City News

Richards Group gets canceled after CEO remarks and more Dallas news

Built in 2015, Richards Group's headquarters block the view of downtown Dallas if you're driving into town on US-75.

Photo courtesy of Guardian Sunguard

This weekly summary of Dallas city news involves a downtown hotel, two public park spaces, and an ad agency in Dallas that's imploding right before our eyes.

Here's what happened in the city of Dallas this week:

Richards Group debacle
Dallas ad agency the Richards Group is in a tailspin following a charged comment made by now ex-CEO Stan Richards.

Richards told NBC 5 that the comment in question was made while agency staff were going over a campaign for one of their clients, Motel 6. "Two of our creatives, both white, presented a direction I thought was not multiculturally inclusive enough. I misspoke and commented using words I greatly regret, including three I never should have said: 'It's too black.'"

"To be clear, though, I have never used racial slurs about any ethnic group nor tolerated it from anyone around me," his statement said. "Those words were said innocently, but they were hurtful to members of our staff. I have apologized for that, as I should have. Having spent much of my adult life fighting prejudice, I should have known better."

What he actually said was that the campaign was too Black for white supremacist constituents. Left that part out in his statement.

Motel 6 terminated their contract, probably not thrilled their customers were described as white supremacists. Other Richards Group customers who've since rushed for the exits: Home Depot, Keurig Dr Pepper, and the biggie, H-E-B.

Richards Group was also being considered by Cracker Barrel, but not happening now.

Stan Richards resigned on October 15.

Shady hotel payment
The city manager's office was caught trying to smuggle through a $1.8 million diversion of COVID-19 relief money to the Lorenzo Hotel in the Cedars district.

Dallas City Council member and financial watchdog Cara Mendelsohn spied the sneaky payment, sneaky because it did not mention the money would go to the hotel.

"You don't get to use this money that is for people suffering from coronavirus to pay off a four-star hotel. We should be helping small businesses stay alive, feed people, provide mental health housing," Mendelsohn said.

The city council made a deal in 2013 to use HUD money on the Lorenzo Hotel. But the owner is struggling which means the city will owe HUD. Mendelsohn called that "a shocking deal," shocking as in awful.

Other council members were grateful to city staff. Which other council members? Tennell Atkins, surprise surprise.

"Whether or not the developer pays the city, we are obligated to pay HUD," Atkins said.

Fish Hatchery committee
Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon has created the "Old Fish Hatchery at White Rock Lake Advisory Committee" to address a recent clear-cutting incident by Oncor at the Old Fish Hatchery at White Rock Lake.

Co-chaired by Park Board member Maria Hasbany, the appointees include lake-watchers Brent Brown, Ben Sandifer, David Hurt, Kathryn Bazan, Kelly Cotton, Charles Elk, Ted Ellis, Garrett Boone, Sandy Greyson, Collin Koonce, Jill Kotvis, and Ted Barker.

The first virtual meeting will be on Thursday, October 22 from 6-7:30 pm via Zoom. Members of the public are welcome to make comments during this call and should email district9@dallascityhall.com to sign up. Written comments can also be sent to that address.

To join the Zoom meeting, click here. The meeting ID: 915 2052 8701. Passcode: 857646.

The Jacobs Lawn
Jacobs Engineering Group, a downtown Dallas firm, has donated $8 million to the expansion of Klyde Warren Park. The money will go towards building a 1.65-acre extension of the existing park to the west, over Woodall Rodgers Freeway toward Field Street. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, with completion in 2024.

What Jacobs gets in return: the rights to name a 36,000-square foot lawn that is part of the project. It'll be called The Jacobs Lawn, and will feature a winter ice rink among other amenities.

politics city-news-roundup

income analysis

This is how much a single-income family needs to make in Texas in 2026

Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash

The income needed for a single-income household to raise a child in Texas is lower than it was last year.

With childrearing costs in the Lone Star State adding up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, many Texas families are navigating a difficult decision: should both parents work or should one parent stay home to raise the child?

For Texas families that choose the latter, the working parent needs to make nearly $73,000 per year to support their child and the stay-at-home parent, a new income analysis has revealed.

The newly released SmartAsset report used MIT's Living Wage Calculator to estimate the annual living wages needed across all 50 states for a three-person household with two working adults and one child, and a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. Costs included food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes, and "other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent needs to make $72,925 to support their stay-at-home counterpart and their child, the study found. That's $1,809 less than what was needed in 2025.

Meanwhile, the combined income needed for a household with one child and both parents working full-time is $85,030.

Texas ranked No. 42 in SmartAsset's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working parent, one stay-at-home parent, and one child. That also situates Texas as the 9th most affordable state for single-income families. But there are risks associated with only having one breadwinner in the family.

"A single income family with small children potentially saves in child care costs over a household with two working parents," the report's author wrote. "The main disadvantages are the lost salary and retirement contributions, Social Security earnings history and employer health benefits."

There aren't any specific tax benefits to having a parent stay at home to raise their child full time, but SmartAsset says single-income families can claim a tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"[S]ingle-income families may claim the Child Tax Credit — up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026 ($1,700 refundable) — on the same terms as any other family," the report said.

SmartAsset's latest report only looks at costs on a statewide basis, but the cost to raise a child will also vary greatly depending on the city you live in. Raising a child in Dallas-Fort Worth might pose a challenge for some families, where the cost for childcare alone adds up to $10,736 and overall costs can surpass $23,000.

For households with two children, there might be additional strains on what a family might consider a "comfortable living." A March 2026 SmartAsset study determined a Dallas family with two working parents need to make a combined income of $214,490 to have a financially stable life while raising two children.

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income needed for single-income families are:

Arkansas ($68,869)
Mississippi ($70,054)
Kentucky ($70,179)
West Virginia ($70,283)
North Dakota ($71,219)
Oklahoma ($71,365)
Louisiana ($71,406)
Missouri ($72,862)
Texas ($72,925)
Tennessee ($72,946)

smartasset reports texas family income