Former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says the debate over relocating City Hall is less about plumbing and architecture and more about whether Dallas will redevelop the site to keep Mavericks and Stars downtown.
On NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics Sunday, Rawlings dismissed the fixation on architecture and repairs of the nearly 50-year-old I.M. Pei-designed building, saying the city should seize the chance to reinvigorate downtown’s economy.
Rawlings said relocating City Hall could clear the way for a large-scale entertainment complex that would anchor the teams downtown and strengthen the city’s tax base.
“The real issue is the Mavericks and Stars have to make a decision here in the next couple of years whether they’re moving out of town or staying,” he said.
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Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings photographed outside the Winspear Opera House in the Dallas Arts District on Thursday, March 21, 2019.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
His call to redevelop the site comes as the City Council weighs a consultants’ report that found fully repairing and modernizing the building could cost more than $1 billion over 20 years.
Rawlings said the high stakes justify relocating instead of pouring money into an aging structure.
Cities across the country would “give their left leg” for two major sports teams downtown, he said.
“We can move City Hall and keep it downtown,” he said. “This is a tremendous opportunity that the citizens do not want to miss.”
Rawlings acknowledged he did little to tackle deferred maintenance at City Hall during his time as mayor from 2011 to 2019.
“I didn’t do much about it,” he said, describing repairs then as small and limited in scope. He said the building was “built solidly” and “wasn’t going to fall down,” though he added it was not “a great place to work.”
Those tradeoffs once seemed manageable, he said, but the city now faces a decision that will shape downtown for “the rest of the century.”
Critics of relocation say the city should not give up an iconic civic building to satisfy sports franchises and big business interests. Rawlings said he understands that view but believes potential tax base gains outweigh those concerns.
“Our roads will be better, our parks will be better, all the things that people care about, if we’re able to keep downtown as viable as we can,” he said.
Pressed on whether a City Hall move would keep the teams, Rawlings said there are no guarantees.
Still, he said, the Mavericks have communicated a vision for staying and developing downtown. “Do I believe ’em? At this point, I do.”
Lone Star Politics airs Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5.