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The surprising decline of downtown in ‘Big D’

American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas

In case you haven’t been scoring at home, the city of Dallas is reeling from some pretty big blows to its self-image. Big D’s downtown is losing the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the NHL’s Dallas Stars, AT&T’s corporate headquarters, as well as Comerica bank and the iconic Neiman Marcus store.

Whew!

That’s a huge hit, even for a city as big as Dallas, with 1.3 million residents and a DFW metro area population of more than 8 million people.

Here’s what has gone down:

First, AT&T announced it was moving its corporate headquarters out of downtown Dallas and relocating to the northern suburb of Plano. Plano! Let someone in, say, Bend, Oregon, try to figure out where Plano, Texas, is when they see it in the dateline of future AT&T news releases.

Then, in the wake of its February acquisition of Dallas-based Comerica financial services company, Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp announced it was moving Comerica employees out of the 60-story Comerica Tower to Preston Center, far north of its current downtown location.

The next blow to its image was the announcement last week that the famous Neiman Marcus downtown Dallas store that has been in operation since 1907 will close down in September. The retailer’s corporate owner, cited a “changing environment and declining foot traffic” in downtown Dallas.

Then Dallas was hit by what may be the two biggest blows, at least for sports fans like me. The Mavericks and the Stars announced this past week that they are abandoning American Airlines Center for yet-to-be built arenas in North Dallas and in the suburb of Plano.

Both franchises claim that the 25-year old American Airlines Center was not built for the ‘modern fans’ who demand more amenities like upscale dining and beverage options, as well as “social areas” that allow fans to mingle during the game.

But it goes beyond the arena experience. Each franchise envisions an ‘entertainment district’ built around their arena that features restaurants, bars and other business to draw people to the venue.

Similar stadium-and-entertainment districts are popping up in other cities with professional sports franchises, including OKC where the OKC Thunder is expected to demolish Paycom Center and create an entertainment district after its new arena opens. (Don’t we already have a downtown entertainment district in Bricktown?)

Here’s what I’ve read about the Mavericks move: The team plans to build a multi-billion dollar arena and entertainment complex on the 104-acre site of the former Valley View Mall, approximately 10 miles north of downtown along the Dallas North Tollway and I-635. Unlike the American Airlines Center, located along the Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail line, the new site offers little public transportation options. So fans likely will have to negotiate crowded freeways before enjoying NBA games and the entertainment options. Read more about the move at ESPN.

The Mavs made no mention of operating a casino in their news release, for which the team’s ownership had been advocating. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts was quoted in a Dallas Morning News article: “I think if Dallas had it all to go over again, I think there might have been a little bit of a different approach on American Airlines Center. It does not serve … the needs or the expectations of a sports fan in 2026 who goes to a professional sporting event. We don’t have any of the hospitality amenities that one would expect in other markets, and I think we’re really looking forward to that.”

As for the Stars, here’s what I’ve found: The NHL franchise has signed an agreement with the city of Plano to move to what is now known as the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, a retail center that is on the decline. The Stars envision a new arena and entertainment districts, similar to what the Mavericks plan on the Valley View Mall site a few miles to the south. Read more at ESPN.

Dallas residents vented their frustrations on the spate of exits from downtown at a recent city council meeting.

“The Valley View Mavs, the Plano Stars, Fox 4 gone, AT&T gone, Neiman gone,” said Sana Syed, the President of the Dallas Farmers Market Stakeholders Association. “What an embarrassing and painful city this week.”

Meanwhile, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram seemed to be enjoying some schadenfreude over the plight of Fort Worth’s big brother city 30 miles to the east. The headline on an article about the downtown departures reads “Mavericks’ site for new arena would turn downtown Dallas into a ghost town.”

Said Star-Telegram columnist Mac Engel: “Both the Mavericks and Dallas Star have stated their intentions to leave the American Airlines Center after their respective leases end with the facility in the spring of 2032. If they both leave, it would turn downtown Dallas into an evacuation site almost every night at 5 p.m.”

