Economic Issues

Plan to Privatize Farmers Market Sails Through City Council

Last month, when the city finally released details about plans to privatize the Dallas Farmers Market in hopes of making it a going concern, it prompted celebration among the many who have been dismayed by the market's stagnation and demise. The proposal calls for a number of improvements, the most ... More >>

Developers Look to Get $5 Million Subsidy to Redo Vacant Building Across from City Hall

In October, Turkish developer Mike Sarimsakci unveiled his plan to transform the long-vacant Butler Brothers Building at 500 S. Ervay St., caddy-corner to the library and directly across the street from City Hall, into a large mixed-use development complete with 250 apartments, a 200-room Hilton hot ... More >>

Mark Cuban: Of Course We're Better Off Than Four Years Ago, So Stop Asking

The Democrats are gathered in Charlotte for the quadrennial circle jerk in which they deliver bombastic speeches and anoint their presidential nominee. Last week, the Republicans did the same in Tampa. These respective echo chambers inevitably lead to an increase in the type of one-sided political b ... More >>

City Hall Stays Hush About New Farmers Market Proposal

See also: *Want To Fix The Farmers Market? Ditch The Cars. Earlier this week, news leaked that a proposal submitted by Spectrum Properties detailing its plans for privatizing the Farmers Market had been tentatively accepted. The development company is responsible for Third Rail Lofts, an apartment ... More >>

With One Set to Expire and Another Almost Tapped Out, What's Next for Downtown's TIFs?

Since its inception in 1996, the City Center TIF has captured property taxes from that neighborhood and flowed them back into downtown projects -- nearly $59 million for projects like the Joule Hotel and Republic Tower. Its neighbor, the Downtown Connection TIF, was established in 2005 and has poure ... More >>

Is the Bush Institute's Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon Program Too Little Too Late?

At right you see former First Lady Laura Bush, cheerily painting a door at a health clinic in Zambia. The photo was taken earlier this month by a staffer at the Bush Institute, part of the press surrounding the former first couple's visit to Africa earlier this month. It's also included in today's D ... More >>

The City of Ate Interview: Atti Worku, a Former Miss Ethiopia and Host of a Benefit Dinner at Bolsa Mercado Next Week

Atti Worku was born and raised in Adama, Ethiopia, where at an early age she noticed a distinct difference in her private school education and those in the public school system. During college Worku began modeling and competing in beauty pageants, and in 2005 was crowned Miss Ethiopia. Shortly aft ... More >>

Developers Intend to Turn Old Dallas High School Into a Residential Development

​As we noted earlier in the week, the council's Economic Development Committee will be briefed Monday concerning plans for the old Dallas High School downtown. So too, turns out, will the Landmark Commission: The freshly posted agenda for Monday's 1 p.m. meeting reveals that developer Wynne/Jackso ... More >>

Office of Economic Development Offers a Look at Where Dallas Lives, Works and Spends

Click to enlarge this look-see from this afternoon's council briefing​A couple of months back the council's Economic Development Committee got a look at Dallas's workforce and jobs courtesy the Office of Economic Development, which asked: Does the city have the "wrong workforce or the wrong jobs?" ... More >>

Before City Gets to Work on Complete Streets Manual, the "West Davis Community Walk"

​The city's spent the last month or so piloting some Complete Streets projects all 'round town, among them the Grand Avenue Better Block-ing that transformed the four lanes and land in front of R.L. Griffin's Blues Palace near Fair Park the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Sustainable Development and ... More >>

Indian Jewelry, Prince Rama, Darktown Strutters, New Fumes

Friday, November 18, at Rubber Gloves

Date Set, Sort of, For "Project Wall-E" Bow

​I had to call Karl Zavitkovsky, head of the city's Office of Economic Development, about something that turned out to be nothing this morning. (Well, if you must know, I wondered if "The Collective" referred to here is just "The Orleans at La Reunion" by a new name, and it is.) But while I had hi ... More >>

Dollar Signs and EKG Lines: Dallas Heart Disease Study "Striking" For Poor Young People

