Subject: Linda Koop

• No, Seriously. A Chocolate Fountain.

  December 5, 2006

• Live from City Hall

  June 14, 2006

• Hunting Party

  June 14, 2006

• Zoo-hoo

  March 6, 2006

• Laura Miller and Alex Krieger Are "Astounded" and "Outraged."

  May 2, 2007

• The Unholy Trinity: Kirk, Miller and Leppert

  August 15, 2007

• Tom Leppert: Predictable and Classy

  September 12, 2007

• Selling You Down the River

  September 14, 2007

• City Council to DART: Don't Screw With Those Downtown Dallas Rail Lines

  January 10, 2008

• Giving Joyce Foreman a Break

  February 6, 2008

• Dallas to Get in the Hotel Biz -- And Turndown Service Won't Be an Option

  February 13, 2008

• Yet Again, Council Committee Wastes Time and Gets Nowhere With Booting Ordinance

  The city council's Transportation and Environment Committee failed Monday afternoon to vote on a proposed ordinance to regulate booting vehicles in private parking lots, opting instead to hold a third meeting on the issue. After some committee members asked questions already outlined in the briefing and others sought to modify the city staff's recommendation, chair Linda Koop said there were "too many outstanding questions" and called for a second special meeting to be held before the council's

  June 2, 2009

• Land Owners' Rep Insists He Isn't Hustling City Over Price of Convention Center Hotel Land

  April 30, 2008

• Everyone Knows That Hotel's a "Risk." Which Ain't Stopping Anyone.

  May 14, 2008

• Clang, Clang, Clang Goes the Downtown Trolley, Just Maybe?

  May 21, 2008

• San Francisco Banned Plastic Bags. But Dallas? Not Going to Happen.

  October 14, 2008

• NYC Mayor Does What Dallas Wouldn't: Proposes a Fee on Plastic Bags

  November 7, 2008

• Precisely How Many Deadly Sins Can DART Commit at Once, Anyway?

  Everybody needs to watch the ongoing KTVT-Channel 11 series by Bennett Cunningham on over-the-top spending at Dallas Area Rapid Transit. People also should go look at the incredible Web presentation 11 has put up. The thing that comes across so powerfully in Channel 11’s hidden-camera pieces is the overall culture of gluttony and sleaze at DART, especially among the board members splashing booze down their gullets while belly-to-belly with DART contractors at fancy hotel parties in Cali

  November 18, 2008

• Accidental angel

  January 19, 1995

• Single with children

  February 22, 1996

• Letters

  March 14, 1996

• Sooner Than Later, "New LBJ" Freeway Construction Will Take Its Toll

  The Texas Department of Transportation announced this morning that LBJ Development Partners will be responsible for the so-called New LBJ Freeway -- which, as we pointed out in September, will feature among its renovations six managed toll lanes sunk smack in the middle. TxDOT spokesman Tony Hartzel, the former Dallas Morning News transportation columnist, tells Unfair Park today that construction's expected to begin in mid-2010 or mid-'11 -- "They're not sure when" -- and wrap up in 2015. Which

  February 26, 2009

• Who's No. 1? Dallas City Council Candidates Pick Ballot Positions.

  Sam MertenPauline Medrano and Sheffie Kadane were two of only three (Vonciel Hill was the other) incumbents who showed up this morning.City Secretary Deborah Watkins and her staff this morning in the Flag Room at City Hall announced the ballot positions for the May 9 city council elections, as Billy MacLeod, Victoria Walton, Tiffinni Young, John Jay Myers and Anita Dade gained an early leg up on the incumbents in their respective district races by nabbing the top spot. Ann Margolin was able to

  March 10, 2009

• At Some Point, Maybe, the Council Will Run Out of Trinity Parkway Alignments to Approve

  Patrick MichelsToday's meeting of the Dallas City Council's Trinity River committee -- during which the committee endorsed this alignment for the proposed Trinity River toll road - was dull and uneventful in ways that were of keen interest to trained Kremlinologists. By observing which members of the committee made eye contact with others and which guest speakers sat on their hands while others spoke, trained Kremlinogists were able to deduce the following possible facts:The Trinity River Commit

  May 19, 2009

• Dallas City Council Members Are Wusses

  We need a pit bull. They give us a poodle.

  January 31, 2008

• DART Made a Billion-Dollar Goof

  New DART lines to cost $1 billion more than promised

  January 24, 2008

• The Amazing Schutzini

  The plan for Dallas' future: blood in the 'hood, Mayor Hunt and the Venerable Rasansky

  June 22, 2006

• Finding a home

  Relatives take in homeless boys under single woman's care

  April 13, 1995

• Council Doesn't Want to Raise Taxes, Cut Key Services to Trim Budget. Good Luck With That.

