By Devyani Chhetri
Dallas Morning News
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Johnson touts city record on public safety, parks, potholes and property tax relief.
In the council chambers on Thursday, flanked by 14 of his peers on the Dallas City Council, Mayor Eric Johnson began his assessment of the city’s track record with an emphasis on 4 P’s: public safety, parks, potholes and property tax relief.
“These four pillars are essential to Dallas remaining a city of opportunity for everyone,” Johnson said.
He also announced he will release the city’s “first-ever comprehensive public safety policy” in the coming months — though it’s unclear what that entails.
Johnson’s state of the city address, a tradition mandated by the city’s charter, echoed much of what he’s said before. The speech is generally a roadmap of what the city government has accomplished and wants to accomplish.
This year’s edition comes exactly a month after the November elections, where the passage of propositions S and U was widely seen as a “wake-up call” for municipal government.
The passed propositions waive government immunity and open the city up to lawsuits if it doesn’t adhere to the charter. They direct half of any new revenue year after year to the police and fire pension system and other public safety initiatives and also mandate the city figure out a way to hire nearly 900 more police officers.
“These calls from our residents for greater public safety and stronger government accountability could not be more clear,” Johnson said. “And City Hall must listen.”
The opposition to these propositions came from a big bipartisan coalition of former mayors and council members. Several saw these amendments as legal mandates that could negatively affect city operations.
Almost immediately after the propositions passed, Moody’s Ratings, a top credit rating firm, downgraded the city’s debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” due to the passage of Proposition U. The firm said the proposition lowers the flexibility the city has when it comes to its expenses and in the world of stocks and bonds, that type of an assessment can impact a lender’s confidence in the city’s management of its debt.
Johnson was absent from the public effort.
A man of few words, his opinion on the propositions came as an op-ed in The Dallas Morning News, where he and council member Cara Mendelsohn asked voters to reject all 18 charter propositions, despite months of work by the charter review commission, a volunteer group tasked with coming up with the majority of the amendments.
Still, on Thursday, Johnson referenced the commission’s work as a milestone.
So what’s next for the city?
Dallas, he said, needed to keep investing in first responders to continue its streak of lowering violent crime, he said. The city needed to maintain its focus on the parks system and fix crippling potholes, a clarion call apparent in the passage of the $1.25 billion bond program earlier this year, he continued. This comes as Dallas is expected to host thousands of visitors for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the new Texas Stock Exchange and two professional sports teams in the Dallas Wings and the Dallas Trinity FC.
Park Board President Arun Agarwal, who was also the mayor’s pick to lead the community bond task force, began Thursday’s ceremony. The task force itself was stacked with five Park Board members.
“Today, we’re working overtime to keep that same spirit of opportunity alive and well, ensuring that Dallas continues to attract those eager to embrace our way of life and remains a place where people can live their dreams,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s speech to the Dallas public struck a different tone than his frequent appearances on the national stage.
Since declaring himself as a Republican in 2023, Johnson has used his experience as the mayor of the ninth-largest city to actively raise his profile under the GOP banner.
During an interview on Fox News, Johnson suggested a need for stricter security in the U.S.-Mexico border and helping the incoming administration in deporting undocumented migrants in the city with violent criminal records.
“People need to understand it’s a strain on our school system, it’s a strain on our hospital system. There are hidden costs to having a porous, open border, and we need to shut that down,” Johnson said.
His speech ended with a focus on administrative positions that will dictate the future of the city’s government: The city manager and the police chief.
In Dallas’ council-manager system, the city manager is the CEO of the metropolis and will hire the new chief. The laundry list of challenges facing the city spurred a national search. Meanwhile, the police chief will tackle crime reduction and the responsibility of staffing a police force, which like many cities across the U.S., has struggled to hire more boots on the ground.
Former City Manager TC Broadnax and former Police Chief Eddie García are now both in Austin. Current interim city manager Kim Bizor Tolbert is on the shortlist for the top job and interim police chief Michael Igo is leading the department currently.
“It is of the utmost importance that Dallas hires a city manager who puts public safety first, prioritizes property tax relief, spends your tax dollars wisely, and delivers city services efficiently,” he said.
| This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas. |
