Eric Johnson

Dallas To Host 2024 U.S.‑Africa Business Summit May 6‑9

by | Apr 15, 2024
Returning to the U.S. for the first time in seven years, the Corporate Council on Africa’s annual U.S.-Africa Business Summit will be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas. With consumer spending in Africa slated to hit $2 trillion in 2025—and with some of the largest African diasporas living right here in North Texas—the summit could offer "immense business opportunities," the city said.
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Dallas-Based National Cricket League To Launch Locally with ‘Coachella Meets Cricket’ Event in South Dallas
by | Dec 18, 2023
On the heels of Major League Cricket's inaugural season in Grand Prairie last summer, the Dallas-based National Cricket League has launched to bring its own fast-paced version of the sport to the U.S. Coming next May: a 9-day inaugural South Dallas tournament featuring play by the Dallas Wolves and 30-plus performances by Bollywood celebrities from around the world.
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‘Where Nature Meets Dallas’: Plans Unveiled for $325M Harold Simmons Park Along Trinity River
by | Dec 7, 2023
For decades, Dallas has dreamed of a transformational park along the Trinity River near downtown Dallas. This week, the Trinity Park Conservancy announced that a groundbreaking will finally happen in 2024. The 250-acre Harold Simmons Park will offer community-uniting nature, a stunning playground with towers and tube slides, a prairie walk, a two-acre bike and skate park, overlooks with views of the greenway and the city skyline, and more.
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‘Untapped Opportunity’: Dallas Mayor’s Franchise Initiative Aims to Spur Southern‑Sector Job Growth, Economic Development

by | Oct 12, 2023
Entrepreneurs say being a franchisor or a franchisee is a good way to scale their businesses and build generational wealth.
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Goldman Sachs Kicks Off Construction on Sustainable, All‑Electric Dallas Campus
by | Oct 10, 2023
Leaders gathered today to break ground on the massive two-wing campus designed for over 5,000 Goldman employees. The financial giant's striking new hub in downtown Dallas' NorthEnd aims for LEED-certification and state-of-the-art amenities.
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DFW Airport Unveils Updated Renderings of Terminals C and F at ‘State of the Airport’ Event
by | Oct 3, 2023
In a 2023 "State of the Airport" presentation, DFW Airport said it contributes an estimated $38 billion in direct and indirect payroll support, $24 billion in visitor spending, and about $5 billion in state and local tax revenue each year. The airport also unveiled new renderings of Terminal F and upgrades for Terminal C.
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The Last Word: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson On Joining the ‘Smart Surfaces’ Coalition to Cool Cities
by | Jul 31, 2023
Johnson and four other U.S. mayors recently joined with the coalition to announce a project to cool cities and metropolitan areas with "Smart Surfaces"—an integrated solution that aims to reduce heat and fight climate change through the use of reflective "cool" roofs and pavements, green roofs, solar energy, porous pavements, rain gardens, and trees.
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Southern Gateway Park Is ‘On Track’ to Break Ground on Amenities This Spring for Phase One Opening Next Year

by | Feb 6, 2023
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson called it a "game-changing investment in the people and families of southern Dallas.” And there’s little doubt the Southern Gateway Park will be transformative once it opens as planned next year. “We are on track to break ground on the park’s amenities later this spring and open as scheduled in 2024,” a spokesperson for the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation told WFAA this week, adding that $3 million in new funding has been secured since January 1 for the $172 million project.
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Dallas’ ‘Hidden Gem’ Could Become a Walkable Community After City Council Approved $390M Master Plan for Hensley Field
by | Dec 21, 2022
Since 1929, everything from WWII-era planes to F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcats once buzzed Hensley Field in Southwest Dallas. Someday soon, fleets of bulldozers may be taking over—turning the site into a "walkable community" with 12,000 jobs and 6,800 residences. "This is one of the greatest projects that's going to happen in the future of the city," said City Council Member Jaynie Schultz.
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Dallas Forms Business Climate Leadership Group to Accelerate Climate Action
by | Dec 19, 2022
In a partnership with the City-Business Climate Alliance, the newly formed group met last month to begin pursuing initiatives aimed at climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says the alliance will "help establish Dallas and its businesses as national leaders in implementing data-driven climate solutions to promote a vibrant, healthy, and resilient city.”
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Dallas Is Pedaling Toward a New Citywide Bike Plan

by | Nov 2, 2022
The city of Dallas has a Bike Plan—but it was written in 2011. Now, after creating 67 miles of bike lanes across the city, Dallas is working on an updated bicycle master plan that lays out future bike and roadway improvement needs. “We want to build connected bicycle routes that help you safely get from your home to your work, school, parks, and other destinations,” the city said in a statement.
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The Last Word: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson on the Southern Gateway Deck Park in Oak Cliff
by | Oct 24, 2022
Southern Gateway Park, a planned $172 million, five-acre deck park over I-35 by the Dallas Zoo—just reached a big milestone. TxDOT has completed the foundation deck for Phase 1 of the deck park (seen in the right half of the image above). The park will literally and figuratively reconnect the Oak Cliff neighborhood that was divided by I-35 in the 1950s. The park promises to be an engineering marvel with five acres of wooded slopes, water features, rocky escarpments, a restaurant/retail complex hidden under a hilltop, and one of the most awesome kids' playgrounds in North Texas. But its greatest achievement may be to make Oak Cliff whole again—and to bring all of Dallas together.
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Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson Taps Attorney Carlos White as Franchise Impact Ambassador
by | Aug 26, 2022
Johnson launched the ‘Mayor’s Franchise Initiative’ to foster economic growth earlier this week. Carlos White’s goal will be to make Dallas “a global hub for franchising” by forming partnerships that can help teach city residents how to create, systematize, and scale successful businesses.
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Meet the Inaugural Board of Directors of the Dallas Economic Development Corporation
by | Aug 24, 2022
The newly created Dallas Economic Development Corporation is a nonprofit aimed at attracting new businesses to the city, while supporting economic and workforce development. Formed with the help of $7 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Dallas EDC now has its first board of directors, after receiving approval from the Dallas City Council. “The corporation will play an integral part in growing the Dallas business community, and we need passionate and qualified people at the helm,” said Councilmember Tennell Atkins, chairman of the city’s Economic Development Committee.
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