At a council fundraiser this month, DCC Chairwoman Arcilia Acosta took aim at the voter-approved Dallas HERO charter amendments, a cluster of ballot propositions aimed at improving public safety and holding city leaders accountable.
Acosta described the “forces” behind the Dallas HERO propositions as “short-sighted and misguided,” attributing their passage to “enticing ballot language” that swayed “uninformed voters,” during a recent appearance at the Dallas Citizens Council’s Annual Meeting.
She said the implementation will “cause the business community alarm and great concern for our future.”
The jab at ‘uninformed voters’ caught notice given the HERO amendments were citizen-driven initiatives. And it rekindled criticism of DCC as an elite group of large business interests, the Texas State Historical Association website says. Some organizations, such as the Dallas Assembly, were formed in opposition to the exclusivity of DCC.
Criticisms of perceived elitism appear to be reinforced through the group’s donation arrangements. Corporate sponsorships of the organization for its annual meetings go for tens of thousands of dollars, according to the DCC website. Some previous years’ sponsors include “Amegy Bank, AMN Health Care, Boeing, Capital One, Dallas Stars, Flexport, Goldman Sachs, Greenberg Traurig, Kirkland Ellis, On Target Supplies & Logistics.”
The self-reported membership of the organization is 150.
Those donors and members propel DCC’s policy mission of “achieving inclusive growth for everyone in the Dallas community. Dallas Citizens Council aims to foster an environment where economic growth and prosperity extend to all residents of the Dallas area. To achieve this future, we are focused on impacting the critical public policy areas of education, mobility, housing, as well as other areas essential to improving quality of life.”
The Dallas Express reviewed the DCC’s list of accomplishments.
A timeline of achievements provided by the Dallas Citizen’s Council does not show an entry in the last two years, raising questions about the organization’s efficacy. The most recent achievement of the council is dated 2022 and reads, “DCC is a leading partner in the overwhelming passage of Prop A – a unique opportunity to renovate and revitalize Fair Park and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center (KBHCC).”
Prop A was an increase in hotel taxes that helped solidify Dallas’s position as a city with one of the fifteen highest hotel tax rates in the country.
The Fair Park project has lumbered along since Prop A’s passage and suffered numerous revisions of its goals and countless accusations about fraud and waste after 6 million dollars turned up missing.
The Dallas Express contacted Acosta, Chairman-Elect John Gates and CEO Kelvin Walker to ask DCC to elaborate on their vision, accomplishments, criticisms of the new laws and to lay out DCC’s vision for an alternative. None have commented.
Notably, at the event Acosta torched Dallas HERO, she was preceded by Gov. Greg Abbott, who extolled the virtues of the very same charter amendments.
“I understand from ballot initiatives that were on the ballot this past November… you all, the people of Dallas, voted for more law enforcement to ensure that you will be given safer communities. That is citizen-led leadership that delivers results for you and your communities, and you all should be proud of what you have done to make your community a better place,” Abbott said.
He then noted that other cities such as Chicago that had not adopted these unprecedented charter amendments were overrun by crime. “Safety is the most important thing that any government can deliver to you,” he added.
Two HERO Charter Amendments were approved by voters at the ballot box in November.
The text of the amendment U “require[s] the City to spend no less than 50% of the annual revenue that exceeds the previous year’s annual revenue to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension and increasing starting salaries for Dallas police officers and require the City to have at least 4,000 officers.”
While this amendment was approved by 51% of the voters, Prop S was approved with 55% of the vote. Proposition S grants Dallas citizens the right to seek declaratory and injunctive relief to require the City to follow the law.
A third amendment, T, would have allowed city managers to be discharged if citizens registered dissatisfaction in an annual city survey. However, this measure did not pass.