Concerned Grand Prairie Neighbors

10/18/2026

MAYFIELD & FORUM — SAME PROJECT IS BACK

On August 18, City Council unanimously denied the Forum Industrial Park project at the SE corner of Mayfield Road and Forum Drive (Items 31 & 32).

The proposal by Jackson Shaw was for four industrial buildings totaling 502,600 sq. ft. plus outside storage on 38.49 acres.

Opposition was clear:
• 18 written letters in opposition
• 4 letters in support
• Staff did not support it (did not match the Future Land Use Map)
• P&Z recommended it 5–2
• City Council denied it unanimously

Residents raised concerns about truck noise, increased traffic, loss of neighborhood character, and impacts on nearby homes.

The developer is now holding a Neighborhood Meeting:

Thursday, October 22, 2026
6:30 p.m.
Traders Village
(Family-friendly — complimentary rides, food, and drinks)

If you received the flyer, this is the same project that was denied on August 18. The developer is gathering feedback and could bring a revised version back to the City.

You can still submit written comments here:
https://www.gptx.org/Planning-Division/Register-Position

This property is in Council District 2.

If you live nearby or previously opposed the project, consider attending the October 22 meeting and giving the developer your feedback directly.

What are your thoughts?

10/09/2026

I DO NOT WANT THESE CAMERAS. THE CHIEF ASKED AUSTIN FOR A LAW HE CAN ALREADY ENFORCE.

I have posted on Flock for a long time. I am not the only one.

THE INTERVIEW
October 7. NBC 5. Justice reporter Shannon Miller sat down with five chiefs: Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Allen, and Grand Prairie. The subject was Flock, the license-plate cameras, privacy, and who gets punished when an officer uses the file for himself.

Chief Daniel Scesney said crime-fighting and privacy are not mutually exclusive. Then he asked for a stand-alone state law with a criminal penalty for misusing the cameras. Fort Worth Chief Eddie García, who came out of Dallas, said officers in Texas and elsewhere have already used these systems wrong. The chiefs talked about missing children, violent cases, and stolen cars. They also talked about access, and about misuse. Several of them want departmental rules, a statewide standard, and a criminal penalty. Scesney is the one who said he would support the stand-alone law.

The story is “North Texas police chiefs defend license plate readers, call for stronger rules,” NBC 5 DFW, October 7.

THE TOWN HALL, THE NEXT NIGHT
October 8. District 6. Grand Peninsula. Live on YouTube.

He opened by saying he sees Sean in the front row. He said some people in the room are not fans of the readers. He said he would not name names, then said it rhymes with Sean. Sean asked about the Texas Election Code rule against recording the entrance and exit of a polling place. The chief agreed: if a reader is aimed at a polling location, they will cover it. The only site named was Larson Elementary, and Sean was not sure it is a polling place.

Later he told the room the readers are not perfect and that the state needs a law on misuse. He did not describe the law. He tied the crime drop to the cameras. Lowest rate since 1973, and he said to star that figure because it is year-end 2025. Toward the end of 2026, another 10 percent down citywide. District 6 down 21.1 percent.

A resident asked about a camera car for code cases, the Dallas pilot. He said it is on the shelf. His boss wants a person, not a computer, when someone calls. And the privacy fight over the plate readers is already live, so a car photographing every street is a harder step. Not killed. Not moving.

THAT IS THE DELAY
Texas already charges misuse of official information. Cities already fire for it.

Katy fired Sergio Rodriguez and charged him with misuse of official information and stalking after he ran his ex-wife’s plate for months. Katy’s statement says the cameras are for authorized investigations only, a violation means the login comes off, and discipline runs up to firing and prosecution.

Lufkin’s Zachary Klein, an 11-year officer, pleaded guilty September 30 in Angelina County to 100 counts of misuse of official information. Five years. Prosecutors said more than 25,000 improper searches since July 2024, on an ex-girlfriend, her family, and people she had dated. A USA Today reporter’s question on August 14 is what started the internal review. Lufkin took the cameras offline. The governor cited this case in late August when he barred state agencies from spending state money on Flock. His office said at least six Texas departments had an officer on leave, under investigation, or charged in that stretch.

Kingsville’s Gabriel Garcia resigned July 31, the day he was confronted. The audit was about 5,300 personal searches. One plate was run 609 times. Department policy already said the readers are for official use only.

None of those chiefs waited on a new statute to pull a badge.

A city writes the policy. A city audits the log. A city pulls the login and fires the officer. Legal and human resources already work in that building. A criminal penalty is an add-on. It is not the permission slip. Sending it to Austin is how a rule that could be written this month becomes a bill that may never get a hearing.

