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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHinojosa told reporters that, as had been the case at DISD, the city needs to “get out of our own way.”\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Former Dallas ISD superintendent and mayoral candidate Michael Hinojosa <\/a>highlighted his educational background and told reporters at a press conference Tuesday morning that he supports a strong-mayor system.<\/p>\n Standing outside Dallas City Hall, Hinojosa opened his remarks by declaring, \u201cFirst of all, I\u2019m back.\u201d The 70-year-old most recently led the state\u2019s second-largest school district from 2015 to 2022.<\/a> He announced his run for the Dallas mayor\u2019s seat on Monday and is the first candidate to have declared thus far.<\/p>\n Born in Mexico and raised in Oak Cliff, Hinojosa taught and coached in DISD before moving to administrative roles. He pitched himself as a unifier and said that he felt the issues were too important to wait any longer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be about unity, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m starting now,\u201d Hinojosa told reporters. \u201cI can\u2019t wait. I can\u2019t wait another 14 months to throw my hat in the ring. This is going to be too important.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Strong mayor?<\/p>\n The city has been racked with division over the question of City Hall\u2019s future, which is itself part of a wider debate about the future of downtown Dallas and the function of city government. Two council members recently delayed a vote on relocating from City Hall by petitioning a local judge for a temporary restraining order. The suit has since been dropped, and the council voted to reject a renovation plan for the I.M. Pei-designed building on June 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n As debates about the future of City Hall persist, the city has furloughed employees <\/a>amid a $51 million budget gap, and downtown is facing a corporate exodus<\/a>. Hinojosa told reporters that the city \u201cis at an inflection point.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Dallas needs now is strong, proven, transparent leadership,\u201d Hinojosa said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea of a more empowered head of city government has gained momentum recently, as it has several times in Dallas history <\/a>when the city faces political turmoil. Currently, the city is governed by a council-manager form of government, in which city council members from 14 districts serve as the policymaking body, while the city manager oversees most city departments. The mayor, on the other hand, is largely restricted to running council meetings, committee appointments and ceremonial duties.<\/p>\n In a roughly 3,600-word D Magazine article, former mayor and Observer columnist Laura Miller argued that the city should<\/a> move toward a stronger mayor, as opposed to a textbook strong mayor like Houston\u2019s John Whitmire. Miller wrote that the mayor should still have the ability to fire the city manager, veto legislation and set council agendas. District 14 council member Cara Mendelsohn has also supported the idea. And so does Hinojosa; he told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI support it because we can move faster,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to vote for it. I\u2019m not going to campaign for it because that would be self-serving. And if we don\u2019t, and if it\u2019s proposed and it fails, I\u2019m not going to whine about it.\u201d<\/p>\n A change to a strong-mayor or stronger-mayor system would require voter approval to amend the city charter. The next opportunity for charter amendments to make their way onto ballots will come in 2027, the same year Hinojosa will stand for election.<\/p>\n Budget worries and City Hall<\/p>\n Hinojosa said that city officials are \u201cworried about furloughs, as they should be.\u201d He cited his experience leading DISD through an $84 million budget<\/a> shortfall in 2008 during his first term as evidence that he would bring fiscal responsibility to 1500 Marilla Street.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s budgetary crisis has been driven, in part, by revenue caps on property taxes mandated by state lawmakers. When asked by the Observer how he would advocate for the city with officials in Austin, he again cited his DISD experience.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t be against everything, and so what I did was meet with the legislators and taught them the concept of incentivizing the behavior that you want,\u201d Hinojosa said. \u201cIf you want low crime, give us resources for low crime, and then hold us accountable. And don\u2019t give us any more money if we don\u2019t deliver\u201d<\/p>\n On the subject of City Hall, he said, \u201cthat\u2019s gonna be handled before I get there,\u201d although he questioned the building\u2019s efficiency.<\/p>\n Three Pillars<\/p>\n The candidate laid out three pillars for his campaign. The first, he said, would be to build \u201call communities,\u201d especially underserved neighborhoods. Along with neighborhoods in West Dallas and the southern sector, he also counted downtown as an area in need of investment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt includes the central business district. Downtown Dallas Inc. is trying to do something phenomenal here, but they keep running into things, so it\u2019s about affordability,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople want to live in the city, but they can\u2019t afford it, and so we got to help make that happen. There\u2019s no pride in being the tale of two cities.\u201d<\/p>\n Other campaign pillars included investment in infrastructure and quality-of-life issues. He said public safety is a large part of quality of life, and called supporting public safety the \u201cnumber one thing we need to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Homelessness and housing were also identified as important issues. In April, Oak Cliff council member Chad West said, \u201cwe have a housing crisis,\u201d at a council briefing after members were told that housing demand in the city is exceeding supply<\/a>. Council members were also told that there were over 36,000 eviction filings in Dallas in 2025.<\/p>\n