Scott Griggs

How Mary Suhm's Departure Could Help Usher in a New and Improved Dallas

Tons of talk already, of course, about this morning's announcement that City Manager Mary Suhm is stepping down. I tend to go with the end of the spectrum that's viewing it as ushering in the End Times. But I would. Oh, not my End Times. Their End Times! The Citizens Council! I'm talking about the ... More >>

Trinity East's Fracking Plans Might Be Screwed with the New Dallas City Council

Even with two seats in limbo, the complexion of the new Dallas City Council looks decidedly unfavorable for Trinity East, the would-be fracker from Fort Worth that paid the city millions for the rights to its natural gas. Because the Plan Commission voted against the company's drilling permits, four ... More >>

Trinity East's Vapor Chase

Drilling thousands of feet into the earth is a cakewalk compared with dealing with City Hall.

Mary Suhm Tells City Council She Did Nothing Wrong in Park-Drilling Deal: A Live Blog

On Friday, we told you about a memo Mary Suhm sent to the City Council, in which she insisted that she had "had the authority to sign a non-binding letter with Trinity East," the company which has been trying so very hard to drill in city-owned park land and floodplains for the last five years or so ... More >>

Plan Commission Punts Floodplain Fracking Proposal To City Council, Where They Might Finally Have To Make a Decision

If you could make it through the interminable hours of debate regarding the virtues of video boards; the dire necessity of liquoring up establishments zoned dry; and what sounded like a monolithic Oak Lawn apartment building, something interesting did in fact transpire during a Plan Commission meeti ... More >>

City Hall's Cuts of 911 Put Us All at Risk From Crime and Lawsuits

The 911 problem itself is bad enough, but the mayor and the police chief are about to drive me crazy. At our house we record the news and watch it right before going to bed. It's worse than chips and spicy salsa. Night after night we are subjected to these horror stories on TV about people perishin ... More >>

After Dueling Presentations, City Council Still Isn't Quite Sure What To Do About Gas Drilling

We promised you a throwdown during yesterday afternoon's gas drilling hearing before the city council, the first step towards an updated ordinance on drilling within city limits. Dallas Drilling, meanwhile, guaranteed a "smackdown." It's possible in retrospect that those were slight overstatements, ... More >>

The Frackers and the Environmentalists Will Square Off at Dallas City Hall This Week

This was all supposed to be wrapped up months ago. The City Council formed the Gas Drilling Task Force more than a year ago, which was initially scheduled to wrap things up and have a final recommendation by November. A handful of issues -- proper setbacks, whether to allow drilling in parks and flo ... More >>

Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund Decides Maybe Not Quite So Much of Their Money Should Be in Real Estate

At the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m. today, the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System board of trustees held their monthly meeting. We decided to join them, both due to our love of waking up in what was basically the middle of the night to sit in a conference room, and because of the presence of one tanta ... More >>

Mike Rawlings' B.S. Pro-Toll-Road Data Won't Be Enough to Get it Built

Fine. So the Toll Road Creature Who Comes in the Night paid a visit to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings bedroom recently, and now he's a "Toll Road Guy." Yesterday the Toll Road Guy handed out an utterly specious document -- a near laughable and transparent fabric of lies and hoodoo -- and said it prove ... More >>

Extra Pillows, Fire Extinguishers And No More "Urine-Soaked" Interiors As City Council Approves New Boarding Home Rules

After only a minimal amount of mind-numbing bureaucratic discussion, Dallas City Council members voted Wednesday afternoon to approve a new ordinance regulating the city's boarding homes. Set to take effect October 1, the rules apply to around 200 of the cities 300 boarding home facilities, where s ... More >>

The Corps Should Make Up Its Mind About the Levees and Explain Itself

So. Your Water Rate's Probably Going Up By 5.7 Percent Next Year

First, the bad news. Next year, the city estimates that residential users will pay 5.7 percent more for water, according to City Manager Mary Suhm's latest budget briefing (page 35). Wilonsky told you it was coming, right after the city hiked rates last year, again more than five percent. The brief ... More >>

166-Year-Old Oak Cliff Cabin, One of Dallas' Oldest Buildings, At Risk of Being Lost

Last night at the Turner House, the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League unveiled its 2012 Architecture at Risk List, its annual enumeration of properties in danger of being demolished, neglected, and otherwise relegated to the dust bin of history. They offered a sneak peek of the first item on their l ... More >>

On Fracking and Building Roads Along the River, Who Are the Real Conservatives?

