In what is probably not a particularly shocking development at city hall, the several thousand Dallas residents who attended the 35 city budget-review meetings held in all 14 council districts apparently produced the following revelations for the council and city staff: City residents believe that crime, code compliance and recycling are the big issues facing the city. A recent Dallas Morning News story gave the rundown, along with responses from council members and staff who are shaping (such as it can be shaped at this point) the city’s $2.65 billion city budget. Having had a bit of a look at some of the numbers, I take my figurative hat off to the council members – honestly, I couldn’t easily figure out what was going on, what was changing from last year and the rationale for the changes anyway. And I was looking at numbers that had already been parsed by a neighborhood volunteer! Several council members have talked about changing the process, allowing more time for council and resident input into the process. Maybe next year…