South Dallas neighbors to give input on potential elimination of DART’s GoLink zone and proposed 25-story tower
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Two proposals are on the table: a 25-story tower on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and the elimination of South Dallas GoLink.
Tonight and tomorrow night, South Dallas neighbors can weigh in on both proposals.
The first community meeting is tonight at 6 p.m. when Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) hosts a public hearing at DART Headquarters downtown. The hearing asks for input on “potential service and fare changes for possible implementation in January 2026,” which DART’s appointed board will vote on in August.
Those “changes” include the elimination of DART’s South Dallas GoLink zone. A grassroots group of neighbors worked tirelessly to advocate for one of the curb-to-curb service zones starting in 2018. When DART agreed to a pilot, neighbors pressed for more weeknight and weekend hours, and more convenient spots in South Dallas where neighbors could purchase and reload GoPass Tap cards.
They were so successful that by the end of 2023, South Dallas ranked third in ridership among DART’s 32 (now 34) GoLink zones throughout Dallas and the suburbs.
“We the residents, we the riders, we located hosts of retailers in the community where reloading could happen. We even put our pennies together to retain consultants to help us market the program,” lifelong South Dallas resident and former City Councilwoman Diane Ragsdale told DART officials at a June 17 community meeting. “And now, after all of this struggle, after we’ve proven that we need it and that we use it, and now there is the consideration to do what? To eliminate the South Dallas GoLink, which is disgraceful.”
DART says the South Dallas zone now sees an average of 291 riders a week. That popularity can be costly because DART contracts with Uber and Lyft to provide the service at a flat cost — $3 per one-way ride.
Jeamy Molina, a spokeswoman for DART, told Ragsdale and others in the packed Singing Hills Recreation Center room that the proposed cuts are “a worst-case scenario to make up the funding that is needed” to meet the demands of seven Dallas suburbs whom the board recently decided could keep a portion of the sales taxes they pay to DART.
Neighbors who can’t attend can fill out the form at the bottom of this page to make public comments through the end of tonight’s meeting, which will be live streamed.
“We think it’s going to be a packed house, so could go on for quite some time,” Molina says.
| Then tomorrow night, July 9 at 6:30 p.m., Winners Tower hosts its second community meeting at St. Philip’s to ask for community support for a zoning change that would allow a 25-story hotel, condominium and office tower to be constructed at 1709 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Currently, the highest tower in South Dallas is the 13-story Dallas Housing Authority Park Manor at 3333 Edgewood. It’s a few blocks from the site of the proposed Winners Tower. Winners Assembly, the church who owns the land and meets in the 2-story building at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Colonial, pitched the project at a June 26 community meeting that featured a lot of “amens” but few details. Neighbors who asked for more details on the plans may be disappointed tomorrow night, based on emails sent out today by Shenita Cleveland, whom Winners Development hired to handle community engagement. “There will be no formal presentations or decisions made during this session,” Cleveland says. “It is designed to create space for open dialogue and to ensure community voices are heard as we reset and move forward.” The update calls tomorrow night’s meeting a “community listening session” and promises a new schedule of community engagement events starting July 30, with “transparent timelines and clear topics for each session (e.g., design, housing mix, traffic, amenities).” Meanwhile, the developers’ requested zoning change, to mixed-use (MU) 3, is on this Thursday’s City Plan Commission agenda. City staff says the request “is not in alignment” with plans, and instead is recommending a zoning change that would allow up to 80 feet and 5 stories in height.Staff says this change would with the City’s Forward Dallas plan, mirrored by the recently approved South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan, which calls for a neighborhood mixed-use placetype for that section of the MLK corridor. This placetype allows for “residential, retail, and small-scale commercial uses to meet local needs” and “emphasize[s] walkability and compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods, fostering a sense of community.”A change to allow up to five stories may be likely no matter what happens with the Winners Tower request. City Planner Lindsay Jackson expects to launch the authorized hearing process — to change South Dallas’ zoning to match the approved area plan — in August when City Council returns from its July recess. |
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Keri Mitchell has spent 20+ years as a community journalist, including 15 years dedicated to community and civic journalism at Dallas’ Advocate magazines. She launched Dallas Free Press in early 2020 with the belief that all neighborhoods deserve reporting and storytelling that values their community and holds leaders accountable.
Mitchell says she is energized by “knowing our work is making an impact — listening to people, telling their stories with strong narratives paired with compelling data that leads to change. I also love spending time in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors, learning from them and working to determine how journalism can be part of the solution to their challenges.”
Mitchell is proud to be the winner of multiple awards during her journalism career including: Finalist in Magazine Feature Reporting (2018) and Finalist in Magazine Investigative Reporting (2017) from Hugh Aynesworth Excellence in Journalism, Best Feature Story (2011) from Texas Community Newspaper Association and Best Magazine Feature (2011) from Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards.
Areas of Expertise:
local government, education, civic issues, investigative and enterprise reporting
Location Expertise:
Dallas, Texas
Official Title:
Founder + executive director
Email Address:
keri@dallasfreepress.com