  Sam MertenThe city's budget is $190 million in the hole because of "revenue erosion," according to CFO Dave Cook.The Dallas City Council yesterday afternoon wrapped up a lengthy discussion on how best to tackle the city's $190-million budget deficit by agreeing that a tax increase and making cuts to the police and fire departments are not the answers. Council members opposed several of the proposed cuts by City Manager Mary Suhm and her staff, yet were unable to provide alternative solutions to

  May 21, 2009

• Rasansky Calls Budget "Non-Transparent," Says Increased Fees Are a Tax Increase and Introduces $21.7 Million in Savings

  Sam MertenMitchell Rasansky and Linda Koop celebrate the end of his eight years on the council and her birthday with glasses of grape cider. Rasansky later crushed the plastic glass with his foot and yelled, "Mazel tov!"City Manager Mary Suhm, Mayor Tom Leppert and CFO Dave Cook all stressed this morning that the city is facing the same budget challenges as other cities and states. As Cook briefed the city council for the last time before a more detailed budget is presented August 10, he said th

  June 17, 2009

• Reeds Confirmed as "High-Priced Lobbyist" Pushing to Allow Car Booting Without Receipts

  Save Deep EllumUpdated at 3:07 p.m. As we mentioned yesterday, the freshly inaugurated city council is set to approve a booting ordinance after the Economic Development Committee voted unanimously June 16 to put a modified version of the staff recommendation on tomorrow's addendum. This didn't make the Save Deep Ellum coalition happy, as they sent out fliers claiming, "The parking companies have hired a high-priced lobbyist in order to get their way." Friend of Unfair Park "Mark" speculated t

  June 23, 2009

• City Council Kicks Booting Ordinance to August

  Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert huddles with Angela Hunt, Linda Koop, chief of staff Chris Heinbaugh, deputy chief of staff Paula Blackmon and, with her back to the camera, Pauline Medrano before booting the booting ordinance.A conference broke out during this morning's city council meeting shortly after Mayor Tom Leppert announced that Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano and council member Angela Hunt pulled Addendum Item No. 15 regarding the booting ordinance for discussion. Leppert, Medrano

  June 24, 2009

• Buzz: Guess which Dallas City Council member is looking all establishment now?

  June 26, 2009

• Hunt Attributes Delayed Car Booting Ordinance to Budget and The Reeds; Deep Ellum Group Uses Petition to Lobby Council

  Sean FitzgeraldThe Deep Ellum Community Association used a petition measuring more than 50 feet with more than 850 signatures to push the council to take the car booting issue more seriously.We're already breaking our promise, but because we're strangely obsessed with the city's struggle to get a car booting ordinance on the books, Unfair Park probed Angela Hunt regarding the city council's decision to bring the issue back to the Transportation and Environment Committee in August. To catch eve

  June 25, 2009

• Leppert Leads Trade Mission to Canada in Search of Sustainability, Whatever That Is

  Patrick MichelsWe suggest Leppert make it a short trip -- arrive wearing these shades and demand all of Canada's sustainability secrets "or else."A group of city officials and business leaders will join Mayor Tom Leppert today for a four-day trip to Toronto, Canada, where they're set to tackle the issue of "sustainability." Numbed by the vagueness of such a term, we contacted Leppert's deputy chief of staff, Paula Blackmon, to give us a better idea of what exactly the mayor and everyone else ha

  July 15, 2009

• Finance Reports Confirm What You Already Knew: Harlan Crow and Ray Hunt Are Loaded

  Sam MertenWhat recession? As Harlan Crow told us right after the losing the election and more than $5 million: "I'll get over it before I get home."The spending gap between the two convention center hotel campaigns predictably didn't mimic the narrow margin at the polls, as Harlan Crow's $5.2 million anti-hotel effort dwarfed an otherwise impressive haul of more than $1.9 million by three pro-hotel committees. Nearly all of the funding for Crow's campaign came from his company's hotel, the Hilt

  July 17, 2009

• "Very Exciting Stuff" as Dallas and Fort Worth Apply for Federal Money for Streetcars

  Courtesy Justin CozartIn 1945, Dallas city and transit officials, among them Mayor J. Woodall Rodgers, introduced "the first of twenty-five new, silent, streamlined street cars."Almost two months ago, the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environmental Committee got a peek at the proposed alignments for the downtown streetcars; but, again, the question of who'll pay for 'em went unanswered. Then came Friday's Star-Telegram story in which it was revealed that Dallas and Fort Worth, under t

  July 20, 2009

• The New Dallas Zoo Revue Will Be Coming Right at You By No Later Than October 1

  ​If the discussion at Dallas City Hall today is any indication, that outta-nowhere proposal to privatize the Dallas Zoo and the Aquarium at Fair Park is all but a done deal. Expect the city to turn over the keys to the Dallas Zoological Society by October 1 following a vote next week by the city council.At its briefing this morning and into the early afternoon, council members had but a few questions and concerns for DZS leadership, City Manager Mary Suhm and Park and Recreation director Paul

