Dallas City Councilwoman Janie Schultz will not seek a third term, saying she wants to pursue other opportunities and travel more than she would as an elected official.
Schultz, who represents North Dallas’ 11th District, announced Tuesday that she plans to step down from the City Council when her term expires next June. She was first elected in 2021 and up for reelection in 2023. “I’m honored to be a part of this community,” Schultz said. Dallas Morning News Shortly after being elected to her second term, she concluded that this would be her last because she felt she had accomplished what she wanted.
“I’ve been thinking about where I want to be in the next phase of my life,” Schultz, 64, said. news“I’m not getting any younger and I know I still have things I want to do, and frankly, the clock is ticking.”
Schultz said she hopes potential candidates for her vacant seat will be given time to decide whether to run before the election filing deadline early next year.
“There was no defining moment where I said, ‘I’m not running,'” she said. “I think if there had been, it would have made for a more interesting story.”
The last two City Council members representing the 11th District, Lee Kleinman and Linda Koop, retired after serving the maximum four two-year terms.
Schultz said he wants to get involved in local issues, including addressing climate change and plans to build a new school in the International District, a roughly 450-acre area in District 11 that includes the site of the old Valley View Center shopping mall, which is slated for redevelopment.
Schultz’s decision not to run in 2025 means at least three new members will be elected to the Dallas City Council next year. Mayor Pro Tem Tenelle Atkins and Councilman Omar Narvaez are leaving the council due to term limits.
During his tenure, Schultz oversaw the demolition of the last remnants of Valley View Mall, a contentious process that lasted years, and the rebranding of the Valley View district as the International District, a cultural hub aimed at attracting more global businesses.
Schultz said she also worked to help the city better support and serve the district’s Esperanza neighborhood, a historically underserved, mostly Latino neighborhood of about 10,000 residents. She pushed for the city to create a program encouraging residents to donate directly to homeless service providers to combat panhandling.
She has had some controversy as a Dallas City Council member.
She was one of the first city council members to call for the resignation of former Mayor TC Broadnax earlier this year, triggering his departure from the city and a nearly $500,000 severance package, which she called a “backroom ploy,” drawing the ire of Mayor Eric Johnson.
The mayor demoted Schultz to vice chair of the City Council’s Workforce, Education and Equity Committee on June 28. She had served as chair of the committee since joining the City Council in 2021. Mayor Johnson did not release a reason for removing her as chair.
Plans to rezone and redevelop the Pepper Square Shopping Center in District 11 into a mix of retail, restaurants, apartments and green space have also put Schultz at odds with some area homeowners.
They oppose plans to update a cluster of aging retail and vacant storefronts near Preston Road and Belt Line Road, citing concerns about plans to build more than 1,500 new apartments, possible traffic impacts and other issues. Schultz said he is open to redeveloping the area, noting the city needs more housing.
Opponents of the plan have threatened to launch a recall campaign against Schultz.
The councillor described the unhappiness some residents have with her over Pepper Square and other incidents as “challenging” but denied it had influenced her decision to leave the council next year.
“I’ve done a good job. Our office has been very responsive and most people in the district have my personal cell phone number,” she said.
Prior to being elected to the City Council, Schultz was appointed to the city Planning Commission in 2014 and served on the commission until his retirement in 2020. He is a past chairman of the CityLab High School Foundation. Prior to his appointment to the Planning Commission, Schultz focused on investing in families, volunteering and philanthropy.
The councilman said one of the things he wanted to accomplish but wasn’t able to do was help the city council operate as a “highly functional board.” Schultz said he wished he had made paying attention to what the city council was doing a higher priority.
“We don’t have a vision for the city, and there’s no effort from the city leadership to make it happen,” she said. “It’s exhausting to work without a vision and to constantly have to make decisions in a vacuum.”
She said parliamentary dynamics played a “little bit” into her decision to step down.
