On Wednesday, Danielle McClelland, assistant director of the city's Public Information Office, posted to the Interwebs a video celebrating all that's swellerificamazing about this fine city. And, so far, 34 people have seen the danged thing on the YouTubes; guess the peeps don't wanna sit through nine minutes of excitement. No, really -- not being sarcastic here. Dallas has "a great sense of energy, excitement," says Our Mayor, who's followed by city council person Bill Blaydes, who appears to have neither. Oh, and it takes all of three minutes before you hear the words "Trinity River Project" and "Calatrava bridge." Schutze, you're not allowed to watch this. Seriously, Jim, check out this instead.
McClennand tells Unfair Park the video's actually 27 minutes long and can be seen in its entirety on cable channel 6B, which normally broadcasts council meetings and is in the process of adding more city-created content. (May we suggest this?) We get the abbreviated version, which is after the jump -- along with the price tag for this video, which is surprisingly cheap. C'mon. In a good way.
And McClennand says the purpose of the video is "to share with the general public what's happening with the city and in some of the specific neighborhoods -- some of the city's success over all." It's also being distributed to libraries and neighborhood associations, and council members are screening it during their meetings with constituents.
And what did this informercial, shot by a photog from something called Fieldview Productions, run you, taxpayer? McClennand says it was a mere $5,000. Helluva deal. Well, you paid for it, so here it is. --Robert Wilonsky