Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn

*Government Performance and Financial Management, Vice Chair

*Public Safety

*Housing and Homeless Solutions

*COVID-19

*Legislative, Vice Chair

*Regional Transportation Council

*City Council Representative to Texas Municipal League Policy Summit

Selected to serve on the National League of Cities Youth, Education, and Families Council and a member of Women in Municipal Government.

Hello District 12,

Council is back in session and the number one item is the city budget.

If that sounds kind of boring or mundane, it is not. It is 599 pages of how we spend your $3.8 billion dollars in taxes and what services are prioritized. To be clear, there are many things to discuss with the budget, but my #1 priority is fighting to lower your tax rate! Check out the "In the News" section below for media coverage of this topic and my support for police funding and policing improvement.

If you have opinions to share on what should or should not be included in the budget, now is the time to make your thoughts known. Below you will see the schedule of District 12 Budget Town Hall meetings and other ways to give input.

There is breaking news on the Cotton Belt... if this topic interests you, please see the information below. After years and years of no DART/city accountability, I'm proud to share with you that has changed!

COVID-19 looks to be with us for quite a while. I appreciate the Mayor appointing me to the new Committee on COVID-19 for the City of Dallas. The latest COVID-19 data is available to you in a daily email, on the city dashboard, and assistance through the COVID hotline (214-670-INFO). See below for more information.

If you need help with anything, please let us know and we will try to resolve your city issues and connect you to assistance for things beyond the city.

Regards, Cara

You're invited to one or all of the District 12 Virtual Budget Town Halls. The meetings will be led by different city executive staff members.

For the first town hall, T.C. Broadnax, City Manager, will share his draft budget with District 12. At the second town hall, Elizabeth Reich, City CFO will present, and at the third one, Maged Al-Ghadfry, Assistant City Manager will present. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and give input, but time will be limited and we may not get to all questions. If you'd like to give input on the budget but not attend the town hall, you can send an email, or sign up to speak to the council (virtually) at a city council meeting.

email

email all city councilmembers and mayor at once

sign up to speak at a council meeting (virtual)

We are excited to be the first district to put in subtitles for the town hall meetings. This will allow those who are deaf or hard of hearing to participate with English subtitles, as well as people who are most comfortable obtaining information in a foreign language. Available languages include Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew.

Today the Dallas City Council unanimously approved the second Intergovernmental Agreement (ILA) with DART regarding the Cotton Belt. It details the roles and responsibilities of each. This document supports transparency, accountability, and the kind of good government that stands up for its residents to enforce high standards.

When I began serving as your Councilmember, I never believed there was a way to stop the Cotton Belt because the legal and financial ability to proceed was already in place, granted by many governing bodies, including a previous city council.

I saw firsthand DART saying one thing at community meetings, then taking actions at board meetings that were different. There was nothing in place to hold DART, or the City of Dallas, accountable for those differences and the impact they would have on our residents' lives.

The first ILA was composed by the City Attorney at my urging to stop freight from running through our neighborhood. The resolution passed by council previously was non-binding, and although DART had voluntarily given up the right to run freight, they could also reclaim that right without city approval, which was unacceptable to me. After lengthy negotiations with DART, the document was drafted and passed by the city in January 2020, but DART refused to even put it on their agenda.

Last night, the DART board approved both the ILA to give up the right to run freight through our district and the second ILA, approved today by city council.

The second ILA and agreements add extra sound walls, safety walls at schools (through the RTC), an at-grade train (instead of a train in the air), and driveway space for affected commercial. There will be new traffic signals at McKamy, McCallum, and on Coit. There are also protections to the creeks that intersect with the rail and a pump station at Hillcrest. Because there was no way to stop the train, my goal has been to focus on increasing the safety and mitigating the negative aspects of this train as much as possible.

I have fought hard for this accountability and been able to win the support of Councilmember Kleinman, who is chairman of the transportation committee, engaged the transportation department staff, and the city attorney's office to push back on DART and demand the best design, construction, and operating standards possible within the scope of our influence.

The District 12 staff, previous Councilmembers Natinsky and Greyson, and I have heard from many of you over the years, receiving thousands of emails and phone calls, hosting and attending countless meetings. More than anyone, YOU, THE COMMUNITY, are to be thanked for your efforts to learn what is happening, get involved, and fight to make the Cotton Belt as good as it can be. The level of community engagement is really a testament to the care Far North Dallas places on community and each other. It is your expertise, comments, and advice that encouraged me to keep fighting even when it was said it couldn't be done. You did it, you made it a much better rail line.

If you would like to read the ILAs, they are posted on the city website. The first one is from January 22, 2020's agenda meeting, item 20. The second one is listed on today's meeting agenda item 44. Here is a link to find the agendas: https://cityofdallas.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Have you completed the Census? The deadline has changed to 9/30. Please fill it out today by going to www.2020census.gov. It is quick, important, confidential, and legally required for all who live in the United States.

Need help, got a question, or want to give input?

Email: Cara.Mendelsohn@DallasCityHall.com

Office phone: (214) 670-4067

Text phone: (214) 490-1036