Connect with us

Dallas, TX

Dallas City Hall let its own property be occupied and destroyed

Published

on

Dallas City Hall let its own property be occupied and destroyed


If you want to understand how bad things have gotten in certain parts of Dallas City Hall, look no further than a memo filed last week by council member Jesse Moreno on the condition of a city-owned building just steps from City Hall.

What’s known as the old Family Gateway Building at 711 S. St. Paul St. has been vacant for some time and under the care of the city’s real estate team.

What no one at City Hall seemed to know, or if they knew didn’t care enough to act, was that the building was being occupied by unhoused people. The interior was gutted of its water pipes and electrical wires. Unsanitary conditions had taken hold, with human feces and urine throughout.

The building, inside and out, was strewn with trash. The exterior was pocked with graffiti. A door that should have been locked was plainly propped open. The alarm was disarmed. Police found more than 20 people, and animals, living inside.

Advertisement

Opinion

Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.

Moreno, who represents the area, discovered this while he and his small team were trying to do what the city has been too slow to — address an entrenched outdoor encampment along Canton Street and St. Paul that fronted this building.

Any city staffer, from the homeless team to real estate to police to code compliance, should have been able to see what Moreno did — that a city-owned building had become an extension of the outdoor camp.

Advertisement

Moreno was measured in his memo to interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. But in an interview with us, he was exasperated at what he saw as a failure of the city to secure the building and protect the safety of area residents and business owners.

It had been a valuable asset, he said. “Instead, now we are dealing with a building that probably needs to be condemned.”

Moreno, who chairs the council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee, has become disenchanted with what he sees as City Hall’s commitment to a “housing first” policy for the homeless. The persistence of the Canton Street encampment likely led to the occupation of the old Family Gateway building, he believes.

But he is also concerned with the way the city is managing its real estate. City officials are considering selling excess property to help manage ballooning pension debt. But if its buildings are destroyed, what is there to sell? Recall that this is a city that moved its building inspectors into a $21 million building that couldn’t pass inspection.

Moreno also wondered what to make of the fact that city staff members told him he couldn’t join in a perimeter review of the building. If it was unsafe for a council member to walk around in daylight, how unsafe was it for people who live and work downtown?

Advertisement

No resident or business owner would be allowed to maintain a building in the condition that the old Family Gateway building is in. They would be slapped with fines.

But for Dallas City Hall, this is the way business is done. It has to stop.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com



Source link

Advertisement

Dallas, TX

2026 Dallas Cowboys schedule officially announced

Published

on

2026 Dallas Cowboys schedule officially announced


Behold the 2026 Dallas Cowboys schedule.

We knew coming into Thursday that the Cowboys would be on the road to take on the New York Giants in the season opener on Sunday Night Football, that Dallas is “hosting” the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil in Week 3, and that the Philadelphia Eagles would be in town for Thanksgiving Day. Now we know it all.

Among the first things that jump to mind is that bye week is late. Dallas isn’t on bye until Week 14, the Sunday of that week is December 13th for full perspective.

The Cowboys also only play twice in their own building, thanks to the Brazil game, before November. Sometimes those weird quirks show up in schedules and this is certainly one of them.

Advertisement

It is interesting to see that the NFL gave Dallas the longest amount of rest possible after their Thanksgiving tilt. It hasn’t been uncommon for the league to have the Cowboys play on consecutive Thursdays, but perhaps that is a thing of the past.



Source link

Continue Reading

Dallas, TX

Dallas Approves $180,500 for New Botham Jean Boulevard Street Signs

Published

on

Dallas Approves 0,500 for New Botham Jean Boulevard Street Signs


A portion of South Lamar Street was officially renamed Botham Jean Boulevard in 2021.

Flashit Photography

On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council approved funding that will replace highway exit signs and road signs marking Lamar Street with new signage honoring Botham Jean, the 26-year-old Dallas accountant who was fatally shot in his own apartment by an off-duty Dallas police officer in 2018. 

Advertisement

The $180,500 in funding for 13 signs to be installed by the Texas Department of Transportation is the final step in the street renaming that was unanimously approved by the council in 2021. The new signs will be placed at exits along Interstate 45, State Highway 310 and U.S. Highway 175. 

Already, Botham Jean Boulevard signs run along the road in the Cedars, where Jean lived before he was killed. 

“This street on which he chose to live and the street on which he died can serve as a lasting memory of the upstanding resident who loved Dallas so much,” his mother, Allison Jean, told the council in 2021.  

Sign up for the This Week’s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox

Jean was shot by Amber Guyger, a Dallas police officer, after she entered his apartment believing it was her own. A Dallas jury found Guyger guilty of murder in 2019 and sentenced her to 10 years in prison. She has also been ordered to pay the Jean family nearly $100 million in a civil trial, which accused her of using excessive force. 

The Jean family is seeking restitution from the city of Dallas because they argue that Dallas, as Guyger’s former employer, had a duty to defend Guyger and pay out claims brought against her. The Jean family filed suit against the city in April of this year.

On Wednesday, city council member Adam Bazaldua stated that the continued remembrance of Jean’s name is a reminder that “no one is above the law.” 

“This has never simply been about changing street signs; it has always been about commemorating a life that was taken too soon,” said Bazaldua. “When driving down Botham Jean Boulevard, we are reminded of the thousands of lives lost across the country each year to senseless gun violence.” 

Advertisement

Bazaldua said that once city leaders were made aware that some signs from the initial 2021 street name change had not materialized, the horseshoe took steps to correct the oversight “somewhat promptly.” But he acknowledged that Wednesday’s funding came on the heels of community advocacy urging the project’s completion. 

Community leader Yafeuh Balogun said his organization, Community Movement Builders, began asking the city for the updated signs in September 2025. Addressing the council ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Balogun encouraged the horseshoe to vote in favor of the funds because it “would make no sense” to not follow through with the street renaming approved years ago. 

 “I think this is very powerful simply because driving here today, I still saw the Lamar Street Signs,” Balogun said. “I remember how powerful it was back in 2021 when the city council voted to rename Lamar Street to Botham Jean. I’d like to keep that legacy going.” 



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Dallas, TX

World Cup volunteers receive uniforms, new tickets released

Published

on

World Cup volunteers receive uniforms, new tickets released


We’re less than a month out from the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and North Texans volunteering in the event have received their uniforms. FOX 4’s Peyton Yager has more on that and the new hospitality tickets released today.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending