City News Roundup

New jobs and scholarships elevate this round of Dallas news

The DART bus situation will be changing in 2022.

You could be behind the wheel.

Photo courtesy of DART

This roundup of Dallas news includes a shakeup in sanitation, a new job fair at DART, a new inclusive arts program, and a new scholarship program from Sephora. Also, Texas is #1 in a dubious list.

Here's what's happening around Dallas this week:

Sanitation blues
The director of Dallas' Sanitation department, Jay Council, has left his job after three months. Cliff Gillespie has been appointed as interim head. No reason was given. The role is responsible for executive oversight and administration of the city's solid waste collection and disposal utility system, which has had some bumps in recent months, with a disruptive change in schedule that left many residents with trash not picked up in a timely manner.

DART open house
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will begin hosting a monthly career fair on Saturday, February 25, from 10 am-2 pm at DART Headquarters, at 1401 Pacific Ave. The agency is seeking applicants for open positions in transit operations (bus and rail operators and mechanics), administrative fields (including engineering, finance, technology, and human resources), and the DART Police department. DART bus operators get a starting pay of $23.08/hour, and if applicants live outside Dallas, they're eligible for a relocation stipend of $1,500, paid after their first pay period. DART Police and Fare Enforcement Officers.

Equitable arts opps
The Creative Arts Center of Dallas, located on a two-acre campus four miles east of downtown Dallas at 2360 Laughlin Dr., is a safe haven for artists to explore creative avenues. They also provide outreach to underserved and children and teens. They've launched a new residency program, “Equitable Artist Residency,” which features an array of artists with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Dallas-based Latino artist Benjamin Muñoz is the first resident and his exhibition “Influenced” is on view until Friday, March 31.

Sephora scholarships
Applications are open for the annual Sephora Scholarship program, created to empower and support diverse students in the Dallas-Fort Worth area pursuing a licensed career in beauty through professional training and education. As a release notes, BIPOC professionals hold only 36 percent of professional beauty service roles. Licensure allows for greater opportunities, but tuition costs can be a barrier for BIPOC communities. Sephora provides each scholar with up to $7,500 for tuition. The six-month program provides participants with:

$7,500 in tuition for cosmetology and esthetician school
A paid internship at Sephora
Firsthand industry experience
Mentorship and access to open roles following graduation

Applications close on March 12. The 2023 program will run from April through September.

Texas is #1
Texas came in first on a list of the top 15 states for animal abuse in 2021, according to a mildly trolly study by Veterinarians.org. (Don't click on their site if you don't like insistent pop-ups.) Their list of states with the most animal abuse offenses was compiled from data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System. Texas was #1 with 2,952 animal cruelty offenses - more than double the #2 state on the list, Delaware, which had 1,280 offenses. Virginia was #3, followed by Georgia, Colorado, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Oregon. They estimate that every year, 10 million animals die from abuse in just the U.S.

politics city-news-roundup

Park news

New I-35 deck park in southern Dallas moves closer to spring 2026 debut

Courtesy rendering

Renderings for Halperin Park.

A massive deck park spanning Interstate 35E in southern Dallas is set to open in late spring 2026. Called Halperin Park, the five-acre community space has been under construction since 2017 and will be completed in two phases:

Phase One (finishing in late spring) will include the section from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster Avenue and will feature a pavilion, amphitheater, playground area, interactive fountains, a second level overlooking the Dallas Zoo and the highway, and a large event room for every dining and special events.

Phase Two (to be completed over the next five years) will add the park section toward Marsalis Avenue, with an additional pavilion and extra gathering space.

The project is being developed by the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation and built by the Texas Department of Transportation. Funding comes from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, as well as the private Halperin Foundation, which donated $23 million in 2024 and secured naming rights.

In January, the Dallas City Council approved spending up to $8 million to complete Phase One for spring completion.

The public-private initiative will create $1 billion in economy impact over the next five years, according to a study by UNT Dallas.

Rendering of Halperin ParkCourtesy rendering

A park with purpose
Developers say the park aims to integrate the west side of Oak Cliff, which was somewhat segregated with the construction of I-35 in Oak Cliff in the 1960s, leading to low-income communities and generational poverty.

The project started nine years ago, when the Texas Department of transportation planned a reconstruction of I-35 and began gathering neighbors’ feedback. The result was a plan to widen bicycle and pedestrian lanes in the service roads alongside the highway, and to build a deck over the highway between Ewing and Marsalis avenues, adjacent to the Dallas Zoo. (Similar Klyde Warren Park's "deck park" concept.)

While the project faced some skepticism at first, it later gained momentum as private supporters continued to join.

“Forty percent of the Dallas population lives in South Dallas, yet this segment only accounts for 15 percent of the tax base,” says April Allen, President and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, citing the opportunity to address the economic equality in the area through the development of the park and all the business it can bring.

Rendering of Halperin Park.Courtesy rendering

Neighborhood pride
For Allen, this project is personal. The Toronto-born executive first moved to Dallas 22 years ago to work at Neiman Marcus, after getting her engineering degree in Canada and her MBA at Harvard. Oak Cliff felt like the right place for her as an intown neighborhood, with a confluency of cultures, local pride and an entrepreneurial spirit, as she describes it. Her first Realtor told her Oak Cliff was “not the right place for her." Instead of choosing a different neighborhood, Allen chose a new Realtor.

She has lived on the same street in North Cliff since, now raising her two kids with her husband, an Oak Cliff native, whom she credits for her further understanding of the neighborhood, its roots and civic dynamics.

Under Allen’s leadership, Halperin Park is focused on a community-first approach that provides support to the neighbors through programs around health and wellness, after-school activities, local food trucks and markets, and educational workshops to help expand homeownership and financial acumen.

To highlight the history and culture of Oak Cliff, they will feature an annual Walk of Fame, lifting up the stories of those who contributed to Oak Cliff history, with the first one happening as part of the inauguration of the park, organizers say.

They will provide their own 24-hour security team to ensure a safe place for families and kids, with clean and well-lit crosswalks.

Given their proximity with the zoo, parking will be available on the East side of the park at the zoo site, with a walkway to the park. They are working on parking options for the West side.

“We want to create a space for community growth and more business in the area," says Allen. "We are already seeing this come to life with projects such as East Dock, and we are excited for future investment that the park will bring."

parks