City News

Mayor meltdown and scooter sendoff top this action-packed Dallas news

No longer available in Dallas, Texas.

Photo courtesy of Lyft

In this summary of Dallas city news, the Dallas City Council works through the city budget, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson throws a hissy fit, Dallas leaders try to stop violence, and a fun new video says sayonara to scooters.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

Marathon meeting
The Dallas City Council persevered through a marathon 13-hour meeting on September 2, focused primarily on the 2020-2021 budget. Among the 80-plus amendments were proposals to cut the police budget and redistribute funds to organizations dedicated to local communities and job programs.

The meeting began at 10 am and ran until 1 am, most of it under the supervision of Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano, who had to jump in when Mayor Eric Johnson disappeared at lunch and never returned.

The budget is scheduled to be formally approved and adopted on September 23.

Mayor defeat
Among the amendments debated during the September 2 city council meeting was a proposal by Mayor Eric Johnson to cut $6.5 million from the salaries of city officials.

His amendment focused on the top 10 percent of civilian employees, excluding anyone who earned less than $60,000 per year. He used a point of privilege to allow his amendments to come up first for a vote, despite the fact that they were supposed to come up 50th in the list of 86 budget amendments.

In a fairly unprecedented event, Johnson's amendment was unanimously defeated. According to FrontBurner, the rest of the city council basically decided to boycott the entire topic ahead of time, with 11 council members agreeing they would not speak when the mayor's amendment came up for a vote. They call it "a public embarrassment" for the mayor.

As reported on the Reform Dallas blog, Johnson left the meeting after his defeat and never came back. That departure was reinforced by city secretary Billie Rae Johnson who, when she announced votes throughout the night, would say "Mayor Johnson is absent from the meeting" every time.

COVID-19 cases down
Dallas County has lowered its COVID-19 threat level for the first time since May from Level Red, which means "stay home," to Level Orange, which means "extreme caution."

The lowering is thanks to a slow decrease in hospital admissions, deaths, and new cases, with a daily average of COVID-related new cases dropping to approximately 400 at the end of August, down from a daily average of 500 at the beginning of the month.

CW33 wonders if they should have waited until after Labor Day, to discourage people from getting together over the holiday weekend.

Interrupting violence
In response to the recommendations from the Mayor's Task Force on Safe Communities, a team of Dallas leaders has launched new partnership to help reduce violent crime.

The Dallas Violence Interrupters Partnership is a nonprofit collaboration between Child Poverty Action Lab, Allyn Media, and Urban Specialists, and will work with residents, neighborhoods, grassroots, municipal organizations and the philanthropic community to provide a community-based intervention.

The partnership hires people, some of whom are former gang members and ex-offenders, to intervene and mentor youths and help reduce tensions and head off violent crime.

The initiative kicks off on September 5. The initial phase will target four Dallas communities that have shown an uptick in violent crime over the past year. Activities include neighborhood walks, community clean-ups, establishing PeaceZone boundaries, communications with neighborhood businesses, nd engaging with municipal service providers.

Scooter sendoff
Chris Gebhardt, the mastermind behind the GTOger YouTube channel that documents life in a Deep Ellum parking lot, has created a Scooter Sendoff video in response to the City Council mandate that all rental scooters must be "temporarily" removed.

Scooters have always been a popular feature in GTOger videos, in no small part due to Gebhardt's playful treatment: Every time a scooter buzzes through one of his videos, he accompanies it by dubbing in the buzzy flying car sound effects from the Jetsons.

city-news-roundup politics

family values

Dallas sees Texas' biggest one-year jump in cost of raising kids

Courtesy of SmartAsset/iStock

Raising a child in Dallas will cost parents over $23,000 this year.

Raising a child is not an easy or inexpensive feat, and a new study has determined Dallas parents are saddled with the second-highest costs for childrearing in Texas, with expenses jumping higher than any other metro statewide since 2025.

SmartAsset's latest report, "Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2026 Study," calculated year-over-year changes in the annual cost of raising a child (factoring in childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs and other necessities) in the 48 largest U.S. metro areas. MIT's Living Wage Calculator was used to compare the living costs of a household with two working adults and one child to that of a childless household with two working adults.

Childrearing costs in Dallas-Fort Worth have grown 4.5 percent since last year, totaling $23,340 for a family of three in 2026. That's over $1,000 more than what it took to raise a child in 2025, and it's $1,414 higher than what it took in 2024.

This is how SmartAsset broke down the cost for raising a child in Dallas:

Cost of childcare: $10,736
Cost of food: $1,826
Other expenses: $10,778

Though Dallas has the second-steepest costs for raising a child in Texas, the metro is actually much more affordable than most other places in the U.S.: DFW ranked 39th in SmartAsset's national list of cities with the highest childrearing costs in 2026, making it the 10th most affordable U.S. metro for raising a family.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont in California topped the list with the highest childrearing costs in the U.S., at $43,171. The cost for raising a child in this California metro soared nearly 11 percent higher since last year.

Memphis, Tennessee ranked dead last as the most affordable U.S. metro for raising a child in 2026. Families will spend less than $20,000 to raise a child in Memphis, only 3.24 percent more than what was needed in 2025.

Raising a child in other Texas metros
It may come as no surprise that Austin is the most expensive place to raise a child in Texas, and it appeared as the 31st most expensive U.S. metro for families. Parents will spend nearly $25,000 to raise a child in the state's capital city, which is $703 higher than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, San Antonio-New Braunfels is the most affordable metro in the Lone Star State for raising a family, and it's the third-most affordable place for raising a child nationwide. San Antonio parents will spend $21,393, or $448 more than last year, on their childrearing costs.

Houston also ranked among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child, landing in 7th place nationally, with childrearing costs adding up to $22,605 in 2026. That's only $737 more than last year.

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Memphis, Tennessee ($19,922)
No. 2 – Nashville, Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee ($21,216)
No. 3 – San Antonio-New Braunfels ($21,393)
No. 4 – Birmingham, Alabama ($21,684)
No. 5 – Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, Virginia ($22,314)
No. 6 – Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia ($22,470)
No. 7 – Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ($22,605)
No. 8 – Richmond, Virginia ($22,658)
No. 9 – Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky ($23,270)
No. 10 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ($23,340)

family dallas fort worth arlington smartasset reports livability

City News

Mayor meltdown and scooter sendoff top this action-packed Dallas news

Deep Ellum cheese shop Amor y Queso reopens with expanded market

Over-the-top Canadian dessert cafe D-Spot makes U.S. debut in Carrollton

California's Ono Hawaiian BBQ chain makes big Texas debut in Plano

family values

Dallas sees Texas' biggest one-year jump in cost of raising kids