{"id":520989,"date":"2026-01-16T18:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/520989\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:51:20","slug":"fix-city-hall-or-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/520989\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix City Hall or move?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Kimberly Bizor Tolbert reaches her one-year mark<\/a> as Dallas city manager, she faces a looming test: a stay-or-go decision on City Hall that could define her legacy and reshape downtown for years to come.<\/p>\n

She stepped into the job last January with a firm City Council mandate<\/a>: steady the city government, improve services, tighten fiscal oversight and restore trust in how Dallas runs itself. <\/p>\n

Now, comes a reckoning over the iconic I.M. Pei-designed City Hall<\/a>, long admired and increasingly costly to maintain.<\/p>\n

Repairs to make up for decades of deferred maintenance<\/a> could cost hundreds of millions. Prominent business interests support relocation<\/a>, seeing a chance to jump-start redevelopment downtown. Preservationists fear abandonment of history<\/a> and the city\u2019s resolve to fix what it owns.<\/p>\n

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How that choice unfolds runs through Tolbert as she deals with clashing expectations inside City Hall and beyond on that and other matters. She has acknowledged the high stakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur momentum is great, but we must keep running up the score to make sure that Dallas is at the top of the leaderboard, which is where we belong,\u201d Tolbert said the day she became the first Black woman to lead the country\u2019s ninth-largest city. <\/p>\n

She brought the City Hall issue to the council after outlining the city\u2019s record of underinvesting in maintenance and repairs<\/a>. She pressed for a structured review, with the council directing the Economic Development Corp.<\/a>, a nonprofit advisory group, to produce a report laying out costs and options, due Monday.<\/p>\n

No matter what the City Council ultimately votes to do, the burden of execution will fall on Tolbert.<\/p>\n

The debate has accelerated against a fragile backdrop. Downtown is struggling<\/a> with older buildings, fewer daily workers and concerns over public safety and homelessness<\/a>. <\/p>\n

AT&T\u2019s announcement<\/a> last week that it\u2019s moving to Plano sharpened worries that the heart of the city is losing out as development picks up elsewhere, from Uptown\u2019s rising skyline to Victory Park\u2019s coming Goldman Sachs campus.<\/p>\n

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis said Tolbert already has shown she has what it takes to keep downtown vibrant. \u201cI have faith in her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Building coalitions<\/p>\n

Tolbert\u2019s work as Dallas\u2019 administrative CEO started after former City Manager T.C. Broadnax left for Austin<\/a>, at a time of leadership turnover and friction between Mayor Eric Johnson and some council members over direction and governance. <\/p>\n

She had been serving as interim city manager since May 2024<\/a>, after years in senior roles, including deputy city manager and chief of staff, before the council appointed her to the top spot.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson speaks with interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert at Klyde Warren Park, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Dallas.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

From the outset, Tolbert, 57, <\/b>who lives downtown near the Farmer\u2019s Market, has moved to pull city power brokers into a common conversation. <\/p>\n

In her early months on the job, she convened some of Dallas\u2019 most influential business and development leaders \u2013 executives who help determine what rises and falls downtown \u2013 and challenged them to engage directly on what\u2019s needed to unlock action.<\/p>\n

\u201cDallas is open for business,\u201d developer Ray Washburne recalled her telling the group. \u201cBring me what you think we need to do, and let\u2019s talk about it and do it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Park Board President Arun Agarwal, who attended some of those meetings, said she paired that invitation with a pointed question: \u201cWhat can you do for the city? And what does the city need to do to get you to act?\u201d <\/p>\n

That outreach reflects how the city manager\u2019s role has shifted in Dallas. Traditionally, the job has been to carry out policy crafted by elected officials, not to publicly steer major civic debates. <\/p>\n

With the future of City Hall tied to downtown\u2019s fate, conflicts have broken out among council members and outside interests over cost, identity and timing. That is pushing Tolbert into a more public role in which delay itself carries risk.<\/p>\n

Former Dallas City Manager Ted Benevides said the evolution is not unique to Tolbert, but it has become unavoidable in large cities wrestling with complex, generational decisions. <\/p>\n

It is especially tricky in Dallas, where a powerful business community aims to influence big projects, and the mayor and 14 council members bring competing priorities, alliances and political pressures.<\/p>\n

City managers, Benevides said, can no longer operate strictly behind the scenes if they want policy to translate into action. Instead, they must blend management with negotiation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not elected, so they don\u2019t get the vote,\u201d Benevides said. \u201cBut they have to be politically savvy \u2014 more engaged in helping elected officials create policy that actually moves the city in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early test, early praise<\/p>\n

