Source: Mark Steger.
Mayor Amir Omar and Councilmember Dan Barrios held a town hall meeting at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. About 100 persons attended. I grade the exercise an "A" for turnout, participation, and openness of the mayor and council member in their answers to questions raised by the audience. The two hour time allotted to this seemed right to me, but there wasn't enough time to get to all the questions.
Mayor Omar started off by citing the city's recent achievements — a sixth transparency star from the state, the completion of council's goal-setting retreat, and the kickoff of the Corporate Challenge. Major business developments were mentioned, such as AT&T's consolidation of operations in Richardson, Collins Aerospace's expansion of manufacturing and research operations in Richardson, and Qorvo's expansion of manufacturing operations in Richardson.
Regarding the council's goal-setting meeting, Mayor Omar said, "The one thing that I'm really proud of with this particular goal setting, and I know there were council members that wanted to see it happening even as early as two years ago, but this time, for the first time since the last time that I was on council, is we had a goal setting meeting where it was recorded." [Editorial comment: Thanks, mayor. Campaign promise kept.]
Councilmember Barrios said, "When I joined two years ago someone said, 'Well, why didn't you all record it?' To be honest, I hadn't thought of that...Honestly, I don't remember it even being a topic of conversation."
I probably should, but can't, let this pass. To me, this was like one of those times where someone says, "Show me that you don't read The Wheel without saying that you don't read The Wheel." After all, I wrote these posts way back in 2013 ("The Whole World is Watching. Not Any More." and "Inaction Items"). And these four posts in 2021, two years after Barrios had first run for City Council ("Secret Richardson City Council Meeting", "Dispatch from the Chamber of Secrets", "Transparent, Open, and Accountable Government", and "Richardson City Council Goals 2021-2023"), and this in 2023, when Barrios was elected ("Council Recap: Goals"). But I admit that I didn't contact candidate Barrios in 2021 or 2023 or Councilmember Barrios in 2023 or 2025 and advise him to read The Wheel. But it's never too late for that advice. I recommend everyone open a web browser and go to marksteger.com. In the right column, look for "Subscribe by Email". Click on Feedrabbit and supply your email address. You'll get every new posting direct to your email inbox. That's me reaching out to you, without imposing on you any responsibility to answer.
Question 1: "I have noted that a third of the vehicles parked on the streets have expired registrations, and one of the issues, other than the revenue loss, I guess, is I'm pretty confident most of those vehicles do not have insurance."
This is a feeling of mine, without any evidence, but "I'm pretty confident" that what really gets this person's goat is not an expired registration sticker. It probably isn't even that some drivers don't have insurance. It's probably something else about those drivers. Something that another questioner later made explicit. We'll come back to it then.
Councilmember Barrios talked about how the City is looking at ways technology can help, from automated license plate readers to backing up body cams with AI, automating much of the writing of police reports. Mayor Omar made a pitch for the "My Richardson" app. He said we want "as many eyeballs around Richardson helping us find and know about these kinds of issues as possible."
Question 2: "Every city now has a food truck ordinance — food truck health inspections, where they can operate. But what is different about Richardson is that we don't have food trailers. So I hope we can move to get that changed."
Mayor Omar said, "I'm taking a note on that. I do think it brings up two issues. Number one is, again, we'd love your eyes and ears. If there are things we are doing that are causing us to have less opportunities for businesses to be able to interact with Richardson, please do let us know...Secondly, in our downtown area, former councils made a very large investment in a linear park. One of the things that's a part of that linear park is plug ins for food trucks. I know there's plenty of support on the council to make sure that we're doing everything we can to activate that linear park as quickly as possible."
Question 3: "We want to talk about the racers that drive all the way around in Richardson."
Councilmember Barrios explained the difficulty of policing on streets such as Jupiter Rd, Spring Valley Rd, and Coit Rd. They border other cities, and that creates jurisdictional difficulties in enforcing the law. Mayor Omar said, "It's something we hear enough from enough different people from enough different parts of our city...that at some point we have got to get to a solution, or at least to some sort of action plan. But I'll take it."
