A tower, a tax freeze and traffic solutions in West Dallas

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Is this the future of West Dallas?

The above rendering shows the vision of West Dallas Investments, the developer of Trinity Groves and the largest property owner in the neighborhood. This week, they went before the Dallas City Plan Commission with a proposal to build a 400-foot office tower near the historic La Bajada neighborhood. Deborah Carpenter, West Dallas Councilman Omar Narvaez’ appointee to the commission, favored the plan but only five of her fellow commissioners agreed. Eight others voted against the proposal, and the zoning proposal was postponed to the Jan. 21 meeting.

Read our story about the tower proposal.

Roughly 200 West Dallas residents could receive up to $10,000 in home repairs, thanks to a new grant program from the City of Dallas. Residents who receive a home repair grant of at least $5,000 also will be eligible for a 10-year city tax freeze through the recently created West Dallas Neighborhood Empowerment Zone, “which is fantastic news for a lot of these folks,” says District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez, who represents the neighborhood.

“With gentrification happening in West Dallas,” Narvaez says, “we’re hoping this will help stabilize enough homes so the current homeowners can stay in their homes longer.”

Applications are due Friday, Jan. 8. Read our story for more details.

How many fines and fees have you received in the past five years?

The City of Dallas is surveying residents as part of "an urgent effort to address the disproportionate burden [fines and fees] lay on low-income residents and people of color."

Here's a long list of reasons why residents are fined and the cost of their infractions. The city's equity indicator shows that Black residents pay the highest amount of fines and fees, followed by white residents. 

Speeding, accidents and street racing are problems that residents of the Ledbetter neighborhood have been working to tackle with traffic solutions. The city has suggested four options to improve Bernal Drive, from Singleton Avenue to Peoria Street, and Councilman Narvaez says the decision is up to neighbors.

Read our story to learn more.

Would you like to read more stories about West Dallas?

The neighborhood is rich with stories to tell and reporting to pursue. We’d like to do more, but we’re limited by our resources. 

That’s why we’re excited to share an opportunity to triple your donation to Dallas Free Press. We have been selected to participate in NewsMatch, a national matching-gift campaign that drives donations to nonprofit, nonpartisan newsrooms (like ours!) around the U.S. Since 2016, NewsMatch has raised more than $100 million for nonprofit journalism. That’s a lot of impact.

Not only will NewsMatch double donations but the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation chose Dallas Free Press to receive an additional matching grant (!!!) based on the work we do in education reporting.

Here’s how it works:

Now through Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match your new monthly donation 12x or double your one-time gift, all up to $5,000. Whether you give $5, $50, $500 or $5,000, every dollar helps!

We can earn up to $11,500 matching dollars from NewsMatch and up to $7,275 from the Hewlett Foundation, which means Dallas Free Press can raise $30,275 in total. This funding would increase the breadth and depth of the high-quality, independent local journalism we produce.

If you have the means, please consider giving to community-focused, civic-minded nonprofit journalism. Give today and NewsMatch will triple the impact of your donation.

Executive director, Dallas Free Press