WHAT AUSTIN IS ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT
The session he is pointing at opens in January. It is not drafting his penalty.

Senator Lois Kolkhorst posted “Get the Flock Out of Texas” on September 1. She called the network warrantless mass surveillance and said colleagues are discussing an outright ban on automated license plate readers when the 90th Legislature convenes. She said she is with them. Magnolia had already decided not to renew.

Representative Paul Dyson said he has heard from constituents and from local governments, and that he expects several bills. He wants them aimed at the technology, not the brand.

Governor Abbott cut state money off these cameras in August, after the Tribune’s look at about $30 million in state grants and after Lufkin. TxDOT paused plate-reader permits in September. Bastrop ended its contract. Manvel voted unanimously to terminate. College Station renewed, 4–2, against a room that did not want it. Plano has disabled cameras. I have not found a Grand Prairie bill, or a lobbying notice from this chief’s office, asking Austin for the penalty he described on television.

I am against the cameras. Sean asked the polling question because people on this page have been against them. The abuse is already a firing offense. The question for this chief is who in Grand Prairie has been audited, and what the policy does on the first personal search. Austin can ban them in January. He can pull a login on Monday.

here is the link to the article: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/north-texas-police-chiefs-defend-license-plate-readers-call-for-stronger-rules/4088313/

10/09/2026

I WAS WATCHING. HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THAT.

October 8. District 6 town hall. Grand Peninsula. Live on YouTube. Kurt Johnson, then Chief Daniel Scesney.

Deborah Lawrence went to the mic and asked about this page. She did not have the name exact. She said something like Grand Prairie Concerned Residents. She said that is where she goes for information. She asked if it is a valid place, because she cannot tell who posts and she does not know if it is official.

Deborah, it is a resident. Me. Not the city. Not an office. The posts come from the agenda, the packet, the ordinance, the statute, and the public-information file. If a number is in a post, it came from a document. If a quote is in a post, it came from their meeting.

Johnson’s answer, on the microphone:

“It’s not from the city, so that’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want to say it’s valid because I know that person’s watching. … My phone number is 214-564-5252. If you see something you don’t know, give me a call, and I will tell you the truth. … I read it. I’m just shaking my head. I want to respond a lot of times, but now someone’s going to attack me by responding and going back and forth. So I don’t. So it’s not a page that I go. We can talk offline. I can tell you a lot offline.”

The chief would not touch the page. He told the room Johnson answers that number.

Kurt, you were right. I was watching. This is the reply, in the same place the question was asked. Not offline.

SB 840 IS THE LAW HE WANTED THE ROOM TO CALL AUSTIN ABOUT
Senate Bill 840 passed the 89th Legislature, was signed June 20, 2025, and took effect September 1, 2025. It is Chapter 218 of the Local Government Code. It hits cities over 150,000 in counties over 300,000. Grand Prairie is on that list. The city’s own notice says so.

On land already zoned office, commercial, retail, warehouse, or mixed-use, a multifamily or mixed-use project (at least 65 percent residential) can be built by right. No rezoning. No special permit. No public hearing to change the zone. If the application meets the building code and the land rules that do not conflict with Chapter 218, the city approves it at the counter. Heavy industrial, and land near an airport or heavy industry, are the carve-outs.

What the city cannot do on these projects: hold density under 36 units an acre, hold height under 45 feet, require a setback over 25 feet, require a parking garage, or require more than one parking space per unit. On a conversion of an existing office, retail, or warehouse, the city also cannot pile on extra parking, a traffic study, or a utility upgrade.

Grand Prairie’s answer is Appendix S, Ordinance 11810-2025, adopted October 14, 2025. Johnson said a developer who files under SB 840 has to build under that appendix. His number was 60 percent of the units as three-bedroom. He said developers in Austin are claiming the city requires an Olympic-sized pool. He said that sentence is not in Appendix S. He said the pool was sized so a full complex is not stuck with a motel pool. He called SB 840 the number-one issue for the session that opens in January. He wants 100 residents signed up to speak. Two people told him they would go and could not. Call the state senator and the state representative, then email.

The pool sentence is the check. He said it is not in the ordinance. Appendix S is a filed ordinance. The text decides it, not the speech.

THE REST OF THE NIGHT
Fiscal year 2027 operating budget, $573.5 million. Tax rate held at 66 cents for the fifth year. Police $91.5 million. Fire $52.8 million. Water $131.5 million. Solid waste $20.8 million. Streets and mobility about $42.7 million. Homestead exemption $17,500. He said each extra $2,500 costs the city about $1 million a year.

