City News Roundup

Toll road spends funny money and other outrageous doings in Dallas news

There's bad news about the Trinity toll road Dream Team but good news about the Trinity toll road committee. And there's a crazy charge against Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs.

These are the biggest stories in Dallas city news this week:

You helped pay for Dream Team proposal
When Mayor Mike Rawlings put together a 12-person "Dream Team" panel of experts to review the Trinity toll road, its saving grace and the reason nobody could really complain about it is because it was financed by private donations and did not use taxpayer funds. It turns out that was not true.

According to city records procured by city council member Philip Kingston, a dozen city employees spent more than 275 hours working on the Dream Team proposal. Kingston called this a misappropriation of public resources and an ethically questionable circumvention by Rawlings and city manager A.C. Gonzalez of the traditional procedure of consulting with the city council before expending city funds.

Employees involved included assistant city manager Jill Jordan, public works director Tim Starr and senior planner Arturo del Castillo. The dozen employees either attended Dream Team meetings, briefed the Dream Team or else prepared documents.

"Some of the people on city staff spent more time on this project than the Dream Team themselves," said Kingston, who hasn't ruled out filing an ethics complaint.

Vonciel out
City council member Vonciel Jones Hill is no longer heading the committee to evaluate the new Dream Team-conceived Trinity toll road plan. Her appointment by Mayor Rawlings was considered odd because she's an advocate for the six-lane toll road that's already fallen out of favor.

According to Mayor Rawlings' spokesman, Hill presented the mayor with a framework and recommended relying on area chambers to host town hall meetings for public input. An announcement of the dates, times and locations of the meetings is forthcoming.

I will break your f---ing fingers
The Dallas Police Department has asked a grand jury to review allegations of misconduct against city councilman Scott Griggs. According to a police report, Griggs is being accused of "coercion of a public servant."

The statement says that Griggs "influenced or attempted to influence assistant city secretary Bilirae Johnson in the performance of her official duties." Johnson's job is to posts agendas for meetings, including a special meeting on April 16 to vote on the Dream Team toll road proposal.

According to WFAA, Griggs confronted Johnson because he noted there were two different agendas for the April 16 meeting, and Johnson did not post the agenda properly. The police report quotes Griggs as saying, "You better not push those briefing materials, or I will break your f---ing fingers!"

Council member Dwaine Caraway said it's out of character. "That doesn't sound like Scott," he said.

Plastic people, it's over already
Still sulking over lost income, four companies filed a lawsuit against the City of Dallas over the plastic bag ordinance, enacted on January 1. The city responded with this statement:

We are disappointed that four plastic bag manufacturers have filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the city's carryout bag ordinance despite the manufacturers' explicit admission in their lawsuit that 'the city's goals are laudable.' The filing of this lawsuit directly contradicts the vigorous support for a fee-based option shown by the lead plaintiff, Hilex Poly Co., during the city's consideration of the ordinance. The city will continue to act in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of its residents."

Bravo. For your bad-guy Rolodex, here are the companies now costing us money with their nuisance lawsuit: Hilex Poly (Novolex), Superbag Operating, Interplast Group and Advance Polybag. Council member Caraway said, "They just want to make money. ... We want a clean environment and a clean city."

How about that Caraway? Two times with the quotes today.

Vonciel Jones Hill, at center, helping cut ribbon for amenities center in the Trinity River corridor.

Paul W. Harris, Mike Rawlings, Vonciel Jones Hill, Craig Holcomb, Gail Thomas, Lynn McBee, Larry Jones, Trinity Trust

Photo by Jeremy Brown

Vonciel Jones Hill, at center, helping cut ribbon for amenities center in the Trinity River corridor.

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Park news

New I-35 deck park in southern Dallas moves closer to spring 2026 debut

Courtesy rendering

Renderings for Halperin Park.

A massive deck park spanning Interstate 35E in southern Dallas is set to open in late spring 2026. Called Halperin Park, the five-acre community space has been under construction since 2017 and will be completed in two phases:

Phase One (finishing in late spring) will include the section from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster Avenue and will feature a pavilion, amphitheater, playground area, interactive fountains, a second level overlooking the Dallas Zoo and the highway, and a large event room for every dining and special events.

Phase Two (to be completed over the next five years) will add the park section toward Marsalis Avenue, with an additional pavilion and extra gathering space.

The project is being developed by the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation and built by the Texas Department of Transportation. Funding comes from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, as well as the private Halperin Foundation, which donated $23 million in 2024 and secured naming rights.

In January, the Dallas City Council approved spending up to $8 million to complete Phase One for spring completion.

The public-private initiative will create $1 billion in economy impact over the next five years, according to a study by UNT Dallas.

Rendering of Halperin ParkCourtesy rendering

A park with purpose
Developers say the park aims to integrate the west side of Oak Cliff, which was somewhat segregated with the construction of I-35 in Oak Cliff in the 1960s, leading to low-income communities and generational poverty.

The project started nine years ago, when the Texas Department of transportation planned a reconstruction of I-35 and began gathering neighbors’ feedback. The result was a plan to widen bicycle and pedestrian lanes in the service roads alongside the highway, and to build a deck over the highway between Ewing and Marsalis avenues, adjacent to the Dallas Zoo. (Similar Klyde Warren Park's "deck park" concept.)

While the project faced some skepticism at first, it later gained momentum as private supporters continued to join.

“Forty percent of the Dallas population lives in South Dallas, yet this segment only accounts for 15 percent of the tax base,” says April Allen, President and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, citing the opportunity to address the economic equality in the area through the development of the park and all the business it can bring.

Rendering of Halperin Park.Courtesy rendering

Neighborhood pride
For Allen, this project is personal. The Toronto-born executive first moved to Dallas 22 years ago to work at Neiman Marcus, after getting her engineering degree in Canada and her MBA at Harvard. Oak Cliff felt like the right place for her as an intown neighborhood, with a confluency of cultures, local pride and an entrepreneurial spirit, as she describes it. Her first Realtor told her Oak Cliff was “not the right place for her." Instead of choosing a different neighborhood, Allen chose a new Realtor.

She has lived on the same street in North Cliff since, now raising her two kids with her husband, an Oak Cliff native, whom she credits for her further understanding of the neighborhood, its roots and civic dynamics.

Under Allen’s leadership, Halperin Park is focused on a community-first approach that provides support to the neighbors through programs around health and wellness, after-school activities, local food trucks and markets, and educational workshops to help expand homeownership and financial acumen.

To highlight the history and culture of Oak Cliff, they will feature an annual Walk of Fame, lifting up the stories of those who contributed to Oak Cliff history, with the first one happening as part of the inauguration of the park, organizers say.

They will provide their own 24-hour security team to ensure a safe place for families and kids, with clean and well-lit crosswalks.

Given their proximity with the zoo, parking will be available on the East side of the park at the zoo site, with a walkway to the park. They are working on parking options for the West side.

“We want to create a space for community growth and more business in the area," says Allen. "We are already seeing this come to life with projects such as East Dock, and we are excited for future investment that the park will bring."

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