Austin Wood.
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Decades after a predominantly Black neighborhood was paved over to create parking for the State Fair of Texas, the Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to advance a project to return the land to the surrounding community with a $40 million community park.
Council members voted to approve an agreement with heavily scrutinized nonprofit Fair Park First to oversee the project’s development over a two-year period. South Dallas residents have been promised the green space for over a decade, but bureaucratic red tape and management issues have stifled progress in recent years.
Speaking at a press conference following the project’s approval, Council member Adam Bazaldua said the vote set a precedent for the city’s relationship with residents.
“Today was a moment when a promise was made, and a promise was kept, and that is exactly what the residents of South Dallas deserve,” said Bazaldua.
The proposal will transform the 10A and 10B lots inside Gate 11 into a 10.5-acre community park. Located just off South Fitzhugh Avenue, the planned site sits on property seized by the city via eminent domain beginning in the late 1960s. The first bulldozers arrived in 1969. Almost 300 homes were demolished to create what was, at the time, supposed to be a mix of parking and recreation area, according to a 2021 D Magazine article.
“There were homes there, there were front porches, there were neighbors who knew each other’s names. There were communities and legacies rooted in this soil. Entire generations of Black Dallasites experienced displacement at the hands of the very institution meant to protect them,” said Bazaldua.
Courtesy of the City of Dallas.
Fair Park First has drawn scrutiny since the 2024 discovery that nearly $6 million in donor funds had allegedly been misspent by the Oak View Group, a private company contracted to manage day-to-day operations at Fair Park. The city of Dallas subsequently cancelled contracts with Fair Park First and its subcontractor, handing control to the Park and Recreation Department.
Wednesday’s decision concluded months of debate over Fair Park First’s ability to oversee the project and concerns over the potential loss of federal funding. In January, the council voted to assume oversight of the community park from the Park Board as a reported lack of progress threatened $13 million in grant money.
“Our community does not need another committee or more delays,” said Diane Ragsdale, a former council member, at the council meeting. “We need action. We deserve equitable public investment, strong health protections and a high quality of life for each resident. To abandon this project now would represent yet another clear breach of public trust.”
Park Plans
Fair Park First has already raised $33 million in funding for the project and must secure the remaining $7 million within the next six months under the agreement. No city funds will be used for the project, staff said at the meeting.
The agreement stipulates that Fair Park First must complete construction within 24 months. A target opening in Fall 2027 has been set by the nonprofit, Deputy Park and Recreation Director Ryan O’Connor told council members at a Parks, Trails and Environment Committee meeting Tuesday.
While she said Fair Park First was ready to oversee the project, committee chair Kathy Stewart asked representatives to “please be transparent” at the meeting.
On Wednesday, Council member Cara Mendelsohn called the timeline “aggressive,” a sentiment earlier expressed by other members at the committee meeting, and questioned the city’s oversight of Fair Park First.
“This thing’s going to pass, and it will be a celebration. And Fair Park needs a lot of help, and this park is one of those things,” Mendelsohn said. “Again, I’m very hesitant to support it without the findings of a forensic audit, but I am going to, because I know how important it is to make it happen.”
O’Connor told Mendelsohn a preliminary audit of Fair Park First’s finances was underway and would be presented to the council in the near future.
The agreement also includes multiple requirements for city-led oversight of the project. Park staff will review design and construction documents during the project’s development, the city will appoint a nonvoting board member to Fair Park’s Board and quarterly updates will be provided to the City Council Finance Committee.
Council members were told at the Tuesday committee meeting that the project has already completed the design phase and that Fair Park First is aiming for an August groundbreaking. The park will have a 44-tent vendor area, green space, fitness amenities, picnic areas and a community pavilion, according to a presentation delivered to the committee.
A “Win” For South Dallas
The project represents the “largest new green space investment in South Dallas in decades,” according to the presentation. Bazaldua called it “absolutely a win” before council approved the agreement.
At the press conference following the vote, he said the process has been marred by hurdles not faced by other Dallas communities.
“There is an undo an unnecessary level of scrutiny when it comes to having a project like this being shovel-ready, and I’ll tell you that that scrutiny is also something that’s not lost on South Dallas residents,” Bazaldua said. “We’re used to having to go through more hoops than Clyde Warren Park had to get their park incepted.”
Bazaldua was joined by South Dallas community members and advocates, who celebrated the milestone in the park’s development.
State Rep. Vincent Jones, whose district includes Fair Park, also spoke at the conference.
“This community park is not just about Fair Park — it is specifically about the residents of South Dallas who have advocated for over a decade to be able to start moving on this important endeavor,” said Jones.
Questions Remain
Although the agreement represents significant progress toward completing the community park, questions remain about the remaining 267 acres, which encompass one of the largest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world.
After years of mismanagement, many of those edifices sit scarred by cracked concrete and peeling paint. Estimates have reached well into the millions for repairs and refurbishment of facilities in Fair Park, which is expected to host 35,000 visitors daily during the World Cup this summer.
Austin Wood.
While council members have expressed some confidence in Fair Park First’s ability to manage the park project with their vote Wednesday, it is unclear what the nonprofit’s long-term role in Fair Park’s operations will be.
At an October Park Board meeting, staff told board members the city plans to maintain overall control of the park but will contract with nonprofits and private companies for specific operations, although a presentation stated that a “non-profit or quasi-governmental operating structure may organically develop over the next three to five years.” Staff also recommended regular programming, such as movie nights or concert series, to attract business to the grounds.
Speaking at the press conference Wednesday, Bazaldua said the park’s development plays a role in an ongoing shift in tone in Fair Park and surrounding communities.
“We are looking at South Dallas in a different lens,” Bazaldua said. “We can’t call 277 acres of the fairgrounds the ‘Crown Jewel of our city’ when we’ve only cared enough to activate it for 24 days of the year… We have a community that, for many of the years that they were in operation, couldn’t even go into the grounds. We missed the mark.”
