Dallas voters took to the ballots during the election and passed two of three key citizen-led amendments to create more accountability for the City. This marks a significant win for those who had been pushing for the passing of these measures.
Propositions S, T, and U became commonly known as the Dallas HERO amendments after a local organization gathered roughly 170,000 signatures to get the propositions on the ballot.
Dallas HERO is a local nonprofit “focused on improving public safety and measures to hold our city leaders and city government accountable.”
Propositions S and U, which were passed by voters on election day, will allow citizens to file lawsuits against the City and create accountability measures within the Dallas Police and Fire Departments, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Proposition T was the lone amendment from the Dallas HERO propositions that did not pass, which would have tied the Dallas City Manager’s salary to a yearly review by City residents.
The Dallas Express publisher Monty Bennett discussed the passing of these two amendments. Bennett said he was an “avid supporter” of the changes and was “very pleased with the election results.”
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for seeing the wisdom in these charter amendments. If I can make it so, DallasHERO will not stop fighting for your priorities, because no one else will,” said Bennett in a message to those who voted in favor of the propositions.
Bennett further noted that the changes in Proposition S, which allows residents to file lawsuits against the City for alleged breaches of the law, will force the City to be accountable for its actions moving forward.
“You and I have to follow the law and if we don’t, we pay a fine or go to jail. But city governments all the time just ignore the law… they ignore state law and they ignore their own ordinances and charter. How is that fair? Dallas will be the first city I know of that has to follow the law,” Bennett said.
“The city’s outrage over this is telling…. why are they so resistant to just following the law? And the rumors out there aren’t true… this doesn’t create any liability for any individual working for the city and money damages is not a remedy. It can only force the city that’s not following a specific law to start following it,” added Bennett.
When asked why only two of the three propositions were passed by Dallas voters, Bennett explained that the wording on Proposition T was adjusted and became difficult to understand for those without prior knowledge of the issues.
“The original wording was much easier to understand. The wording on the ballot was modified and made it more difficult to understand with unintended implications,” Bennett said.
Dallas HERO Executive Director Pete Marocco also discussed the passing of these propositions and said he was proud of the decisions made by City voters. He noted that it would be beneficial because it would give the power back to residents.
“I am so grateful that the people made a choice to give power back to the people… that’s exactly what these propositions are, and it’s our constitution, it’s our City’s constitution, and it should be something that people understand in plain-speak,” Marocco explained, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Although there has been no indication of potential challenges to these amendments, Bennett claimed that officials within the Dallas government “have no desire to address the needs of the people” and could take further action to prevent these measures.
“At every turn, the city council has worked hard to thwart the will of the people regarding these amendments. Really sad. I’m quite confident they’ll bring legal action because they do not care how much of the city’s money they waste in litigation and they will do anything to to overturn these propositions,” Bennett added.
“The propositions have put the power directly into the hands of the voters. They cannot stand that. They want to be able to allocate city money to their cronies,” noted Bennett.