Last week, Dallas began a new chapter with Monday’s inauguration ceremony. It is an honor to welcome new council members Maxie Johnson, Laura Cadena, Lorie Blair, and Bill Roth — and a pleasure to have returning council members begin another term of service.
This inauguration comes at an exciting time for Dallas. In recent years, we have accomplished many great things for the citizens of this city, including:
- Turning the tide on violent crime and achieving a remarkable four consecutive years of violent crime reduction, garnering national acclaim;
- Cutting property tax rates and implementing the largest single-year tax rate reduction in Dallas history;
- Becoming the best major city in Texas for parks development, with over 80% of residents now living within a 10-minute walk of a park or trail;
- Reforming the city’s ethics code to help end corruption at City Hall and establishing the Office of Inspector General as a permanent office;
- Attracting nearly $23 billion worth of new development, as well as relocations from major employers such as CBRE, AECOM, and Goldman Sachs;
- Making it easier to “build, baby, build” and cutting permit wait times from two months down to less than 10 days;
- Attracting professional sports franchises, such as the Dallas Wings and Dallas Trinity FC; and
- Positioning the city to take the international stage with events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Moving Forward
This next chapter must focus on building on this remarkable momentum. City Hall must remember that its job is not to be everything to everyone — it is to keep people safe, fix potholes, keep the water clean and running, issue building permits quickly, attract employers, and maintain law and order.
The voters have spoken clearly — not only in May’s council elections, but also last November when they overwhelmingly supported City Charter amendments to impose stricter term limits and increase police hiring requirements. Dallas citizens said that they value public safety and they want their city government to be better and more accountable.
These priorities were echoed in the 2025 Community Survey, where residents said that their two highest priorities are infrastructure maintenance and public safety.
Moving forward, City Hall must listen to the people of this city and take their priorities seriously. Dallas must improve the quality of life for its families by investing in streets and infrastructure, fixing potholes, and improving access to high-quality parks and trails.
The city must also continue to clean up downtown and reduce homelessness across its neighborhoods. Most importantly, public safety must remain Dallas’s number one priority.
Last Wednesday marked the first briefing on the planned budget for fiscal year 2025-2026. The upcoming budget season will challenge the city to continue its strong progress across public safety, parks, property tax relief, infrastructure investment, economic development, and more.
Dallas must eliminate ineffective, inefficient, and outdated initiatives while providing meaningful tax relief for businesses, homeowners, and renters.
Comprehensive Public Safety Policy
In addition to financial investment through the city budget, the next step in putting public safety first is crafting and adopting a comprehensive public safety policy.
This policy must help set expectations for service, response times, hiring, resource allocation, and funding in the years ahead. It should also incorporate broader strategies that supplement law enforcement, such as improved street lighting, blight remediation, engagement with schools, and support for summer youth programs.
The process for developing this policy should incorporate people and organizations from across Dallas, including police and fire associations, the business community, and neighborhoods throughout the city, as well as criminologists and other experts.
In a world increasingly shaped by soundbites, memes, and artificial content, Dallas is committed to focusing on real solutions.
That’s all for today. Stay safe and have a great week!
Until next time,
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