  August 5, 2009

• Must-See TV: Watch the Budget Briefing

  ​At this very moment, the Dallas City Council is being briefed by Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm, chief financial officer Dave Cook and others on the proposed FY2009-1010 budget, which the council will approve on September 23. But before Suhm and Cook took control of the meeting, Mayor Tom Leppert suggested some cuts not yet made -- among them, Jerry Allen's effort to cut council expenditures, to which Angela Hunt added some ideas on July 29. (Suhm did not touch the council's budget -- not even

  August 10, 2009

• 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 so-called consultants -- a broad term apparently meaning anybody who can get you the votes you need for your deal with the city, for a price.Five council members this morning signed a letter to City At

  August 24, 2009

• Up the Sleazy River At the Dallas City Hall Corruption Trial

  August 27, 2009

• Up the Sleazy River At the Dallas City Hall Corruption Trial

  August 27, 2009

• Yes, But Is it Fare? As Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game Loom, the City's Talking Taxis.

  ​Tomorrow, the Dallas City Council's Transportation & Environment Committee will take up taxis -- specifically, whether or not to cut cab companies a few big breaks in the middle of an economic downturn that's turned smack into oncoming business. According to briefing documents, calls to the airport are way down: from 980,710 in 1999 to 556,328 today. So too is hotel occupancy: Local hostelries are 58 percent full on average, an 8.5 percent dip after the 2006-'07 rebound that followed the

  September 14, 2009

• A Desire Named Streetcar, Part 281

  Just in case you were wondering where those streetcars might go ... ​Streetcars have been on the city council and Dallas Area Rapid Transit's radar since well before the May 23, 2008, book-club get-together at Dallas City Hall, during which city officials and downtown stakeholders got a talking-to from the authors of Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st Century. But the questions remain: Where to put 'em, how to pay for 'em, how to govern 'em and, well, how to do even do 'em in the

  October 12, 2009

• Off Track, or: Some Notes from the City Council's Downtown Streetcar Briefing

  Courtesy Justin CozartThis piece from 1945 must be what DowntownDallas's Kourtny Garrett means when she writes, "I'd say we're coming full circle."​Grudgingly, I have to say that the two Dallas City Council members who asked the best questions at today's council briefing on downtown trolleys were Ron Natinsky and Dave Neumann. Both of them wanted to know why the proposed governing body for a downtown trolley system would put the City of Dallas in a minority role, since the system will be in do

  October 12, 2009

• Downtown Trolleys Are a Good Idea. So You Know It’ll Never Work.

  October 15, 2009

• Tooth Marks: The Brawl at City Hall Over Real Ethics Reform Is Only Just Beginning

  Patrick MichelsDallas City Attorney Tom Perkins​Angela Hunt is putting the bite on the mayor today on the issue of ethics reform.The council is being briefed on possible new ethics rules growing out of the City Hall corruption case. Council member Hunt and four other members signed a letter a couple weeks ago asking City Attorney Tom Perkins to give them a briefing on what other cities do, so this is that.Perkins gave them a lot of technical stuff first. Now it's going around the horseshoe for

  October 19, 2009

• The Waters Are Murky as Dallas City Council Seeks Clarity Before Ethics Reform Vote

  Sam MertenCouncil member Carolyn Davis talks to zoning lawyer Kirk Williams as Willie Cothrum (right) listens.If nothing else, the city council's hastily planned ethics reform briefing early this morning showed that this group is capable of a spirited debate. For the most part, Mayor Tom Leppert has been able to keep everyone, with the exception of Angela Hunt and former council member Mitchell Rasansky, on the same page, sharing their toys with no complaints. But today, Dave Neumann, a Leppert

  October 26, 2009

• If You Think Ethics Reform at City Hall Was All Mayor Tom's Idea, Pass That Pipe, Willya?

  Patrick Michels​In an editorial today The Dallas Morning News gives all the credit for better ethics at City Hall to Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert because, "In the end, Tom Leppert didn't blink." They must have sent a greenhorn over to cover the city council's straw vote on ethics reform last week. An experienced reporter would have known that Mr. Leppert never blinks --- a trait that usually gives people the willies. In this case The News's editorial page is on a mission. It wants people to know t

  November 2, 2009

• "Nothing We Can Ever Do Will Stop Corruption If an Officeholder is Willing to Be Bribed."

  Sam MertenAnn Margolin and Angela Hunt​Yesterday, just after Angela Hunt posted her lengthy essay titled "Ethics Reform at City Hall," Jim wrote that "we can thank council members Hunt, Ann Margolin and Linda Koop for adding the only real teeth in this poor gum-smacker." So happens that on Monday, Margolin also weighed on the subject (and last Wednesday's meeting that ended up in a pile of straw) on her occasionally updated Web site -- and her item's a two-parter. First part's titled "Ethics R

  November 3, 2009