Majority support keeping city hall in downtown Dallas

ZenCity survey data polled 2,130 Dallas residents from April 9 to May 5

There is a mandate to keep Dallas City Hall downtown, but newly released survey data is split among respondents who want city hall to stay put, and those preferring the city government find a new downtown home.

It’s among the findings in survey data released by the city, from a series of ten questions posted to 2,130 respondents living across all 14 city council districts.

A majority, 59% of respondents, said they had visited Dallas City Hall twice, once or never, according to ZenCity data.

“This is a place that people see, but they may not interact with,” council member Gay Donnell Willis said Monday.

For those who do visit city hall, 44% cited parking, both in terms of cost and availability, as encountered obstacles, with another 32% citing long wait times.

On the question if city hall were to move, 61% want city hall to remain in downtown – with the highest response, 32%, favoring near its current location.

It comes as Dallas City Council is expected to get an update this week on what a city hall repair, taken in phases, might look like.

The city is also reviewing 418 submissions for city hall concepts that found a majority supporting keeping and rehabbing the I.M. Pei designed building, as opposed to tearing it down and starting over.

The Dallas City Council is expected to vote on whether to move city services out of 1500 Marilla Street in June.

“I think all of this will factor into the equation,” Willis said.