Dallas is a late adopter of an economic development corporation, or Dallas EDC, a nonprofit organization established to create new business opportunities through marketing and relationship building.
Its current CEO, Linda McMahon, recently joined KERA's Ron Corning to talk about her mission to move Dallas forward and to address the recent controversy over the
future of City Hall. That includes a dump of 5,000 emails that made some of the
behind-the-scenes debate over the building's future public.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity.
Emails between McMahon and Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert
"That was the culmination of a year and a half of really trying to establish a brand new
organization, new to the city staff, new the city of Dallas, and also new for the Economic
Development Corporation's new organization. So, there's going to be discussion, there's
going to be debate, there is going to be disagreement. And I think we were finally at the point where we're making progress on the agreement side, but there was just still a few sticking points. So, it's just part of the growing pains."
Opposition to tearing down the city’s I.M. Pei-designed headquarters
"I think people, they have a right to feel like a public building is part of their ... history with the city, and you cannot ignore and deny those feelings. I think everyone has the right to have those emotions and those feelings. And also the fact that they are able to express them publicly is also part of that right. I think it's a really important part. That is part of why we are a democratic society, that if you have an opinion, you have the right to express it."
The future of the flagship Neiman Marcus store downtown
"I'm not privy to the negotiations that are happening at City Hall, but let me just say this:
The store is still open. The plan is to reimagine the store because the traditional retail
model that they had for that downtown store probably doesn't work anymore. So, I
think that we're still going to have the Zodiac Room. I think we're going to still have luxury retail in Neiman Marcus downtown. I don't think they're going anywhere. They are going to reimagine that store, and I think if you go anywhere else in the world and you go into retail stores, they're totally different than what we see in Dallas."
AT&T moving it’s corporate headquarters to Plano
"I think the message that the CEO John Stankey made about his concerns about city
government were what motivated him to look at other alternatives. But I also have been
reminded that every single CEO of AT&T over the past several decades has moved
headquarters. So, you know, they moved from San Antonio to Dallas … But we have to
listen to the message, and the message is that we need to focus on existing businesses, that we really need to make sure that we're listening to those existing businesses way before they get the feeling that they're not being heard. And so that is why the work that we are going to be doing in business growth and is going to be so critical to the future of Dallas."
Ron Corning is the host of KERA's forthcoming talk show, NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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