Chief: crime at its lowest since 1973, and he said to star that figure because it is year-end 2025. Toward the end of 2026, another 10 percent down citywide. District 6 down 21.1 percent. He credited the license-plate readers. Amber Alert was his example. He said the tool is not perfect and the state needs a standalone law on misuse. He agreed that if a reader is aimed at a polling place, they will cover it. The only site named was Larson Elementary, and the resident was not sure it is a polling place. The camera-car code program is on the shelf because of privacy. Not killed.

Walmart: October 12, Betty Warmack Library. October 20, council. Planning and Zoning denied the gas-station and drive-through variances. He said the store can still be built by right if the zoning allows it. He said he has no position and has not reviewed the plans. The chief separated a big-box Walmart, which he said drives skip-scanning, from a grocery, and said he would worry more about an apartment complex next to a school than a grocery.

Main Street Fest is October 23–25, free, Commodores on Friday.

If a line on this page is wrong, the microphone was on. Say the sentence. Offline is not a correction.

Here is the link if you missed the Town Hall:

Join Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Kurt Johnson for a District 6 Town Hall M...

10/07/2026

GPISD SCHOOL HEALTH ADVISORY COUNCIL TODAY AT NOON

Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Board Room, Education Center
2602 S. Belt Line Road

This is the School Health Advisory Council. Texas Education Code § 28.004 requires the board to appoint one. A majority of the members must be parents of enrolled students who do not work for the district. It must meet at least four times a year.

The April 1 minutes they are voting to approve adjourned at 12:48 p.m. and said the next meeting was TBD. The next posted date is today. That is six months. Four meetings a year is the statute. This packet does not prove they missed the count. It does not show the other dates either. Ask for the full year’s calendar before they approve the gap.

What the statute requires for every meeting, § 28.004(d-1) and (d-2):
Notice of the date, hour, place, and subject, at least 72 hours before, on a bulletin board in the central office of each campus and on the district website.
Minutes that state the subject and content of each deliberation and each vote.
An audio or video recording.
Minutes and recording to the district within 10 days, then posted on the website as soon as practicable.

Today’s notice is on the website. The packet does not show the campus bulletin boards. The April minutes do not include a recording. SHAC is not under the Open Meetings Act. These posting and recording rules still apply.

Card in before they call the meeting to order, or you do not speak. Three minutes. Agenda items only. No personnel, no officers, no named students.

What April already said, and what today should answer:

Senate Bill 865. A cardiac emergency plan is required. GPISD said it has at least one AED on every campus and in every facility, and that PE coaches, athletic trainers, and band directors are CPR certified. April said the formal plan, the procedures, and the drills were next year’s work. Ask if the plan is written and if a drill has been run.

Screen time. The April presentation said too much screen time tracks with worse attention, sleep problems, and anxiety and depression, especially in girls 10 to 14, and that the platforms are built to keep children hooked. The advice was no phones at meals, in bedrooms, or after 9, and no social media before 13. That was a talk. It is not a District rule until they adopt one.

Meals. Breakfast 43 percent of enrollment. Lunch 69 percent. A la carte 9 percent.

On today’s agenda, with no backup attached: council bylaws, Health Services Senate Bill 12, Counseling Services Senate Bill 12, child nutrition, Red Ribbon Week and fentanyl, bullying prevention, Senate Bill 9 lessons for elementary and secondary, family engagement. Next meeting listed: December 2.

Parents are named on the welcome line. Show up. Sign in. Ask for the year’s meeting dates, the April recording, the cardiac plan, the SB 12 counseling rules, and the SB 9 lesson list in writing.

10/07/2026

GRAND PRAIRIE FIRE CHIEF — THE DEPARTMENT ALREADY DID THE WORK. THE SEARCH WENT OUTSIDE.

Mayor Ron Jensen has said it more than once. In the 2025 State of the City he said the Grand Prairie Fire Department had won the American Heart Association Lifeline Gold Award for the tenth year in a row. Then he said if you are going to have a heart attack, you want it here. Once they get to him, they have 90 minutes to reach a hospital that can take a heart attack or a stroke and get a cath in. He said the team had done it within 90 minutes 100 percent of the time. The same speech said the department had just been re-inspected and certified ISO Class 1 again. The city’s own page says that rating puts Grand Prairie in the top 1 percent of communities in the country for fire protection. In 2006 the city was an ISO 3. In 2017 it reached ISO 1. The people who hold that rating work the ten stations, the medic units, hazmat, dive, swift water, and the night calls. The 90 minutes is their job because the cath lab is not down the street.

