Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\nIf City Hall truly needs reinvestment, let the case be made openly. But let\u2019s not mistake a politically convenient crisis for an unavoidable one.<\/p>\n
Robert Gilbreath, Dallas\/Lakewood<\/p>\n
How about a redo?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to miss the concern folks are feeling about Dallas City Hall. What to do with an I.M. Pei creation that is a masterpiece for some and a money-sucking structure past its prime for others?<\/p>\n
I suggest we consider remaking the building. Scratch the City Hall idea. Transform this art piece into a mini-village with apartments, shops and other entities you\u2019d find in a small community \u2014 all under one roof, sheltered from the brutal summer heat and the sometimes challenging ice and snow of winter. I\u2019ve often imagined this would be the way to revive aging malls. It could have worked at the former Valley View Mall before it was leveled. The Galleria offers such a possibility now.<\/p>\n
In Austin, a former mall is now the site of a community college campus. The remodel has led to all sorts of ancillary developments. Apartments. Shops. Restaurants have sprung up around its borders. And it\u2019s all walkable.<\/p>\n
Our choices for the building that is now City Hall go beyond renovate or destroy. Why not open up the discussion to what some may classify as impossible dreams?<\/p>\n
Kathleen Matsumura, Farmers Branch<\/p>\n
Reimagine the park<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cA farce at Dallas City Hall \u2014 Municipal leaders seem bent on leaving the iconic building without consulting voters,\u201c Sunday Arts & Life column by Mark Lamster.<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s a park! City Hall Plaza therefore cannot be transferred by an act of the City Council. As Lamster pointed out, under Texas statutes, cities must hold elections to sell public parkland.<\/p>\n
City staff has confirmed that the plaza is subject to this requirement. For all of us who want to \u201cstop the steal,\u201d the facts and the law are on our side. By itself, this still isn\u2019t enough. <\/p>\n
As a park, City Hall Plaza hasn\u2019t worked as intended. Saving it does not mean keeping it \u201cas is.\u201d Now is the moment to reimagine this public space. This is about Dallas, so we should be bold. <\/p>\n
A well-designed true central park for Dallas would be transformative. It would not merely duplicate the successes of our newest parks, it would be a culmination. As a magnet for development, it would benefit the city far more than a stadium-adjacent project designed to maximize a team owner\u2019s revenues.<\/p>\n
And it would be an act of healing, at the heart of our city. Together with a restored City Hall and library, it would reestablish our civic center as a showcase for both preservation and innovation, and a gathering place for Dallas as a whole.<\/p>\n
Norwood Andrews, East Dallas<\/p>\n
A conventional solution<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cCloud over City Hall grows \u2014 Council instructs city manager to explore alternatives,” Nov. 14 news story.<\/p>\n
This story helps illuminate the multiple problems that exist in keeping the current structure versus seeking to build another entirely new city hall. I think the council needs to consider moving most of the City Hall offices into the future unused Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which is undergoing its several billion-dollar remodel. The convention business has changed dramatically with the internet and the high costs associated with travel, lodging, dining and exhibit hall rental fees.<\/p>\n
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which has an infinite number of activities outside the convention for the enjoyment of its visitors, has decreased in attendance from 182,000 participants in 2018 to less than 50,000 attendees this past year. <\/p>\n
Dallas needs to look ahead as to what will be done with a beautiful new convention facility that will be decreasingly empty in the future.<\/p>\n
Lee P. Oneacre, Dallas<\/p>\n
Take the long view<\/p>\n
What is the total cost of ownership for Dallas City Hall? As a city that prides itself on its support of business, this standard measure of financial feasibility would help the city make a financially responsible decision.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been said by some that the city budget cannot support the repair costs of the current building. I dare predict that if the scheduled maintenance and repairs of any future building were included in the purchase price, that a new building would be much more expensive.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not be persuaded solely by the salespeople (developers) clamoring at the door to sell us something new. How many of those developers, or other business leaders, or citizens, would tear down their own home because they deferred a roof, or HVAC upgrade, or a foundation repair caused by a slab leak?<\/p>\n
Take the long view. The long view has been the road to success for Warren Buffett.<\/p>\n
Jim Manning, Grapevine<\/p>\n
Accountability needed<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cNow\u2019s the time to move City Hall \u2014 It\u2019s not a debate about sentiment or architecture; it\u2019s about economics,” by Albert C. Black Jr., Nov. 7 Opinion.<\/p>\n
Black\u2019s op-ed made him seem more like a cheerleader trying to promote Dallas as a forward-looking dynamic city rather than taking a look as to why we\u2019re even having this discussion. While his comments regarding the economics may in fact be correct, I think a look back is needed. <\/p>\n
This situation did not happen overnight. Has anyone heard a plausible explanation of how this was allowed to happen? Surely the issues were brought to someone\u2019s attention. I\u2019d like to know how these problems were allowed to fester to the point of saying the building may be unusable. The citizens of Dallas need some accountability here.<\/p>\n
Tracy Wallace, Richardson<\/p>\n
Kudos for op-eds, Fort Worth<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cWeighing Dallas City Hall\u2019s future \u2014 Pei\u2019s a genius, but this building is riddled with big issues and not worth restoring, developer says,\u201d by Shawn Todd and \u201cArchitects call for comprehensive study balancing renovation of renowned building and replacing it,\u201d by Willis C. Winters and Tipton Housewright, Nov. 3 Opinion.<\/p>\n
Two superb opinions from three of the most qualified preservationists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.<\/p>\n
I worked as a law clerk for the Federal Trade Commission in the summer of 1976 while Dallas City Hall was being built. It was a treat to watch, living with my parents in Euless, and riding my Honda motorcyle each day to my job and seeing this I.M. Pei marvel rising from the ground. And trying to figure out why it seemed upside down.<\/p>\n
It is excellent that The Dallas Morning News found such spectacular writers to articulately and concisely frame this most important issue.<\/p>\n
Although I have no standing since I live in Fort Worth, I believe that Fort Worth City Hall is so much better than the one in Dallas, and will always be, no matter what the Dallas City Council decides.<\/p>\n
And our mayor, Mattie Parker, and city council are better, too. In fact, all things are better in Tarrant County than in Dallas County. We have the Cowboys and the Rangers, Taylor Sheridan, better barbecue \u2014 the list just goes on and on!<\/p>\n
Chuck Noteboom, Fort Worth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Policy by panic The sudden campaign to abandon Dallas City Hall feels eerily familiar. Practically overnight, we\u2019re told…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":398651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14840,14841,7281,80,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-398650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-city-council","11":"tag-dallas-city-hall","12":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115597840508733587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}