Can someone give me the full pitch of why we should save city hall?
Posted by Electrical_Long_4222@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 129 comments
If the argument is solely that it's architecturally significant, I guess I would argue that there are 4 other (and better) IM Pei buildings in Dallas that aren't going to cost the city more than a billion dollars over the next 5 years.
Politically I'm a leftist and generally love brutalism, but the idea that there aren't about a hundred better uses for that billion dollars is what makes me really skeptical of the "save city hall" signs I've seen popping up.
ghostymost2@reddit
The billionaires trying to tear down city hall love you
remembertapes@reddit
The argument is that several city councils deliberately didn't pay for the upkeep of city hall and now are angling to appease rich real estate developers and Miriam Adelson. If they sell city hall and buy (there's even some talk of renting, god) a new space, everyone on the council that's involved will get richer from it. This is like when Chad West just happened to own the new building the city purchased (overpaid, of course) that is now empty because it wasn't even remotely up to code.
Electrical_Long_4222@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the explanation.
I struggle with the idea that somehow not saving city hall will prevent the dallas city council from self-enriching, when the last 75 years of this city's government has been marked by city council members self-enriching.
BlazeFireVale@reddit
You're correct, resisting this ONE instance of corruption doesn't remove all corruption.
The weird thing there is that you're immediate thought is "why bother you resist this one instance of corruption" rather than "oh, we should probably be even more active in resisting corruption".
AwHellNawFetaCheese@reddit
I think it’s more pick your battles than why care
BlazeFireVale@reddit
Pretty reasonable battle to pick, honestly. Obvious and high profile it raises awareness of the issue. Kind of a no brainer, honestly.
AwHellNawFetaCheese@reddit
In the scale of things to spend corrupt money to reallocate City Hall doesn't break my top 10 list. It's obviously my subjective opinion, but it's not a battle i pick if the standard we're working with is "every single project or initiate is corrupt." I'd throw my weight behind something more tangible in it's contribution to people or the community.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
spacedman_spiff@reddit
Well if it’s not a perfect solution, and doesn’t permanently solve a problem, then what’s the point of trying? See: shootings, school
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
My understanding is that the $1b is a joke price, maintenance has occurred (CM who I don't even like has the receipts), and it more like $100m of repairs, not $1b or $300m (of which $125m was only for the parking garage, not the actual building).
The city manager has been taking these calls of her own accord, not based on maintenance costs or anything else.
awr54@reddit
This☝️
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
sportsarestressful@reddit
The $1B price tag is absolutely inflated. It assumes all new everything for city hall - like, no computer or server would be transferred to a new spot, paperclips would have to be repurchased, etc.
If you paid attention, it also included "build out costs" for a new location, as if there are no move in ready office spaces in Dallas (despite the claim that there is sooooo much available office space for a new city hall). New cube walls, equipment, office chairs - everything. And it assumed that a temporary space would have to be fully built out for every employee. Except...the vast majority of city hall staff worked from home for years with no issue during COVID. There is no reason to expect that wouldn't be the case for temporary relocations while repairs were being done.
One thing I haven't heard mentioned is that city hall is built on a fault line, and there used to be a tributary to the trinity running running under the building that was redirected. Except, it didnt really want to redirect hence the unusable L3 and water incursion. I wonder if you could even build an arena on this location....
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Horns273@reddit
what's the source for Chad West owning 7800 N Stemmons Fwy? Hadn't heard this before but interested.
bigyittiezz@reddit
Also interested in this! I live in Oak Cliff and absolutely abhor Chad West. Really wish these rich white guys would stop winning council seats in majority brown neighborhoods and then extracting as much value as they can before moving on.
Apprehensive-Taco406@reddit
Chad West is a cancer on Dallas.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
bigyittiezz@reddit
Chad West really is. I’ll never forget when this young woman was crying while giving a statement about the effects of having unstable housing was having on her and her family and he was sitting there playing on his phone.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
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BlueKnight8907@reddit
I bet we could demolish, rebuild, and modernize the same city hall building for 500 million, most likely less, than it costing a billion dollars to renovate the current city hall.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
1 billion is a LIE!!! The true cost is 153M !! It is totally corruption!
