Both the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD are launching a summertime series of community forums where you can beat the heat in air-conditioned auditoriums and be entertained by PowerPoint presentations.

In all seriousness, both the city and the school district are asking for input on two things that residents deeply care about (or at least incessantly complain about):

  • whether and how to build a road within the Trinity River levees, a topic that at least 63 percent of Dallasites have an opinion about, according to the DMN; and
  • whether and how to reshape Dallas’ schools to better educate our students, and how much money we’re willing to spend to make it happen.

To both ends, meetings will begin next Tuesday, right after the holiday weekend. The city wants residents to review the Trinity Parkway Design Charrette Report (fancy urban planning terminology that refers to a re-imagined design for the road, endorsed by former toll road opponent Angela Hunt, among others), and the school district wants feedback on its Destination 2020 draft plan as it gears up for a potential $1.5 billion package to overhaul schools and programming, which voters likely would consider this coming November.

Residents have 13 chances to hear about plans for the Trinity envisioned by the mayor’s “dream team.” Two held in or near our neighborhood are:

  • Tuesday, June 9, 6-8 p.m., Wilshire Bank Community Center, 2237 Royal Lane
  • Tuesday, June 16, 6-8 p.m., Walnut Hill Recreation Center ballroom, 10011 Midway

The Dallas ISD road show has 12 stops, including:

Residents also can review the 62-page plan and the work of the district’s future facilities task force on the Dallas ISD website and give feedback online.