Downtown News

Downtown Dallas will turn Lights Out to save migrating birds' lives

The skyline will be a little dimmer for the next two weeks.

joe daniel price/Getty Images

Downtown Dallas and its high-rise buildings have joined in the heroic fight to save the lives of migrating birds.

According to a release from Downtown Dallas, Inc., the skyline will be dimmed over the next 10 days — part of an international initiative called Lights Out Texas, to protect birds as they migrate across the U.S. Light pollution kills birds that are migrating across the state every spring and fall.

The release credits former first lady Laura Bush among the Dallas leaders who've joined the growing movement to dim "unnecessary" tower lights in Downtown Dallas.

The intiative is a partnership between the Texas Conservation Alliance, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Dallas Zoo, and the Perot Museum.

Mrs. Bush, along with Ambassador Jeanne Phillips and Deedie Rose, are urging community participation for Dallas to join the international Lights Out effort. Their effort calls for buildings to turn off or dim their lights though October 10, from midnight to 6 am. Mrs. Bush even made a PSA which you can see here.

Participating buildings as of September 29 include:

Hunt building at 2635 Harry Hines Blvd.
Reunion Tower at 300 Reunion Blvd. E.
KPMG Plaza
1900 Pearl
One Arts Plaza

Where are Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, Comerica Bank Tower, JP Morgan Chase Tower, and Trammell Crow Center? Come on, guys, you don't want to let Mrs. Bush down, do ya?

Every spring and fall, nearly two billion birds travel through Texas — one of the largest migrations on the planet and one that occurs primarily at night.

The release notes that light attracts these migrating birds, making them vulnerable to collisions with buildings. The Audubon Society says that lights throw birds off their migration paths. They get attracted to the bright lights, then fly around, circle aimlessly, cluster up, and call out in confusion. The exhaustion makes them vulnerable to other urban threats. Upwards of one billion birds die in collisions with buildings in the US annually.

Dead birds began showing up on downtown streets in mid-September.

Dallas is ranked No. 3 of the 125 most populous U.S. cities for exposing migrating birds (Houston is No. 2, so we're at least better than them).

Dallas is one of four Texas cities certified as Bird Cities.

pets downtown

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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