Council Recap: A Lone Vote for Good Urban Design

Source: h/t DALL-E.

April 28, 2025, was the night that the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Bob Dubey, officially abandoned our century-old downtown compact street grid in favor of a 580-ft superblock on which to build a 279-unit apartment building on property controlled by Manasseh Durkin, who just so happens to be a repeat donor to Mayor Dubey's election campaign. Also the same Manasseh Durkin whose limited partnership is being sued by the City of Richardson for breach of contract on another downtown project. These guys are getting brazen.

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Here was the agenda item:

B. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE:

1. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE ABANDONING THE PORTION OF McKINNEY STREET AND PUBLIC ALLEYS WITHIN BLOCKS 3 AND 24, ORIGINAL TOWN ADDITION; RESERVING ALL EXISTING EASEMENT RIGHTS OF OTHERS, IF ANY, WHETHER APPARENT OR NON-APPARENT, AERIAL, SURFACE, UNDERGROUND OR OTHERWISE; PROVIDING FOR THE FURNISHING OF A CERTIFIED COPY OF THIS ORDINANCE FOR RECORDING IN THE OFFICIAL PUBLIC RECORDS OF DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS A QUITCLAIM DEED

Source: City of Richardson.

There was one tiny patch of blue in the Council chamber. That is that the vote wasn't unanimous. It was 6-1 with Dan Barrios voting No.

I opposed this plan from the beginning. When it received initial approval on February 10, 2025, both Arefin and Barrios voted No. This time, when final approval was decided, Arefin flip-flopped and voted Yes, to join Mayor Dubey and four other Councilmembers who have steadfastly sided with the developer's interests.

What made Barrios's lone No vote more notable was that this item was placed on the consent agenda, which is for routine, uncontroversial items. There, it gets no deliberation, and is passed unanimously as part of one omnibus bill. This week, someone requested that abandonment of McKinney Street be taken out of the omnibus consent agenda and voted on separately. Presumably that was Dan Barrios. He sometimes shows a flash of independence, but only sometimes, and only a flash. But it's more than his fellow Councilmembers, who are more and more a disappointment.

Despite Barrios's brave vote, oddly and frustratingly, he didn't speak to the matter. If you're going to vote your conscience, at least tell us why. Speeches delivered in the face of likely defeat underscore the power of oratory in shaping public discourse and highlighting contentious issues. As it is, this vote was over in seconds after the motion was made. No speech explaining pulling this out for a separate vote. No discussion at all. Just 6-1 in favor of killing the downtown street grid. It's a huge favor to Manasseh Durkin, a donor to Mayor Dubey's re-election campaign. It's a vote for cronyism over good urban design. It deserves to be called out for that. Or for whatever else inspired Barrios.

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"Downtown's street erased,
Developer pockets win.
Citizens lose road."
—h/t ChatGPT