Dallas City Council

Federal Judge: Dallas Ministries Can Feed the Homeless Wherever They Damn Well Please

It's been eight years since the Dallas City Council passed its homeless feeding ordinance, which barred charity groups from serving food except at certain designated sites. And it's been just more than six years since two of those groups, Big Heart Ministries and Rip Parker Memorial Homeless Ministr ... More >>

Walmart Confirms Lease of Coit/Arapaho Site, Plans to Have Store Open by Fall 2014

At an ungodly hour this morning (2:38 a.m.), a member of the new but active "Stop Walmart Spanish Village" Facebook group posted the lease, signed back in November, giving the Arkansas-based retail giant rights to the northwest corner of Coit and Arapaho roads for at least 20 and as many as 70 years ... More >>

Six Months After New Ordinance, Two-Thirds of Dallas Boarding Homes Still Aren't Licensed

In June, after months of debate and a glaring need, the Dallas City Council passed an ordinance regulating the 300 or so boarding homes that provide -- or sometimes merely purport to -- shelter and support to the mentally ill. The ordinance addresses a wide range of issues, from sexual abuse and ex ... More >>

Frackers Are Walking Through Gaping Holes In Texas Chemical Disclosure Law

Last summer, as the Dallas City Council was briefed on the ins and outs of bringing heavy, industrial processes into a densely populated, urban area, industry boosters like Ed Ireland of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council assured council members we would know in virtually all cases what was ... More >>

Dallas May Be Out of the Drought (For Now), But Watering Restrictions Are Far From Over

​With the release of its latest map this morning, the U.S. Drought Monitor made it official: A few weeks' worth of heavy rain have officially removed Dallas-Fort Worth from the historic drought that has most of the state bone-dry. (Watch the 12-week animation here.) And per the AP's breaking-news ... More >>

On Flood Control, Dallas Better Think Nationally or Be Ready to Drown Locally

Man, talk about whistling past the graveyard. At yesterday's Dallas City Council meeting, council members Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso asked good questions about the city's flood control plans, and City Manager Mary Suhm and her assistant, Jill Jordan, gave good answers. But it was all deck chairs ... More >>

Angela Hunt Is "Pleased" With Make-Up of Council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force

​Yesterday Leslie recounted the Dallas City Council's vote on the membership of the ad hoc gas drilling task force -- during which rookie Scott Griggs's attempt to add Mountain Creek resident Ed Meyer to the roster was met with a deafening silence. Angela Hunt has posted to her website her thought ... More >>

Voters -- Who Needs Them?

​What is it that people here have against voting? I'm thinking about the item I saw here yesterday about the Dallas City Council clamping down on campaign signs. Right, we need to do everything we can to contain this voting thing. Fewer signs. Voter photo ID laws. Anything we can do to cut d ... More >>

Council Candidate MacLeod Takes Concerns Over Polling Place to the Justice Department

​A couple of weeks back, Sam mentioned that Billy MacLeod, who's running for the District 2 city council seat against incumbent Pauline Medrano, has a few problems with the coming elections. Chief among them: Votes will be cast at Esperanza "Hope" Medrano Elementary School -- which so happens to b ... More >>

"Regionalism" Just Means Dallas is Going to Get Drilled When It Comes to Fracking

​So-called regionalism is a rip-off, a scam and a hoax designed to neuter cities and sell them down the river to the damned suburbs. A few weeks from now the Dallas City Council will take up the issue of fracking, the kind of natural gas drilling in which drillers pump millions of gallons of ... More >>

Following Report on the Fracking Dangers of Drilling, Hunt Explains Need for Task Force

How fracking works, as explained in the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland​Over the weekend, local gas-drilling opponents forwarded to media members Ian Urbina's piece in Sunday's New York Times about the heretofore unknown dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting water, sa ... More >>

Dallas City Council Member Jerry Allen Goes to Austin to Cash Out Payday Lenders

At its meeting two weeks ago, the Dallas City Council passed a resolution urging the state Legislature to crackdown on payday lenders and "to pass any necessary legislation to protect the citizens of the State of Texas who may find themselves with no alternative but to seek the type of short-term, h ... More >>

Your Latest Garage Sale Permit Update

​Or: What do voluntary compliance mean?No doubt you're well aware of the fact that for the last six weeks or so, you've needed a city-issued $15 permit to hold a garage sale in the city of Dallas. But when last we peeked at the permitting process, there were but three locations at which you could ... More >>

As Deep Budget Cuts Loom, the Dallas Genealogical Society Sends Out a Cry for Help

​This morning, there were several e-mails in the Unfair Park in-box concerning City Manager Mary Suhm's latest suggestions for cuttinggutting the budget of the Dallas Public Library system. Two I'll need to set aside till Suhm calls back (she's in meetings all morning). But others direct our atten ... More >>