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
willnelson27@reddit
That’s BS. These council members run unopposed and unchecked because they are obviously ethical and above-board and we don’t need alternatives to their stewardship. If they say it’s $1B, that’s because they negotiated the price down. Carry on.
2-4-6-h8@reddit
Cui bono? Who benefits. It's always about money. A lot of pockets will be filled if Adelson gets what she wants and is able to buy that property. This local govt is bought out by real estate developers and big money movers.
Skydog69@reddit
I don’t disagree that it needs major repairs, but it’s a cool building and I think the arguments for demoing it are disingenuous. They say $1 billion to repair over 20 years right? But they don’t say how much the alternative would cost - construction of a new building that will certainly go up more than initial estimates, all the rent they’ll pay for temp offices until construction is complete, demo costs and any abatement for stuff like asbestos. Dallas is notorious for failing to preserve its history, I want to see them actually repair it and do a good job too. If the building gets a historic landmark designation once it turns 50 years old, it will be much more difficult for them to demo it. I think that’s why you see them rushing to push this through while disregarding public sentiment. And maybe if they had actually spent money on proper maintenance in the first place instead of neglecting it for so long, it wouldn’t have gotten in the state it’s in now. Also they could literally just put the repairs as part of the next bond election and get all the money they want for it, every single item got approved in the last bond election
Marauder3299@reddit
I got bored and looked it up. I think the original building cost about 70 million to build. Even with inflation the 1 billion is WAY too high. Our city manager instead opted to give the police 50% of ALL new budget items. She also is actively working with the current director of the library to close 4 more libraries. Should be fun. I recently got told by a friend that one of the garage doors at a city property is faulty and will cost $750,000 to repair. For a garage door.......I wonder how much if that goes back into a council persons pocket
CatteNappe@reddit
"Our city manager instead opted to give the police 50% of ALL new budget items." She had no choice. Thanks to Monte Bennett and Prop U
Who is Monte Bennett?
https://www.texasobserver.org/dallas-hero-initiative-monty-bennett-crowds-on-demand/
https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2024/10/monty-bennett-and-the-shadowy-dallas-hero-crew/
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
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gmatocha@reddit
Did you hear the estimates for repair and maintenance. First it was under 300m, then it jumped to 500m, now it's up to 1b. I don't believe it - someone got estimates that made the case they wanted to make - too expensive so sell out and build a new stadium for the Mavs owners.
bigyittiezz@reddit
Because we shouldn’t be giving a billionaires more control over Texas because what good has Jerry Jones ever done except run the cowboys franchise into the ground while holding the city of Arlington hostage so they can’t have any sort of public transportation because then Jerry Jones can’t charge people for parking.
Miriam Adelson wants to build a casino in Dallas so she can funnel the money she makes from there into funding death squads in Israel and Iran to commit genocide overseas. Why the fuck should the average Dallas tax payer have to fund this greedy sociopath?
DonkeeJote@reddit
The Cowboys franchise is most valuable in the world lmao.
bigyittiezz@reddit
We agree on that! But the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996 and under whose leadership has America’s team become a laughing stock?
DonkeeJote@reddit
Get some perspective. The Browns are a laughing stock. The Jets are a laughing stock.
The Cowboys are still one of the premier franchises even despitea lack postseason success. They have had numerous teams capable of winning it all over that span, with several 12/13 win seasons.
Predmid@reddit
They're just a rich and inflated ego laughing stock.
Every single other nfc franchise has made it to the conference championship game since the cowboys last made the conference championship game.
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
Dallas is coasting on past success, which is not unlimited. LA & NE are coming on strong, in terms of brand value, and playoff success.
bigyittiezz@reddit
Valid and fair point on the Browns lol I love the Cowboys, I just want better leadership and support for the team and players. We deserve better!
Electrical_Long_4222@reddit (OP)
The Adelson casino has unfortunately time and time again been shown to be popular among Dallasites. Our city is filled with right wing lunatics who don't see gambling as the societal blight that it is. It likely won't get through the state legislature, thankfully, but either way this is completely unrelated to city hall.
Also, I hate to break it to you, but billionaires have controlled this state's government since spindletop in the early 1900s. A city choosing not to spend a billion dollars on a building that's unable to function isn't changing that.
