Starting on City Council meetings on time is a low-hanging fruit, writes Dallas Cothrum. It’s a place to begin demonstrating servant leadership, and that the citizens come first.
Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Mornin
I find it ironic that parking meters are positioned outside City Hall. The city closely monitors the timeliness of its visitors, issuing tickets when they are not compliant. It’s the only place on the property where time has meaning.
Once you step into the building, you’ve entered a special dimension, an area known as the Twilight Zone.
Twice a month the City of Dallas sends notices for public hearings. These go out to citizens impacted by zoning cases who are within the required notice area — 200 to 500 feet depending on the type of requests. The notices are confusing and written in legalese, but the start time of 1 p.m. is clear.
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Citizens typically arrive early — only to wait for extended periods of time in the Twilight Zone. The hearing on Oct. 14 was particularly bad. In addition to being late, visitors were treated to several scoops of pettiness.
When I invite people to my home for dinner, I serve the meal on time. City Hall does not work this way, and there is no excuse for it. Show your invited guests that you value their time. Come back and finish the morning agenda business at the end of the meeting. It was done like this for decades.
In this particular meeting, in addition to being late, the city aired its dirty laundry in front of a mostly full auditorium. It was a who’s who waiting and watching. Pro Football Hall of Famer “Mean” Joe Greene, business leader Tom Landry Jr., retired WFAA sports anchor Dale Hansen, Dallas Cowboys radio play-by-play announcer Brad Sham, former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa, business leader Tom Dunning and community activist Rene Martinez had come to speak on behalf of the name change from Houston Street Viaduct to Pettis Norman Bridge.
Unfortunately, they had to listen to minutiae like: a cleaning contract for Love Field, changes to the council and committee schedules for next year, and selecting a vendor to collect aircraft landing fees. Visitors also had to see council members thanking each other for little reason.
Stop doing this. Just vote. It’s a bad tradition that does not happen in efficient cities. Members are simply thanking one another for doing what they signed up for as an elected official. At best, it’s showboating; at worst, it’s self-aggrandizing.
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The worst moment of the day was Cara Mendelsohn’s decision to have a protracted discussion on appointments to the Youth Commission. The Far North Dallas official shared with her colleagues, “I don’t even think we should have a youth commission, it’s a waste of tax dollars.” One might think exposing high school students to local governance has merit, builds a college resume and is in the best interest of the city.
Unfortunately, she was not raising the issue about expenses. Instead, she was attacking a colleague, Adam Bazaldua, whose child had been appointed to the Youth Commission by Paula Blackmon. It’s not unusual for someone to be appointed to a board or commission from outside the district in which they live. It is unusual to bring a teenager into it, who almost certainly doesn’t love their parent being a council member. As a child in the 1970s, I recall getting a lecture during carpool from a parent about a thoroughfare change that they felt my father had gotten wrong on the council. All of this could and should have been handled privately for many reasons. To air the dirty laundry in front of an audience was unfortunate — even mean.
As a part of her effort, Mendelsohn attempted to put City Secretary Bilierae Johnson on the spot, perhaps even embarrass her. It didn’t happen, Johnson runs a good department. She is the best city secretary during my career. She and her department are professional, responsive and timely. I wish more departments worked as well.
Finally, at 2:20 p.m. the zoning portion started, with Mayor Eric Johnson muttering under his breath, “Let’s get going.” Finally, I had something to agree with him on, but he’s the one who runs the meeting. As such, the tardiness is his fault. Maybe it’s never occurred to him. Almost certainly, he has made no effort to learn how things worked when the city was high-functioning.
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Starting on time is a low-hanging fruit. It’s a place to begin demonstrating servant leadership, and that the citizens come first. Moving away from the reputation of “do as we say, not as we do” would be welcome.