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During his brief tenure as Dallas’ manager of Nighttime Economy & Responsible Hospitality Division, Edward Grant did an interview with KXAS-TV (NBC5) in September. It\u00a0was one of two such media appearances that led to his firing in December.<\/p>\n
Courtesy KXAS-TV (NBC5)<\/p>\n
In the fall, when the city\u2019s ludicrously named Nighttime Entertainment Strike Team was striking venues in Bishop Arts and Deep Ellum<\/a>, I tried repeatedly to reach the man at Dallas City Hall in charge. At least, I thought Edward Grant was in charge: At the time, he was manager of the city\u2019s Nighttime Economy & Responsible Hospitality Division.\u00a0<\/p>\n Except I never could reach him, and the city wouldn\u2019t acknowledge his employment, insisting it was a personnel issue, in case you\u2019re counting the red flags. Turns out, Grant was on paid administrative leave at the time. Rumors were it was because he\u2019d done a couple of TV interviews. Which I absolutely believed (because City Hall\u2019s about as transparent as I.M. Pei-poured concrete these days) but could never prove.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I finally spoke with Grant a few weeks ago and got my hands on documents from City Hall, including an Oct. 17, 2025, inquiry \u201cinto allegations of unauthorized conduct.\u201d And, man, that sounds bad. Until the first sentence, anyway, which alleges Grant requested a media release\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the nerve\u00a0\u2014 and spoke to the media \u201cwithout permission,\u201d which doesn\u2019t appear to have been the case.<\/p>\n And now, less than 50 days from the World Cup kick-off, the city barely has a Nighttime Economy division left. Just last Thursday, its coordinator, Marisa King, submitted her two-week notice, also obtained by\u00a0The Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time, it has become increasingly challenging to operate effectively within the current leadership structure,\u201d King wrote. \u201cA continued lack of clear direction, communication, and consistent leadership support has created an environment that does not allow me to perform my role effectively or\u00a0sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n King didn\u2019t respond when asked for a comment. But she\u2019s likely referring to the fact that the Nighttime Economy division once reported to Convention and Event Services before being pawned off last year on the Office of Arts and Culture. Then eventually, Code Compliance, two words that scream fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Grant confirmed he was fired for talking to TV stations back in September, after the city issued a media release about his division and the impact of the nighttime economy on the city\u2019s coffers. From the Dec. 18, 2025, notice of discharge signed by Convention and Event Services Director Rosa Fleming and obtained by\u00a0The News:<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cYou acted as a city spokesperson for various news and media outlets without being officially designated or authorized to do so by Convention and Event Services Director Rosa Fleming,\u201d wrote Fleming, \u201cand otherwise made statements to the media without approval.\u201d<\/p>\n There are emails from the city\u2019s media department that would appear to disagree with Rosa Fleming.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFleming was judge, jury and executioner,\u201d Grant recently told me. \u201cWhich made no sense to me. How can the person who initiated the complaint get to fire me?\u201d<\/p>\n I met Grant last July at St. Pete\u2019s Dancing Marlin, where he was one of the few city officials to attend\u00a0a community meeting about the rising crime in Deep Ellum<\/a>. Club and business owners considered him a reliable liaison between the streets and City Hall. And everyone with whom I spoke in the fall had nothing but good words to say about Grant, who moved here in November 2024 after spending some 18 years on the Savannah, Ga., police force, and another six as assistant director in its Special Events, Film & Tourism Office<\/a>. He also helped develop that city\u2019s first Office of Nightlife.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Grant first visited Dallas for a nightlife economy conference, he told me over breakfast, and fell in love with this city. He moved his family here for the same pay he was making in Savannah, Grant said, \u201cbecause it was the chance to make positive change in a big city.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosa Fleming, Dallas\u2019 Convention and Event Services Director, complained that Edward Grant was posting media releases and doing TV interviews without permission.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Last fall,\u00a0the city screwed up by giving tickets to The Free Man in Deep Ellum and Reveler\u2019s Hall in Bishop Arts for charging for live music<\/a>. That led to the creation of a task force, whose recommendations<\/a> will be taken up (again) by a City Council committee next month<\/a>. Grant could only watch from the sidelines, frustrated to see his hard work and goodwill undone.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been very hard,\u201d Grant said. \u201cThe biggest thing for me is everybody\u2019s like, \u2018Are you even still around?\u2019 Yeah, I’m not leaving Dallas. My goal is to continue doing this work. I just wanted my job back.