Dallas City Council

Angela Hunt, Sandy Greyson Promise to Quiet the Katy Trail Ice House

When the Katy Trail Ice House opened two years ago, it was an immediate hit with the young professionals and SMU students who populate the Uptown area. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, they come for the basketball-sized beers and stay for the decidedly frat-like atmosphere. The complaint ... More >>

Dwaine Caraway Thinks Dallas is Bungling its Search for a New Park Director

The city's Park and Recreation Board is looking for someone to replace Paul Dyer, who is retiring after two decades at the helm of the parks department. Last week, a seven-member search committee, comprised of park board president Max Wells and a half dozen other board members, decided to keep the s ... More >>

City Council's Muncipal Court "Reform" Smells a Lot Like Bad Patronage

Pretty good time this morning on Get Off My Lawn on KNON Radio (7a.m. every Monday), where I talked about a bunch of stuff but especially this morning's upcoming Dallas City Council budget briefing where a council member will be introducing the proposed new Cheryl, Tim and Ruth Law. The Cheryl, Tim ... More >>

City Attorney's Filings Defend Lower Greenville Ordinance Requiring Late-Hours Permits

​This year began with the Dallas City Council passing that ordinance that requires all Lower Greenville businesses to get specific use permits if they want to keep their doors open past midnight. This year ends with the city entangled in two lawsuits over that ordinance: the one brought by Yucatan ... More >>

City Council to Crash SMU Ethics Conference

​But two weeks ago Jerry Allen kicked off a meeting of the Dallas City Council's Budget, Finance and Audit Committee by boldly announcing that the city's been "tainted by ethical acts, and the challenge for us is to find ways to establish a clear ethical standard and use it to reduce the negative ... More >>

City to Discuss What to Do After State Supremes Razed the Reason for Tearing Down House

​Behind closed doors this afternoon, the back-to-work Dallas City Council will be briefed by city attorneys on a handful of lawsuits, all of which we're quite familiar with: City of Dallas v. Museum of the American Railroad (which, last we looked, is close to being settled); Marcus Wood, et al. v. ... More >>

New Study From Gas Drilling Activists Gathers Decade of Industrial Woes in the Barnett Shale

​Natural gas activist and blogger Sharon Wilson was among the environmentalists out at Earth Day last weekend -- not far from the EPA's six-foot cardboard Al Armendariz -- and she was passing out copies of a new report she'd helped produce on gas drilling in the Barnett Shale. Produced by the Fort ... More >>

Breathalyzer Tests for City Council, an Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Oncor, Dallas Really Wants Lights (and Heat) Kept On at City Hall and Convention Center

Justin Terveen​Personally, I'd love nothing more than to see the council chambers go dark during this morning's briefing. Need something to liven up that ho-hum agenda that includes runaway shopping carts and a look at the Mayor's Youth Fitness Initiative -- or MyFi, as it's called. Besides, ... More >>

We're All Winners When It Comes to the Trinty River Corridor Project Photo Contest

The Dallas City Council doesn't have the most exciting agenda today -- though if you're interested in the state of sales tax revenue from '02 to '09, I've got just the PowerPoint for you. But to the more interesting business: First thing this morning, Dave Neumman, chairman of the Trinity River Corr ... More >>

The Biggest Tax from City Council is On Our Patience.

It's Official, Finally: Coming to a Cotton Bowl Near You, the Dallas Football Classic

​Dallas Football Classic officials were in Arizona this week making their final pitch-presentation to NCAA officials. You remember that game, right? New Year's Day? 11 a.m. kick-off? Beginning this January? At the Cotton Bowl? Pits the No. 6 team in the Big Ten against a rotating cast of cast-offs ... More >>

Dallas ISD's Long and Winding Road to Broad Prize Just Hit a Dead End

​Perhaps you've seen the promotional materials -- they've been everywhere during the past five years, as the Dallas Independent School District (and superintendent Michael Hinojosa, especially) eased on down that Road to Broad, so named for the $2 million award given to urban school districts who ... More >>