Question 4: "With the passage and signing of the recent bill in Washington, some responsibilities of the federal government are expected to shift to state and local governments. Given that, generally, how would you describe the pivot in thinking, assuming that there is one, has that meant for policy makers?"
Councilmember Barrios replied, "As far as pivot from national to local, I don't see that, especially in Texas. We see there being a lot of stuff that our state legislature is actually taking away local power...I'm seeing us having less and less power over local municipalities, whether it's in funding, whether it's in what we can control, what we can limit."
Mayor Omar added, "On the goal setting, we did actually include a tactic that has us really looking at legislation and how it impacts the city so that we can begin to have action plans around that...On the legislative side, the city is not allowed to see growth greater than three and a half percent in its budget...The [legislature] is looking to make it two and a half percent...So the legislature has done something that they look at as being kind of pro taxpayer, but at the end of the day, the taxpayers are the ones who are going to have less cops that can go after the people speeding in your neighborhood or picking up all these folks that are not registered."
Question 5: "I live in the Heights Park neighborhood. When are we going to get high end shopping or high end restaurants?"
Councilmember Barrios said, "From my standpoint, one, we would love to have this. If any of y'all want to invest in that kind of retail, please let us know. We will put you in contact with the broker...With that said, we recently, as a city, provided some economic incentives to elevate that shopping site...But you don't want to create gentrification, because what ends up happening is my neighbor, who needs a small business, gets shut down [because the rent gets raised.]...Why are there so many chicken places at Plano Road and Beltline? Because the market calls for it."
I would argue that every recent zoning decision by the council at Plano Rd and Beltline (e.g., carving up Richardson Square into small pad sites, approving one after another drive-thru restaurant) makes it more likely that the next business will be less elevated. It becomes a race to the bottom, all justified by so-called market forces.
Mayor Omar said, "I personally think that we can do considerably better than what we have in a lot of places. That's not to diminish the small business owner, or the local business owner...One of the things specific to this particular issue that I have learned is, if you're putting yourself out there over and over and over again, you can all of a sudden start seeing indications of future results that are very promising...I've now had meetings with multiple business owners that had interest in doing things downtown...What I will tell you is I've already had somewhere around three to four very hot prospects in different parts of downtown. I feel very confident that with Council's approval, that we should be able to start seeing progress downtown, and I think a lot of that is going to come on the heels of all of us kind of pulling in the same direction. Now I'm going to address a little small something that kind of came out of the campaign, but hopefully a clarifying moment. There's the feeling by some, my predecessor was one of them, this isn't to speak of him in any kind of ill way, because he's not the only one who said, 'That's not your job. Your job is to show up and shake hands and do the things that you're supposed to do as mayor, but your job is not to go and recruit companies to come here.' I'm sorry I see my job differently."
That was the first comment that received spontaneous applause from the audience.
Question 6: "I was struck by the first question that was asked about the unregistered vehicles, and then the assumption was that they didn't have insurance...There's a lot of problematic things that are happening...There's a poverty issue here, and I wouldn't want this to become a police city, and then people suffer more, paying fines, paying this, paying that...I don't know if we have solutions in the cities to connect resources."
Councilmember Barrios mentioned private sources of help — Network of Community Ministries, or some of the larger houses of faith. "There are a lot of different organizations in the city that the city can connect people with...I think it's about leading with compassion...Anybody knows me knows I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I am very compassionate...We do have those aids, I know I've had the opportunity the last 10 years to connect people with those organizations that can help."
Mayor Omar said, "August 28 is going to be the next presentation of Richardson Real Heroes...It'll be at the Eisemann Center, and it's a spectacular show. You get to watch and learn about really, truly heroes that are amongst us that are making a big difference in our community. It's a program that has only gotten better every single year."
Question 7: "This is my first town hall ever, as a person about 28 years old, and I just wanted to ask the city council, what are the plans, if any, to start involving the younger generation?"
