Small Business

In Far North Dallas, Neighbors Are Rallying to Stop a Walmart Planned for Arapaho and Coit

When I was growing up a few blocks away from the Spanish Village shopping center in Far North Dallas it was, if never booming, at least heavily trafficked. It was the site of Chuck's Hamburgers, where we'd walk for lunch when my junior high got out early for end-of-semester exams. Border's was ther ... More >>

Starbucks Responds to Questions About Free Coffee, Plans to Move Trailer

Earlier this week, we responded to a Facebook post that claimed a Starbucks trailer had set up a trailer just around the corner from the downtown location of the Pearl Cup Coffee shop. What's worse is they were giving the coffee away for free. Crystal Johnson, a manager for the local business, said ... More >>

A Texas Lawmaker Filed Four Bills Yesterday to Make Life Easier on the State's Craft Brewers

State senator Kevin Eltife, a Republican from Tyler, filed four bills yesterday that could breath new life into the craft beer industry in Texas. The legislation "will modernize laws that unfairly advantage out-of-state beer producers over Texas' small businesses of the beer industry -- craft brewer ... More >>

Hypnotic Donut Billboards Are Taking Over Dallas

Remember the Hypnotic Donut billboard I found so distracting last week? I've gained 3 pounds since I noticed the lime green banner outside our office window. I can't stop thinking about doughnuts. It's gotten so bad, editor Joe has sporadically started blogging about fruit to keep his mind off confe ... More >>

Christkindl Market in Arlington Evidently Was a Huge Hit Last Year, Expands to 17 Days

Last year the Arlington Chamber of Commerce hosted the inaugural German-inspired Christkindl Market on the north side of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The open-air street market featured crafts, gifts and German food such as sausage and strudel. Evidently it went well. The 2012 Arlington Christk ... More >>

The Morning News and John Cornyn: A Match Made in Fantasyland

An "op-ed" page in a newspaper -- the page opposite the editorials -- is supposed to be a kind of village square for diverse voices, but does that mean it should be a billboard for lies? The case in point today would be the op ed page of The Dallas Morning News, given over to an especially sleazy pi ... More >>

The Texas Legislature Now Has a Farm-to-Table Caucus to Advocate for Local Food

State Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) recently founded a new state caucus aimed at enhancing, protecting and serving the needs of the Texas local food movement. Called the Farm-to-Table Caucus, it's reportedly the nation's first caucus designed specifically to support the local food moveme ... More >>

Next Week, Pete Sessions Explains Why Giving Facebook Money is Good for You

While some in Congress have raised concerns about Facebook's privacy policies and others are already grousing about the company driving the "biggest Mack truck ever driven through the stock option loophole" with a $16 billion tax deduction, a pair of local congressmen are liking Facebook very much. ... More >>

Collecting Internet Sales Taxes -- What a Great Damn Idea, Mofo

Well, crap. Look, I'm generally pro-government. You know, down with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who said, "I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization." And like any good leftie hippie-type, I just love kitschy Main Street shops that I'd definitely ride my bike to if it weren't so damn ... More >>

Since You Gotta Spend Money to Make It, City Looks Outside For Help Growing Small Biz

​Far as Dallas City Hall's concerned, it's hard out there for a small start-up, which is why it's spent years loaning and granting money to businesses via, say, the South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund and the Southern Dallas Development Corporation, both of which have suffered their share of sputter ... More >>

The Historical Figures To Be Turned Into Giant Puppets For Calatrava Bridge Bow

Barefoot Sanders​I seem to recall there was some discussion in October about West Dallasites famous enough to include in that parade of giant puppets scheduled to march across the Margaret Hunt Hill during opening-weekend festivities planned for early March -- ah, yes, there it is. So happens the ... More >>

"Lord, Please Come on Over to West Dallas. In Your Name We Pray."