So, what’s behind the mass exodus from downtown Dallas. I asked a friend I’ll call “Andy” who lives in the DFW metro to share his perspective. Parking challenges for employees and the large number of homeless people inhabiting the area play a role, he said.

Workers have to park blocks from their offices and then are harassed by the homeless as they walk in, Andy told me.

So, employers are choosing to locate elsewhere like suburban communities far removed from downtown and the challenges it presents in 2026.

The decline of downtown Dallas brings to mind OKC’s downtown when I first came to town in 1983 to work for The Daily Oklahoman at its then-downtown newsroom. Downtown was dark and mostly abandoned after 5 p.m., with few restaurants, only one hotel — the Sheraton.

Fast forward to 2026 and we can see the renaissance brought to OKC by passage of the original MAPS program in 1992. Today, our downtown thrives with a busy entertainment area in Bricktown, multiple hotels and restaurants scattered throughout. Yay for investing in ourselves.

We have our own issues with homelessness, but there are organizations like Curbside Enterprises and SidexSide OKC that offer a path to housing and employment. We’re not running away from the problem.

So, while downtown Dallas declines, downtown OKC continues to rise up with new sports venues, an awesome park and convention center that give people a reason to come on down. (I’m not counting the exodus of Devon Energy because I see that as related to a corporate merger)

Can Dallas reverse the exodus and have a downtown worthy of its ‘Big D’ image? Stay tuned.

Homeless — and unwanted — in America

Screenshot — A portrait of Patrick Fealey, who wrote about his plight as a homeless person for Esquire magazine.

I’ve never been much of a social crusader like my friend and former high school classmate “Will,” about whom I wrote in a blog post last year.

Will was passing through town and asked if I would meet him for lunch, which I did. It was a great reunion after more than a half century of not seeing one another or even communicating.

Anyway, Will devoted much of his life to important work of helping lift the oppressed and bringing to justice the folks who actively sought to keep the “others” down.

Will, if you are reading this, I’m so awed and grateful for your efforts over the years.

Folks like Will make me realize that I’m more of an social activist wannabe who never really got up off the couch to help anyone, even those with whom I have great empathy.

That leads me to this disturbing Esquire magazine article my wife sent me last week. Entitled “The Invisible Man,” the article is a long, first-person account of a college educated, successful writer forced into living as a homeless person in his home state of Rhode Island.

Patrick Fealey found himself in this plight because of a mental illness that didn’t become apparent until he was a successful adult. Then his bipolar condition resulted in him being unable to hold a job, and the downward spiral began.

Read Fealey’s excellent account on the Esquire website.

For me, the most disturbing aspect of Fealey’s life is that no one really cared. He lived with his dog in an old car, but where ever he landed, he was constantly questioned by police, shunned by local citizens. The folks who operated shelters or housing programs offered little help, hope or sympathy.

Fealey was told to ‘move on’ a lot, even though one of the communities in which he stayed with the town in which he was raised. He was told by one policeman that if he didn’t move on he would be jailed or fined. People saw him as threatening or merely another drug addict.

(As an aside, some folks read about Fealey plight and started a Go Fund Me page that has received more than $169,000-and-counting to help him get into housing and deal with health issues.)

All of this sounds familiar, especially after reading recent newspaper articles about how the city of Shawnee has implemented ordinances that prevent the unhoused from sleeping or camping in public spaces or most any place outdoors within the city limits.

So, while the Shawnee citizens just want the homeless out of sight and out of mind — like most of us — what they are doing is turning homelessness into a crime.

That’s why I’m proud of the city of OKC for investing $55 million through MAPS4 to take on homelessness with its “housing first’ program that partners with innovative not-for-profits. And MAPs also is funding a new mental health crisis center, a restoration center and a transitional housing program that will make a difference.

It’s a start.

There are also several not-for-profits in our community like the SideXSide OKC program and Curbside Chronicle that are working to lift people up. Those are terrific initiatives that are making a difference.

As for myself, I have done nothing to brag about except for occasionally buying a Curbside Chronicle.