Chief Robert Fite is retiring after 14 years. The city opened a nationwide search through Mosaic Public Partners, a California executive-search firm. Applications closed August 24. The posted salary is $240,000. The fire chief reports to the city manager. This is an executive hire, not a civil-service promotion. Texas Local Government Code Chapter 143 covers firefighter ranks. It does not require the city to promote from inside the department.

The posting told candidates that confidential inquiries were recommended “due to the public nature of searches in the State of Texas.” The city has not posted the Mosaic contract, the fee, or whether a guarantee is in it. A 2023 proposal from the same firm, for a different client, was a $29,500 flat fee. Richland, Washington, paid them $30,000 for a police-chief search. Grand Prairie’s number is still unpublished.

None of the three finalists is a Grand Prairie Fire Department officer.

James Kubinski is the fire chief in Killeen. He came up in Naperville, Illinois.
Ricardo “Richie” Quintero spent more than 30 years in Corpus Christi and has run a department of more than 450 people.
Stephan J. Lopez Jr. is the local name. He is a longtime Grand Prairie resident and a Dallas Fire-Rescue deputy chief. Living here is not longevity inside this department.

The city has done this before. In 2012, City Manager Tom Hart hired Fite from Georgetown to replace Clif Nelson. Nelson had been chief for 17 years and was described as home-grown. Hart said Fite would follow “a long-tenured, home-grown” chief. Fourteen years later, the city opened another nationwide search.

What has not been published is whether any Grand Prairie assistant chief applied and was cut.

Meet the finalists tonight.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Grand Prairie Events and Convention Center
317 W. Main Street

The question is not whether the three finalists are qualified. It is whether anyone who already earned the ISO 1 and the tenth Lifeline Gold was interviewed, what the search cost, and why the city manager’s office has not said so.

10/06/2026

GRAND PRAIRIE TOWN HALLS — FALL 2026

Free. 6:00–8:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 8
District 6 — Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Kurt Johnson
Grand Peninsula Community Center and Gym
2603 N. Grand Peninsula Drive, 75054
A quorum of the City Council may be present. Notice posted October 2, 2026.

Thursday, October 8 is the night to talk to the District 6 council member in person. The notice posted October 2 is a Notice of Possible Quorum. It names the place and the time. It does not list subjects, and it does not set a vote. His last town hall was posted the same way. That means this is questions, not a council meeting. District 6 residents can raise what the agenda does not name. A quorum may attend. They cannot take action off a notice that lists no item.

Thursday, October 29
District 1 — Council Member Jorja Clemson
City Hall, Council Chambers
300 W. Main Street

Thursday, November 5
At-large, Place 8 — Council Member Rodney Anderson
Eisenhower Elementary
2102 N. Carrier Parkway, 75050
Citywide seat. Anyone in Grand Prairie can use this one.

District 5 — Council Member Tony Shotwell
No official city town hall on that calendar. On August 12 he posted that other members booked the remaining dates, that the rules call for about two weeks between those events, and that holidays and his vacation filled the rest of the year. He said official town halls are not set as city events from January through the May election. He said the full format uses several departments, sign-in, and a livestream at more than $1,000.
He is offering informal District 5 neighborhood meetings instead: you pick the date, time, and place. He also pointed to National Night Out. The citywide National Night Out is Tuesday, October 6, 5:00–8:00 p.m., in neighborhoods across the city. No District 5 address was posted for one.

District seats are that map only. Place 8 is the whole city.

If you need an accommodation to participate captions, an interpreter, a listening aid, or another auxiliary aid email [email protected] or call 972-237-8035 at least three business days before the meeting. That is the City’s own ADA notice. Ask for the aid by name.

10/02/2026

TWO THINGS AT THE WOODS THIS WEEKEND

The Woods United Methodist Church
1350 Bardin Road, at Lakeridge Parkway
Grand Prairie
(972) 602-9944

Saturday, October 3 — Annual Craft Show
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Vendors, specialty gifts, handmade items, one-of-a-kind finds.
They are calling it early Christmas shopping.
The pumpkin patch opens at 9:00 a.m. that day, not 11.

Pumpkin patch — open now through October 31
Daily 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Free admission.
Pumpkins in all sizes. Cash or card.
Games, photo ops, family fun.

The patch is the fundraiser. The craft show is one Saturday. Both are at the same church on Bardin.

10/01/2026

THE BELL COMES BACK FRIDAY. THE STAGE OPENS ON DÍA DE LA RAZA.

City calendar: Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m., City Hall, 300 W. Main. Unveiling of the Liberty Bell in front of City Hall, then the ribbon cutting for the Century Stage at The Commons. Free. Remarks from city leaders. Live music after.