TeaKingMac@reddit
That number has quadrupled in the last year. They just keep making the number higher until people like you are like "yeah, i guess we should just give away the current building for a new basketball stadium" (the current one isn't even 25 years old BTW)
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
TeaKingMac@reddit
I am, unfortunately, not a Dallas resident anymore
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
That’s OK I think you can still sign the petition!
bigyittiezz@reddit
I mean yeah, fuck billionaires always. And yes they do control Texas but I’m all for sticking it to these psychos anyway we can.
And the casino issue is very much related to city hall! Adelson wants to buy that land for pennies on the dollar so she can build one of her gaudy casinos on that land. I hope beyond hope this doesn’t happen because this woman is genuinely insane and she should not be allowed to wield this much power over Dallas. This bitch made the Mavs get rid of Luka 😩
One more point, someone else mentioned this too but the billion dollar estimate is not correct at all and that’s because no one has done a proper analysis or estimate so then city council just threw out an eye watering number so they could say “see how much it costs, we can’t spend that money!”
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
kane_thehuman@reddit
You may be leftist but you also sound pretty defeatist as well. Most of your comments seem to equate to "well that may be true but corruption and right wingers are still rampant in our government so what the point in making a stand here"
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
afancysandwich@reddit
That is absolutely not true, what you're saying about the casinos. The right wing people do not want casinos here. Maybe the people in Park Cities, but everyone is saying that the casino would bring crime to the area. And they already are not doing well with the crime in Deep Ellum so.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
noncongruent@reddit
Nobody knows where they came up with the "billion dollars of maintenance" number, it's certainly inflated as part of making a case to demolish it. It's also pretty certain that whatever budget they come up with for building its replacement will get blown out by cost overruns that will probably push the total well over what it would actually cost to fix up the existing building. Look at Trump's ballroom estimates for a good example of how that works, originally claimed to be $200M to build and now it's up to $400M and still rising.
All of this completely ignores the fact that the existing I. M. Pei building is iconic and known around the world as a foundational piece of Dallas architecture, bookending the downtown Dallas core with the other I. M. Pei masterpiece, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on the north end of the core. The two buildings define Dallas, tearing down one of them would be like tearing down the East Wing of the Whitehouse, a devastating loss to our history that no generic overpriced box could ever replace.
coffee-n-cocktails@reddit
Could you be more dramatic?
When was the last time you walked into city hall? Ask yourself before you suggest its a bastion of what makes dallas whole.
The reality is that this isnt about billionaires or the emergence of dallas as a part of the modern us. Its about saving taxpayers of dallas the burden.
The politicians are there, until you vote them out. The billionaires, there and always have been. The corruption. Definitely there.
The change comes from its people. Not the saving of a building and certainly not one that's a decrepit shell because of poor fund management.
catricya@reddit
The cost to fix is it has been wildly inflated — by their own numbers it’s closer to $153M than $1B. But yeah, let’s sell the property we own to go rent something else all because the Adelsons want 50 fucking acres of real estate instead of 40.
catricya@reddit
They literally included the cost boilers that had been replaced a few years ago and the replacement cost of god knows what else that is fine. And then they added a crapton of “contingency fees” that are way higher than industry standard
If you look at the actual details, the cost is closer to $153M than anything else.
Not for nothing but the company who did the estimate has been busted for fraud for exactly this kind of inflation of costs. Maybe we should have someone else review the data like they would do in any other less grifty city.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
notquitegoldblum@reddit
100% to that last paragraph. Leave the hulking shell of an uncompleted waste of funds to sit there, hopefully bearing Eric Johnson's name. The absentee current mayor Eric Johnson.