​We hear a lot about income inequality these days, as we do about our collectively clogged arteries. But it's less often that we're reminded of how one affects the other. A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal does just that, tracking the connection between cardiac arrest and ... More >>

Speaking of Ex-Dallas Mayors, Steve Bartlett's Out to Kill D.C.'s Post-Financial Collapse Regs

​And Schutze and I were just talking about Steve Bartlett. Then a Friend of Unfair Park goes and sends this piece posted a little while ago to The New York Times's website about how the former mayor of Dallas (twixt Strauss and Kirk, for those new to town or who just plain forgot, and how could yo ... More >>

Alone, Together: David Kunkle and Mike Rawlings Square Off in Mayoral Debate

Photos by Patrick MichelsMike Rawlings introduces himself to the Dallas business community.​After Mike Rawlings wrapped Ron Natinsky's endorsement this morning at the Adolphus, he joined fellow Dallas mayoral hopeful David Kunkle for lunch with the Dallas Regional Chamber and paying guests from Te ... More >>

The Word on John Wiley Price: Judas

​Southern Dallas, especially the ministerial leadership, seems to be pretty locked up behind mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings. In explaining that to myself, I do allow for Rawlings's charismatic personality and his track record on community issues. He's got things going for him. (Well, maybe no ... More >>

Mike Rawlings on Tenure as Homeless Czar and Why "Citizens Council" Isn't a Pejorative

viaAylwin Lewis​During our 90-mintute interview with Mike Rawlings at CIC Partners inside Crescent Court for last week's piece about the mayor's race, Rawlings repeated a statement about the campaign that he's made at countless debates: "It's not about personalities." We argued the opposite i ... More >>

We Need a Mayor Who'll Cut Up City Hall's Credit Card.

Mayoral Candidates David Kunkle, Edward Okpa and Mike Rawlings Talk Neighborhoods and Economic Development in Pleasant Grove

Photos by Sam MertenWhile this looks shady, Mike Rawlings is actually handing out a business card.​All four mayoral candidates are running on similar platforms to improve neighborhoods and boost economic development. But underdog Edward Okpa sought to set himself apart from the field this afte ... More >>

From the Mailbag: What Happened to City's Plan to Privatize Dallas Farmers Market?

​Fingers crossed, we'll get to this asked-and-answered more than once a month. But not a week goes by that four, five e-mails don't pop up in the in-box wondering what in the wide, wide world of sports became of City Manager Mary Suhm's plan to take the downtown Dallas Farmers Market private? Matt ... More >>

Dallas City Hall gets whopped upside the head for its low-income housing policy.

Brother, Can You Paradigm? A Look at a New Plan For Troubled Dallas Neighborhoods.

​Just rode up to the briefing room with Tennell Atkins, who -- and I'll try not to take it personally -- seemed awful anxious for those elevator doors to open on five, and we're shooting the breeze in the gallery as the rest of the Economic Development Committee trickles in -- Natinsky another of ... More >>

Dallas Is On the "Road to Full Recovery"

Brookings Institution​At least, that's what the Brookings Institution says in its 52-page report Global Metro Monitor: The Path to Economic Recovery, which took a long, hard look at "data on economic output and employment in 150 of the world's largest metropolitan economies, located in 53 countrie ... More >>

Lookin' for a Home in the Heart of the 21st Century City at Dallas City Hall Next Month

Joel Kotkin​We -- meaning, you -- just got the nicest invitation to Dallas City Hall on November 12. It's for a little get-together called the 21st Century City Conference, which is being staged by The Trinity Trust, The Dallas Institute and the CityDesign Studio. There's some info on the website ... More >>

Slowly, But Not Quite Surely, Dallas ISD Backs Off Efforts to Seize, Raze Jubilee Park Homes

Daniel RodrigueShawn Busari and her family grew up in this house, which DISD wanted to take for a mere $50,000.​It's been almost six months now since Jubilee Park residents began protesting the Dallas Independent School District's plans to seize their businesses and homes by any means necessary to ... More >>

And Now It's Time For Your Semi-Regular Parking Rate Increase at Love Field Airport

