Politics News

Dallas swears in new city council at ceremony attended by U.S. senators

Dallas City Council inauguration 2023.

Dallascityhall.com

The new Dallas City Council got sworn in on June 20 with a ceremony at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center that drew political celebrities like Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

The new city council slate was elected on May 6, but out of 14 newly elected council members, only two are actually new, with 12 returning incumbents.

The two newcomers replaced council members who'd reached the end of their terms:

District 3 city council member Zarin Gracey, replacing outgoing Casey Thomas
District 10 council member Kathy Stewart, replacing outgoing Adam McGough

City council members serve a two-year term, with a maximum of four consecutive terms. The first meeting of the new council will be on June 28. They'll then be off during July and return for their next meeting on August 9.

Each council member was given a plaque and a photo op, drawing rounds of applause from their fan clubs in the audience. District 6 council member Omar Narvaez's team also wielded purple neon glow sticks.

Kathy Stewart was a no-show.

The ceremony was streamlined, with performances by the South Dallas Concert Choir, but featured a few firsts:

For the first time, city council members were not allowed to bring spouses or partners to join them.
For the first time, Dallas has three African-Americans in its top three slots: Mayor Eric Johnson and newly appointed Deputy Mayor Carolyn Arnold King and Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins. Usually, the mayor pro tem and deputy mayor positions are a mixture between African-American, Latino, and white.

Cornyn introduced Johnson's mayoral address, calling him "my friend Eric Johnson."

"People are surprised we’re friends and at first glance we don’t appear to have much in common," Cornyn said. "We come from different generations, we come from different races, different political parties, and not only that, he holds three Ivy League degrees and I have none."

"Despite those differences, we began working together and realized we share something in common which is that we care deeply about the people we serve," Cornyn said. "In these highly polarized times, we have to work together when we can."

Both Cornyn — and later in his speech, Johnson — touted the city's low crime rate, and both celebrated the "Texodus" of people and corporations relocating to Dallas.

"Dallas is an economic giant," Cornyn said.

For keepsake value, the council lineup is as follows:

Mayor Eric Johnson - incumbent
Chad West - District 1 incumbent
Jesse Moreno - District 2 incumbent
Zarin Gracey - District 3
Carolyn King Arnold - District 4 incumbent
Jaime Resendez - District 5 incumbent
Omar Narvaez - District 6 incumbent
Adam Bazaldua - District 7 incumbent
Tennell Atkins - District 8 incumbent
Paula Blackmon - District 9 incumbent
Katherine Stewart - District 10
Jaynie Schultz - District 11 incumbent
Cara Mendelsohn - District 12 incumbent
Gay Donnell Willis - District 13 incumbent
Paul Ridley - District 14 incumbent

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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