Subject: Mary Suhm

• Mr. Funny Guy Has All the Answers

  December 6, 2006

• Mary Suhm Earns Her Money

  October 10, 2006

• Bridge Bidding (Or, Why Not Just Play Go Fish?)

  August 11, 2006

• Bond Girl

  June 22, 2006

• So Suhm Me

  June 22, 2006

• Trinity Trust? Not on Yer Life.

  June 6, 2007

• Warning You Now: A Lot of Math Ahead

  January 21, 2008

• Getting Answers from the City's Holy Trinity About the Trinity Project

  March 14, 2008

• Keep Your Eye on the Bottoms

  June 17, 2008

• New Zoo Review: Or, Mary Suhm Wrestles With An Underfunded Budget

  June 18, 2008

• Pardon, But Who's Paying For the Solar-Powered Water Taxi Again?

  August 5, 2008

• Mary Suhm on Recommended Budget: "We Can't Afford to Complain."

  August 7, 2008

• Concerning the Budget, Some Council Members Want to Get Back to "Basics"

  September 15, 2008

• Live from City Hall, It's Wednesday Council Meetings on the Internets

  October 13, 2008

• Mayor Tom, City Council to Take on "Renegade Towing Companies"

  October 16, 2008

• River of Dreams, Not Just Another Billy Joel Record You Don't Own

  On Novemebr 19, Mayor Tom Leppert and 11 council members gathered at the YMCA on Goldman Street for a special community meeting, where the subject was, among other things, the awesomeness of the Trinity River Corridor Project and what it means for West Dallas. This morning, the city posted to the YouTube the entirety of the speech -- so, after the jump, a presentation in four parts featuring Rebecca Dugger, who's heading up the project, with an intro from City Manager Mary Suhm. The video, incid

  December 19, 2008

• 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 will present the Initial Revenue and Expenditure Outlook for next fiscal year, when she anticipates "little to no growth in property tax base" and a "potential decline in sales tax revenue." And if th

  January 7, 2009

• 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 O'Hara Exhibit Hall. Among those scheduled to speak: Christopher Leinberger, self-proclaimed "Metropolitan Land Strategist & Developer" and author of Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New America

  January 21, 2009

• Suhm's Looking for Quarters in Dallas's Couch

  City Manager Mary SuhmIn recent days, sources inside Dallas City Hall have told Unfair Park they've been warned to expect the worst as City Manager Mary Suhm wrestles with the next fiscal year's budget. Which comes as no surprise: At this moment, months before Suhm and the council finalize the 2009-2010 budget, city officials estimate a $100 million deficit -- a number not even as solid as Jell-O, as Suhm explains it to Unfair Park.Indeed, it won't even become a tangible figure till well into th

  March 3, 2009

• City, Heal Thyself: Words of Wisdom From Last Night's Affordable Housing Forum

  Alexa SchirtzingerFrom left last night, Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm, architect Brent Brown and Regina Nippert of the Dallas Faith Communities CoalitionLast night's affordable housing forum at Temple Emanu-El was a lesson in getting things right by "thinking wrong," as architect Brent Brown likes to say. "Wrong," in Brown's view, really means "creatively." Despite an intermittently functioning PowerPoint presentation, Brown wowed the mostly middle-aged, well-dressed audience of about 160 with

  March 27, 2009

• If Nothing Else, Shouting About the City Budget Might Make You Feel a Little Better

  Perhaps you have an idea how the city can cut, oh, $100 million in order to fix its busted-up budget. Or, just maybe, you're really not terribly keen on the idea of City Manager Mary Suhm leaving 12 code enforcement positions unfilled in order to make up the ever-expanding deficit. Or perhaps you, like Murray Blum in the movie Dave, are just the kind of accountant who can take one look at the books and find all kinds of item upon which the city's wasting plenty of dough-re-mi.Regardless, any way

  May 29, 2009

• Stroll to the Future: Walkable Neighborhoods are Next for Dallas

  Welcome to Seinfeld America, a fine place to take a walk that's coming soon to Dallas

  January 29, 2009

• Cheese Holes

  Finally I get why nothing City Hall says to me makes sense

  February 15, 2007

• Politicians Uniting Behind the Trinity Toll Road

  October 11, 2007

• Baby Mitch

  What happened to city council's sharpest fiscal conservative?

  September 13, 2007

• Cool Cotton

  If anything, now is the time to embrace the Cotton Bowl

  March 8, 2007

• More Cops for UTD Dorm

  Plus: Dialing for Dollars

  July 14, 2005

• High on Death

  Plus: Here to Help You; ...Here to Help You

  December 16, 2004

• You Think Code Enforcement's "Poor" Now? Then Don't Look at the Proposed Budget.

  City of Dallas Code ComplianceEarlier this year, the city released the results of a community survey in which code enforcement ranked high on Dallas residents' list of priorities -- behind only public safety, infrastructure maintenance and health services. But the survey also revealed something else: A majority of those surveyed rank code enforcement as either "fair" (37 percent) or "poor" (23 percent) with only six percent of those asked giving it a score of "excellent." The only thing that sco

  May 19, 2009

• Mayor Leppert on City's Budget Woes: "We Just Gotta Deal With it and Move Forward."

