Back in the 1960s, when he was faced with questions about the future of Dallas and downtown, then-Mayor J. Erik Jonsson called for, among other things, a new city hall building.
In his eyes, the five-decade-old, architecturally significant city hall building had become obsolete and inadequate. He derided the old city hall as a “box with a doghouse and henhouse on the back.”
Mayor Jonsson believed that to move Dallas forward and revitalize downtown, the people of Dallas needed to move beyond the past and have a bold vision for the city’s future. The major challenge, he said, was “to create and shape the future instead of being run over by it.”
Today, Dallas is again at a crossroads. This time, the city’s major challenge comes not from within but from its former bedroom communities in this ever-growing region. These neighboring cities are competing with Dallas for residents, businesses, attractions, and cultural relevance, and they can offer largely blank canvases upon which to develop, good public schools, and newer infrastructure.
Dallas has been doing very well. The city is undeniably safer than it was seven years ago, thanks to a prioritization of public safety. Homelessness is down. So are your property tax rates. Y’all Street is booming as financial firms continue to grow their presence in Dallas. The city will soon be prominently featured on the national and global stage as a World Cup host city and the home of FIFA’s International Broadcast Center.
Dallas also continues to compete both nationally and regionally for capital investment in the form of corporate relocations and expansions. While businesses are not choosing downtown right now, they’re still choosing Dallas. Neiman Marcus is not leaving Dallas, nor is Fifth Third (formerly Comerica). So while it is true that downtown got some tough news last week, it should be kept in the proper perspective as it relates to the city’s overall economic vitality.
Generally speaking, downtown is also still much stronger than it was in the 1990s, when Fort Worth’s bustling Sundance Square famously provided a stark and unflattering contrast to the sterile Downtown Dallas that became a ghost town after 5 p.m.
But, it is clear that Downtown Dallas must evolve. The office vacancy rate is too high, and while the residential base has grown exponentially, it still lags behind where it should be to support a sustainable mix of businesses and activities. In other words, downtown needs more places for people to live, more reasons for them to live there, and more attractions to draw visitors.
This is part of why the city hall discussion is so vital to the future. Throughout downtown’s various ups and downs over many decades, the “government district” has always been a downer. It’s a dead zone. In a built-out urban environment, the current 12-acre city hall campus, completed in 1978, is a vestige of an era when open land in the city center was far more plentiful. These realities must be acknowledged and addressed.
On Wednesday, the City Council will vote on whether to spend over a billion dollars to stay put—literally and metaphorically encased in concrete—or to step boldly into the future like Mayor Jonsson once implored Dallas to do. I will support moving out of 1500 Marilla and taking the next—necessary—step in Dallas’s evolution.
While the impulse to preserve the past is understandable, it’s not worth it to lose the present and the future.
The facts on which Dallas must base its decisions are plain: The massive cost estimates for repairing 1500 Marilla have been verified multiple times by multiple independent firms. Relocation will cost far less and achieve much more.
And the questions ahead are simple:
Should Dallas somehow come up with and spend hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to repair a 47-year-old government office building that doesn’t attract visitors, doesn’t increase the tax base, doesn’t generate economic activity, doesn’t provide for homes or hotels, and doesn’t create recreational or artistic benefit? Or should the City be fiscally responsible and seek to increase economic and social vibrancy downtown?
Should Dallas pretend that the concrete plaza outside the city hall building was not long ago replaced as a vital public gathering space by Klyde Warren Park, Main Street Garden, and numerous other parks and plazas that did not exist in 1978? Or should Dallas acknowledge that the city has changed since the 1970s?
Should Dallas continue to allow migration of its cultural and business hubs to the north, farther away from southern Dallas? Or should policymakers demonstrate their commitment to the people of Oak Cliff, South Dallas, Southeast Dallas, and Pleasant Grove?
Should Dallas simply give up on enticing professional sports teams and major businesses to relocate to or remain in the city center? Or should Dallas look at the billions of dollars of development spurred in the last 25 years by the American Airlines Center and commit to competing and playing to win?
Should Dallas sit on its hands while its northern suburbs poach businesses and residents from the city, draining a tax base that pays for public safety and streets? Or should Dallas be fiscally responsible, provide a modern workspace for its City employees, and allow the obsolete 1500 Marilla site to be redeveloped, which will give Downtown Dallas an opportunity at revitalization that supports vibrancy in the city center?
Ultimately, Dallas’s neighbors have every right to compete for jobs, businesses, and residents. Plano is looking out for Plano. Frisco is looking out for Frisco. It’s up to Dallas to step up to the challenge and look out for Dallas. This means the City Council must recognize the task ahead, put an end to its infighting and shenanigans, and focus on winning this competition. This is no time to be guided by emotions, to be confused by disingenuous arguments, to seek delay for its own sake, or to invoke procedural distractions.
The City Council must decide whether they want big things to happen in Dallas or somewhere else. That’s it. That’s the choice.
Dallas cannot afford to think small. Mayor Jonsson famously said, “We must dream no small dreams. We must envision great, ambitious goals.” The same holds true today. Today’s Dallas must dream no small dreams. Dallas must follow its own history by tackling its challenges head-on and taking bold steps forward to shape its future, lest it be run over by it.
Any other decision would sacrifice our future to the past.
That’s all for today. Stay safe and have a wonderful week!
Until next time…