Mayor Omar said, "It's been three months, but I feel like that's almost no excuse. I should have already been working on it. It's near and dear to my heart...I believe we should be considerably more connected to our ISDs than we have been before...We had a program at the city that was a summer internship program...To know that we don't have that today is a frustrating thing for me, and something that I hope to see change...The last thing as it relates to getting students involved, there are a number of cities that do things like Teen Courts, where if a student gets into their very first traffic violation, maybe there's opportunities, not only for that student to not have that count against their record, they'll do community service. You also have a bunch of students that get to play the part of defense attorney and prosecuting attorney. So you have all sorts of lessons being learned all at the same time."
Councilmember Barrios said, "We have programs like CARES. We have a lot of great programs to get more involved with the city. We absolutely are always looking for people on boards and commissions...Make sure you get your councilman here and say, hey, I'm interested in this. I'm interested in that."
Question 8: "I know it's not local, but I have to say it with increasing alarm. I have read and watched credible news of our neighbors being dragged away by masked officers of the state, being treated [indecipherable] in prison, separated from their families and even deported, some even to places other people have been fleeing from. As a Christian with an explicit command from Christ to love my neighbor as myself, I cannot stay silent. As a proud American, I can't look the other way when others' rights are stripped away and they're denied due process. Although we have never perfectly lived up to our freedom of liberty and justice for all that I want to believe that we aspire to, what can and must we do as individual citizens, communities of faith and as a city to protect the vulnerable in our midst."
This was the second comment that elicited widespread applause from the audience.
The responses by Councilmember Barrios, and to a lesser extent, Mayor Omar, were puzzling to me. Barrios talked a lot about Gaza and the political differences between Israel and Palestine. If I heard correctly, the question was about deportations in the US. Barrios did say, "Nothing I'm saying is going to change what happens. Now, we as a city are not cooperating...Anything happening with ICE, if it's federal law, there's nothing I can do to stop what the federal government is doing." Mayor Omar said, "What Councilman Barrios, especially there at the end, as far as city policy is concerned, said, is very much accurate. The city has decided that we and our police would not necessarily be enacting efforts that are federal efforts. And I do think that people that live in Richardson should feel safe in their day-to-day existence."
These answers helped reassure me somewhat, but far from completely. As long as anyone in America, to say nothing of some actual US citizens, is being detained without due process by anyone, but especially by masked, unidentified persons, and imprisoned and deported to foreign prisons, I for one will not feel safe. I am encouraged to hear both Barrios and Omar say the City of Richardson is "not cooperating" (Barrios's words) and "not enacting efforts that are federal efforts" (Omar's words), but I would have to hear a lot more concrete positions to feel comfortable. What has ICE asked of the city? How has the City decided it will respond to particular requests? What instructions has the Chief of Police given to individual police officers in case of incidents involving ICE in Richardson, or involving persons acting without identifying themselves?
Question 9: A person reported that the audio system at a crosswalk at Arapaho Rd was not working. Then they asked the City to adopt SolarAPP+ (Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus), a free, web-based permitting platform developed to streamline residential solar installations. The platform is free for local governments to adopt; it integrates with their existing permitting systems and has no licensing fees for them.
Councilmember Barrios said, "When you notice something like that (the broken speaker at a crosswalk), please let us know."
Mayor Omar didn't address either point directly, but said the city has an Active Transportation Plan that includes a lot of investment for making areas more walkable. He also said the goal-setting meeting included the potential of bringing back an environmental committee, which I inferred he meant could look into SolarAPP+.
Question 10: "How do you balance tax abatements and incentives with tax revenue needs and keep companies from taking the money and leaving in two years, like a contractual payback. Do you have a way of tracking the success of these strategies and pivoting if necessary?"
Mayor Omar said, "In my day job, where I actually get paid, one of the things that we do regularly is something called an after-action report, or what some people will also call a post mortem. After you've done something, what was the actual impact of that something? And so one of the suggestions that I've made, and I believe will be one of our tactics for this next two years, is actually retrospectively looking at both commercial and residential incentives that we've given to determine what the final payback was."
