Mayor Pro Tem Caraway Wants to Make Sure Jim Gets His Quote Exactly Right

Sometimes I feel that life is unfair. I have way too much fun. On occasion I think I should share some of it with others. In that spirit, I offer the following: In tomorrow's paper version of Unfair Park I will have a column dealing with efforts by Dallas city...

By Jim Schutze

April 27, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Sometimes I feel that life is unfair. I have way too much fun. On occasion I think I should share some of it with others. In that spirit, I offer the following:

In tomorrow's paper version of Unfair Park I will have a column dealing with efforts by Dallas city council member Dwaine Caraway to shut down a scrap metal yard on Cedarcrest on the west bank of the Trinity River. I called the mayor pro tem to ask if it may not have been a violation of city procedures and laws for him to go in person last week to the gate of the scrap yard and demand that the owners come out and deal with him on his demands that they vacate the property.

Caraway last week also told me he thought the city needed to round up whatever bulldozers it has at its disposal and begin a campaign of wholesale demolition of offensive houses in the area, meaning houses that offend the councilman's eye.

I was all into this "rule of law" stuff -- you know, sissy-pants talk about how city council members are now empowered to shut down businesses and scrape houses on their own say-so -- and Caraway wound up giving me a good piece of his mind, which you can hear right here:

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.

Jim Schutze has been the city columnist for the Dallas Observer since 1998. He has been a recipient of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies’ national award for best commentary and Lincoln University’s national Unity Award for writing on civil rights and racial issues. In 2011 he was admitted to the Texas Institute of Letters.

Contact: Jim Schutze