The Dallas Express is proud to announce that District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn is the inaugural winner of the Dallas Derby!
Dallas residents have made their feelings clear, and Mendelsohn is currently ranked the most effective Dallas City Council member based on the results from DX’s January “Rate Your Council Member” survey.
Respondents to January’s survey were asked to rate their council members on a scale of 0-10 based on their performance in crime reduction, homelessness reduction, aggressive panhandling reduction, litter reduction and city cleanliness, street repairs and maintenance, and park maintenance and park cleanliness. Click here to read about how DX arrived at its rankings.
Mendelsohn scored an 8.6 out of 10 overall, by far the highest among Dallas’ 14 council members. The council member that had the second-highest score only clocked a 5.2.
Her highest marks were for park maintenance and cleanliness, for which her constituents awarded her an average score of 9.1. Her next highest score was in the crime reduction category, where she clocked an average score of 8.9. When it came to city cleanliness, she earned an 8.7, which she also got for street repair and maintenance.
On the lower end of her individual question averages, Mendelsohn’s constituents gave her an 8.3 for homelessness reduction and a 7.7 for aggressive panhandling reduction.
As reported by DX, more than three-quarters of Dallas residents remain dissatisfied with the state of homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling in their neighborhoods and throughout the city, according to previous polling conducted by DX.
Respondents to January’s “Rate Your Council Member” survey were also asked to rate Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager T.C. Broadnax on how well they’re doing on the issues mentioned above. Johnson earned an average score of 5.1. Broadnax got a 1.9.
Take this as seriously as you’d like, but we’re serious about wanting to know what you think — so should your council members.
Dallas has the potential to become the great city it once was. North Texas is going through boom times while the anchor of the metro area and one of the Lone Star State’s flagship cities is stalling out. People are moving to the area in droves, but Dallas has been bucking the growth trend, with U.S. Census data showing the city somehow lost residents between 2020 and 2022. Why is that?
If you are a City of Dallas resident, DX encourages you to click here to take February’s “Rate Your Council Member” survey so your local representative knows how you feel about their performance. Also, be sure to spread the word and refer a friend who lives in Dallas so they can throw in their two cents.