Mayor Eric Johnson rightly calls on Dallas City Hall to get back to basics

We admit we were worried when Mayor Eric Johnson announced last week that he would be taking his annual state of the city address off of city-owned media and onto a right-wing AM radio station.

The move seemed tailored to make the speech a more partisan affair, in line with his recent embrace of the GOP, and out of line with the letter and spirit of nonpartisan Dallas government.

In fact, Johnson’s speech hewed to important themes about Dallas, both the progress we have made and the areas where we need to improve.

His points about “the four P’s” — public safety, property taxes, parks and potholes — will resonate with most Dallas residents.

As a statement of priorities, the speech provided a path for Dallas government that would keep City Hall focused on the basics, which is exactly what voters have told City Hall they want time and again.

On public safety, Johnson is rightly endorsing that as the first priority. The rise in homicides this year is a worrisome signal that gains in violent crime reduction overall may not last. Simply put, we need more well-trained officers with a reliable pension system.

On property taxes, Johnson is again right to raise concerns about bloat in the city budget. It has grown at an unsustainable rate that will see substantial cuts or higher taxation in coming years if something isn’t done. But, as we said at budget time, it isn’t clear that Dallas taxpayers are prepared to accept service cuts to parks, libraries and other amenities to lower costs. We know they won’t, and shouldn’t, accept cuts to public safety.

Johnson’s broader point about City Hall’s persistent mission creep is well taken, though. The need to review spending and to recognize that 1500 Marilla is not able to resolve every social concern would help pull it back to areas where it can best succeed. The growth in the size of non-public safety city staff is reason enough for that review.

On that point, Johnson cautioned against an effort to see the city borrow some $200 million to pay for affordable housing. This is a plan that does not play to the city’s strengths. The subsidization of a relatively few housing units, at great taxpayer expense, would be a poor use of funds even if there was a clear plan, and there isn’t, and even if City Hall had a good history of developing housing, and it doesn’t.

Johnson recommended finding ways to unlock private-sector investment in housing. That is a much better use of city resources than paying out of pocket.

But if he’s reluctant to spend on housing, he doesn’t seem reluctant to spend on parks. Johnson used his speech to once again push for massive spending on new parks. Here the mayor needs to check the concerns he raises above. Parks are wonderful, so long as there is money to maintain them and ensure they are well patrolled. If they aren’t, these assets quickly become liabilities.

But overall, Johnson deserves credit for an address that offered a straightforward vision that properly aligns City Hall’s role with Dallas’ needs.

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