And also a law to hold city officials and elected officials accountable for deferring maintenance of City assets.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
_Blitzer@reddit
The main thing - it is FAR more cost effective to keep the current space and fix it. The campaign to demolish / replace it is grounded on highly questionable numbers / estimates that seem to be designed to tip the scales through misinformation. Cara Mendelsohn (among others) has done some great information sharing.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/inside-politics/texas-politics/fluff-fallout-skeptics-dallas-city-hall-say-recent-revelations-validate-concerns/
https://www.facebook.com/Cara4Dallas/posts/uh-oh-heres-some-inconvenient-documentation-about-city-hallby-cara-mendelsohn-da/1391442699454951/
JoMA9@reddit
I wish people would stop using Cara Mendelsohn as a righteous voice in this. She has made her disdain for downtown known throughout her career and has praised the Mavs leaving downtown and taking over the old Valley View mall space which conveniently sits a rocks throw from her district. She also praised the AT&T move because the commute for her constituents “would be shorter” completely ignore the economic impact its move will have for the city, including her constituents. Mendelsohn doesn’t care about city hall and her “information” sharing is all cherry picked. Also, when you consider other city budget items like pension obligations and Prop U commitments staying in the current space and fixing it is NOT cost effective in the least.
TeaKingMac@reddit
That sounds like an EXCELLENT use of that space.
Dallas' population center is decidedly north of downtown. The Galleria already anchors one end of that area. Adding a sports arena at the other would completely revitalize the surrounding neighborhood (which, honestly, isn't great)
_Blitzer@reddit
I'll admit that I don't have enough insight on your commentary about her motives, but eager to learn more. Thanks for starting me on that journey.
However, I fail to see how "spend as little of the city's money as possible" changes when Prop U commitments and the pension obligations are considered. As far as I can tell, abandoning the building in favor of the proposed alternatives will be absurdly expensive. Nobody has provided an accurate / unbiased view of what "fix the building" would really look like.
Based on everything i've read, the 1B figure is absurd, and not grounded in like-for-like assumptions. At the end of the day, we need a functional city hall building, and I have yet to see anything that says "demolish the building and sell the land to a real estate developer" is the way we get there cheaply.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
migs_003@reddit
Looks cool.
geek180@reddit
Because Robocop
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
curiouswizard@reddit
This is the winner
Electrical_Long_4222@reddit (OP)
Honestly this is the only argument that makes sense to me.
Mazer_Rackem@reddit
My understanding is the analysis that put the price at $1B is rife with issues, and isn't a reasonable or fair estimate of the cost. There are lots of items included that shouldn't be, and it seems more aimed at supporting the decision of "we should move city hall" than finding an accurate estimate of the costs.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
catricya@reddit
If you read it closely, it’s actually $153M plus a bunch of above standard contingency fees. Also AECOM the company that did the estimate has previously inflated costs but including things that didn’t need to be replaced, for instance, they priced out the boilers as needing replacement when they were done a couple of years ago.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
YES!!!!
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
It takes 10 seconds to fill this out and it will email your representatives! Let’s flood them!! Let’s Save Dallas City Hall!! https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
I’ve replied to a lot of messages on here with a link to sign a petition to help save Dallas City Hall! If you go on Instagram and look up @savedallascityhall you will see where this link comes from. Please I beg of all who care to take 10 seconds to do this!! It’s so important to hold onto this building! So many lies coming out about the repairs and the costs! If I can get a few people from this thread to sign that petition well, then I guess I’ve done a little bit!! I have major hope that we can keep this building! I don’t know why Dallas is like this.. why Dallas does not preserve such important buildings like the Kalita Humphrey Theatre by Frank Lloyd Wright that is just rotting. It holds memories it holds importance. Demolishing this building, not only is like throwing away a masterpiece of art. It is also a threat to our security. This building was built to last 1000 years. it has the infrastructure for our 911 and 311 system if we were to outsource by moving out we would be in not a good place. our city would not be safe for a lot of reasons. I could go on and on and on, but please if you care please sign that petition. 🙏🫶🏼
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
What needs to happen is good development around the space to bring it back to life. It is a silent nod to JFK and Dallas moving forward after his assassination. It has been shown that the mechanical repairs are not inside the cement. There are designed rooms in the building where all that is located and can easily be repaired. The numbers and the amount of repairs needed to get it back to its brilliance are all lies from greedy losers who want quick cash in their pockets. What would really hurt the neighborhoods and people close by and all around Dallas would be demolishing this building. It would be an insane health risk. I have hope. if you sign the petition you would be doing good. And if we win you would know you were a part of what helped save this masterpiece, save taxpayer dollars, keep Dallas secure and healthy. 🫶🏼
hkral11@reddit
Sadly even if they were to build a new city hall, Dallas does no maintenance on existing buildings and they’ll let that one fall apart as well. What a waste of money.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
But a little information: we would be paying much less tax dollars to repair this building and keep it as Dallas city hall versus outsourcing and renting other buildings that could easily go up in rent as it would involve a third-party. This holds infrastructure for the safety of Dallas. It’s where 911 and 311 is located. The billion dollar cost is total lies. It does need maintenance, but it is nowhere near what they are saying.