I’m not sure what my point in writing all of this is, but after reading Patrick Fealey’s story I think the point is that we have to do better.

Me. You. All of us. Do better.

SidexSide OKC works under the radar to lift people up

jobfair3 — Participants in SidexSide’s latest job skills cohort meet with prospective employees at a recent job fair.

The 1993 movie ‘Dave’ starring Kevin Kline revolves around a community-minded man who runs a Washington, D.C.-based temporary employment agency with a goal of ensuring everyone who needs a job can find one. Dave has a saying: “Everybody works on Tuesday.”

It’s a wonderful movie that tells the story of how Dave so closely resembles the President of the United States that he is recruited to stand in for the President, who then takes advantage of Dave’s presence to hook up with an aide. When the President has a stroke, Dave is stuck in the job.

The story takes off from there, and I encourage you to watch it. It’s a feel good fantasy.

But reviewing Dave is not the purpose of this post. I recently discovered a local not-for-profit skills training and employment agency called SidexSide OKC that made me think of Dave and his “Everybody works on Tuesday” motto. Check out SidexSide’s website.

In a mission statement on its website, SidexSide says it exists “to build a bridge between underemployed talent and local employers.” The agency provides paid skills training and employment opportunities to people who are referred to it from partner entities like the TEEM, Palomar, Sunbeam Family Services and others.

The “underemployed,” as SidexSide calls them, are placed in cohorts of about 12-15 people and coached up, so to speak, in a nine-week training course that requires them to be present and on-time for each session. Part of the course involves classroom sessions, followed by job shadowing with potential employers who partner with SidexSide.

I stumbled upon SidexSide recently when it held a job fair that included a Long Term Care facility that participates in the Care Careers Oklahoma, a workforce development initiative of Care Providers Oklahoma, where I work part time.

My mission at the job fair was to shoot photos and post them on social media for Care Providers.

SideSide door SidexSide has offices on the second floor of a downtown building, which also houses a bicycle sales shop. You could walk around the building a dozen times and not spot the glass entrance door that displays the SidexSide logo.

I know, because it took me several tries to find it.

Anyway, when I walked in I discovered a large room filled with people sitting at tables and chatting with one another. Then a bell rang and one person got up from each table and sat down at a different table.

Turns out, this was a sort of ‘speed dating,’ get-to-know-you job fair.

I met several SidexSide employees, including Matt Tecmire, Director of Employment Services, Ricardo Lara, Career Navigator and Community Liaison, and Liz Honeyman, Programs Support Specialist. Those folks gave me a quick overview of how the agency operates before introducing me to Chad Jordan, SidexSide’s founder and Chief Executive Officer.

SidexSide Chad — Chad Jordan, SidexSide’s founder and Chief Executive Officer

Chad told me that SidexSide began about a year and a half ago with a federal grant, and that it now has support from several local entities. It lists multiple referral partners, education partners and employment partners on its website.

As we were chatting, I began to see the image of the fictional Dave in my mind, and his drive to make sure everyone has a job.

SidexSide works to ensure that folks who might be struggling because of life’s circumstances are provided paid skills training and long-term job opportunities.

Obviously, some great brainstorming went into this endeavor. And, from what I can see, SidexSide’s awesome work is being done below the radar of most everyone in our community.

My colleague Tanecia Davis, who is Director of Workforce Development for Care Providers Oklahoma and manages the Care Careers program, had a similar reaction after the SidexSide experience

“Today, I had the pleasure of visiting SidexSide OKC for their career fair, and I was thoroughly impressed by the exceptional work they are doing to support underemployed individuals,” she said in a Facebook post. “Their primary objective is to help these individuals with the necessary resources and skills to secure sustainable employment.’

It’s encouraging to know there are people like those of the SidexSide team who are out there working for the greater good every day in Oklahoma City.

Say it with me. ‘Everybody works on Tuesday.’

BONUS CONTENT: Watch this video with SidexSide board member Teresa Rose, Executive Director, Communities Foundation of Oklahoma, as she talks about the mission and impact on our community of SidexSide.