Sparring over Dallas City Hall’s future flared Monday after Mayor Eric Johnson accused critics of playing “silly games,” drawing pushback from some council members and support from others.
In his weekly newsletter Sunday, Johnson defended the city’s review of the aging I.M. Pei-designed building and dismissed criticism of the process as political posturing meant to derail debate.
“Those who are more interested in muddying the waters than dealing in facts are working overtime, trying to make normal stuff sound nefarious,” Johnson said.
Some council members rejected that characterization.
Council member Paula Blackmon said those questioning what she called a rush to relocate are trying to get clearer financial details before the city makes a major decision.
Political Points
“If he thinks that we’re just playing games, then he can think that,” she said.
Because of past problems with city real estate deals, she said, she wants to err on the side of “trusting but verifying.”
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Others said Johnson was right to defend the council’s recent 9-6 vote directing city staff to explore options, including repairing the building or moving City Hall and redeveloping that downtown site.
Council member Zarin Gracey said he welcomed the mayor’s comments and agreed the council should focus on gathering information before making a decision.
“I just want the opportunity to sort through information and facts to make a sound decision,” Gracey said. “Not have it muddled up by gossip, speculation and accusations.”
The exchange highlights widening tensions at City Hall as members debate whether to repair the nearly 50-year-old building or to relocate city government.
Johnson said studying those options is the point.
“This city is at an inflection point,” he wrote in his newsletter. “It’s the right time to ask what kind of urban core Dallas wants to have in the coming decades and then start building it.”
He said the building’s design anchors a government district that leaves a large stretch of downtown inactive after business hours.
Redeveloping the City Hall site could increase the city’s tax base and spur development in a largely quiet part of downtown, he said, citing other civic projects, such as Klyde Warren Park and the American Airlines Center, that have helped energize the city.
Consultants estimate fully modernizing the current building could cost more than $1 billion over 20 years. Less expensive repairs alone may not produce a more effective workplace, Johnson said.
Johnson chided some relocation opponents who wanted an outside assessment of City Hall’s condition but are now attacking its findings.
“It is ironic that some of the same voices who most loudly demanded an outside facility condition assessment are now the loudest critics of the result,” Johnson wrote.
Instead, he called for putting “aside the pettiness” and starting to talk about a “real vision for this city’s future.”
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Council split
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis, who was in the majority directing city staff to gather more information, said “this is about finances, not feelings.”
“To the mayor’s point, you don’t make this decision in a vacuum. What are the other options?” she said.
Willis said the city should examine several scenarios, including the cost of repairing City Hall, the land’s value as redevelopment accelerates around the convention center and the broader trajectory of downtown.
But council member Paul Ridley said that same level of scrutiny should be applied both ways.
“It’s ironic if that’s being used to justify the primary focus on relocation of City Hall, rather than due diligence on how we can save City Hall,” he said.
Ridley said he has been working since last November to identify ways the city could repair and remain in the building, but argued the council’s vote earlier this month tilted the process toward relocation.
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Unannounced tours
The Dallas Morning News reported last week that internal emails show city officials and outside advisers discussing relocation scenarios and taking a few council members on tours of potential sites that had not been publicly announced.
Johnson, in his newsletter, took issue with news coverage highlighting “5,000 pages of emails,” saying routine city procedures have been portrayed as suspicious.
He said consultants and city officials involved in evaluating City Hall — including AECOM, CBRE, the Dallas Economic Development Corp. and the city manager’s office — are carrying out the council’s direction to review options.
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Opponents of a possible City Hall move also have said the push is tied to finding a new home for the Dallas Mavericks.
Johnson rejected that. “The team wants a new arena. That has never been a secret,” he wrote.
He said no formal proposal for an arena at the City Hall site has been presented to the council.