Sounds Like That Conservation District Fight in Northern Hills Really Divided Neighborhood

Down at City Hall today, those for the Northern District conservation district wore yellow; those against, orange​I missed the name of the gentleman, clad in a dark suit and tie (that's him at the top right of the screengrab), who, about an hour ago, pleaded with the Dallas City Council to vote ag ... More >>

Haunted House, or: The Dead Occasionally Qualify for Property Tax Exemptions

Flickr photo: numberstumper​Here's the latest report from Craig Kinton's office: Audit Report on Inappropriate Tax Exemptions and Delinquent Property Taxes, which the mayor and the Dallas City Council were given on Friday. But the short version: The City Auditor's Office went through the Dallas Ce ... More >>

Eat a Peach: Mitchell Rasansky's Favorite Public Art Piece Set For September 30 Bow

Art Garcia's Farmers Market Shed No. 2 Peaches, set to debut by month's end​Back in May, when the Dallas City Council was starting to tackle the city's $190-million budget deficit, then-council member Mitchell Rasansky made it clear he was very unhappy with the city's having spent $18,000 on fiber ... More >>

Up the Sleazy River At the Dallas City Hall Corruption Trial

Up the Sleazy River At the Dallas City Hall Corruption Trial

And If City Council Members Stay for the Whole Meeting, They Get a Gold Star

​Two weeks ago, at the last minute Mayor Tom Leppert -- or was it City Secretary Deborah Watkins ... or Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway? -- added to the Dallas City Council's agenda several controversial rules changes that were tabled the night before they were to be discussed. One of those proposed ... More >>

Just Remember, It's Kiddie Curfew Day

​The boy's heading out the door, about to begin his first day of first grade -- meaning, at least, he'll be off the streets when the police start sweeping up young'uns on this first day of the Daytime Juvenile Curfew. Passed 12-2 by the Dallas City Council last May, the ordinance takes effect, tec ... More >>

From California, a Note of Concern Sent to City Council Regarding Dallas Zoo Transfer

Robert Cabello, Dallas Zoological Society​On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council will more than likely vote to approve turning over management of the Dallas Zoo to the Dallas Zoological Society -- and, more specifically, its management arm, Dallas Zoo Management, Inc. Further details concerning the ... More >>

City Needs Just a Little More of Passengers' Dough to Pay for Love Field Renovations

In October 2007, the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environment Committee took up the issue of a proposed passenger facility charge for folks flying out of Love Field. The reason? The council was looking for ways to fund the capital improvements as part of the Love Field Modernization Prog ... More >>

More DPD Surveillance Cams are Coming. And Here's a List of Where They're Needed.

The Dallas City Council's committees have plenty on their plates today -- everything from establishing a trust fund related to the NBA All-Star game to checking in on the Lancaster Corridor, which is in serious need of some upgrading, to parsing over crime stats (according to the Dallas Police Depar ... More >>

Wednesday's Planned Construction on Convention Center Hotel Canceled; Bond Issuance Appears Unlikely Before Vote

Voters can thank the bond market for the opportunity to endorse or kill Mayor Tom Leppert's convention center hotel project at the polls May 9.Since the Dallas City Council approved the developer and operator agreements for the convention center hotel, the Vote No'ers have been eagerly awaiting an ... More >>

As City Hall Sets "The 'Price' of Dallas Government," a Very Big Budget Deficit Awaits

At Wednesday's Dallas City Council briefing, there will be yet another Budget Workshop -- the fourth of many in advance of the September 23 due date for next fiscal year's budget. In the doc prepared for the council, City Manager Mary Suhm describes the process of "Setting the 'Price' of Dallas Gov ... More >>