Photo by Alex Scotthe West Dallas Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon to raise funds and honor the area west of the Trinity.​Yesterday afternoon, the West Dallas Chamber of Commerce hosted what was essentially a baby shower for the nascent neighborhood on the other side of Dallas's ballyhooe ... More >>

Denton Music Still Sees No Benefit From The A-Train

Perry Signs for Cupcakes

Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty it's free at last.​Don't ever underestimate the power of pissed-off bakers. Gov. Rick Perry knows. That's why he signed Senate Bill 81 last week. (Because no candidate wants chocolate cake with thick butter cream icing thrown at his campaign bus i ... More >>

"Nonsense" and "Rubbish": It's Natinsky's Turn to Respond to Rawlings's Campaign Mailer

​We've already gotten former Dallas Police Chief-turned-Dallas mayoral candidate David Kunkle's response to Mike Rawlings's latest campaign mailer. Now, it's Ron Natinsky's turn to respond to the flier, which says -- without naming him -- that Natinsky served as chair of the city council's Economi ... More >>

35 Conferette Will Affect Denton's Economic Future, Says Music Geographer Michael Seman

It's actually Michael Seman's job to figure out how indie rock and economic development are intertwined.​Try this out. Let's say we project the future of indie rock out into the future as a straight line disappearing way off over the horizon of time. Everything that's ever going to happen in indie ... More >>

What 19-century Texans Ate for Independence Day

Celebrate Texas Independence Day by eating a native dish -- like tacos, say, or enchiladas.​The first observances of Texas Independence Day were relatively sedate affairs: The semi-centennial in 1886 was marked by readings of the Declaration and a sprucing-up of Sam Houston's grave. In Brenham ... More >>

State Rep. Johnson Would Like Gov. Perry to Go Get Some of That Federal Small-Bidness Money

​On the other side's a letter state Rep. Eric Johnson sent Governor Rick Perry yesterday, in which the District 100 representative asks Perry to apply for federal funds intended to "provide critical resources to help small businesses continue to drive economic recovery and create jobs." That's per ... More >>

Brion Randall Won't Be Stealing Locals' Hard-Earned Millions For the Next 15 Years

Brion Randall​Based upon the handful of comments that just popped up on this 4-month-old Unfair Park item, some of his victims already know and have been celebrating the news: Brion Randall -- the Plano man who, from 2004 through '09, screwed some 30 folks out of around $6 million -- is going to f ... More >>

UT Arlington To Set Up Shop In Oak Cliff

Daniel RodrigueBob Stimson​The Oak Cliff spirit of urban development and community outreach, which we are physically incapable of not writing about here in the paper and online, continues -- this time, with an urban planning storefront that's the result of a partnership between the Oak Cliff Chamb ... More >>

Tacoheads Roll in Cowtown; Dallas Remains
A Food-Truck Wasteland, Fingers Cry

​Dallas' little sister, Fort Worth is showing up Big D. First the city hosted the contestants of The Great Food Truck Race. Now, adding insult to injury, Tacoheads, a food trailer trading in -- you guessed it -- tacos, is opening tonight in Cowtown. To celebrate the event, Sarah Castillo, Taco ... More >>

Oh, the Fiscal Effects of Expanding Beer, Wine Sales Citywide. Thought You Said "Physical."

​Elliot's at the Keep the Dollars in Dallas press conference at this very moment -- he'll post his Qs and their As shortly. Till then, some light lunchtime reading follows on the other side: Ray Perryman's 25-page report -- The Economic and Fiscal Effects of Expanding Alcoholic Beverage Sales in t ... More >>

Deep Ellum To Get Outdoor Market Next Month

​You know that antiquated covered parking shed at the corner of N. Malcolm X Boulevard and Indiana Street, behind Cafe Brazil in Deep Ellum? Right. This one. Well, this morning Brandon Castillo sends word that he's found a use for it: a Deep Ellum Outdoor Market, set to make its bow July 17 from 1 ... More >>

