The Save Dallas City Hall Coalition wants voters, not the city council, to decide what will happen to the building designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei. And they want it on the May 2027 ballot.
The group plans to submit the official paperwork on Oct. 2, which will start the petition process. They will need 20,000 in-person signatures from registered voters within 60 days to make it happen.
If placed on the ballot, it would be a proposed amendment to the Dallas City Charter that requires keeping the current building as the seat of city government unless otherwise decided by voters.
The announcement came on Thursday, nearly a year since city council members were first told that the building had millions of dollars in deferred maintenance and proposed relocating City Hall elsewhere in downtown.
That briefing sparked strong debate in later months on whether the city should stay and repair the building, or move elsewhere and use the land at 1500 Marilla Street for economic development opportunities.
That sparked the creation of the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition, which has grown from a grassroots effort to an organized 501(c)(4) nonprofit that issued a number of legal notices to the city prior to filing a lawsuit last month. The group is made up of residents, neighborhood and business leaders, preservation advocates, architects, current and former elected officials, and other community stakeholders.
Leading Thursday's announcement — which took place outside of Dallas City Hall — was former Dallas mayor Laura Miller. She was joined by a number of other speakers including City Council Member Adam Bazaldua, Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia, community leaders including attorney Ben Abbott, and Pei's daughter, Liane Pei.
"My father loved Dallas," Liane Pei said. "He designed the City Hall and its plaza not for private interests, but for you, the people of Dallas, to conduct business, gather, celebrate, mourn, raise your collective voice in civic protest, and simply be together. It is your house."
Pei was commissioned as the architect for Dallas City Hall under the city leadership of former mayor J. Erik Jonsson. It was designed to be a symbol of the city moving forward in the aftermath of the John F. Kennedy assassination, which had labeled Dallas the "City of Hate."
Dallas City Hall opened in 1978. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum — also designed by Pei — opened the following year.
Miller referenced Pei's ties with Dallas.
"He said at the time, 'When you do a city hall, it has to convey an image of people'," Miller said, referring to Pei. "Later often saying, 'The people of Dallas, they have that can-do spirit'."
Miller said that once the petition process starts, volunteers and professional petition gatherers will fan across the city to collect signatures from registered Dallas voters. They will host special events, pop-up signings, go door-to-door, and man polling places.
Those interested can follow the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition on social media for updates on signing events. All signatures must be made in-person.
Council members Paula Blackmon, Cara Mendelsohn, and Paul Ridley were also present at the announcement.
Ridley told KERA that the council's last substantive update on City Hall was in June. City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert had issued a memo to council members last week stating that staff had missed the August deadline to bring back options for a new City Hall location, and that they were "working on it."
Ridley said the petition process will not be able to pause any action on City Hall until the election.
"I really can't speculate about what the full council will do, but there is so much momentum with city leadership, the city manager's office, to condemn this building to destruction and move out for parts unknown that I don't anticipate that that pressure is going to stop because of this petition campaign," Ridley said. "I hope it will, but I'm not optimistic about that."
He added that he wanted voters to have their say on what happens to City Hall.
Who are donors for the Save Dallas City Hall petition effort?
These are the current donors as of Thursday.
- Ben Abbott
- Mary McDermott Cook
- Emily Corrigan, Laura Cole and Erik Charlton, grandchildren of former mayor Jonsson
- Trammell Crow Jr.
- Daniel Crow
- Robert and Maureen Decherd
- Erle Nye
- Howard and Franchon Hallam
- Howard and Cindy Rachofsky
- Linda Marcus
- Laura and Dan Boeckman
- John Dayton
- Glenn Thurman
- Elba Garcia and Domingo Garcia
- Paul Ridley
- Paula Blackmon
- Laura Miller
- Rob Richmond
- John Tatum
- Windle Turley
- Herb and Donna Weitzman
- Ambassador Marc and Wendy Stanley
- Steve Atkinson and Ted Kincaid
- Sam Coats
- Veletta Forsythe-Lill
- Craig Melde
Got a tip? Email Megan Cardona at mcardona@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!