Hodge Admits to Receiving More Than $30,000 From Potashniks, Using Campaign Contributions For "Personal Benefit"

Hodge landed herself quite a deal.​The indictment against Terri Hodge has always looked much more damning than the evidence facing the rest of the gang involved in the City Hall corruption case, and it turns out that, well, it's all true. Hodge admitted as much in her factual résumé, which s ... More >>

It's Old Home Week at Council, as Sid Stahl to Handle Sandra Crenshaw's Ethics Complaints

Just noticed this on the council's meeting addendum for tomorrow:​I called Crenshaw, who served on the council from 1993 till '95, to find out the details of the complaint, but a friend of hers answered the phone and offered this rather stunning news: "Her mother died Thursday, and her father died ... More >>

How Do Dallas's Lobbyists Earn Their Dough?

Zazzle​On October 28, the Dallas City Council will vote to renew its contract with the lobbyists who do the city's bidding in Austin and D.C. Right about now, the city spends $502,000 with the likes of CapitalEdge (which also lobbies on behalf of Arlington; Denton, Reno, Nevada; and Huntsville, Al ... More >>

Exactly One Year After Cole Berardi Was Killed By DPD Car, Council to Settle Family's Claim

Cole Berardi​Late last week, word came down that the Dallas City Council was close to settling with the family of Cole Berardi, the 10-year-old boy who was killed one year ago after he was struck by a Dallas police car. No doubt you recall the incident, which was captured by the dash-mounted camer ... More >>

At Last, a Parking Boot Ordinance!

​It took long enough, but the Dallas City Council finally got around to the parking-lot booting ordinance -- and it passed council almost unanimously. There was but one "nay" vote: newcomer Ann Margolin, who said, well, "I understand there has been a lot of work to get this done, but I have to say ... More >>

Keep on Truckin'. Just Not in the Left Lane.

​For the last four years, the Texas Department of Transportation and the North Central Texas Council of Governments have been restricting big rigs from driving in the left lane along small sections of I-20 and I-30. And they're delighted with the results of the pilot program: Dan Kessler, NTCOG as ... More >>

Five Council Members Lobby for Transparency at Dallas City Hall. Good Luck With All That.

Psssst, Carol Reed, they're talking about you ... ​Five Dallas City Council members want the city to think about requiring people to register as lobbyists if they get paid to influence the council. The ongoing Dallas City Hall federal corruption trial has brought a series of revelations about s ... More >>

Jim and Sandra's Affairs

What you'll find below is the first episode of what we hope will become a weekly series starring Jim Schutze and former Dallas City Council member Sandra Crenshaw, who've been spending way too much time together in an auxiliary courtroom at the Earle Cabell during the Dallas City Hall federal corrup ... More >>

Sweep the Legs! It's Gonna Cost More -- and Take Longer -- to Get Rid of Reunion Arena.

​When last we saw Reunion Arena, it looked like "a coffee table from 1974." Or, "that carport thingie that's going up in the Arts District." Turns out, it'll stay that way a while longer -- like, oh, till at least January of next year. How come?Under the arena's exterior plaster finish, there is a ... More >>

Once Again, the Mayor Had the City Attorney Rewrite Rules for Council, Public Speakers

Natalie Dee​I see Rudy's already posted his item about tomorrow's vote on Dallas City Council rules changes, which showed up earlier this week on the addendum for tomorrow's meeting. (It's Item No. 2.) But what he doesn't get into is why the council will vote on reducing and, in some cases, elimin ... More >>

Who Knew There Were Residents at the Delux Inn? No Matter. It's Going Bye-Bye.

I didn't know till I looked at the Dallas City Council's addenda for this week that for the last couple of months, the city's been the proud owner of the Delux Inn on Stemmons Freeway. (The expenditure was approved last September, for $3.18 million in 1998 bond money.) Alas, don't get too excited: S ... More >>

Look Out, Kids! Because Starting Next School Year, There's a Daytime Curfew!

