As early voting got underway Monday, two groups held news conferences to voice their opposition to three controversial Dallas city charter amendments
The Dallas Police Association and a coalition of Latino elected officials echoed a common message – they urged voters to vote no against Propositions S, T and U, which would impact public safety and city governance.
Dallas County Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia, Dallas College Trustee Monica Lira Bravo, and Dallas City Council Members Adam Bazaldua and Jesse Moreno spoke about the importance of the Hispanic community voting – and specifically, voting against the three charter amendments.
“This election is a crossroad not only for our country but for our city,” Garcia said.
She said voters need to get to know these propositions because the language on the ballot could be confusing.
Lira Bravo addressed Proposition U, which add a new section that would require the city to increase the number of sworn police officers to a minimum of 4,000 – an increase of about 900 from current numbers.
She said if more money had to shift to hire police officers, it would cause the city to have to make tough decisions and cut critical services such as access to libraries and recreation centers.
“In the Latino community, as somebody who grew up here in this city, I learned to read by going to my local library,” Lira Bravo said. “I went to my local recreation center. Community depends on these services for their kids to learn to learn English, to be in sports. This is one of our outlets.”
She said many of these centers would be affected if the focus was on policing.
“You don't solve our public safety problems by just police officers,” she said.
Another amendment, Proposition T, would require “an annual community survey of services in the city. It would ask a minimum of 1,400 Dallas residents about their satisfaction on quality of life issues.
The city manager’s job and compensation would be tied to the results of the survey.
Council member Jesse Moreno said Dallas residents don't get to see the ins and outs of city hall, the progress that has been made and the goals that have been set.
“It's basically taking a blind approach to evaluating the city manager,” Moreno said.
The final amendment, Proposition S, would allow residents to bring legal action against the city “to force the city of Dallas to follow its own ordinances, its own charter and Texas state law,” according to the ballot language.
“The opportunity for vigilantism to come into effect and to place lawsuits against some of the policies we've put in place that were meant to break barriers and provide more opportunity and create equity for our Latino community are all at stake with these propositions,” City Council member Adam Bazaldua said.
While there are a total of 18 amendments on the ballot, S, T and U have drawn the most attention and opposition.
Dallas HERO, which bills itself as a “bipartisan 501c4 organization,” was behind the main push to get the amendments on the ballot. The group says on its website the changes are “focused on improving public safety and measures to hold our city leaders and city government accountable.”
Dallas Police Association President Jaime Castro said his organization – which represents thousands of officers – is strongly opposed to these amendments. “We did not have a seat at the table when these charter amendments were being discussed,” Castro said. “The fact is, the Dallas Police Association was not even consulted about these important changes that would become governing law for police.”
Speaking at a news conference with city council members and the Black Police Officers Association, Castro said Proposition U would make it more difficult to keep good officers because it would undermine the ability to control their salaries and benefits for the officers they want to keep and incentivize.
Echoing Latino city and county leaders, Castro said Proposition U would burden taxpayers and lower quality of life for constituents.
“Not only that, they would hamper the city's ability to fund basic services like parks, libraries and recreation centers,” he said.
“We know the key to bolstering our police department, and that's through hiring, training and retaining officers.
“The Dallas Police Association works very closely with the City of Dallas in each of these areas, and we want to continue doing so,” he said.
Early voting continues until Nov. 1. Election day is Nov. 5.
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