The bell was dedicated in 1976 and taken down in spring 2025 so this stage could be built. It goes back under a shade structure next to the stage, original plaques included.

First event on the stage is Sunday, October 11, 2–8 p.m. Día de la Raza. Ballet, DJs, mariachi, and more. Free. Downtown.

The city says a regular calendar of local music, Movies on the Lawn, and festivals starts in spring 2027. Next big use is Main Street Fest, October 23–25, carnival moved closer to the stage. Headliners listed: The Commodores, Sammy Kershaw, Keith Nieto.

Stage sound is scaled for downtown. City sound rules apply. Scheduled stage activity ends by 11 p.m. Lawn chairs and coolers are allowed.

Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m. — the bell.
Sunday, October 11, 2–8 p.m. — the fiesta.

10/01/2026

PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE MONDAY. THE DISEASE REPORT IS A BLANK PAGE.

Monday, October 5, 6:00 p.m.
City Hall East, 2nd floor ESD training room
300 W. Main
Posted September 29 by Cindy Mendez, Public Health and Environmental Quality Director.

Speaker card. Five minutes. On an agenda item, or at the end for anything not on the agenda.

WHAT IS IN THE PACKET

1. Approve the August 10 minutes. Those are attached.
2. Bi-monthly public-health report. Cover sheet. No report.
3. Get Fit GP updates. Cover sheet. No attendance.
4. Solid Waste and Recycling, Patricia Redfearn presenting. Cover sheet. No rates, no tonnage, no landfill numbers.

THE SENTENCE THAT IS NOT A REPORT

August 10 minutes. Called at 6:15 p.m. by Dr. Ja’Net Nash. Adjourned at 6:58 p.m.

“Discussion included an increase in communicable disease numbers likely due to FIFA World Cup events. Also discussed was Cyclospora and that Dallas County had not reported any cases.”

No disease named in the increase.
No Grand Prairie count.
No week.
No comparison to 2025.
The report they will “review” Monday is not in the packet.

WHY THAT SENTENCE MATTERS HERE

A communicable-disease increase is a resident issue only if residents can see the number. This packet does not have one.

Staff tied the rise to World Cup events. The city has also said about 22,000 people were at a Grand Prairie World Cup event. Tourism staff later told council the watch parties ran 34 days at four sites — EpicCentral, Asia Times Square, Traders Village, and Zavala’s and drew more than 335,000. Those are crowd counts. They are not case counts.

The regional check was not in Grand Prairie. Wastewater testing for flu, COVID, measles, norovirus, and other World Cup pathogens was described at six sites: two in Arlington, including near AT&T Stadium, one at DFW Airport, one in Frisco, one in Fort Worth, and one in Denton. Grand Prairie is not on that list.

So the city hosted the crowds, was not one of the sampling sites, then told a public committee the numbers went up “likely” because of those events and did not attach the chart.

Cyclospora was named in the same breath. That is a gut parasite. People get it from food or water contaminated with human stool. It does not spread person to person. The 2026 national outbreak was shredded iceberg lettuce, and CDC closed that outbreak on September 10–11. These minutes do not say a Grand Prairie well, main, or plant tested positive. They say Dallas County had not reported cases. No Grand Prairie count. No water sample. No week.

That is the concern. A disease claim with no table, in a city that was not on the lookout list.

ALSO IN THOSE MINUTES, ALSO WITHOUT PAPER

Werner Rodriguez told the committee Texas House Bill 2844 took effect July 1, 2026, and replaced local rules on food-truck hours and locations. The packet does not say what Grand Prairie is enforcing now.

Get Fit: Back the Blue at Lynn Creek, back-to-school fairs, Strollin’ with the Mayor through Nottingham, Pink Out in October, Prairie Lights in November. No headcount.

ASK MONDAY

Which diseases went up. How many. Which weeks. Against 2025. Grand Prairie Cyclospora count, not Dallas County’s. Any link to city water yes or no. Put the bi-monthly report in the packet before they review a blank page.

Card in before 6:00.

09/30/2026

DÍA DE LA RAZA — EVERYONE IS INVITED

Sunday, October 11
2–8 p.m.
City Hall Plaza, 300 W. Main
Grand Prairie

Free event. Free parking.

The City is putting La Fiebre on the plaza with ballet folklórico, mariachi, DJs, food, and craft vendors. Hispanic Heritage Month on the steps of City Hall.

Bring a chair. Bring the kids. Bring a neighbor who has never stood on that plaza.

Flyer is on this post.
Hear them before you show up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVaI_Vz7rQk