Nearly every member of Dallas’ Community Bond Taskforce has voted to allocate nearly a third of the city’s $1.1 billion dollar bond capacity — to parks and trails.
That decision came during an early Saturday morning taskforce meeting held at Dallas Love Field.
Parks and recreation officials say the department has a multi-billion dollar maintenance need to keep up its operations. The initial bond assessment for the department was nearly $1 billion, but city officials say they cut that down to what was approved at Saturday’s meeting — just shy of $350 million.
But not all committee members were on the same page. Randall Bryant represents District 8 on the Community Bond Taskforce.
Bryant said during the meeting that “given the needs of our city and the priorities that [he feels] are most important for our city,” he could not support allocating that much money to parks and trails.
And Bryant is not the only one who has expressed concern about the allocation. In early September, Parks and Recreation officials told city council members their department needed more in bond allocations than what was ultimately decided. But some council members questioned that request at the time.
“How much of that is really needs and how much of that is wants?” District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon asked during a September committee meeting.
District 1 Council Member Chad West has said he agrees that parks are a top priority for the city — but questioned how officials could balance the city’s financial capacity with the needs of the city.
“How do we justify putting $400 million of a $1 billion dollar bond to parks?” West asked at an early September committee meeting. “Why is this the biggest need of the city?”
But the taskforce’s vote to recommend nearly $350 million to parks and trails on Saturday comes after a long — and vocal — campaign for greenspaces by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.
Johnson, who was reelected in May and announced his switch to the Republican party in September, has made the city’s parks and trails a main priority in his agenda.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the direction this city is going in terms of increasing our residents’ access to parks, trails and other green spaces,” Johnson said during his inauguration speech earlier this year.
Johnson appointed Arun Agarwal chair of the bond taskforce. Agarwal also serves as the president of the Dallas Parks and Recreation Board.
Johnson also decided to change what was formerly known as the Environment and Sustainability committee to the Parks, Trails and Environment committee. And first-term council member Kathy Stewart is the new chair.
KERA reached out to Johnson’s office in late June to confirm whether the committee’s name change also meant a policy or focus change for its members, but never heard back.
Now that the taskforce has decided to adopt the bond allocations — mostly as recommended by five bond subcommittees — the report will be sent to city council. Council members are scheduled to discuss the bond allocation recommendations during an early December meeting.
A vote on the bond package would be in May.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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