{"id":42085,"date":"2025-11-09T10:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T10:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/42085\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T10:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T10:58:11","slug":"homeless-housing-desert-ice-deal-gets-iced-crosswalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/42085\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless Housing Desert, ICE Deal Gets Iced, Crosswalks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The fate of Dallas City Hall has been dominating headlines, but you\u2019ll find none of that in this roundup. Stay tuned for standalone coverage on that ongoing saga tomorrow morning. For now, catch up on some of the other news coming out of 1500 Marilla St.<\/p>\n

What Parts of Dallas Are Shouldering the Weight of Homeless Housing?<\/p>\n

The Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee met on Monday to hear from more out-of-town homeless service providers as officials explore their options to meet the needs of the city\u2019s unsheltered population.<\/p>\n

At the start of the meeting, however, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) presented a map<\/a> produced by staff that shows where the city\u2019s existing shelters and permanent supportive housing are located.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve heard very often, both in public comments, social media, even sometimes in media articles, is a narrative about where the homeless services are located,\u201d she said. \u201cVery often, it\u2019ll be explained that there\u2019s some concentration in southern Dallas, that there is an effort to move the homeless to southern Dallas. What this map is showing you \u2026 is where the services actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cara Mendelsohn<\/p>\n

Half of the 14 operating shelters and permanent supportive housing sites are in and around downtown. The rest are a few miles just northwest of the city center or far up north at the city limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t have south of downtown is any overnight sheltering, day sheltering, or permanent supportive housing,\u201d Mendelsohn said.<\/p>\n

Two sites on the map south of the central business district in Council Member Zarin Gracey\u2019s District 3 were tapped for such operations, but that doesn\u2019t seem to be in the cards anymore. 2929 S Hampton Rd., a former hospital the city bought for homeless housing and services, was stalled out due to neighborhood opposition. Now the property is on the market.<\/a> As for 4150 Independence Dr.<\/a>, which was supposed to become permanent supportive housing, officials have been kicking around other ideas, like a fire station or an affordable housing development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019ve been here, I\u2019ve been operating under this idea that we would have services available \u2014 emergency overnight sheltering, day sheltering, and permanent supportive housing \u2014 that these would be available in every district,\u201d Mendelsohn said, with staff concurring.<\/p>\n

The point seemed well taken. Mendelsohn\u2019s comments follow a dust-up over a meeting back in September<\/a> in which a purported quorum of the committee gathered to hear a presentation about deploying a one-stop-shop homeless services model at Dallas Executive Airport, also in District 3.<\/p>\n

Officials Throw Cold Water on Potential ICE Partnership<\/p>\n

A joint meeting of the Public Safety Committee and Government Efficiency Committee on Thursday saw a virtually unanimous rejection of pursuing a Dallas Police Department partnership with Immigration & Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

The meeting was called by Mayor Eric Johnson<\/a> after it was revealed that Police Chief Daniel Comeaux unilaterally opted against joining ICE\u2019s 287(g) program, which purportedly promised to reimburse the city millions of dollars in costs in exchange for assigning some DPD officers to perform certain ICE duties.<\/p>\n

\"ChiefChief Daniel Comeaux<\/p>\n

Committee members grilled Comeaux and two representatives from ICE over the program. The police chief defended his decision, citing a desire to maintain trust with the community and avoid any negative effect on the department\u2019s already lengthy response times.<\/p>\n

During the joint meeting, committee members learned that the city would only be fully reimbursed if participating officers made a quota of 50 arrests per day, which Comeaux estimated would require roughly 250 officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall times would skyrocket,\u201d the police chief said.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the city would be on the hook for any lawsuits stemming from DPD officers\u2019 performance of ICE duties.<\/p>\n

For their part, the representatives from ICE were unable to assuage committee members\u2019 concerns and, at times, failed to answer their questions, noting that they themselves were not a party to discussions between Comeaux and ICE.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued after the meeting, Mayor Johnson appeared to agree with the committee members over the feasibility of the program, saying \u201copen, transparent public discussion leads to informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s memo requesting the meeting was based in part on the potential for additional funds to bolster public safety operations via reimbursement, but he also stressed the need for council oversight over such an important decision that (at the time) appeared to have up to $25 million attached.<\/p>\n

Dallas Requests Exemption From New TxDOT Rule Banning \u2018Political\u2019 Crosswalk<\/p>\n

City Manager Kimberly Tolbert is pushing back on Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s TxDOT directive to remove non-standard markings from public roads, which would eliminate Cedar Springs\u2019 trademark rainbow crosswalks.<\/p>\n

Abbott claimed last month that taxpayer money was being used to \u201cadvance political agendas on Texas roadways\u201d and non-standard streets were a potential hazard.<\/p>\n

In a letter to TxDOT, Tolbert argued that transportation data doesn\u2019t indicate any accidents related to crosswalk designs and the state was intruding on local control and civic speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsent any safety detriment caused by the aesthetic crosswalks, the city\u2019s decision to maintain these crosswalks should be respected as a legitimate and constitutionally protected exercise of municipal self-expression,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Tolbert\u2019s letter requested an exception from compliance with the directive. The move elicited words of support from Council Member Chad West (District 1).<\/p>\n

\"\"Chad West<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that these privately funded non-standard crosswalks are not a safety issue, as data indicate that decorative crosswalks are actually safer than standard crosswalks,\u201d West said. \u201cAs the only LGBTQ+ member of the City Council and a combat army veteran who served under Don\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell, I know how important the Cedar Springs crosswalks are in helping our community feel safe and welcome in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul Ridley<\/p>\n

Council Member Paul Ridley (District 14) also threw his support behind the city manager, saying the rainbow crosswalks were not political but a \u201csymbol of pride and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no meaningful data that shows that decorative crosswalks are more dangerous than standard crosswalks,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIn fact, data suggests the opposite. I am proud that the City is standing firm for what is right for our residents rather than caving to political pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fate of Dallas City Hall has been dominating headlines, but you\u2019ll find none of that in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[898,899,663,102,104,103,9294,6540,16495,1829,20868,901,25297],"class_list":{"0":"post-42085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-cara-mendelsohn","9":"tag-chad-west","10":"tag-crosswalks","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-headlines","13":"tag-dallas-news","14":"tag-daniel-comeaux","15":"tag-homeless","16":"tag-homeless-shelters","17":"tag-ice","18":"tag-kimberly-tolbert","19":"tag-paul-ridley","20":"tag-permanent-supportive-housing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42085","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=42085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}