No, seriously -- if you need anyone on the council for any reason during the next couple of days, good luck getting hold of 'em, because they're having their annual retreat far, far away from the city limits. According to a missive Mayor Tom filed with the City Secretary's Office only Friday, the council is spending today and tomorrow at the Garrett Creek Ranch in Paradise, which, uh, isn't even in Dallas County.
And while we're all for our council members good-vibing at "a place of warmth, hospitality, and thoughtfulness," we do have a couple of questions -- like, um, what happened to the good ol' days of nearby retreats at Lee Park or Eddie Deen's, where the media and other interested locals could put the "open" in open meetings? And, well, how much is this thing costing us, anyway? Well, actually Unfair Park this morning called the Garrett Creek Ranch's corporate offices -- on LBJ Freeway, so there's that -- and they promise to get back to us later with corporate conference rates, when their system comes back up. --Robert Wilonsky
Update: Garrett Creek Ranch called back to say the city's getting nonprofit rates for its retreat, which are $209 per person per night for a single-occupancy room and $179 for a double-occupancy room. Now, we didn't ask if anyone was sharing a room -- though the mind reels at the possibilities -- but we were told that rate includes everything from three meals a day to audio-visual needs to "nonstop beverage service," by which we think the woman from Garrett Creek Ranch meant, like, soda and water. Reporting is so amazing, innit?
