‘World changed overnight’: Dallas wants more local control after Texas flips – Dallas News

‘World changed overnight’: Dallas wants more local control after Texas flips  Dallas News

Dallas officials are seeing an opportunity to push for more local control just a day after voters handed Democrats control of all major statewide offices and the Texas House. “This is not a time to be conservative,” council member Bill Roth said Wednesday. “This is a time to be aggressive in trying to promote the agenda that we, as a city, want to have.” The Texas Legislature will begin its next session in January with dramatically altered stakes. Council members are “recalibrating.” They met Wednesday to discuss their legislative agenda in yet another swift meeting that ended before noon. “The world changed overnight,” said council member Paul Ridley, who called for more focus on affordable housing and cultural preservation.

For the past year, city officials have been deciding what they want to pursue in Austin. Their first legislative draft included efforts to get more funding for parks, law enforcement and increasing penalties for using a firearm in a public space. Legislative director Clifford Sparks said city leadership needs to change its legislative approach because the original plan was crafted “when we had a different mindset.” Calls need to be made, people engaged. “We need to figure out what it is that the new regime wants to do,” Sparks said. Council member Adam Bazaldua said the shift means Dallas has an