JoMA9@reddit
The preservation argument leans almost entirely on architectural sentiment. But brutalist architecture doesn’t generate foot traffic, doesn’t produce tax revenue, increase community safety and doesn’t create the density the downtown core desperately needs. There are already other IM Pei buildings in Dallas that don’t create dead zones. Pei even alluded that city hall wasn’t his favorite work in the city.
The $1 billion in estimated cost is over 20 years and is mostly consists of financial costs(interest), how much it would cost to keep it operational and cost to relocate city staff for the renovation period. Point being whether the cost is a billion or a few hundred million, the building is bleeding maintenance costs the city can’t afford, on top of pension obligations and Prop U commitments already straining the budget. We can’t afford to stay in it and it would be financial malpractice to do so.
The Mavericks debacle was mishandled in my opinion and occurred at the wrong time. Discussion in the future of city hall can be traced all the way back as 2012 so the idea that it all came afoot recently is not genuine. That said, a Mavericks arena district, or any other development done right can mean year round activation, serve as a catalyst for developing that area of the CBD, hotels, HOUSING(most important trade off imo), restaurants, and a dramatically expanded downtown tax base. Look at what anchor venues do to adjacent real estate.
Also, Dallas losing the Mavs would be a huge economic hit to downtown and the city. It just doesn’t make sense to burn half the forest for one tree.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Pale-Succotash441@reddit
To put things into perspective, The Ballpark in Arlington was originally built in 1994. They have a new stadium. Texas Stadium was built in 1971. They have a new stadium. Dallas City Hall was built in 1978. Continue the trend.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
liquidnight247@reddit
The City seems to overpay for a lot of the contracts they make to include insane warranties and maintenance clauses. $500 laptops are suddenly purchased for $2000. Parking is overpaid instead is negotiated down. Employee benefits are not as beneficial as those compared to corporate employees because the City simply doesn’t negotiate better account conditions. So why wouldn’t you inflate the renovation costs to 1bn to fill some pockets and help your developer friends out?
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
medisamurai@reddit
do you really think those numbers are legit? or maybe they want to present a huge number so that people say, ' there aren't about a hundred better uses for that billion dollars', and city council members can take bribes from developers or the adelsons?
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
kane_thehuman@reddit
The billion dollar estimate (over 20 years, not 5) was put forth by Dallas Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The board of which is run by real estate, finance, and other executives who stand to gain by tearing down the building for private development. Proponents of the deal on city council and the city manager tried to rush an "urgent" move out of the building about a month ago before the public had time to catch on. The estimate included costs for basically getting brand new everything for the building as well as normal annual operational costs that shouldn't be counted as extra.
There is plenty of literature on the shitty ROI for the taxpayer on deals with sports teams and sporting events. We'd pay 100s of millions and lose a publicly owned asset (city hall and a free public gathering place) while the team collects on ticket sales, parking, and concessions, then will demand another new stadium when their lease is up in 25 years. Then we're right back where we started but now we sacrificed our city hall. Can't undo that.This has happened time and time again since the 70s and it's always a shit deal for the people of the city. It's corporate welfare. Socializing the risks and privatizing the reward. (Source: Field of Schemes by Joanna Cagan)
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
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TXRedFoot@reddit
Fun fact. The original IMP plans called for twin building, but the original construction ran over budget so it was scrapped.
This is a crisis by design. City Hall has been out of date, undersized and poorly maintained for 30 years. The City has spent Billions trying to revitalizing downtown and the convention center and nothing has worked. So now they are trying to give Billionaires a new stadium and real estate develop and hid as much as possible as part of public project.
