City News

Waterpark dentist gets his day of reckoning and other Dallas city news

Waterslide in the back yard of the former estate of Dr. Richard Malouf.

Candy's Dirt

The coronavirus may have ground some things in Dallas to a halt, but the wheels are still turning in the city of Dallas, including a report by the Dallas Police Department, a questionable plan to buy a grocery store, and a Dallas dentist found guilty of Medicaid fraud.

Here's what happened in Dallas last week:

Grocery store bailout
A grocery store in southern Dallas that has already received millions of taxpayer dollars is in trouble and the Dallas City Council is considering bailing it out again.

Five years ago, the Save A Lot store at 3540 Simpson Stuart Rd. in the Highland Hills area of Dallas got $2.8 million as an economic incentive to open, since there were no other options. Now the owner wants to get out, even though part of his arrangement was that he'd stay open until 2026.

Neighbors who live nearby say that the store is never fully stocked and that prices are higher than other supermarkets.

COVID-19 test scam
Dallas County canceled a contract with a COVID-19 testing lab over concerns regarding its accuracy and timeliness.

Honu Management Group started doing tests at Eastfield College in Mesquite. Dallas County Commissioners routed $14 million from the federal CARES Act because federally-run sites were taking too long, and Honu promised results within 72 hours. But one father and son waited more than a week to get their results from Honu.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said that Honu was taking three days just to get tests to a lab in Austin for processing. "You could have gotten them there faster in a backpack on a bicycle than they were getting them there," he said.

Honu also had unusually low positivity rate of 7 percent, versus 17 percent at test sites run by Parkland Hospital, who have now taken over the Eastfield College test site.

DPD report on protests
The Dallas Police Department presented a report to the Dallas City Council's Public Safety Committee on its response to May protests and riots. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall acknowledged that the department made errors in communication and planning.

But council members found the report lacking in detail on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters, which has since been banned.

Malouf and Medicaid fraud
There's an ending to the saga of Dallas-area dentist Dr. Richard Malouf: He's been held responsible for 1,842 unlawful acts under the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act, according to WFAA. The Travis County district court found Malouf billed Medicaid for services that he did not deliver, including more than 100 claims he filed while vacationing out of the country.

Malouf is liable for $16.5 million in penalties, interest, and attorney fees.

Former WFAA reporter Byron Harris won awards for the stories he did on Malouf beginning in 2011. Malouf sued Harris, along with Brett Shipp, Belo Corp. and WFAA, Candy's Dirt, CultureMap, his neighbor Laura Wilson, AOL Real Estate, and Curbed.com, who ran Candy's Dirt stories on Malouf's lavish 4.3-acre Strait Lane estate. Malouf built what Candy's Dirt says may be the only backyard waterpark in Dallas, one estate south of Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, complete with a lazy river.

city-news-roundup

population explosion

7 booming Dallas neighbors see biggest population growth in U.S.

City of Denton, TX - City Hall/Facebook

Denton had the biggest population growth rate in Dallas-Fort Worth from 2022 to 2023.

Denton, Mansfield, McKinney, and more North Texas cities are among the fastest-growing places in the country, according to a new population growth study by SmartAsset.

The report, "These Cities Saw the Largest Growth in Population – 2024 Study," examined U.S. Census population estimates for 2023, 2022, and 2018 to determine one-year and five-year population changes for 610 U.S. cities with populations of at least 65,000 residents in 2023 (where the most recent data was available).

Silver Spring, Maryland had the No. 1 biggest population boom nationwide from 2022 to 2023, SmartAsset found. The Washington, D.C. suburb grew 12.86 percent year-over-year, bringing the city's total population from 75,313 to 84,996 residents in 2023.

Denton took the lead over all other Dallas-Fort Worth cities with the 16th-largest one-year population growth rate in the U.S., at 5.32 percent. Denton gained over 8,000 residents from 2022 to 2023, bringing the city's total population to 158,361 in 2023.

This should come as no surprise to those who already live in Denton, who may know their hometown was ranked one of the safest suburbs in America.

Mansfield trailed close behind with a 4.16 percent increase in population during that same period, which landed it the No. 26 spot in the one-year population change analysis. The city gained 3,189 new residents in that time, adding up to a total population of 79,775 residents in 2023.

McKinney appeared farther down the list as No. 49 with just a 2.89 percent one-year growth rate from 2022 to 2023, and a total population of 213,504 residents.

Only four other Dallas-Fort Worth cities appeared in the top 100 fastest growing cities in the U.S. from 2022 to 2023:

No. 61 – Frisco (2.48 percent increase)
No. 72 – Rowlett (2.48 percent)
No. 73 – Lewisville (2.17 percent)
No. 99 – Flower Mound (1.73 percent)

The report suggested major population shifts in communities like Denton or Mansfield can result in "a variety of interwoven economic and social impacts."

"The magnitude of the population change can affect demand for businesses and services, which in turn may impact costs – or even the availability of such amenities," the report's author wrote. "Similarly, the relative age of the population can determine the strength or weakness of the local job market, as well as have an impact on local culture, economic trajectory, tax base and more."

Fast-growing cities elsewhere in Texas
Texas cities dominated the top 10 list of cities where population grew the most from 2022 to 2023.

New Braunfels, a San Antonio suburb, ranked No. 2 nationally with an 12.49 percent one-year population boom, and a 29.68 percent growth rate from 2018 to 2023. The city gained 12,318 new residents in that time, adding up to a total population of 110,961 residents in 2023.

Just two spots behind New Braunfels is the North Austin suburb of Georgetown (No. 4), which grew 11.34 percent to 96,317 residents in 2023. According to the report's five-year population change analysis, Georgetown ranked seventh with a 29.85 percent growth rate.

The Houston suburbs of Atascocita and Conroe ranked No. 5 and No. 9, respectively. Atascocita's total population grew to 119,502 residents in 2023, which represented a 11.03 percent growth rate from 2022, and a whopping 38.56 percent population increase since 2018. Conroe's 6.73 percent one-year population increase paled in comparison, but the city grew 23.49 percent during the five-year period from 2018 to 2023.

The top 10 U.S. cities where population grew the most from 2022 to 2023 are:

No. 1 – Silver Spring, Maryland
No. 2 – New Braunfels, Texas
No. 3 – Glen Burnie, Maryland
No. 4 – Georgetown, Texas
No. 5 – Atascocita, Texas
No. 6 – Pine Hills, Florida
No. 7 – Elgin, Illinois
No. 8 – Lehi, Utah
No. 9 – Conroe, Texas
No. 10 – Dale City, Virginia

population growth reports smartasset dallas fort worth denton suburbs mansfield