So today I put aside my morning paper after the customary two-minute encyclopedic read, and I think, "OK Lawners, you tell me." You work it out. I can't. I'm tired. So you give me the answer. Who is the "conservative" here? On the one hand I have former City Council member Lois Finkelman in report ... More >>

As Dallas Considers Fracking in Parkland and Floodplains, the Usual Suspects Speak Out

It was Dallas city council member Tennell Atkins who, during yesterday's discussion of the city's still-far-off gas-drilling regulations, posed the million-dollar question. "Do you think that it's safe to drill in the city of Dallas?" he asked task force chair Lois Finkelman. Finkelman was noncommi ... More >>

Good News About the Trinity Toll Road: Eventually, We All Die

At some point during last evening's North Texas Tollway Authority/Texas Department of Transportation Incredibly Boring Event, I realized I was having almost as much fun seeing all the same old pro-toll road partisans again as I was running into my fellow usual-suspect road-haters. These things have ... More >>

Dallas Police Adding Bait Houses and Businesses To Their Thief-Catching Technology

The City Council's getting briefed this week on "community policing," the Dallas Police Department's ongoing effort to get residents involved in preventing crime in their neighborhoods. This last came up in December, when Chief David Brown and McGruff the Crime Dog came to visit council members and ... More >>

Ah, So This Was All Mary Suhm's Idea: Patting Backs, Drinking Drinks on Margaret Hunt Hill

​The speeches went on and on and on and on ... and on, everyone on the stage thanking everyone else on the stage for having a hand in building this thing we were all standing on: the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Mayor Mike Rawlings, Friday night's emcee, introduced "our new skyline" and the structu ... More >>

Fort Worth Avenue Development Group Rides In With Money For Bike Lanes City Can't Fund

From a city briefing on bike lanes along Fort Worth Avenue that may now be funded with private money​We ended the year by lamenting City Hall's inability to implement the new Bike Plan due to two speed bumps -- the need for public hearings and the lack of money. But we begin the new year with word ... More >>

Bicycle Advocates Win a Game of Chicken

City Hall turns back on fudged numbers for bike lanes.

City Sends Word That the Justice Department Doesn't Object to Its Redistricting Plan

Like it or not, this is the map that will be used in the 2013 city council elections. The giant version is here.​It's possible we're not yet done with issues concerning the city of Dallas's new council-districts map. Lawsuits, after all, have been threatened by Hispanic leaders demanding five majo ... More >>

Griggs and Hunt: Why Weren't We Told Bike Plan Would Be Hard, Expensive to Carry Out?

Dallas' bike lanes will be painted in gold. OK, maybe not, but they could be quite expensive.​Turns out, the city's new bike plan, unanimously approved by council in June, is far more complex than drawing lines along the street in patterns deemed good ideas by city consultants. Before we get i ... More >>

Why is Drought-Hit Dallas Selling Water?

Um ... because someone at City Hall is smart. Dang.

DPD Chief Brown, McGruff Visit City Council To Talk "Community-Based Crime Prevention"

Photo by Anna MerlanScott Griggs certainly appeared tickled by the appearance of a certain crime dog ...​On Monday a few Friends of Unfair Park seemed a little humbugged to hear that the Dallas Police Department, along with the mayor and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, would pref ... More >>

Last Week, Several From Dallas City Hall Took a Couple of Field Trips to the Justice Department

Photo by Anna MerlanDomingo Garcia and Delia Jasso at last night's redistricting confab​The answer is no, the question being: Will we ever stop writing about the city redistricting process? But it's been a little while, so let's review. Then we can discuss the dueling delegations who apparentl ... More >>

What's Dallas Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett Most Concerned About? Let's Find Out.

