Mayor Eric Johnson is engaged — just not necessarily with the city he was elected to govern.
The day after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s primary win, the notably absent mayor who switched party mid-term from Democrat to Republican in 2023 invited “concerned” New Yorkers to ditch the Big Apple and relocate to Dallas in a post on X, the New York Post reported.
Johnson, no stranger to skipping a City Council meeting, rose from his seat in the chambers last Wednesday and left at about 2:30 p.m., just as the first of 31 Oak Cliff residents in the room approached the microphone to comment on a neighborhood rezoning plan, the Dallas City News Network feed showed.
Five minutes later, the tweet landed, and it hit all the red-meat notes.
Johnson’s scant attendance of the city’s own meetings was one pillar of a failed petition to recall the mayor last year. He’s missed over 130 hours of council time since 2019, according to KERA as of September 2023.
“Wednesday is the most dangerous day in the city of Dallas,” he said earlier this year; not because of crime, but because it’s when the City Council meets.
Critics say he’s been largely MIA on major policy and administrative issues, from infrastructure to budget negotiations.
For example, his colleagues held a special-called meeting to discuss the resignation of the city manager last year, which Johnson didn’t attend. In addition, as the closing of the Neiman Marcus flagship store in downtown Dallas gripped city boosters, Johnson was predictably absent from the effort to rehabilitate the site.
But when it comes to dunking on opponents on social media or weighing in on hot-button national culture war topics, the newly minted Trump supporter is front and center.
If Johnson’s tweet was a warning, it might have revealed more about his own approach than Mamdani’s.
The New York assemblymember gained attention during the pandemic for organizing eviction defense and pushing good-cause eviction laws, hardly the stuff of developer-driven “free market” boosterism. His campaign has focused on public housing investment. Johnson slashed Dallas’ tax rate and touted pro-business governance.
For a city pitched as the antidote to national dysfunction, Dallas is facing plenty of homegrown challenges. While Johnson trolled New York, a zoning fight in the city grew more contentious, with high-stakes plans reshaping neighborhoods. Critics say Dallas needs a mayor who’s willing to show up, especially as rezoning, infrastructure expansions and billion-dollar developments redraw the city in real time.
One reader commenting on the New York Post’s report said: “I remember a time when a Dallas Mayor would be run out of town on a rail for inviting Yankees to move in.”
Johnson reported back to the June 26 meeting at about 4 p.m.
Read more
NYC real estate can look to Chicago as a blueprint for grappling with Mamdani
Benefit Street exec claims Mamdani’s win scuttled hotel deal
Dallas’ new city plan deepens divisions over urban growth
