Trinity River

As Sandy's Tab Comes Due, It's Time to Rethink Flood Insurance Everywhere (Including Dallas)

Two experts from the Monterrey Institute of International Studies have an op-ed piece in The New York Times this morning advocating the abandonment of the National Flood Insurance Program, which is about to stick us taxpayers for $57 billion in rebuilding costs from Hurricane Sandy. If the experts w ... More >>

While Dallas Chokes on the Trinity, the Suburbs Show Us How It's Done

Hop in the canoe with Schutze as he cries himself down the river.

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

You Can Have Your Voice Ignored Again Tonight in the Trinity River Toll Road Debate

That's right: Tonight, during an open house and public meeting at the Dallas Convention Center, you can crop-dust NTTA with all your brilliant ideas to save the Trinity River flood plains from the dreaded pavement monster, only to see your suggestions treated like the things my wife leaves at the bo ... More >>

A Few More Details About Three-Day Long Wingding Set to Open Margaret Hunt Hill

Photo by Jay Pritchard​Just heard a little-girl yelp coming from Schutze's office; he must have received the same email I just did concerning the opening-weekend ceremonies scheduled March 2-4 for The Santago Calatrava Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge to Ray's. We've known this was coming for a while now ... More >>

Behold: A Trinity River Park Plan That Actually Makes Sense

How do you actually make an impact on the Trinity River? Make it small, cheap and fast.

City Attorney, City Manager Insist They're Not Hiding Trinity Project Docs From Us

Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins​Just spent 20 minutes getting an earful from Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm and City Attorney Tom Perkins, who insisted, over and over, that the city's lawsuit over those Trinity River records has nothing whatsoever to do with our request to see "all the individual ... More >>

On May 10, the "Dallas Wave" Officially Becomes Part of One of Seven New Texas Paddling Trails

TPWD/Michael BlackwellPaddling down the Dallas Trinity Trail​The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sends word: May 10 is Texas Travel Rally Day, during which the TPWD will officially launch seven paddling trails in North Texas, beginning with the 8 a.m. shove-off from the Walnut Creek Paddling T ... More >>

Sandy Greyson Vows Not to Raise Taxes and Targets Quality of Life In Attempt to Take Back Far North Dallas City Council Seat

Friends of Preston Ridge TrailSandy Greyson (right) with Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey​Back on February 11, former four-term city council member Sandy Greyson told us that she was "seriously considering" a run for her old District 12 seat now occupied by mayoral candidate Ron Nati ... More >>

Ron Natinsky is the Chosen One? What's Our Second Choice, Then?

Stick It In Your Earmark Redux, or: Surprise, News Views Ban as a Bad Thing for Trinity

​O.K., I promise not to go on about it, but there's an interesting little two-step today on Page One of Dallas's Only Daily Newspaper. I just wanted to call it to your attention. It's about congressional earmarks and us. For a week or so we have been going on and on about how the Republican ban o ... More >>

What Two Sentences in The WSJ Suggest About the Future of the Trinity River Project

U.S. Army Corps of EngineersFrom the Dallas Floodway Extension Project Description, this 1989 photo: "US175 blocked by water backed up into White Rock Creek. Normally, this is a busy traffic artery leading to the central business district."​Wilonsky sent me an interesting Wall Street Journal artic ... More >>

We're All Winners When It Comes to the Trinty River Corridor Project Photo Contest

The Dallas City Council doesn't have the most exciting agenda today -- though if you're interested in the state of sales tax revenue from '02 to '09, I've got just the PowerPoint for you. But to the more interesting business: First thing this morning, Dave Neumman, chairman of the Trinity River Corr ... More >>

Wake and Bake With This Blunt Sneak Peek at the City Council's Back-to-Work Week

City of Dallas Facebook page​It's going to be a long, effin' hot weekend -- good for staying inside and reading council docs, now that the brain trust is back from its summer vacation. Tomorrow morning I'll post my chat with the mayor, but for now a few highlights to consider, chief among them Par ... More >>

The Horror, The Horror Behind the Latest Trinity River Piece in Dallas's Only Daily

​Trinity River Project stories are The Dallas Morning News on mescaline. The city's only daily does so well with other coverage. But then they drop one of those Trinity River tabs, and the walls go to rubber. This morning The Dallas Morning News publishes a story saying the federal share of the Tr ... More >>

This Just In From the State: Whatever You Do, Don't Eat the Fish in the Trinity River!

​The Texas Department of State Health Services just sent word: Today it issued a "fish advisory" for the Trinity River -- most of it, anyway, and most definitely the part that runs through Dallas. Why come the heads-up? "Laboratory testing of fish samples found elevated levels of dioxins and polyc ... More >>

Mea Culpa, You-a Culpable, And We Want Our Trinity Naysayers Takedown Now!

​I am embarrassed, and I want to offer the Friends of Unfair Park an apology. Last Thursday I proferred an ironclad prediction that The Dallas Morning News would run one of its aw-shucks-yer-pretty-head Trinity River columns or editorials by Sunday, two days ago, telling readers not to pay attent ... More >>

Perhaps a Name Change We Can All Believe In: How About "Trinity Forest Boulevard"?