Councilmember Barrios added, "I'm a big fan of after-action reports. If you don't look back, how do you learn from it? So absolutely, it's something I would look forward to talking more about."
Question 11: "So as a small business owner, one of the issues that we have run across recently has been the homelessness and the panhandling...And then the other thing that I hear a lot of is, and it's, I'm sure it's the elephant in the room, but it's got to be brought up — the EPIC centers that are coming into North Texas. And I don't know if y'all can speak on, you know that, and EPIC centers, the big Muslim communities. EPIC stands for something, I'm sure you know."
Councilmember Barrios said, "Prior to joining Council, I volunteered on and off for two populations, one, prisons, two, homeless. There are two topics that are very, very close to my heart...When I first joined the Council, there's something called the Homeless Count...I signed up, and I was approached by staff, who said, councilman, you cannot go to that because we will have to send the police out to protect you as you count the homeless. I said, that is ridiculous. I don't need protection. I'm okay. I know how to talk to people. I say, just knock on passing doors to get elected, and I'm okay. I was told, No, you cannot be a part of that count...I don't know the answer...As a man with a heart, as man of faith, I feel like I have a bigger call in that as well, a bigger mission outside the council where that balance is between the compassion and the police and the safety, I do not know, but I know it's something that we need to continue to seek answers towards, continue to work to deal with that problem...If we start arresting people for being homeless, some cities do. I don't think that will ever be my approach. And if I just lost your vote, I'm sorry."
Kudos to Barrios for speaking from the heart. But we need more from him than wringing of hands. Homelessness is a tough problem. But it's incumbent on him to take initiative in advocating for potential solutions. A start would be pushing back on whoever told him he couldn't participate in the Homeless Count. Indeed, that was ridiculous and shouldn't be allowed to stand.
Barrios didn't shy away from the so-called "elephant in the room." He said, "EPIC actually stands for East Plano Islamic Center. That is a mosque, which is just like this is a former church. That mosque is a house of worship for the Islamic people of Islamic faith. It's in Plano, Texas, not Richardson. There's a lot of partisan talk around what some people call EPIC centers...We are a diverse community that brings together people of all shades, colors, religions, political viewpoints. My role on council is to make everybody feel welcome. I work every day to treat people with love and compassion, and show them the love and compassion I feel that I have received from my God."
That was another comment that received a spontaneous outburst of applause.
Mayor Omar added this about the issue of homelessness: "With FIFA coming [i.e., the 2026 World Cup], Dallas has decided to make a pretty aggressive move to push people outside of Dallas that fit in the category of the unhoused. And so what they did during the Super Bowl, so what influx we're seeing now, and what growth there is, is real. It is potentially going to increase substantially from where it is today. Those are real things, as far as I'm concerned. There is some discussion going on on council as a part of goal setting and everything else, to really look at what our policy, what our approach, should be. There's nothing that the Council Member has said that I disagree with, but it should be a holistic approach to what it is that we're going to do. But the fact of the matter is that there are people in our city who feel less safe because of where people are congregating and where some encampments are happening. And it is conversations that I've had, personal conversations with both city staff as well as our police chief. I would say on that issue, it's an important one. We'll be talking quite a bit more about it. If it's something that's near, near your heart, please, please, please send a message to the other council members. Not everyone hears the same things I hear. Not everyone hears the same thing council member Barrios hears. So we'd love to have your voices be a part of this."
And on that concerning note, the two hours set aside for this first town hall meeting of Mayor Amir Omar's term was in the books. He plans to repeat this quarterly, in different quadrants of the city, with different council members joining him, limiting the number to keep in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Again, I thought it was an excellent outreach by Mayor Omar and Council member Barrios. I recommend everyone attend future ones, if possible.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
"Omar, Barrios —
in questions both soft and sharp,
earned our trust today."
— h/t ChatGPT
Everyday, I am pleased that Amir won.
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