{"id":218055,"date":"2026-03-24T13:23:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/218055\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:23:41","slug":"questions-at-budget-town-hall-focus-on-housing-public-safety-and-sanitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/218055\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions at Budget Town Hall focus on housing, public safety and sanitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Budget Town Hall was held Monday night at the Lake Highlands North Recreation Center.<\/p>\n

District 10 Council member Kathy Stewart hosted a Budget Town Hall at the Lake Highlands North Recreation Center Monday night, with representatives from various city departments on hand to answer questions. The $5.2 billion budget \u00a0\u2014 the city\u2019s largest ever \u2014 was approved by the full council following a marathon meeting in September.<\/p>\n

Almost $1.3 billion will be dedicated to public safety, with increases for the Dallas Police Department to $758 million and Dallas Fire-Rescue to $453 million.<\/p>\n

Expenditures of $952.7 million will be used for several major projects, including a new Dallas Police Academy at the University of North Texas at Dallas<\/a>, improvements to 750 miles of roadway, traffic safety improvements to advance the city\u2019s Vision Zero Action Plan<\/a>, expansion of the bike network and housing for unsheltered residents\/homelessness prevention.<\/p>\n

About $539 million will be spent on the city\u2019s quest to remain an economic leader, including investments in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center<\/a> and updates to the city\u2019s development code.<\/p>\n

About $533 million will be used to address affordable housing and homelessness. The effort will include consolidation of the offices of Community Care & Empowerment, Equity & Inclusion, Housing & Community Development and Homeless Solutions.<\/p>\n

About $281 million will be used to expand the Nighttime Entertainment Strike Team and improve the city\u2019s animal services.<\/p>\n

Spending will be funded by property taxes (57%), sales tax (24%) and a variety of service fees and fines (18%).<\/p>\n

When asked about the city\u2019s push to build more affordable housing in neighborhoods all across town, Stewart said Lake Highlands already has plenty.<\/p>\n

\u201cDistrict 10 has a large number of \u2018naturally occurring affordable housing units\u2019 \u2014 more than any other district by 5,000 units. Some of our apartments have aged such that rents here are lower,\u201d she said. \u201cI have worked in the Forest Audelia area for almost 10 years, and it is challenging. I\u2019ve worked as a PID (public improvement district) director, a resident and a council member. It is a high priority for me to address the public safety issues within these apartment complexes \u2014 mostly for the people who live there. We have made tremendous strides in this area. It is not what it was. It is so much better. There\u2019s now a park there<\/a>, and a community center is coming which will provide services to residents of this area. We are making a commitment to make this area safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart also alluded to future changes \u2014 moves on the chessboard which she couldn\u2019t yet make public but which would improve the area north of LBJ.<\/p>\n

She introduced Major Yancey Nelson, who now leads the Northeast Division of the Dallas Police Department. Nelson worked Northeast as a young officer, and he\u2019s back now as Top Man.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Northeast Division has the lowest violent crime rate in the city,\u201d he said, \u201cand we are committed to hiring more officers and getting them out on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanitation Director Clifton Gillespie fielded several questions about alley trash pickup<\/a> (he\u2019s accustomed to that by now), but he was also asked about recycling. A neighbor heard a rumor that items in his blue rolling bin and his grey one all end up in the same place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not true,\u201d Gillespie said. \u201cThey\u2019re picked up by different trucks and they do both go to (the transfer station at) McCommas Bluff, but the recycle items are sorted<\/a>, baled and sold as commodities. You may learn more by downloading the Dallas Sanitation Services app<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also confirmed that cardboard boxes left at the curb for bulk trash get trashed, not recycled.<\/p>\n

If you missed the meeting and you\u2019ve got a complaint or question, you\u2019re invited to email Stewart at Katherine.stewart@dallas.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Budget Town Hall was held Monday night at the Lake Highlands North Recreation Center. District 10 Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-218055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}