Yet One More Reason Not to Get Into an Accident: It'll Cost More For a Tow

In 2005, the City of Dallas assembled a list of hot spots (14 major highways, expressways and freeways) to which emergency wreckers were to provide "rapid response" in case of an accident (Page 41, if you must). And since at least 2007, Dallas Police and the Dallas County Sheriff's Department have b ... More >>

Of Synergies and Strategies: The City Council Gets a Good, Long Look at Its To-Do List Today

Now, if only budget workshopping including team train-building.The Dallas City Council will hold its Retreat to Move Forward this morning, as it begins workshopping the FY2009-10 budget with various strategeries and sub-strategeries intended to see the city through tough times. And so City Manager M ... More >>

South Dallas Sheds Another Hot-Sheet Motel

View Larger MapThe Dallas City Council just voted on an agenda item in Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway's wheelhouse: permanently shuttering a South Dallas motel surrounded by "ladies of the evening at all times of the day and night," as Caraway put it before begging Carolyn Davis to continue goi ... More >>

Trinity Parkway Already Taking Its Toll

The Dallas City Council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee gets a briefing at 9:30 this morning on hurdles facing the Trinity River toll road project. They'll have people there from the North Texas Tollway Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I really wish they had thought to ask ... More >>

Crime-Ridden Apartments, Credit Reports and Cops

If you haven't carefully checked the fine print in the city's proposed high-crime apartment ordinance, which the Dallas City Council will take up today, you might have missed this little gem: Apartment owners whose properties become too crime-ridden according to the city's calculations will be requi ... More >>

In the State Legislature, Denton State Rep. Introduced A No-Smoking Bill

Don't know if you're aware of this, as it hasn't made the local news yet, but on Wednesday, State Rep. Myra Crownover, a Republican from Denton, filed House Bill 5 -- yet another attempt to create a statewide smoking ban similar to the ordinance passed by the Dallas City Council one month ago. The b ... More >>

Fair Park, Texas Horse Park. Still Got "Park" in There Somewhere.

Every now and then this week -- till Wednesday at least -- we'll highlight some items on the Dallas City Council's agenda, which runs more than 2,300 pages once you tally up the final agenda and final addendum items. Feels a bit like a year-end best-of, as the council takes up the smoking ordinance ... More >>

You Really Might Wanna Get Auto Insurance Before January 1

This just in from City Hall, a reminder: In exactly one month, drivers stopped for traffic violations who can't prove they have insurance will find their rides getting a free trip to the Dallas Auto Pound. (The return trip will, of course, cost ya. And them some.) Right now, the city tows only cars ... More >>

Tonight, the Council Will Debut North Hampton Park's New Rec Center

The conceptual rendering of the new and improved Mattie Nash Myrtle Davis Recreation Center This evening, the Dallas City Council's holding a Special Community meeting at the YMCA at 3737 Goldman Street, off N. Hampton Road. And though there are a few pieces of business to attend to, mostly the a ... More >>

Heard About Harriet Miers' Latest Job?

Down-and-Dirty Developers Want Into the Inner City

As the city council looks at rezoning, we're wary of the quick-money guys

Letters

Letters

Cynical? Us?

We like to call it "practical"

Puff Puff Poof

Smoking ban passed in the name of public health--right?

School for Scoundrels

They get elected with stolen votes, and then they start divvying up the goodies

The Thing That Ate Downtown

Downtown’s real estate barons are terrified that Perot-Hicks’ slick Victory project could wreak havoc on their own tax-funded plans to fix the city’s core

Best Elected Crank

Mitchell Rasansky

Night Moves

Bachman Lake residents say a new business is moving into their neighborhood--hookers

The shallow end

Personal vendettas drain Dallas' wading pools for poor kids

The plantation burns

Al Lipscomb is on trial for bribery. The real charge is "traitor."

Parting shots

As Laura Miller rides off to tilt at political windmills, we recall some of her choicest words

Miller leaves Observer for politics

X marks the spot

A plan to rename Oakland Avenue for Malcolm X raises cries of racism in Deep Ellum

Buzz