​Late yesterday I got a call back from Dallas Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett, for whom I'd left a message about Irving and the North Texas Municipal Water District's need to buy water from the city. We set up a time to chat this morning, and just got through visiting for a little while abou ... More >>

City Council Will Not Trim Public Speakers' Time at the Mic From Three Minutes to One

Acting City Secretary Rosa Rios​Yesterday we noted that the city council would be briefed today on two minor changes to rules governing public speakers, chief among them a proposal from Acting City Secretary Rosa Rios's office that trims speakers' three minutes at the mic to a mere 60 seconds if t ... More >>

A Message from Mary Suhm Concerning Dallas's Role as Region's "Emergency Water Provider"

​So much for all that rain we were promised; there it goes, not even close save for last night's stray raindrops. The not-even-near-miss seems only fitting in advance of tomorrow's briefing before the Dallas City Council, when City Manager Mary Suhm will recommend going to Stage 1, twice-a-week wa ... More >>

Delia Jasso Really Wants Scott Griggs (And Kessler and Stevens Parks) Out of Her District

​On and off the last few days I've spoken with the folks in the Redistricting Office to see if they've gotten their hands on Delia Jasso's amendment to the previously voted-upon map -- you know, the whole reason the council will stop down Wednesday to argue over reopening that mighty fresh wound. ... More >>

Council to Vote Next Week on Suspending Rules to Bring Redistricting Back to Horseshoe

​Yesterday we confirmed the existence of council member Delia Jasso's amended council-districts map she hopes will replace the version the city submitted to the Department of Justice at the end of October. Actually, we were told, it wasn't really a map, more like a redo of District 1, with Jasso a ... More >>

"The Times Are A-Changin'": Hunt, Griggs Ask Pointed Questions About Trinity Toll Road

NCTCOG's Michael Morris​According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Trinity Parkway will cost around $1.8 billion, give or take a few million. That money's not there. But, hey, what's the rush: As we mentioned this morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental impac ... More >>

"It's Time to Take Action": Latino Redistricting Task Force Pledges to Fight New Council Map

Photo by Anna MerlanDomingo Garcia and, sitting to his right, Scott Griggs at last night's meeting over the map in Oak Cliff​Last week we sat through a very long, very ugly city council meeting, which ended with the members narrowly adopting a new redistricting plan. At that time, council member D ... More >>

For Your Late Wednesday Listening Pleasure: Elliott Smith, Between the Bars at Trees in '99

​We had hoped to end the day by telling you which redistricting map the city council's going to send to the Department of Justice. That will not happen, at least not in the next little while: After Mayor Mike Rawlings took council members Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso into a back room to hash out ... More >>

City of Dallas Has a New Budget, But Not Before Suhm Says She'll Deal With DFR Concerns

​When it came time for the city council to vote on the FY2011-12 budget moments ago, it wasn't without a few bumps in the road. Several council members told City Manager Mary Suhm they weren't at all thrilled with her plan to shuffle fire trucks with the intention of retiring one of them. And Suhm ... More >>

This Week in Council Memos: The State o' N. Central, Fire Trucks, Flow Control and More!

​Probably should have broken this week's stack into about 12 different items, seeing as how one of the docs is 178 pages (many redundant) just on flow control, which involves forcing all solid-waste collectors in the city to dump everything at the city's McCommas Bluff Landfill or other city trans ... More >>

Your First Look at the 10 (!) Amended Redistricting Proposals Submitted by Council

One of two maps submitted by Mayor Mike. All 10 are available here.​In the end, it would be quicker to name the council members who didn't submit amendments to the Redistricting Commission by Monday's 3 p.m. deadline: Sheffie Kadane, Angela Hunt, Jerry Allen and Sandy Greyson. Everyone else had so ... More >>

With the Mayor, Celebrating 60 Years of Kiestwood, Where No Change is Good Change