​From the looks of this sneak peek at a presentation Willis Winters, assistant director of Park and Rec, is giving the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee on Tuesday, that $3 mil earmarked for the so-called Loop 12 Gateway will most likely wind up being spent on Trinity River Audubo ... More >>

Why the Trinity River Project Could Be a Windfall for the Lawyer Who Sues the Army Corps of Engineers

When It Comes to the Trinity River Project, History Keeps Repeating Itself, Repeating Itself

John W. Carpenter Papers, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library,Ben Carpenter, son of John, is the one seen here pointing to a Trinity River canal master plan​Your Trinity River correspondent and advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist, which would be me, had two interesting e ... More >>

Council's on the TxDOT Money Trail to Fund "Non-Traditional" Transportation Projects

For years the city's been trying to find a way to convert the Santa Fe Trestle into part of a trail that would include a Trinity River overlook.​The city of Dallas has till December 11 to submit to the Texas Department of Transportation a list of projects it thinks worthy of the Transportation Enh ... More >>

Even Stephen Hawking Couldn't Figure Out the Fuzzy Math Behind How We Are Going To Pay For the Trinity River Park.

Just When You Think You've Heard Every Last Bit of WTF Concerning the Trinity River ...

Patrick Michels Bonus: Since the city's Calatrava construction cam is still stuck in September, we decided to update it with some fresh pics available right here.​Oh, you caught me here at my desk doing a little quick calculation, totting some things up, always a dangerous exercise for a hi ... More >>

Suspense is Building? Don't Tell Jim.

​As Unfair Park has dutifully informed you, The Trinity Trust this week debuted an advertising campaign for the Calatrava signature bridge "under construction" (or not) on the Trinity River, called "Suspense is Building." Oh, yeah?The purpose is to convey the impression that all is well with the ... More >>

Who knew sand flowed under the Trinity? Everybody but the folks building bridges there.

Among the Trinity Topics Before the Council, Pulling 2,800 Trees Out of Levees

Almost immediately after Schutze posted his wrap-up from the Monday-morning press conference at Dallas City Hall, where Mayor Tom Leppert drove his Chevy to the levees, a Friend of Unfair Park pointed our attention to Page 18 of the Trinity River Corridor Project briefing the city council will cover ... More >>

This Morning at City Hall, Mayor Tom Leppert Put Lipstick to Levee and Said It'll Be Fine

Sam MertenEddie Bernice Johnson and Kay Bailey Hutchison were the levees to Mayor Tom Leppert's Trinity River at City Hall this morning.It almost isn't possible to describe what Mayor Tom Leppert and a line-up of loyal politicos were trying to accomplish this morning in the Flag Room of Dallas City ... More >>

The Season For Magazines

Though the name might suggest otherwise, new magazine Edible Dallas & Fort Worth is not intended for Mothra. Rather, the publication--part of the Edible Communities chain--offers stories about North Texas chefs, farmers, retailers, vintners and brewers, all aimed squarely at "locavores," those w ... More >>

Oy Candy: Trying Not To Say, "Toldyaso."

The scene this morning from the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge construction camIn reading the latest news about flood dangers downtown and the Trinity River Project, it's important to know that this is an 11-year-old story that Dallas officials and The Dallas Morning News are just now being forced to ack ... More >>

Tom Leppert, the Trinity River Remix

Someone not named "Jim Schutze" just posted the above video to YouTube -- just in time for the Friends of Unfair Park who've not yet read Schutze's very related column in this week's Observer. An excerpt, to whet your appetite:At the end of last week, I had a detailed and helpful conversation with K ... More >>

Mayor Tom, Unplugged

Moments ago, the city of Dallas posted a little more than eight minutes' worth of video from the mayor's press conference Tuesday, during which he and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representatives discussed the "unacceptable" rating given some parts of the Trinity River's levee system. As Jim and Sam ... More >>

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 Yo ... More >>

Meandering Back to the Trinity River Project -- Oh, What Memories!

Oh, what a nice morning. I had an opportunity to check back in on an old companion of mine, the Trinity River Project, and I'm delighted to say the old boy hasn't changed not a jot nor a tiddle. Still dressed to the nines, lying through his teeth and playin' the game.The Trinity River Committee of t ... More >>

The Trinity River Project's Completed! At Least, the 20-Foot Model's Done.

Dallas Flashes Back to 1997

A Trinity River vote, the return of the Citizens Council, a corruption case at City Hall. Buzz is confused. Was this 2007 or 1997?

Crock the Vote

The numbers are in...but what does it mean?

Pave it to save it?

Design for Living on the Trinity

Schutze is Getting Truck-ulent Over Trinity River Toll Road. Heh.

Eddie Bernice Johnson's Trinity Toll Road Comment Still Not News to The News

What a Woonerful World

Ed Oakley gets himself a Dutch treat

Tone Deaf

On the Trinity, Laura Miller sounds a lot like any other old-time Dallas pol: bad

Let the River Run

Channel that competitve spirirt for this 10K along the levee

Pants on Fire

Looking forward to even more whoppers next year

Grab for Privates

Should we turn local government over to a corporation?

Pointless Exercise

How they got the media to miss the point on the Trinity River

What's That Smell?

The stink of broken promises in the last big bond election

Letters to the Editor

Man with the Plan DISD's New Math

By the way...

The News finally reports the danger of the Trinity River project. Did you notice?

Big Brother does Dallas

Jim Schutze unmasks the Orwellian Dallas Plan Inc.