Two days after the Dallas City Council in a split vote shot down a deal to turn over Reverchon Park to a for-profit sports entity, East Dallas District 14 City Council member David Blewett, who had voted against the giveaway, filed paperwork with the city secretary for a revote on the deal. Blewett didn't say in his memo he intended to change his vote, but it's hard to imagine why a guy on the winning side would want a do-over unless he changed his mind.
The request for reconsideration is allowed under the city's charter. Thing is, Blewett forgot to tell anybody about it publicly at the time. A rumor arose at the time that he might cave to pressure to change his vote, but he responded as you see below, with a Facebook post — same day he filed his memo — bragging about having taken a principled stand on a tough issue.
Blewett was in a meeting when I called him about this midday Friday. He called me back later and said he had signed the memo calling for a revote in order to be in a position to negotiate changes in the deal. When I asked him why he didn't state publicly earlier that he was seeking a revote, he said he wasn't comfortable trying to use the media to create a narrative — something he said his predecessor, Philip Kingston, had done. I will give his response in greater detail with quotes Monday.
Another strange thing is that his memo calls for the revote at the Jan. 8 council meeting. But as of this morning, there is no mention of it in the city secretary's draft agenda for that meeting. Blewett's silence on his memo and the city secretary's very accommodating omission have the effect of sneaking up on the opposition, depriving them of time to prepare for Wednesday's vote.
Blewett told me he had no idea whether the revote was on the draft agenda for the Wednesday meeting. It's not.
Civility at work, folks. Don't turn your back on it. More on this Monday.
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