Dallas, TX
Dallas may need an additional $178 million for police academy project
Dallas officials estimate they need an additional $178.5 million to build a 20-acre police academy at the University of North Texas at Dallas and a 60-acre public safety complex that could be constructed near Wilmer-Hutchins High School in southeast Oak Cliff.
That’s in addition to $96.5 million already secured by the city, which would bring the total estimated price tag of the project to $275 million.
City officials are hinging their bets on covering the funding gap with nearly $50 million in private fundraising and proceeds from the sale of city-owned real estate to cover 20% of the gap. They also anticipate a potential $6 million sponsorship for the public safety complex, according to a presentation.
“I’d like to see more certainty about how we can reduce the cost of the facility or raise more money to close that gap,” council member Paul Ridley told The Dallas Morning News.
Nearly a dozen public speakers arrived at City Hall on Wednesday to voice opposition to the academy. A handful called instead for resources to be devoted to other social issues.
Council members spent a significant portion of the day behind closed doors, where they were scheduled to discuss the agreement between the city and UNTD to lease the training academy site. However, after four hours of closed session deliberations, the City Council adjourned the meeting within moments of returning at about 5:30 p.m.
“We decided to defer the remaining items for the briefing because our executive session went so long,” Ridley later said. He added that the City Council wanted to discuss the academy with fresher eyes.
City officials are expected to vote June 11 on whether to enter an agreement with the UNTD college campus to lease the site of the facility to train new recruits.
“I think we need to get each hurdle cleared before we go to the next one,” council member Paula Blackmon said.
The first hurdle is nailing down the real estate needed for the second facility. The next step is finalizing the property and the pieces that will go into it. “We just need to be very thoughtful and methodical and just clear each hurdle,” she said.
This is the second delay. City officials had planned to update council members with the academy’s progress on May 21, but the briefing was pushed back.
Another question the city will have to consider is how it prioritizes revenue from real estate sales, especially as Dallas continues to suffer billions of dollars of deferred maintenance on existing roads, buildings and neighborhoods.
Mandates outlined by the passage of Proposition U in last year’s election also hang over the city. The ballot measure required the city to maintain 4,000 officers in the force and divert half of any new revenue year over year into the uniformed pension system as well as other public safety initiatives to recruit and retain more first responders.
Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she supports the academy initiative.
“It’s the most important investment for Dallas to make,” she said. “We must be able to have a space that helps us recruit, retain, and [professionally] train our police officers. It shows we prioritize public safety and value those who take the oath to protect and serve.”
Changing plans
The News revealed in February the city quietly changed plans for the police academy, despite millions of dollars committed to the project. UNT Dallas’ campus in southern Dallas had been billed since 2021 as the training site for all future Dallas police hires.
The current police academy in Red Bird has been a pain point for years for officers. It spans 63 acres across two sites in industrial warehouses. Mold and sweat, weathered training rooms, insufficient storage and limited parking spots spurred talk about a new state-of-the-art facility.
Despite past fanfare about the UNTD space housing new recruits, documents obtained by The News showed the city decided to move the academy to an undetermined location. UNTD, according to the documents, would house only a training facility for officers already in service.
Since then, plans have continued to change.
The latest iteration harkens back to the original idea of UNTD housing a facility for new recruits, but added a separate “public safety complex” with a driving track and shooting range. Officials have said they’d begin a feasibility study this year to determine the best site for it.
Of five locations reviewed by the city, including Hensley Field and Cadillac Heights, officials appear to be leaning toward the Wilmer-Hutchins High School area, noting it in Wednesday’s presentation as the site that “meets most of the criteria.”
Similar facilities have carried budgets between $180 million to $1.5 billion, the presentation noted. Three facilities the city reviewed had average budgets of $330 million.
Opposition during public comment
Tamera Lanay, a district two resident, highlighted the uncertainties in Wednesday’s briefing. The city is yet to finalize the project’s location for the complex, which also includes a simulated tactical village.
The briefing, Lanay said, also does not acknowledge that Dallas’ violent crime has seen a decline in the last four years. The city’s focus on the new facility comes amid deep uncertainty in the job market and withdrawal of rental assistance through potential U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cuts.
“When you look at the city budget, there’s a stark difference in public safety funding compared to social services,” Lanay said. “In fact, I got no help from the city of Dallas for rental assistance and instead relied on mutual aid from my community.”
People resort to crime when they don’t have the wages and job needed to pay bills, afford mental health and put food on the table for their families, she said.
“This new facility is not a crime deterrent,” she said. “To make us feel safer in our city, investing in our health, job stability, food security and housing security is a true crime deterrent. We know all of you are going to proceed forward with this facility, but you will see this poor investment will have dire results.”
Lindsay Linderman, a law student at the UNTD, said the new project and “a militarized police force” would not prevent crime. She suggested more resources for the community in education, housing and food security.
The current policing structure and constitutional language, Linderman said, punishes rather than protects residents, and does not match the expectations of what public safety entails.
“I wonder why proposition F, which allocated millions of taxpayer dollars to this facility, was labeled as public safety facilities,” she said. “I believe that Prop F was intentionally confusing, misleading and vague by lumping together this academy with necessary repairs to fire stations in our area.”
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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