Moments ago, the Dallas City Council voted on the 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.daytime curfew ordinance -- and, not surprisingly, it passed almost overwhelmingly, by a vote of 12-2. The vote was taken shortly after Mayor Tom Leppert stressed that the ordinance (which you can read here, beginning on Page 63) i ... More >>

The City Wants to Pay You Up to $10,000 to Improve Your Neighborhood

City of Dallas Code ComplianceThe Dallas City Council gets back to business today with three committee confabs, chief among them the Quality of Life hoedown where they're poring over the Code Compliance Accountability Report Card -- so "modeled after a 3rd grade report card" and lettered A through F ... More >>

As Dallas Wrestles With Regulating Private Parking Lots, a Public Meeting Invite

Ever see the doc Parking Wars? You really should.At the end of March, the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environment Committee took up the discussion of regulating a "relatively new practice being employed by private parking lot operators to enforce payment in their lots" -- booting cars. ... More >>

Food For Thought 4.6.09

"We're in a recession, hard times. We shouldn't be hurting business. I'm not saying, 'Let's take away this issue.' We're just saying, 'Let's give these businesses some time.'" (Tennell Atkins, member of the Dallas City Council, on an effort to delay the city's smoking ordinance, which bans lighting ... More >>

Some Folks Trying to Turn Out the Lights on Extending the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance

'Member how, last month, the Dallas City Council's Public Safety Committee started talking about changing the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance to include daylight hours as well? Turns out, a group's done sprung up to oppose such an alteration: the Citizens Against the Dallas Daytime Curfew, which IDs itsel ... More >>

Nobody Puts Jill Jordan in a Corner. Well, Except Maybe Angela Hunt.

This is the first in a morning series of videos provided by members of Your Dallas City Council. First up, this lengthy offering from Angela Hunt (co-starring assistant city manager Jill Jordan), who writes on her Web site by way of introduction today, "If you've got 20 minutes on your hands and a h ... More >>

Dust in the Wind? Maybe.

From the city council's Water Conservation and Drought Plan Update, a look at lake levelsOn Wednesday, the Dallas City Council will discuss updating the city's 4-year-old water conservation and drought contingency plans, as this is shaping up to be yet another dry, dusty year. The update is necessar ... More >>

Crime, Ann Margolin's Top Campaign Issue

Mitchell Rasansky and Ann MargolinFew weeks back, we directed you to an online survey Dallas City Council candidate Ann Margolin was taking as she vies for Mitchell Rasansky's District 13 seat at the horseshoe. Well, the results are in, and Margolin writes in a mass e-mail sent to her would-be const ... More >>

City Council's Not Quite Ready to Give the Convention Center Hotel to Omni

Sam MertenWhat the convention center hotel's supposed to look like, more or less, except it won't be so, ya know, small.Item No. 3 on the Dallas City Council's briefing agenda for today reads as follows:Approve the execution of the Hotel Operating Agreement between Omni Hotels Management Corporation ... More >>

City Council's Not in a Hurry to Dole Out TIF Money to Two Downtown Projects

As the Dallas City Council goes into executive session before breaking for lunch, a few notes. As Dave Levinthal mentions, the Dallas City Council postponed till next month votes on two downtown projects seeking tax increment financing money. One of them is 1400 Main Street (better known as Plush), ... More >>

A Desire Named Streetcar

Schutze's fourth-favorite subject, streetcars, goes before the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environmental Committee this morning, where council members will be joined by Dallas Area Rapid Transit's board of directors. They've got a lot to consider, as in: Where will the streetcars go, w ... More >>

Dallas by Design: If You Can Only Attend One City Council Briefing All Year, Make It Today's

This morning's Dallas City Council briefing should be more interesting than most -- thing's almost like a meeting of a book club where the topic is urban design and development, which is perhaps why the council's moving out of City Hall and across the street to the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library's ... More >>

Suhm to Tell City Council: Do Not Live Large, and Think a Little Smaller

Seems like we were just here, hashing over the city's budget. But as you may have read -- and may have guessed -- FY2009-10 is already shaping up to be a) lousy, b) godawful, c) yech or d) all of the above. Which is why, at this morning's Dallas City Council briefing session, City Manager Mary Suhm ... More >>

Wow, Is It Already Time to Renew the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance?

Newcomers (and everyone else, let's face it) probably don't recall that when the Dallas City Council passed the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance in 1991, it was a long, contentious process that wound up in court, courtesy some teenagers' folks who thought keeping 17-and-unders off the city streets after 11 ... More >>

Buzz Reviews the News of 2008: Yes. It Was All Bad.

Sex clubs in the 'burbs, teacher layoffs in the district, black holes in the commissioners court—Buzz makes perfect sense of 2008

Council Not Playing With Full Deck Park

Get a Sneak Peek at KERA's Special on Sharing the Power in Dallas

The City of Dallas and Its Shiny, Distracting Thing

And In Other News

What's That Smell?

The stink of broken promises in the last big bond election

2002 Revealed

An aging Buzz finds little to celebrate in the year gone by. What did you expect?

Taxpayers, Arise!

A little-known chapter of the city charter says we don't have to take it anymore

The Scarlet Letter

The Dallas City Council is about to mark itself for life with its vote on the Palladium deal

Best City Council Member

Veletta Forsythe Lill

:cueless

Buzz hacks through the past in search of the cool cats and fools of the year that was