Dallas, TX
Why is City Hall shortchanging southern Dallas to save a library north?
The Dallas City Council has trouble sticking to its convictions. The conversation surrounding the proposed closure of the Skillman Southwestern Library proves that.
Facing a budget shortfall and massive pension obligations, interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and her staff set out to find cost savings to shore up the upcoming budget. That plan involves closing the Skillman library in northeast Dallas, largely due to its close proximity to other branches and low foot traffic.
But a wave of community opposition led council members last week to tentatively shuffle some money intended for underserved neighborhoods in southern Dallas to preserve the library branch in a well-resourced area of northeast Dallas. While the full council has yet to weigh in with a formal vote, the move highlights a recurring problem at City Hall.
Whether it’s the botched charter review process this year or the unchecked scope creep in the 2024 bond program, this council caves to outside pressure when it faces politically difficult decisions.
If our local representatives capitulate every time an interest group champions a pet cause or challenges an unpopular but well-reasoned policy proposal, then Dallas will just keep kicking cans down the road. Facing unpleasant but necessary decisions is part of the job description when you sit around the council horseshoe.
No one wants to see libraries close. They’re hubs for learning, community and creativity. But the 13,200-square-foot Skillman branch sits roughly a mile away from the state-of-the-art Vickery Park branch that opened in 2021. The bright and colorful 18,000-square-foot Vickery Park branch has multiple meeting rooms, a children’s play area and a tree-lined plaza. Closing the Skillman branch would surely be an inconvenience for some, but residents still have a great library option nearby.
The Dallas Public Library system doesn’t have enough money in its budget to keep the Skillman branch open while ensuring all the city’s other libraries remain open at least six days a week, this newspaper reported.
Instead, the council is considering using about $485,000 meant for the city’s infrastructure investment fund. That bucket of money was approved last year with the purpose of encouraging investment in the city’s high-poverty areas, mainly south of Interstate 30, by reimbursing developers for the cost of building infrastructure or related work.
To this day, Dallas is defined by its north-south divide. Taking funds meant to reverse decades of neglect in southern Dallas to keep a library open in a better-off part of town makes no sense. Council members haven’t even voiced a plan for how to fund the Skillman library beyond the next fiscal year.
None of this is to say that council members shouldn’t listen to their constituents. But emotional and personal attachments can’t be the reason to ignore good financial sense. The council should be fair to southern Dallas rather than crack under pressure.
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Jeff Kolb and Sam Gannon welcome Cowboys insiders Clarence Hill (All City Dallas) and Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) for a hilarious breakdown of the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Giving insight, arguments, and plenty of laughs as two of the best Dallas Cowboys writers in the business go head-to-head on what Dallas should do next.
Dallas, TX
New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes
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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