Photo by Leslie MinoraRaymond Crawford presents Mayor Rawlings with a big hairy portfolio of ideas from the community.​The Kiestwood neighborhood in southeast Dallas turns 60 this month, and in Texas years, that's old. Raymond Crawford, who lives in the home where he grew up, hosted a well-attende ... More >>

Finkelman Vows to Keep an Eye on Council Members Drilling In On Task Force Meetings

​I've heard from a few folks furious that council member Sheffie Kadane, a vocal proponent of gas drilling within the city limits, sat with the gas drilling task force yesterday during its inaugural meeting. As Marc McCord, an anti-drilling activist, put it in the comments below: "He showed up, to ... More >>

"Let's Focus on Great Expectations, Not our Limitations": Mayor Mike's Inaugural Speech

Photo by Mark Graham​Leslie's already summed up Mayor Mike's first-ever official speech as Dallas mayor, which was given at this morning's swearing-in of the new council. And she's up shortly with a recap from the ad hoc gas drilling committee vote, which took a bit of a twist; she'll let Scott Gr ... More >>

Down by the Trinity, Searching for Dallas' Enchanted Forest

Even better than a cheap plan for Trinity River green space? A free one.

Oak Cliff's Better Nature Takes Charge

​The Oak Cliff secession movement in 1990 was one of Oak Cliff's very few expressions of political will in the last 30 years, and even that weak attempt at assertiveness was based on the region's profound inferiority complex. Its ethos was sort of: If you're going to treat us like your red-hea ... More >>

Voted Early But, Clearly, Not Often: With 29,688 Votes In, Rawlings Way Out in Front

​The county just posted its early-voting numbers, and it's Mike Rawlings with the early lead -- and quite the lead at that. Of the 29,688 votes cast during early voting, the ex-Pizza Hut CEO got 42.75 percent of 'em -- which translates to 12,693 votes, for those bad at math. Former DPD Chief David ... More >>

It's Still Very, Very Early, But Scott Griggs Has To Be Feeling Good Right About Now

Back in the day, the former Pizza Hut CEO used to refer to his stache as the "Saturday Night Special." Seems fitting in retrospect.​Back when we covered the '07 mayoral election we had a small army of writers out and about, because who doesn't like drinking at a watch party and calling it "work." ... More >>

Kunkle Widens Lead Over Natinsky, While Griggs Still Dominates Dave

Scott Griggs really needs a mustache.​If you care at all about the latest vote counts in the Dallas mayoral and council races, you're either refreshing the DalCo Elections site or at a candidate's watch party. So this'll be the last update till the final numbers are in -- and we know for sure whet ... More >>

Former District 3 Councilman Ed Oakley Really Doesn't Want Dave Neumann Back at City Hall

Photo by Sam Merten​Ed Oakley, who once sat in the District 3 seat at the Dallas City Hall horseshoe, is already listed among Scott Griggs's supporters, alongside, of course, Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia, former Dallas ISD school board trustee Jose Plata, former Dallas City Manager Jan H ... More >>

Elba Garcia Goes Griggs

​I've been trying, with no luck, to talk to Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia about why she's endorsing Scott Griggs over Dave Neumann in the race for District 3's seat at the City Hall horseshoe. Garcia served on several committees with Neumann during her tenure on the council -- among them ... More >>

Dave Neumann Apparently Content to Let Scott Griggs Debate Himself in District 3 Race

Photo by Sam MertenDave Neumann and Scott Griggs last month at a forum in North Oak Cliff​Thanks to the Facebook page Where's Neumann, we learned this morning that council member Dave Neumann has been a no-show at several candidate forums held this month. The page's unknown author named recent ... More >>

Dave Neumann, You Have a Challenger!

Sara KerensScott and wife Mariana Griggs, standing in their so-called "West Dallas Country Club" community garden​Council elections are in May, and this morning we learn that District 3 rep Dave Neumann will square off against a political newcomer (of sorts): Scott Griggs, with whom you're probabl ... More >>

Oak Cliff Becomes Cool Embracing What Other Parts Of Dallas Have Fought: Builders, Bikes And Immigrants