Protest Time

3 rallies in downtown Dallas likely to cause a traffic car-tastrophe

One rally will begin at Dallas City Hall.

Courtesy photo

Downtown Dallas promises to be a crazy cluster on Saturday, January 20, when three groups will take to the streets with peaceful rallies and marches.

In response, the city will close off numerous streets around the Central Business District. Projected attendance varies for each event, with the largest attendance expected to be 6,000. Road closures will make getting through downtown difficult between 10 am and 2 pm.

Events include a rally to impeach President Donald Trump, part of a nationwide initiative, with identical events being organized in cities across the country.

In Dallas, the rally will take place from 11 am-2 pm, with a meetup at Dallas City Hall followed by a procession to the JFK Memorial on Commerce Street and a return to City Hall.

The following streets will be intermittently closed to traffic from 1-2 pm:

Marilla Street – All west bound lanes closed from Akard Street to Young Street
Akard Street – All south bound lanes closed from Marilla Street to Canton Street
Canton Street – All south bound lanes closed from Akard Street to Lamar Street
Lamar Street – All north bound lanes closed from Canton Street to Commerce Street
Commerce Street – All east bound lanes closed from Lamar Street to South Griffin Street
South Griffin Street – All south bound lanes closed from Commerce Street to Young Street
Young Street – All east bound lanes closed from South Griffin Street to Marilla Street

There will also be an one-year anniversary commemoration of the Dallas Women's March, which is also part of a national observance of the day one year ago that large groups of people wearing pink knitted hats congregated to stand up for equality, justice, and inclusion.

The Dallas event begins at St. Paul United Methodist Church at 1816 Routh St. and proceeds through Uptown to end at Pike Park at 2807 Harry Hines Blvd.

The city will close traffic from 10 am to 12 noon on the following streets:

Routh Street – All north bound lanes closed from Wade Street to Maple-Routh ConnectionJan
Maple-Routh Connection – All north bound lanes closed from Routh Street to McKinney Avenue
Maple Avenue – All north bound lanes closed from McKinney Avenue to Randall Street
Randall Street – All south bound lanes closed from Maple Avenue to Harry Hines Boulevard
Harry Hines Boulevard – All south bound lanes closed from Randall Street to the Pike Park entrance

In the afternoon, a smaller event called March for Life will begin at the Guadalupe Cathedral and cross over St. Paul Street before ending in a parking lot at Griffin and Wood streets. The following streets will be intermittently closed from 1-3 pm:

Flora Street – All north bound lanes closed from North Pearl Street to Crocket Street
Crocket Street – All south bound lanes closed from Flora Street to Ross Avenue
Ross Avenue – All south bound lanes closed from Crocket Street to North St. Paul Street
North Saint Paul Street – All south bound lanes closed from Ross Avenue to Wood Street
Wood Street – All east bound lanes closed from North St. Paul Street to South Griffin Street

Parking meters will be restricted from 10 am to 3 pm on Wood Street from South Griffin Street to South Saint Paul Street.

downtown politics

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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