Omar Narvaez

Omar Narvaez took his previous experience and hit the ground running on Dallas City Council

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

Omar Narvaez was first elected to the Dallas City Council in 2017, and his first term in office, he said, was “way more than I ever expected it to be.”

Narvaez’s district, which includes the Design District, Trinity Groves and Cypress Waters, is one of the fastest-changing areas in the city. The district is wide-ranging; most of it lies in West Dallas, but small slivers hug LBJ Freeway and Walnut Hill Road to Midway. Love Field is not in the district, but adjoining Bachman Lake is.

Narvaez describes his district as “diverse and expansive, with something going on in every area of it.”

While he’s been on the winning and losing sides of battles on city-wide issues at the council, Narvaez said been surprised at how much he can actually get done at the district level. He said he’s proud of some of the environmental issues he’s worked on, and of helping update the city’s arts and culture plan. He has also worked on housing policy.

While the city didn’t manage to bring Amazon’s second world headquarters to Dallas, Narvaez snagged an Amazon facility for his district that will employ 1,500. But rather than offer the company big tax incentives, Narvaez negotiated benefits and living wages. He also convinced Amazon to hire the formerly incarcerated and insisted that 35 percent of the new hires would be from the immediate area.

Council members involved in at least two other projects looked at what Narvaez negotiated. Then, rather than cost the city tax dollars, they employed Narvaez’s negotiating tactics.

“I had no idea I was setting precedent,” Narvaez said about his discussions with Amazon.

Another proud moment was when he was in Washington, D.C., to lobby on a number of issues that affect the city. He brought home $350 million for flood control, money that he said will be used to rehab three pump stations and build a fourth to stop flooding in northwest Dallas. The money will also be used to repair the Lake Lewisville dam.

A proposal to create an entrance to Love Field on the north side of the airport and to control drainage from the airport would involve Bachman Lake becoming a creek again. The lake was built in 1903 by damming the Bachman Branch. Narvaez called it one of the jewels of District 6 and said he saved the footprint of the lake using bond money assigned to his district.

One of his biggest disappointments since coming to office was not being able to stop the teen curfew from being re-instated. He said his district has been disproportionately affected, with more tickets issued to teens in District 6 — 106 — than in any other council district. North Oak Cliff was second with 36 tickets issued.

In addition, Narvaez said the curfew disproportionately targets youth of color and the homeless. Since LGBTQ youth make up 40 percent of the youth homeless population, the curfew also unfairly targets LGBT youth, he said.

“It’s not a good policy,” Narvaez said. “No data supports curfews as effective.”

His one consolation in that council battle, he said, was that he was able to soften the new curfew ordinance compared to the former law.

When he first got to the horseshoe, Narvaez said he was able to hit the ground running. He got his start in leadership when he joined Rainbow LULAC in 2006 and Stonewall Democrats of Dallas a year or two later. Within a few years he became an officer and then president of Stonewall for several terms.

Although he’s not an attorney, he worked in the Dallas office of Lambda Legal.

“I learned how government works,” he said. “How things run.”

Narvaez was serving on the Dallas County Schools board at the time he was elected to the council. That board has since been disbanded, and several people have been convicted in connection with a bribery scandal involving cameras on Dallas County school busses.

Of the convictions, Narvaez said, “People who I worked with and respected made bad mistakes and are being punished to the fullest extent of the law,” adding that they betrayed the public’s trust.

But the decision to close Dallas County Schools, Narvaez said, was an expensive one. DCS provided bus service to most school districts in the county for $140 million. Individual school districts are now spending about $300 million to provide the same — or from many accounts, worse — service.

While serving on the DCS board, Narvaez joined NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. That group offers leadership training institutes teaching how to be a strong elected official, which he took advantage of.

When Narvaez got to the council, he said he wasn’t very warmly welcomed. After all, he had unseated an incumbent, who was also serving as mayor pro tem. So, he worked twice as hard.

“It was shocking for them to see a freshman come in who knew what he was doing,” Narvaez said, adding that he gained the respect of his fellow council members quickly.

Soon after coming into office, Narvaez had to deal with a gas explosion at a home in his district that killed a 12-year-old girl. Atmos Energy had to replace miles of gas lines affecting 2,600 homes, many in his district.

Narvaez was able to step up and lead, keeping people in the area informed. Since then, he’s been working with area’s state representatives on changing reporting from the natural gas industry.

Narvaez said he is surprised his sexual orientation hasn’t been an issue in his campaigns or while serving. “I’ve only been called faggot once,” he said, laughing about the situation. “Someone was upset I was cracking down on illegal racing.”

Narvaez said he takes his job very seriously and hopes his district will return him to City Council for a second term.

“I tell people at City Hall, ‘You took a job, but I took an oath,’” Narvaez said.