Dallas City Council meets May 11, 18, 25 and June 1 at 9 a.m. at Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St., Dallas. www.dallascityhall.com/Pages/ default.aspx Dallas County Commissioners Court meets May 17 and June 7 at 9 a.m. in the Allen Clemson Courtroom of the Dallas County Administration Building, 411 Elm St., Dallas. www.dallascounty.org/government/ comcrt MEETINGSWE COVER HIGHLIGHTS DALLAS COUNTY Officials announced in a news conference April 22 that the county has lowered its COVID-19 risk level to green, which is the lowest level and what County Judge Clay Jenkins described as “the new normal.” “This means if you are vaccinated and boosted and you don’t have an extenuating circumstance ... you can resume all activities,” Jenkins said. This shift in policy is a result of the low number of new COVID-19 cases over the last few weeks, according to Dr. Phillip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services. DALLAS The Dallas Fort Worth International Airport ranked the second busiest airport in the world based on passenger traffic last year. The data comes from the Airports Council International, a trade association for the world’s airports. DFW Airport reported nearly 62.5 million passengers last year, a 58.7% increase from 2020, according to the ACI. NUMBER TOKNOW This is the growth in population for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area between July 2020 and July 2021. The DFW metro area had the most population growth of any metro area in the nation during that period, according to U.S. census estimates. The DFW metroplex jumped from an overall ranking of fourth in population growth in the nation between July 2019-July 2020 to first in the nation for the period between July 2020-July 2021. The 2020 census reported a DFW population of more than 7.6 million. In 2021, the census estimated the metro population had increased to more than 7.75 million. Much of the metro area’s population growth occurred in Collin and Denton counties. According to the latest estimates Dallas County saw a population decrease of about 25,000 people between July 2020 and July 2021. However, the county still ranks ninth among the most populous counties in the nation. 97,290
County seeks feedback on health knowledge access
BY JACKSON KING
health literacy across Dallas County, to see how people get their health care information and [to see] if patients are happy with how their doctors communicate with them. This project will help guide DCHHS’ future communica- tion strategies.” Any residents age 18 and older are eligible to participate in the survey, which is expected to take less than five min- utes to finish, according to county officials. Dallas County Health and Human Services officials said the agency also plans to report the survey results to health care providers in the area to help them improve their programs and services to the community. The survey project is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health as part of a grant award received by Dallas County Health and Human Services.
DALLAS COUNTY The Dallas County Health and Human Services Department launched an online survey April 20 to gather community feedback on the county’s health literacy options. As defined in a county press release, health literacy is “the ability of a community to access, understand, appraise and apply health information.” Dallas County includes most of the city of Dallas and portions of 29 other cities, including parts of Richardson, Lewisville and Coppell. According to the Texas Depart- ment of State Health Services, there were 44 hospitals located within Dallas County in 2021. County officials said the results of the survey will help identify how different communities in Dallas County receive and use health care information, and it will highlight ways the health and human services department can better provide service in each area. “The 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment iden- tified poor health literacy as a barrier to health care access and managing chronic disease,” said Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, in a press release. “DCHHS is launching this survey to assess
TAKE THE SURVEY The survey will be available online through the end of May. To take the county survey, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/XXBPWV8.
Sevenvotecenters closed for upcoming elections inMay
Petitions circulate on district expansion
VOTING CENTER CLOSURES
BY ERICK PIRAYESH
DALLAS Members of the Lakewood Conservation District are seeking signatures for a petition to add 275 more homes to the boundaries. According to an April 28 district Facebook post, it needs at least 58% of residents in the proposed expan- sion area to sign the petition. District representatives will spend the next 60 days reaching out to residents to acquire signatures. The district currently has 323 homes. If enough signatures are obtained, the release stated, the proposal would need to be approved by city staff as well as the city planning commission and City Council. Summer Loveland, a resident representing the conservation district, said she expects the needed signatures will be obtained. “The primary driver here is to protect the historic character of the neighbor- hood and to ensure that any new construction or remodeling is fitting to the architectural styles existing in the neighborhoods,” she said. A meeting is set for 6 p.m. May 23 at The Filter Building, 2810 White Rock Road in Dallas.
Of the 40 temporarily closed voting centers in May, seven are in the Lake Highlands and Lakewood areas of Dallas. They are: Skyview Elementary School , 9229 Meadowknoll Drive, Dallas Lake Highlands High School , 9449 Church Road, Dallas Lake Highlands Junior High School , 10301 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas Wallace Elementary School , 9921 Kirkhaven Drive, Dallas Spring Valley Elementary School , 13535 Spring Grove Ave., Dallas Dan D. Rogers Elementary School , 5314 Abrams Road, Dallas St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church , 3204 Skillman St., Dallas For a list of active voting centers for the elections in May, visit www.dallascountyvotes.org.
BY ALEXANDER WILLIS
DALLAS COUNTY A total of 40 voting centers will be temporarily closed across the county during two upcoming elections after a unanimous vote by the Dallas County Commissioners Court on April 13. Among the closed voting centers include seven locations in the Lake Highlands and Lakewood areas of Dallas. On April 5, the Dallas County Elections Department had requested of the court the closure of 68 voting centers for two upcoming elections: a consti- tutional amendment and joint election May 7, and the primary runoff election May 24, citing a shortage of poll workers. Elections Administrator Michael Scarpello was instead asked to hold additional public meetings with affected members of the commu- nity, after which the proposed number of temporary closures was whittled down to 53. The 53 figure was shrunk again to 40 during the April 13 meeting
SOURCE: DALLAS COUNTY/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
after Commissioner John Price requested that no voting center in District 3 be closed.
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LAKE HIGHLANDS - LAKEWOOD EDITION • MAY 2022
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