SAVE CITY HALL COALITION LAUNCHES PETITION DRIVE TO LET DALLAS VOTERS DECIDE FUTURE OF CITY HALL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Proposed charter amendment would require Dallas city government

to remain at current I.M. Pei-designed City Hall

September survey shows overwhelming opposition to replacing current City Hall

DALLAS – Sept. 24, 2026 – Save Dallas City Hall, a far-reaching and diverse coalition of Dallas residents, neighborhood and business leaders, preservation advocates, architects and current and former elected officials, announced Thursday that it is launching a citizen petition drive seeking to place a proposed Dallas City Charter amendment on the May 2027 ballot that would require city government to remain at the current Dallas City Hall.

The coalition plans to file its Notice of Intent to Circulate Petition letter with the City Secretary on Friday, Oct. 2 and begin gathering petition signatures immediately to qualify the proposed amendment for the May 2027 ballot. 

Signing and presenting the letter will be: 

• Texas state Rep. John Bryant

• Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia

• Former Dallas City Councilwoman Veletta Forsythe-Lill

• Former Dallas City Councilman Erik Wilson

• Steve Atkinson, former president of the Dallas Gay & Lesbian Alliance

The petition effort comes as Dallas officials consider the future of the current City Hall property. Coalition leaders said voters should have the final say over whether city government leaves the landmark I.M. Pei-designed building that has served as the center of Dallas government since 1978. The amendment would change the Dallas City Charter to reflect that the building would remain the seat of city government unless, and until, the voters decided otherwise.

“Dallas City Hall is an internationally recognized work of architecture and an important part of our city’s history,” said Dallas City Councilman Paul Ridley, one of four city councilmembers leading the Save City Hall Coalition. “Once a landmark like this is demolished or abandoned, we can never get it back. Dallas should protect this important piece of our architectural and civic heritage for future generations.”

“This is equally about transparency and priorities,” Councilwoman Paula Blackmon said. “While it seems the city manager and a majority of my colleagues are determined to abandon the building, there is no plan for replacing it and no price tag for demolishing it. Our residents are constantly reminded that there is no money for libraries, arts programs, streets, potholes and many other basic city services. The destruction of this building would be just another expensive mistake we can’t afford to make.”

SURVEY SHOWS STRONG SUPPORT FOR KEEPING CITY HALL

The coalition’s petition effort follows a Sept. 4 survey conducted by AMM Political Strategies that found 84% of survey respondents favored retaining City Hall. The survey included 1,381 Dallas registered voters who participated in recent municipal elections and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 percentage points. 

A QUESTION OF CITY PRIORITIES

Coalition members said the debate over City Hall should not be viewed simply as an architectural preservation issue. It is also a debate over how Dallas spends limited taxpayer dollars and which needs should come first.

Dallas has faced significant financial pressures. This summer, the city furloughed thousands of civilian employees while officials worked to address a budget shortfall.

At the same time, Dallas has been engaged in a public debate over police staffing and compensation. Police associations have argued that compensation proposals have not gone far enough, making it hard to recruit and train enough officers to protect Dallas families.

Dallas residents also continue to hear from city officials about the cost of repairing deteriorating streets, filling potholes and  maintaining basic services, and the limited resources to meet those needs.

Yet against that backdrop, City Hall is considering options that could commit taxpayers to hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate, demolish, replace or relocate Dallas City Hall.

The coalition argues that the city’s first responsibility should be adequately funding the services Dallas residents rely on every day, like police and fire protection, 911 response, streets and pothole repair, parks, libraries, and other basic municipal services.

“Before Dallas spends hundreds of millions of dollars giving City Hall a new address, let’s adequately fund public safety salaries, fix the potholes, repair our streets and take care of the basic services taxpayers already pay for,” said Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn. “The existing City Hall can be refreshed and repaired and continue doing the job it was built to do. The councilmembers who are backing this petition effort are tired of city hall’s poor fiscal decisions, and we are determined to let our constituents have their voice heard on this decision.”

CITY HALL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CAN COEXIST

Supporters also reject the premise that Dallas must choose between preserving City Hall and pursuing major economic-development opportunities around the convention center district.

A series of architecture and planning concepts developed over the past 10 months by 15 past presidents of the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) clearly showed  that retaining and revitalizing the existing City Hall would be a catalyst, not an impediment, to a robust Central Business District that could easily accommodate a new convention center, a potential sports arena and significant additional development in the surrounding area.

