City News Roundup

Lakewood Theater and high speed train bracket this week's news in Dallas

Budget talks for the city of Dallas are underway, with citizens offered a chance to meet their council members in person. Trains were in the news, and so were local videos and city logos. These are the high points of city news in Dallas this week:

$treet repair$
Discussions about the budget began this week with a painful discovery about the city's street repair situation. At the city council meeting on August 19, confusion reigned over exactly how much money is being allocated towards street repair, and where it's coming from.

To get the streets right again, the city needs to spend $900 million. That won't be happening this year. To stop the worst deterioration, city staff requested $16.7 million, but then asked for another $7.3 million at the meeting.

"We need $121 million just to avoid our streets getting worse," noted city council member Scott Griggs. "This crisis is getting critical. Deferred maintenance has caught up to us."

High speed rail
The notoriously silly North Central Texas Council of Governments has set in motion a project to develop high speed rail that would connect to the Fort Worth-to-Houston line when it opens "and could eventually offer access to a third corridor stretching from Oklahoma to South Texas."

The Regional Transportation Council (RTC) approved the expenditure of $4.5 million for planning, design, project development and preliminary engineering. The money will come from the Regional Toll Revenue funding account.

This is not the previously planned privately-funded high-speed rail being developed by Texas Central to run between Dallas and Houston. This would be a high speed speed train linking Fort Worth to Houston and other metropolitan areas in Texas, because "the North Central Texas Council of Governments continues to play a role in planning activities." They still matter!

The train would ostensibly make it easier for riders from Fort Worth, even though the Trinity Railway Express already covers that route. Facebook commentator Wylie H Dallas calls it "possibly the single dumbest, most wasteful idea yet. High speed rail operates at speeds in excess of 150 mph. Running such a line between Dallas & Ft. Worth, with a stop in Arlington is just bizarre and wasteful."

Historical Lakewood Theater
The owners of the Lakewood Theater were ordered to halt renovation until the city can determine the building's historical significance. Construction crews were spotted throwing theater seats into a dumpster. The theater will now be evaluated by the Landmark Commission to determine if it merits historic landmark status.

Video time
The peak of the arch was installed on the Margaret McDermott Bridge, aka the I-30 bridge. The piece, which weighs 192 tons, was raised by jacks in a 4-hour process that was compressed to a one-minute video by the Dallas Morning News. The arch is not functional; it's for decorative purposes only. The bridge will allow pedestrian and bicycle traffic in and out of downtown Dallas, the floodway and Oak Cliff.

Dallas Animal Services made a video to show the behind-the-scenes operations at the shelter. An adorable Papillon mix named Pattycakes is relinquished by her owners, examined, spayed and then adopted by new owners. DAS takes in more than 100 animals every day during the summer.

New logo
Meanwhile, the city is working on a branding campaign, including an update to its 43-year-old logo of a stripey blue D with a tree in the middle. The alternative would be the D with the star cut-out used by the Dallas Visitors & Convention Bureau, but Frontburner offered a forum for alternate alternatives.

unspecified

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."

parks