Emma Ruby
Audio By Carbonatix
Last month, as Dallas officials juggled disappointing downtown news, questions about City Hall’s future, convention center drama, the start of a brutal budgeting season and a World Cup match or two, we began to question whether the city’s residents were truly being heard.
At City Hall, public speakers routinely waited hours to address the council, only to have their speaking time slashed down to 60 seconds. On more than one occasion, we overheard members of the public speculating that the horseshoe had already made up its mind about the outcome of a particular vote, even before the public had a chance to weigh in.
It was a downright depressing month for City Hall.
But at least one group managed to show that public engagement can work in the people’s favor if officials are willing to listen. A cohort of seniors rallied together to protest the proposed closure of the Marcus Annex Senior Center in northwest Dallas, and as of now, it appears they succeeded.
The center was one of four proposed facility closures made public in May, when the Dallas park board was briefed on its “worst case scenario” ahead of developing the next fiscal year’s budget. The department has been told to plan for a 15% budget reduction in fiscal year 2027. After years of slimming down efficiencies and staffing, Dllas Park and Recreation Director John Jenkins warned that service cuts would be unavoidable.
Which is how Marcus Annex found itself on the chopping block.
The center is small but offers workout classes, field trip opportunities, educational courses, and meals for Dallas’ senior community. Through the years, it has developed a cult following. Becky Baird, a Dallasite who began visiting the center after being diagnosed with osteoporosis, said she attends activities multiple times a week and has recruited friends into joining the tight-knit community. They, in turn, have recruited an even wider net.
On June 4, she was one of several women who attended the Park Board meeting to urge the body to find a way to save the center.
“If you close Marcus Annex, you do not just close a building. You lose dedicated city staff like Mr. Goode, and you dismantle a thriving community of seniors. You strip away the exercise classes that protect my bones, the lunches we enjoy for daily nutrition and the field trips that keep us from being trapped at home,” Baird said. “Marcus Annex is a vital healthcare center, and a social lifeline.”
According to the budget briefing, the closure of the four recreation centers would save the parks department just over $1 million.
The board, though, agreed unanimously that that wasn’t a trade-off they were willing to make. Board member Rudy Karimi said he was “emotionally moved” by the impassioned pleas of the Marcus Annex loyalists, and argued that even in an aggressive budget season, “we can’t have situations like that. We can’t be affecting individuals like that.”
Board member Sally Pretorius Hodge said that even considering the facility’s closure became “a huge source of angst” for the community. The line item, which also suggested closing the Arcadia and Umphress recreation centers and the Teen Tech Center, was struck.
In the weeks since, the Park Department has pointed to Marcus Annex as an example of public feedback working. On Facebook, the department posted a message thanking the women who advocated for the center, stating, “Their stories, their passion and their voices were heard, and their input will influence the decisions being made in our Dallas Parks system!”
So for now, Marcus Annex is safe. But we’ve seen this play out before.
In fall 2024, budget woes put Dallas’ community pools under the spotlight, but public pushback kept the centers open. Hours were reduced, though, and according to analysis by the Dallas Morning News, attendance ultimately fell throughout the following summer. By September 2025, the park department confirmed that three of the nine community pools would close.
That won’t be the fate of Marcus Annex, if the seniors have anything to say about it.
“I’m at the center four or five times a week. … This is a community for some folks where that’s the people that they see every day and that’s it,” said Dallas resident Kathy Bell. “I live alone and have no local family, but I’m able to get out and do these things.”