The City can easily buy or lease an existing downtown office building. A new arena isn’t going to save downtown. This mayor, council, administration just don’t want to be the ones to lose the sports teams.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
DoubleBookingCo@reddit
Because it’s not even old for a municipal building. It was purpose built. A bunch of systems were upgraded there in the past few years to the tune of a shit ton of money.
There’s plenty of other lots available for an arena.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
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password_is_weed@reddit
$1B is a highly inflated and inaccurate number being used to scare voters into moving out of it.
The proposed solution after exiting is to use our tax dollars to pay rent to a private entity in an existing building instead of maintaining a city owned asset on city property.
Moving into an existing building removes the civic center of our city and removes what should be a strong public gathering space and environment that’s further developed around.
Why should our tax dollars go to further enriching the billionaire class?
Would much rather see the building stay and receive interior modernizations while renovating the exterior public space to be more Texas weather friendly and made a true city park.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
bluenautilus2@reddit
It’s ugly but its ours and we love it
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
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aaronisalazyfuck@reddit
Fight the characterization that Dallas will always choose to bulldoze and build over rather than work to preserve its history and character?
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
TheGreatMortimer@reddit
The billion dollars is fake. They had a contractor come do a bid a year ago and it was 20 million dollars. The billion is thrown out there to get you to agree with them. The city owns that land and building. Moving city hall the taxpayers would probably become renters into perpetuity.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
gforguapo@reddit
It was in RoboCop, that should be enough
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Upstairs_Balance_464@reddit
Others have mentioned the absurdity of that sham billion dollar number and made some other good arguments, but for me it’s that this city has a long and shameful history of bulldozing its history. Whatever you think of City Hall’s aesthetics, here we are once again preparing to tear down a part of our history. We have to draw the line somewhere. It has to stop.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
DonkeeJote@reddit
First off, stop believing that headline $1B number. There is so much fluff in that amount that never needs to be seriously considered as the cost.
I love the building and wish we could keep it, but I also think that Downtown needs much more development and that parcel is ripe for it.
The Adelson/Mavs angle make it all so very fucking gross to me. If the process were more transparent, fine. But this feels like classic misgovernance.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
seamus_mcfly86@reddit
Because instead of getting serious estimates for repair and renovation instead the city manager just held her pinky up to her mouth like Dr. Evil and pulled 1 Biiiilllllionnnn Dollars out of her ass.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
tacmed85@reddit
By all legitimate accounts the billion dollar estimate is completely fabricated. I think before any decisions are made we need a completely neutral and transparent third party to give a legitimate estimate of what it'd actually cost.
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
Prestigious-Pin-3204@reddit
https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now?r=rxmccVOT
3-DMan@reddit
Here's my idea: full OCP building dress up outside, including ED-209 you can take pics with for free. Inside, optional charged area replicating the board room with another ED-209 you can get pics with blasting you on the model. Robocop mockup you can get pics blasting you out the window. Shut everything else inside down!
pastimedesign-05@reddit
Not just pictures, VR or Meta goggles; immersive experience of the whole scene!
3-DMan@reddit
Get shot in the crotch by Robocop!
catricya@reddit
Please send a message to council https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com
Guitarscreamer55@reddit
We shouldn’t. People feel some weird sentimental pull to a building they never visit and don’t care about besides the headlines.
4ofheartz@reddit
Agree. Sports is all Dallas is left with as a brand. JFK, the show Dallas & shopping - once a brand. Fair Park, Valley View & the decades of a big future for Trinity. A big bunch of nothing!
Just go with sports & build an arena!
IAmSixNine@reddit
Robocop says he wants to stay. Kick out OCP
curiouswizard@reddit
we should just move it brick by brick to another location like what they did with the London Bridge
JustMeInBigD@reddit
Or more locally and recently, Green Door Public House.
4ofheartz@reddit
Nothing iconic about this 1978 building. The symphony hall, yes! The Louvre, iconic.
Built to rebrand Dallas from JFK assassination. Now it sits like a lump of cement, attracting nothing of interest nearby. While city workers office under that pool of water. Unused train station sits collecting dust in its bowels.
CrimsonAllah@reddit
We shouldn’t.