Dallas Black Chamber Says Contract Extensions Amount to "18-Year Monopoly" for Concessions at Love Field; E-Mails Support Mayor Leppert

The DBCC seemed a bit confused in its arguments in support of opening up the concession contracts at Love Field for bids, which might be one of the reasons why they marked their letter to the mayor "confidential." ​(ITEM UPDATED) The day before Mayor Tom Leppert and the city council deferre ... More >>

Plano Man to Plead Guilty to Bilking Local Investors Out of More Than $6 Million

​So says a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office that just landed in the in-box. His name is Brion Gary Randall, and according to the feds, on May 18 the 48-year-old will plead guilty in Dallas federal court to running a handful of scams between 2004 and last July that were eventually unea ... More >>

Progress Dallas Says Let's Get Wet and Spend the 10 Million Bucks in Extra Tax Dough on Fixing Potholes

Daniel Rodrigue​Today, in the foyer of the Kroger at 5665 E. Mockingbird Lane, Progress Dallas officially launched its effort to collect the 68,846 signatures needed to call a local option election giving residents the chance to vote for the elimination the dry areas of Dallas, as well as endi ... More >>

Federal Lawsuit Claims Dallas's Sign Ordinance Violates First Amendment

April Gilliland, owner of a FastSigns franchise, is among those suing the city​The Institute for Justice -- which bills itself as the "nation's only libertarian public interest law firm" -- sends word this morning that it's unhappy with the city of Dallas's year-old law that prohibits business own ... More >>

Institute for Justice's Attorney Makes His Case Against City's Storefront Sign Ordinance

According to the Institute for Justice, these are the spots where Dallas has gone after violators of the year-old sign ordinance.​At this very moment, Matt Miller, executive director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, is driving from Dallas back to Austin -- only after he made a pit stop ... More >>

Downtown Wish List, Anyone?

Megan FeldmanWhat does downtown Dallas need? You name it.​Gail Sachson, vice chair of the city's Cultural Affairs Commission, would love to see more public art installations grace the streets of downtown. Bob Allen, owner of the West End Pub, wants the city to make it easier for small businesses ... More >>

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 mak ... More >>

Bill Marriott Makes Last-Ditch Effort to Operate City's Convention Center Hotel

Nickelodeon Resorts by MarriottMarriott International chairman and CEO Bill Marriott manages to crack a smile after Mayor Leppert threw a bowl of guacamole at him in response to a letter he sent asking to operate the city hotel.With three intriguing items on the city council docket, I was originall ... More >>

Feds Offer to Help Grow Small Businesses in Dallas's Inner-City

Good news this afternoon for small businesses in the inner-city: The U.S. Small Business Administration has placed Dallas on its burgeoning list of cities tapped to participate in its Emerging 200 initiative, which IDs companies "that show a high potential for growth" and shows 'em how to, ya know, ... More >>

Hitting Where It Hurts

Star Chambers

Fear-Mongering Amongst the Mayoral Candidates. And Don Hill Has a Economic Plan. Didn't Say it Was a Good One.

Summerall in Mesquite

Because She's Worth It

Brave Combo

Saturday, August 27, at Sons of Hermann Hall

Nyuk-nyuk

To understand the new charter proposal, think Larry, Moe, Curly

Shoe One

...was the FBI. Watch out, City Hall. Shoe Two's comin'.

Whiz Biz Kids

Dallas' young entrepreneurs live by their creed: Just do it.

Out of the Frying Pan

Monica Greene tries her hand at vote-getting

Best Children's Bookstore

Barnes & Noble

Choking on Asbestos

Letters from October 3, 2002

Best Hardware Store

Elliott's Hardware

Best play with a local setting that you may never see in Dallas

Killer Joe by Tracy Letts

Bad language

Spanish-speaking merchants tangle with salesmen who talk fast--in English

Oswald's folly

The city wants us to spend millions for a buddy-buddy deal at the Texas Theater

Buzz