Haul the HallThese are some models of the proposed College Football Hall of Fame, which would be adjacent to the convention center hotel.So, this one seemed to sneak past everyone's radar -- the media relations bigwigs didn't even know about this at Dallas City Hall when we called this morning, though a Friend of Unfair Park did send word that Norm Hitzges made brief mention of this on KTCK-AM 'round 9:50 this morning. Ten minutes after that, Mayor Tom Leppert and John Crawford, president and CE
Here's an interesting little fact left off the two press releases announcing the city's efforts to lure the College Football Hall of Fame from South Bend, Indiana, to downtown Dallas: It was all Bob Sambol's idea. Seriously. But the namesake of Bob's Steak & Chop House on Lemmon Avenue figured, well, what with his current legal issues and all, it was better to stay off of the podium and instead sit out in the audience during this morning's press conference. Sambol denies he did so at the may
National Football Foundation president and CEO, Steven HatchellEarlier this afternoon, I finally spoke with Steve Hatchell -- president and CEO of the National Football Foundation, the parent organization of the College Football Hall of Fame -- concerning yesterday's press conference during which Mayor Tom Leppert, Roger Staubach, T. Boone Pickens and a host of other bold-faced names announced the city's efforts to lure the Hall from South Bend, Indiana, to downtown Dallas, near the site of the
Sam MertenMayor Leppert has spent a lot of time holding up his finger to represent the opposition to the hotel, but in doing so, he's glossed over the one issue at stake tomorrow: public ownership of the hotel.As he's done throughout the convention center hotel campaign, Mayor Tom Leppert's op-ed in The Dallas Morning News Thursday focused more on kicking Harlan Crow in the crotch than providing tangible reasons why voters should approve public ownership of a $500 million hotel.
He wasted valu
A sneak peek at the new-and-improved Dallas skyline, if you look close enoughI'll leave it to Sam to interpret the convention center hotel documents that went online Sunday in advance of the city council's Economic Development Committee's jam-packed meeting this morning. (Takeaway: Open by January 1, 2012; costs $346 million; contains 1,016 rooms.) In addition to the 113-page briefing titled Convention Center Hotel Project Update and Move Forward: Setting Parameters for Bond Sale, th
Now that we're one vote away from getting a convention center hotel, it looks like the College Football Hall of Fame is a done deal. At least that's what we gather seeing it across the street from Hotel Dallas in this rendering.The city council's Economic Development Committee this morning predictably approved placing an item on the agenda of Friday's special called council meeting authorizing a maximum bond issuance of nearly $514 million with a maximum interest yield of 5.5 percent for the co