“There is plenty of opportunity around City Hall to create transformative development without demolishing one of Dallas’ most recognizable buildings,” said architect Tipton Housewright, Principal Emeritus of Omniplan and former President of the Dallas Chapter of the AIA. “Dallas can preserve its grand civic center while creating new entertainment, convention, residential and economic-development projects around it. We can do both, and the 47 acres of vacant and underutilized land around city hall can more than accommodate it.”

A DALLAS LANDMARK

Dallas City Hall was designed by internationally renowned architect I.M. Pei and Partners. Construction began in the 1970s, and the building was dedicated in 1978.

The coalition believes the building’s architectural significance is an important reason to preserve it but said the proposed charter amendment is ultimately about something even more fundamental: who gets to decide.

“This building belongs to the people of Dallas,” said Bruce Richardson, President  of the Save City Hall Coalition. “Before anyone makes a decision that could permanently change the heart of our civic center and commit taxpayers to hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, Dallas voters deserve the opportunity to make their voices heard.”

PETITION DRIVE BEGINS IMMEDIATELY

Beginning Friday, Oct. 2, the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition will immediately begin organizing volunteers and gathering signatures from Dallas voters to qualify the proposed charter amendment for the May 2027 ballot.

The proposed amendment would require the City of Dallas to maintain its principal municipal government operations at the existing Dallas City Hall. Additional information regarding petition locations, volunteer opportunities and community events will be announced in the coming days.

BROAD COALITION OF DALLAS LEADERS AND DONORS

The Save Dallas City Hall effort is supported by a growing coalition of residents, neighborhood and civic leaders, preservation advocates, architects and community stakeholders from across the city. 

The Save City Hall Coalition’s Advisory Board members include: Bruce Richardson, President; Zaida Basora, Vice-President/Treasurer; Hon. Paula Blackmon; Hon. Paul Ridley; Hon. Adam Bazaldua; Hon. Cara Mendelsohn; Hon. Laura Miller; Hon. Veletta Forsythe-Lill; and Hon. Scott Griggs.

Current donors for the Save City Hall petition effort include:

• Ben Abbott

• Mary McDermott Cook

• Emily Corrigan, Laura Cole and Erik Charlton (grandchildren of former Mayor J. Erik Jonsson)

• Trammell Crow Jr.

• Daniel Crow

• Robert and Maureen Decherd

• Erle Nye

• Howard and Fanchon Hallam

• Howard and Cindy Rachofsky

• Linda Marcus (wife of the late Stanley Marcus)

• Laura and Dan Boeckman

• John Dayton

• Glenn Thurman

• Hon. Elba Garcia and Domingo Garcia

• Hon. Paul Ridley

• Hon. Paula Blackmon

• Laura Miller

• Rob Richmond

• John Tatum

• Windle Turley

• Herb and Donna Weitzman

• Ambassador Marc and Wendy Stanley

• Steve Atkinson and Ted Kincaid

• Sam Coats

• Veletta Forsythe-Lill

• Craig Melde

Additional coalition supporters and donors will be announced as the petition effort moves forward.

“Dallas does not have to choose between preserving its history and building its future,” said former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, a member of the Save City Hall Coalition. “The donors supporting this petition effort are longtime business, arts, legal, environmental and political leaders of this city whose participation sends a strong message to the current leadership at city hall that we are proceeding much too quickly, without a development plan to replace the building, and without benefit of transparent public debate, on what would amount to an irreversible decision that would needlessly discard an important piece of our city’s history, legacy architecture, and civic pride.”

ABOUT THE SURVEY

AMM Political Strategies conducted a text-to-web survey on Sept. 4, 2026, with 1,381 completed interviews. Respondents were sourced from county voter files and targeted City of Dallas voters from the 2021, 2023 or 2025 municipal elections. Under the survey’s primary voter-file weighting, the reported margin of error was plus or minus 3.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level for the full sample; subgroup margins are wider.

ABOUT SAVE DALLAS CITY HALL

Save Dallas City Hall is a coalition of residents, neighborhood and business leaders, preservation advocates, architects, current and former elected officials, and community stakeholders organized around the future of Dallas City Hall. The coalition supports preserving the existing I.M. Pei-designed City Hall and is sponsoring a citizen petition seeking to place a proposed charter amendment before Dallas voters in May 2027.