The day Tolbert landed the job permanently, the mayor \u2013 who had clashed with her predecessor \u2013 praised Tolbert as a leader who would listen to the council, put the city first and work relentlessly.<\/p>\n

Weeks in, word spread that Neiman Marcus was closing its flagship store <\/a>downtown. <\/p>\n

Tolbert quickly banded with Jennifer Scripps, leader of Downtown Dallas Inc., Linda McMahon, the chair of the city\u2019s Economic Development Corp., and developer Shawn Todd, rallying support for the store. <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert speaks during a Downtown Dallas Inc. press conference at the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. A group of officials, including those in the city, economic development and real estate, are sending a letter to Saks Global and other key parties to work on a solution to keep the store open.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Tolbert called it a pillar of the city\u2019s identity and \u201ca catalyst for ongoing growth.\u201d Keeping the store open, she said, mattered not just symbolically but economically.<\/p>\n

Neiman Marcus did not shutter its doors, easing fears about downtown\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s found her own voice,\u201d council member Paula Blackmon said. \u201cWhen you work for somebody above you, you need to toe the line. When you\u2019re your own boss, you get to draw the line.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tolbert motto: \u2018Service Now!\u2019<\/p>\n

One year in \u2014 working out of a fourth-floor office with signage that says \u201cService Now!\u201d \u2014 Tolbert has touted a string of changes that touch daily life: more streets paved<\/a>, use of AI on sanitation trucks<\/a> to monitor code compliance in neighborhoods and attracting sports teams, such as the WNBA\u2019s Dallas Wings<\/a>, to play in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Tolbert oversees a workforce larger than many corporations and manages a $5 billion budget<\/a>. She\u2019s reorganized departments, reset metrics and tied budgets more tightly to performance. Multiple large capital projects<\/a> place a premium on financial stewardship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also put her reputation on the line in the city\u2019s scramble to try to keep the Dallas Stars hockey team and Dallas Mavericks basketball <\/a>team from bolting. <\/p>\n

Those who have worked closely with her describe her leadership as quick and demanding, focused on policy execution, with a visible public hand. She is selective in giving interviews \u2013 and declined a request to speak for this story.<\/p>\n

City Hall may dominate attention, but Tolbert also is grappling with police staffing shortfalls<\/a>, aging infrastructure<\/a>, uneven services<\/a> and neighborhood inequities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For decades, city leaders have struggled to knit together the urban core, betting success in one district would lift the rest. Instead, gaps remain, from safety concerns in the West End to uneven foot traffic in Victory Park, where new development has yet to produce steady daily activity.<\/p>\n

Still, her second year will be judged by what Dallas does next with City Hall.<\/p>\n

Some council members have questioned whether Tolbert is making decisions independently of the council.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody understands why it\u2019s so urgent, but the city manager is pushing this,\u201d council member Paul Ridley told The Dallas Morning News in November<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The pace has been fast. Her team briefed the council in late October <\/a>on the building\u2019s condition and scale of overdue repairs. By November, members approved a dual-track review, reassessing City Hall\u2019s lifespan while exploring relocation options.<\/p>\n

At the time, council member Cara Mendelsohn questioned the speed of the process, saying it felt like an emergency item. Tolbert responded that the timeline was ultimately the council\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

Willis pushed back on the notion Tolbert has overstepped. \u201cShe has had to take on issues that have languished for years,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert (standing, center) visits with Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua behind the council dias during public session at Dallas City Hall, June 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The Mavericks search for sites for a new arena has added urgency to the tussle over City Hall.<\/p>\n

Prominent Dallas architects say the nearly 50-year-old City Hall remains sound and adaptable, and underused sites <\/a>elsewhere would better suit a sports arena or major redevelopment without abandoning the civic core. <\/p>\n

Supporters of relocation <\/a>counter that the City Hall property is one of downtown\u2019s most valuable parcels, and moving government offices could unlock new development and momentum in a part of the city that has struggled to regain its footing.<\/p>\n

Council member Kathy Stewart, who chaired the ad hoc pension committee, said Tolbert has the skills to carry downtown revitalization forward, crediting her for resolving the long-running police and fire pension dispute<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After years of stalled talks and a legal setback<\/a> for the city, negotiations culminated last fall in a deal, a turnaround Stewart said was driven by Tolbert\u2019s persistence and her ability to bring the right people together and privately work through the details alongside the mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had honestly almost given up\u201d on a solution, Stewart said.<\/p>\n

The task before Tolbert is whether she can apply the same coalition-building and follow-through to the City Hall tradeoffs now playing out in public. For Tolbert, the work is rooted in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my home,\u201d she said. \u201cI am a champion for this city.\u201d <\/p>\n

At one year, Tolbert\u2019s biggest call<\/b><\/p>\n