City News

Master list of candidates running for Dallas City Council in May 2021

Dallas City Hall.

Photo courtesy of PCF

The Dallas City Council election is five months away, but campaigns are underway for the more than 25 candidates who have declared intentions to run for office.

Official candidate filing begins January 13 and ends February 12. Most incumbent council members are seeking re-election, though several have not yet announced a bid for another term. There are three representatives who are on their final terms: Jennifer Gates in District 13, Lee Kleinman in District 11, and Adam Medrano in District 2.

All 14 council districts will be on the ballot for two-year terms. Election Day is May 1, and runoff races will be decided June 5. The mayor serves a four-year term, and will again be up for election in 2023.

Here's our list of confirmed candidates seeking office, with incumbents listed first.

District 1 - Bishop Arts/Oak Cliff
Chad West, the first-term incumbent announced he was running again on December 1.

District 2 - Deep Ellum and East Dallas
Jesse Moreno, former member of the Park Board, filed a Treasurer's Report in August 2020.
Jonas Park, neighborhood activist, filed a Treasurer's Report in December 2020.

District 3 - Mountain Creek/Southwest Dallas
Casey Thomas, the incumbent, announced he'll run again on his Facebook page.

District 4 - Oak Cliff/South Dallas
Carolyn King Arnold, the incumbent, hasn't announced her plans.
Johnny Aquinaga, a neighborhood activist, announced his run on Facebook and filed a Treasurer's Report on January 11.
Matthew Canto, filed Treasurer's Report on November 15.
Maxie Johnson, Dallas ISD Trustee, filed a Treasurer's Report on January 7.

District 5 - Pleasant Grove
Jaime Resendez, the incumbent, is running for re-election.
Ruth Torres, who ran in 2019, announced she is considering another run.

District 6 - West Dallas
Omar Narvaez, two-term incumbent, confirmed he'll run for re-election on a December 30 Facebook post.
Earl Thomas, first-time candidate, filed a Treasurer's Report on November 23.

District 7 - Fair Park/South Dallas
Adam Bazaldua, incumbent, announced re-election bid December 1.
Tramonica Brown, social activist, announced in The Dallas Weekly and filed a Treasurer's Report December 16.
Walter "Changa" Higgins, filed a Treasurer's Report on January 11.
Calvin Johnson, lawyer ran in 2019 and announced in January that he's running again.
Donald Parrish Jr., first-time candidate, filed a Treasurer's Report December 4.
James "JT" Turknett, repeat candidate who ran in 2015 and 2017, filed a Treasurer's Report December 23.
Israel Varela, first-time candidate, created a Facebook Page and filed a Treasurer's Report December 22.

District 8 - Red Bird/Far South Dallas
Tennell Atkins, incumbent, confirmed he was running again in a letter to his district.
Subrina Brenham, income tax professional, filed a Treasurer's Report on December 4.
Davante D. Peters, who ran in 2019 in District 3, has been seeking signatures for a run in District 8.

District 9 - Lakewood/East Dallas
Paula Blackmon, incumbent, is seeking re-election.

District 10 - Lake Highlands/Northeast Dallas
Adam McGough, incumbent hasn't announced and did not respond to a query.
Virginia Alexander, filed a Treasurer’s report on December 16.

District 11 - North Dallas
Jaynie Schultz, was on the City Plan Commission, and has a campaign page; she filed a Treasurer's Report on September 17.
Hosanna F. Yemiru, veteran political organizer, is running and filed a Treasurer's Report on December 11.

District 12 - Far North Dallas
Cara Mendelsohn, incumbent has not yet announced.
Charles Foster, filed a Treasurer's Report on September 4, without listing the office seeking, but his address is in D12.

District 13 - Northwest Dallas
Leland Burk, businessman and banker, served on city's Arts & Culture Advisory Commission, announced his candidacy via a January 7 press release from Allyn Media.
Gay Donnell, president of the Turtle Creek Conservancy, filed a Treasurer's Report on January 11.

District 14 - Downtown/East Dallas
David Blewett, first-term incumbent, announced his re-election bid in an online letter.
Paul Ridley, former City Plan Commission representative, filed a Treasurer's Report on December 4.

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Bird News

Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas initiates action to save birds from dying

Reunion Tower

Downtown Dallas skyline, all lit up.

Reunion Tower, the little ball on the Western edge of downtown Dallas, is famous for its sassy light shows illuminating the Dallas skyline. But in recent years, the building has followed a bird-friendly policy of dimming its lights, and that dimming is about to get underway.

From October 1 through October 21, Reunion Tower will observe the following lighting schedule:

Sundown to 11 pm: lower its lights
11 pm-6 am: go completely dark
6 am-sunrise back to dim

The building enacts these changes to protect birds that are migrating through Texas.

Dallas is on the path of the Central Migratory Flyway, which extends from the Northwest and heads diagonally southeast through Mexico.

Every fall and spring, nearly two billion birds travel through Texas. The bird migration is one of the largest on the planet, and takes place at night. Light attracts migrating birds, making them vulnerable to collisions with buildings and causing them to become disoriented and distracted.

Birds get pulled into urban areas, collide into buildings, and die. Volunteer surveys - in which people go out and count actual dead bodies - in cities such as Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth, finds hundreds of dead birds every night. It adds up to nearly a billion birds killed in the U.S. each year.

Dallas-Fort Worth is the third most dangerous area in the U.S. for migratory birds to travel through; Chicago is No. 1, followed by Houston which is No. 2.

As this map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows, Dallas and Houston are both massively lit, representing major obstacles to the success and survival of the birds' migration.

Lights Out Texas was initiated as a statewide effort in Spring 2020 to protect birds from light pollution by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and BirdCast, with the essential support of founding Texas partners Houston Audubon, the Dallas Zoo, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

According to Audubon, the actual critical migration period through Dallas is September 6 through October 29. A glittery skyline is surely pretty, but downtown should just shut it down during those times.

nature downtown