Dallas grabbed the lead, looked in control, but some defensive miscues opened the game up for the visitors to climb back.
With a double-game week coming up, this will certainly be another game where Dallas will wonder ‘what if’ more than anything else…especially when you factor in the two goals called off for offside.
About the Subs
Eric Quill went to his bench for the first time in the 66th minute, as he brought on Santiago Moreno for Logan Farrington. Quill went to his bench again 81st minute with Ran Binyamin and Nolan Norris coming on for Sebastien Ibeagha and Deedson. The final sub came during stoppage time with Herman Johansson and Joaquin Valiente coming off for Sam Sarver and rookie Nick Simmonds, who made his MLS debut.
Man of the Match
No question about it tonight, it has to be Musa.
Where does this fit into the season
As of this writing, the draw puts Dallas into a three-way tie for 5th place with Real Salt Lake and Seattle. Both are in action right now and look firmly in control of their games. I’d expect Dallas to be in 7th place by the end of the night.
What’s next for FC Dallas
Dallas wraps up a three-game homestand next Wednesday night as they host Minnesota United.
Dallas, TX
Akheem Mesidor selected by Cowboys by Blogging The Boys in SB Nation’s community mock draft
Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami
Pass rush has been an issue since the Micah Parsons trade. The Rashan Gary trade helped, but Dallas still needs an injection of talent. Akheem Mesidor fits here because his body size allows for some versatility inside and out, something DC Christian Parker utilizes. Mesidor is also a high-motor player with a deep bag of pass rush moves.
His last season at Miami was full of disruption in the offensive backfield and he shows an all-around game, not just a bend-around-the-edge pass rusher. Yes, he’s a little older than you’d like in a rookie (25), but his motor, pass rush toolbox, and ability to play the run matches up with a need and makes him a quality pick at number 20.
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