  Mayor Tom Leppert kicked off today's budget briefing by acknowledging that "the challenges will be significant" as the Dallas City Council finds ways to eliminate a $190-million deficit. He stressed that national and international issues are the cause of the shortfall, and the mayor likened it to the economic struggles faced by households and businesses. "We just gotta deal with it and move forward," Leppert said. After City Manager Mary Suhm explained that the budget problems are "rev

  May 20, 2009

• 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

• Tomorrow, the City Council Will Start Voting on Budget-Cutting, Money-Making Ideas

  You've been warned: The price of a parking ticket's about to jump by $15, should the council give the OK tomorrow.As Sam mentioned last week, the Dallas City Council didn't get much accomplished during its budget briefing, as a scheduled straw vote on a handful of revenue-generating, cost-saving measures degenerated into a series of delays. And so, during its regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow, several items of note have been added to the agenda addendum, among them votes on forcing Dallas civ

  May 26, 2009

• As Mary Suhm Struggles to Cut, Then Gut, the City Budget, "More Difficult Decisions" Loom

  When council member Angela Hunt said "we're cutting muscle, we're cutting bone" when referring to the FY2009-'10 budget, from which City Manager Mary Suhm's looking to lose $190 million, this is what she meant: Tomorrow, Suhm will present to the council the most detailed look at proposed budget cuts yet, and despite dozens of cuts and fee increases and other methods of creative accounting, she's still $38.6 million short. Which is why on Page 51 of the 181-page document, you'll find a list of ev

  June 16, 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

• Dot Games Highlight Exercise in Futility at White Rock Lake Last Night as Residents Offer Little to Help Solve City's Budget Crisis

  Sam MertenYippee! Red and green stickers!It was standing room only last night as approximately 200 folks battled the heat at White Rock Lake's Winfrey Point for the final of four community budget forums, where several city staffers were on hand to get input on how best to address the city's $190 million budget shortfall. City Manager Mary Suhm, who has whittled the deficit down to $38.6 million, told Unfair Park after the meeting that the forums gave her a couple ideas to cut costs such as impl

  June 26, 2009

• As City Slashes Budget, an Old Idea Revisited

  At some point today, the city of Dallas put out the very advance word on the city's Web site: "City offices will be closed for business on Friday, September 4, 2009 (furlough day) and Monday, September 7, 2009 in observance of Labor/Ceasar E. Chavez Day." (Look, maybe city officials would know how to spell his name correctly if they had a street sign to which they could refer? Anyway.) And speaking of cost-cutting measures, whilst looking for something else on YouTube earlier today, I stumbled u

  July 21, 2009

• Got Something to Say About the City's Budget? Then Let City Council Hear From You.

  Mary Suhm and Tom Leppert, from yesterday's Dallas Zoo briefing​By no later than tomorrow, we should get our first look at City Manager Mary Suhm's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year -- specifically, what stays and what goes to clear out the $190 million shortfall. (Suhm had told Unfair Park last week she expects to present the budget to the city council today or Friday.) In anticipation of its release, the city today posted to its Web site a schedule of Budget Town Hall Meetings, whic

  August 6, 2009

• In About an Hour, We'll Have An Idea How Suhm Cut $190 Million From City Budget

  Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm​Unfair Park might be a little slow-going 'round 1:30 this afternoon, when I'll be down at Dallas City Hall to pick up the executive summary of City Manager Mary Suhm's final budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. Media attending this afternoon's shindig won't be given the entire document, but Frank Librio, director of the city's Public Information Office, tells us the line-item budget will be available on the city's Web site tonight -- "probably after 7." Als

  August 7, 2009

• City Manager Mary Suhm: Budget Cuts Necessitate Laying Off 850 City Hall Workers

  ​Moments before her budget presentation to the media, scheduled to begin any second, City Manager Mary Suhm called with a bit of a sneak preview. We'll have more shortly, upon our return from City Hall, but when asked what was the most difficult cut she had to make to balance the $190 million deficit, Suhm took a long pause, then said, "I don't know if there one thing. It was really about balancing the needs and desires of the citizens and the council vis-à-vis the money. Lots of things are i

  August 7, 2009

• The First Look at the City's FY2009-2010 Budget. But, In Truth, It's Just a Tease.

  Sam MertenCity Manager Mary Suhm presented a teensy peek at the budget to Your Dallas Media this afternoon.​I have a notebook and digital voice recorder full of Mary Suhm quotes in which the Dallas city manager offers encouraging words about the FY2009-2010 budget, a teensy-weensy bit of which we saw at City Hall this afternoon. (Turns out, she's especially excited about once-a-week trash and recycling pick-up.) But none of it really matters for now. Because until we see the actual budget some

  August 7, 2009

• The Bookworm Has Turned as Dallas Libraries See New Materials Budget Slashed

  ​So many pages of Mary Suhm's FY2009-2010 budget left to sort through, and so little time left till tomorrow's council budget briefing. But several Friends of Unfair Park worry about an item they found at the very bottom of the page devoted to the Central Library's line-item breakdown: the amount of money being spent on, ya know, books for the bookshelves. Because in the current budget, the council OK'd spending $1,719,121 on new books -- though only $1,670,852 appears to have been spent. But

