Family-Friendly

2 Dallas-area neighborhoods named best places to raise a family in Texas

Is your area good for kiddos?

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If you're looking to start or add to your brood, you'll want to be located in these highly sought-after Texas areas. That's according to Niche, the online platform that helps people choose schools and places to live.

It just released its rankings of the Best Places to Raise a Family in Texas, and two Dallas-Fort Worth spots make the top five. Cottonwood Creek, a neighborhood in Richardson that Niche curiously identifies as Cotten Creek South, and Coppell, in the northwest corner of Dallas, are Nos. 2 and 5, respectively.

Niche used weighted data to arrive at its rankings, with its own public school grades comprising the largest chunk of the score (20 percent).

Next is the percentage of residents who have received a bachelor’s degree or higher (12.5 percent), and the cost of living grade, violent and property crime rates, and a housing grade (which includes home values, property taxes, housing costs, and more) all weighing in at 10 percent.

Other factors such as family amenities (access to parks, libraries, and cultural events), outdoor activities, walkability, diversity, and an overall score determined by Niche users on a scale of 1-5.

The percentage of households with children under the age of 18 also figured in, obviously.

Rounding out the top five in Texas are the affluent town of Rollingwood, outside Austin, at No. 1, The Woodlands in Houston at No. 3, and Cinco Ranch (also in Houston) at No. 4.

The Woodlands also shows up on Niche's list of the Best Cities to Live, claiming the top spot in the nation while Plano (No. 7) and Richardson (No. 12) also appear.

This is the seventh consecutive year that Niche has produced these rankings, spanning 228 cities and 18,516 towns and neighborhoods.

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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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