​Two years ago, the council's Economic Development Committee took a long, hard look at parking rates at Love Field and agreed with the recommendation that it gradually hike prices "over several years" for several reasons -- among them, Love Field's just too cheap, and it'll help offset some of the ... More >>

When It Comes to Bishop/Davis Study, Not Everyone In Oak Cliff Is On the Same Page

From the Bishop Davis Land Use & Zoning Study, which we'd recommend downloading from here before trying to open​With even Oak Cliff homeowners associations split over the Bishop Davis Land Use & Zoning Study, if nothing else yesterday's public hearing at the City Plan Commission proved th ... More >>

Do You Want to Help City Hall Rewrite the Dallas Bike Plan? No, Seriously. Yes, You.

​Frank Librio at Dallas City Hall sends word this morning: Max Kalhammer, the city's new bike coordinator, is looking for folks to help the city rewrite the outdated Dallas Bike Plan, which hasn't been touched since 1985, more or less. As Kalhammer told Kim in December, the ultimate goal of the ne ... More >>

It Appears the City's Buying JCPenney's Space at Southwest Center Mall After All

"The lonely mall" formerly known as Red Bird​For weeks it's been rumored that the city's getting ready to buy the JCPenney piece of the beleaguered Southwest Center Mall. Which, if true, wouldn't come as much of a surprise: The Urban Land Institute, paid $120,000 by the city council in April to "a ... More >>

The Man With the Latest Downtown Plan Says We're "A City of Districts" In Need of "Unity"

Daniel Iacofano​Daniel Iacofano -- the "I" in MIG, Inc., which the city hired to develop the latest downtown master plan -- was at the Dallas Convention Center a couple of weeks ago collecting wish-list items from stakeholders and civilians; more than a few Friends of Unfair Park have offered sugg ... More >>

Getting Educated at the Policy Boot Camp

Photos by Kimberly Thorpe​It doesn't sound like a buzzword or a catch phrase -- at least, not like "Obamacare" or "Socialism." But heading into the next election season, keep an eye out for it: "educated voter." That was the phrase being bandied about Saturday, when Unfair Park headed to Lak ... More >>

Attn: Wall Street. Michael Moore is a Marxist (but he's still selling the same old shtick in his Capitalism: A Love Story).

Ann Margolin on Why She Opposes Mary Suhm's Proposed Water Rate Increase

District 13 council member Ann Margolin​At last, another council member with a blog: Ann Margolin, who's penned a little sumpin-sumpin about the budget by way of an invite to one her town hall meetings. Specifically, Margolin writes, she's opposed to the increase in water and stormwater fees as pr ... More >>

Chewing the Fat: Breaking The Chains?

Driving around DFW, you have to take notice of the seemingly endless strips of six-lane traffic and the stores and restaurants on either side. Yeah, local dining hasn't suffered as much as in other parts of the U.S. But with Bloomberg reporting today that restaurants have a greater chance of failing ... More >>

All Ale Cheese!

Pair up brews and bites

A Tough Year for Local Restaurants Sputters to an End

Now, About That Other Downtown Hotel, the Poor Ol' Statler

And Here's How We'll Pay for the Convention Center Hotel

"For the Love of Money": Or, Alphonso Jackson Takes a Gamble

Urban Land Institute Taps the Cedars As the Site of Its Annual Design Contest

Housing the Homeless, How Novel

The Broken Promises of NAFTA

That Jim Schutze is Always Makin' Friends

Re: DHA Has a Lott of Nerve

Little Lost Boys...and Girls

Is the move to privatize Child Protective Services leaving huge gaps in care?

Jilted

Old and full of potholes, a sad city remembers its mayor-bride

'Tisn't the Season

Bars, restaurants take divergent paths through dismal fall

Buzz

Cold embrace; No free ride; Love fest

Holy handouts

How taxpayers -- including you, if you hit the flea market in Canton -- are subsidizing the Christian right

It's your store (like it or not)

Albertson's wants to build in East Dallas, and it's not about to let future customers get in the way