  August 9, 2009

• Rounding Up the Urban Rodeos (Again)

  Rio Rodeo is the only one of four urban rodeos operating under the city's existing guidelines.​Now that everyone on the Dallas City Council's more or less okee-doke with Mary Suhm's proposed budget -- Suhm and city CFO Dave Cook were damn near feted during yesterday's briefing -- it's apparently back to old business, of which there's plenty planned for today. At noon, the Quality of Life Committee will yet again round up the urban rodeos, which has been on the council's radar ever since the ci

  August 11, 2009

• Out of the Pool: City Council to Get a Detailed Look at Cuts to Park and Rec's Budget

  Click to expand City Manager Mary Suhm's list of proposed pool closings in the coming fiscal year​For those Friends of Unfair Park who haven't read through the entire FY2009-2010 proposed city of Dallas budget, the city council's biting off tiny pieces during regularly scheduled briefings in advance of the September 23 pass-by date. There's yet another budget workshop tomorrow morning at Dallas City Hall, during which the council will first tackle property tax rates. City Manager Mary Suhm is

  August 23, 2009

• National League of Cities: If You Think Dallas's '09-'10 Budget Looks Bad, Wait Till Next Year

  Sam MertenCity Manager Mary Suhm debuting her 2009-'10 budget to the media three weeks ago​On August 10, when the Dallas City Council met to discuss City Manager Mary Suhm's budget proposal that gut services and employees to make room for a $190-million budget shortfall, the city's chief financial officer, Dave Cook, warned that next year's process will be even more painful. He said that preliminary discussions with appraisal district officials indicated commercial property values would contin

  September 1, 2009

• Council Members (At Least Those Without Rent Homes) Supportive of Registration Idea. Except Dave Neumann, Who Blasts "Tax."

  ​If the Dallas City Council winds up passing an ordinance requiring rent-house owners to register with the city -- a proposal we mentioned Sunday and just discussed at the council's briefing -- it'll apparently have to do so without three members' input. In the middle of Code Compliance's presentation, two years after this notion first surfaced at City Hall, Mayor Tom Leppert said that Pauline Medrano, Vonciel Jones Hill and Tennell Atkins had to step out of council chambers because they "have

  September 2, 2009

• In Citing Concerns Over City's Rising Debt, Angela Hunt Calls Out Mayor Leppert, Suhm

  ​Dunno how we missed this one, but on her blog yesterday Angela Hunt took a long, hard look at City Manager Mary Suhm's proposed FY 2009-2010 budget and wrote at great length about her most major concern: the pile of debt that would result from bond projects proposed in the budget. She's voiced this concern before, but this time 'round she's (virtually) shouting in all caps; writes Hunt, "I'm worried about this. Really worried. Because if we have to spend $24 million more on debt repayment, th

  September 10, 2009

• You Are Aware the City Council Is Likely to Increase Your Atmos Energy Bill, Right?

  ​Just when the budget process couldn't get more interesting ...Yesterday we noted that some on the council, and City Manager Mary Suhm, have pointed out that at the end of the year, the city's franchise fee contract with Atmos Energy is set to expire. Suhm notes, on Page 24 of today's budget amendment workshop briefing:The current gas franchise with Atmos Energy expires in December 2009. To be consistent with those franchises that are based on a percent of revenues (cable and water/sewer), a n

  September 16, 2009

• Several Council Members Say That, You Know, a Teensy-Tiny Tax Hike Ain't a Bad Idea

  ​Speaking of the council and the budget and fees versus taxes ...As we mentioned yesterday, Tennell Atkins's budget amendment called for a 1-cent property tax increase -- which I didn't think would get terribly far, given council members, the mayor and the city manager's oft-repeated vows not to raise taxes despite the $190 million shortfall. But after Atkins made his presentation -- which, summed up, was, "It'll cost you $8 a year on a $100,000 house ... and I paid $9 to go to the movies" --

  September 16, 2009

• Guess Who's Not Happy About the City Council Vote to Shutter Commissions? Aw, You Peeked.

  ​Got quite a few calls today after posting that item about the city council's Wednesday vote to shutter the Commission on Productivity and Innovation and the Youth Commission. Had no idea you cared. No, seriously. None at all.First off, council member Angela Hunt is none too pleased about the item even appearing on the council's meeting addendum for tomorrow -- I know, you're stunned. Still, she's got a point. Because, after all, the council didn't even receive a briefing on the subject -- one

  October 13, 2009

• Brent Brown, Head of City Hall's New CityDesign Studio, On Redesigning Dallas

  Brandon ThibodeauxBrent Brown, Mary Suhm's choice to head up the Dallas CityDesign Studio​Even after having mentioned the Dallas CityDesign Studio -- which the Trinity Trust is paying for, thanks to Rusty and Deedie Rose's $5 million donation -- a few times, we still didn't know what the what it's supposed to do. After all, its mission statement seems awfully vague: "This resource center will engage, advise and support work focused outside the levees, particularly as potential development occu

  October 15, 2009