Poor Mike Rawlings. He couldn’t have known he was going to have to serve two more terms, but the current elected official isn’t leaving him any choice.
The current mayor, Eric Johnson, has been frequently absent and always at odds with his colleagues. Rawlings has been forced by Johnson’s abdication and ineptitude to serve in the de facto role as the people’s mayor. He’s doing so by shaping public opinion about the future of City Hall and other crucial issues.
This is pretty amazing for someone who arrived in 1976 with only a few dollars and no intention to stay in Dallas long. When he left office in 2019, he had served longer than anyone since R.L. Thornton, some 58 years before.
Serving as mayor in Dallas can be like serving time in the big house, and I thought Rawlings deserved a lot of credit for serving out his full term. He held meetings and went to events right to the end; he worked the job he had signed up for. I really respected this because in my 30 years at City Hall I had not seen anyone do it. Even one-termers usually put it on cruise control at the end. Not Mayor Mike.
My father, who had served various City Council terms from the 1960s to the 1980s, made much ado about it. He had served with J. Erik Jonsson and said Rawlings worked the job harder even though the demands were greater.
Rawlings has never really gone away. He’s like Batman: When the city is in trouble, someone shines a light into the night sky and Mayor Mike comes to the rescue. He was the face of the effort to defeat the Dallas HERO measures, and he has jumped in to try to ensure the City Hall site can be the home of the Mavericks and a mixed-use project.
Rawlings getting out in front of the issue of remaking downtown is going to help. He understands this needs to happen, and he has the well-earned trust of the public and plenty of cachet. He also has a great feel for what’s best and what most people like.
Rawlings’ politics and mine are not the same, other than we are both Dallas guys and want our city to do better. That should be enough. There should only be one party in our municipal government — the Improving Dallas Party. Unlike our current mayor, Rawlings didn’t play partisan politics with the office. It’ll take civic leaders from both political camps to ensure that Dallas makes the right move at this critical time.
The city desperately needs leadership. I’m grateful Rawlings continues to provide it. Maybe at some point the city can develop some new leaders and not have to use the Bat Signal to summon him. In the meantime, thank you, Mayor Mike.
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