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Grant had 10 days to appeal his firing to Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley. The only thing he received in response was an auto-reply from Bentley. A city spokesperson told me Tuesday morning that Grant\u2019s appeal \u201cis pending scheduling.\u201d<\/p>\n Best I can tell, the only thing that got Grant in trouble was making sure people knew about the work his division was doing. This started in September, when the city issued a media release: \u201cDallas Spotlights Nighttime Economy & Responsible Hospitality Division<\/a>.\u201d The release hailed a report from Pennsylvania-based Tourism Economics and Visit Dallas<\/a> that said Dallas\u2019 nightlife generates \u201cmore than\u202f$24 billion annually between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., supporting over\u202f256,000 jobs\u202fand standing as one of the city\u2019s most powerful economic and cultural drivers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Grant didn\u2019t hack the city\u2019s website to post that release. Beginning in August, he asked Nick Starling in the city\u2019s Office of Communications, Outreach and Marketing about how best to tell the Nighttime Economy team\u2019s story, especially given all the bad news coming out of Deep\u00a0Ellum last summer.<\/p>\n \u201cStorytelling feels especially important to help frame the work the City is already doing,\u201d Grant wrote. Starling agreed, and looped in others. Grant wrote that he wanted to \u201cmake sure the City is being seen in the best possible light.\u201d A month later they all arrived at the media release, with Starling writing on Sept. 4 that he \u201csuspect[ed] a few media members would like to do stories about this division.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n KTVT-TV (Channel 11) ran the first story about the Nighttime Economy division, in which Grant spoke about\u00a0 \u201cgetting our venues prepared for major events that are coming to our city,\u201d meaning FIFA World Cup. The story appeared on the station\u2019s website beneath the headline, \u201cDallas launches new division to keep nightlife safe and thriving<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Starling, a former multimedia reporter at\u00a0KTVT, emailed the piece to several city staffers and thanked Grant for speaking with Channel 11. \u201cYou did a fantastic job highlighting this new division,\u201d Starling wrote, \u201cand why it\u2019s important for Dallas and our nighttime economy!\u201d<\/p>\n When Deep Ellum was going through its difficulties last summer, Edward Grant attended community meetings in his role as liaison between the city and business owners. But by the fall, he was on administrative leave, without anyone knowing why.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n A few days later,\u00a0KXAS-TV (NBC5) reporter Candace Sweat asked the city\u2019s media staff and Grant if she could interview him about the new initiative. Shortly thereafter, a story ran about the city\u2019s \u201cnew initiative designed to boost revenue and ensure safety<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That media release remains on the city\u2019s website. Yet Fleming fired Grant by insisting that he \u201cfailed to inform department leadership about the media inquiries or coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, that wasn\u2019t the only reason she cited for his firing. She also claimed that he \u201cmisrepresented facts\u201d about his division, without offering any further explanation, and insisted that his \u201cactions created confusion among the City Council during the 2025-2026 budget season and resulted in a waste of city resources to correct news stories and manage the content.\u201d<\/p>\n Best I can tell, staff did that all on its own. That\u2019s the City Hall Special.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Initially, a city spokesperson said they won\u2019t comment on personnel matters. I responded that nothing about this story made sense, and sent further questions for clarification. Eventually, I was told, \u201cThe city cannot discuss this personnel matter or answer specific questions until after the appeals process has concluded.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And while Grant\u2019s awaiting that appeal,\u00a0the city has listed his old job on its website.\u00a0<\/a>But you might want to do some background checks before applying.<\/p>\n Have\u00a0thoughts\u00a0about this?\u00a0Send a\u00a0letter\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0editor\u00a0using our\u00a0letters\u00a0form<\/a>\u00a0or email\u00a0letters@dallasnews.com<\/a>.\u00a0Letters\u00a0should be no more than 200 words and include\u00a0the\u00a0first and last name of\u00a0the\u00a0writer and city of residence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During his brief tenure as Dallas’ manager of Nighttime Economy & Responsible Hospitality Division, Edward Grant did an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,1631,92694,87998,88952,95591],"class_list":{"0":"post-260975","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","11":"tag-opinion","12":"tag-tp-bishop-arts","13":"tag-tp-dallas","14":"tag-tp-dallas-city-hall","15":"tag-tp-deep-ellum"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260975","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=260975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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