No one expects perfection. But basic civility and professionalism are minimal standards for any workplace. At this point, even a little icy politesse would be better than what some Dallas City Council members dished out last week: public squabbling and an abrupt, unnecessary end to a committee meeting that left important issues unaddressed. It was embarrassing and pointless.
The panel involved was the council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee, which council member Cara Mendelsohn leads. Its Dec. 9 agenda included several significant issues, including a discussion about the city’s homelessness encampment policy and a $10 million contract with Housing Forward to continue moving people off the streets.
But first, the committee heard a presentation titled “Data Driven Visualizations on Dallas Homeless Issues.” Mendelsohn had invited the speaker, Allen Gwinn, a clinical professor of IT and Operations Management at SMU. He explained how he mapped police incident data, 3-1-1 reports about homeless encampments, and DART bus routes and train stations and then overlaid the maps to show where the variables converged. Gwinn concluded that homelessness encampments tend to be built near public transit and that the city isn’t effectively addressing crime or homelessness.
Those conclusions were a reach, based on the data Gwinn presented. Still, the most effective way to reveal the weaknesses of the presentation would have been a series of deliberate, thoughtful questions from committee members.
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That’s not what happened. Instead, council member Adam Bazaldua suggested Gwinn had selected data to fit his own theories about crime and homelessness. Bazaldua asked Housing Forward’s chief executive, who was in the audience, to give her perspective on the presentation. Mendelsohn immediately quashed that plan, then she and Bazaldua sparred over procedural rules like first graders on a playground arguing about who gets to swing first.
The meeting ended when, after a brief recess to sort out the rules, council members who had left the chamber did not return. Mendelsohn adjourned the meeting for lack of quorum.
The episode did not help homeless people who need shelter. It did not help Dallas residents tired of encampments and aggressive panhandling. It certainly wouldn’t have left a positive impression on business leaders considering a move to Dallas.
Both of the key players in this spat let the city down. Bazaldua has had his colleagues listen to anti-fluoridation activists brief a council committee. He should be able to listen to a data scientist discuss crime and homelessness and respond with a calm, rational critique. And Mendelsohn should have had faith that the college professor she invited would have been able to handle whatever questions came his way from committee members.
Dallas residents expect respect and professionalism from city employees. They should expect their elected representatives to model those same qualities.
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