Former Dallas drummer (and legendary hooligan) Michael Sanger returns to home base from the desert sands of Phoenix on a short tour with electro-twins Bark Bark Bark. Jacob Cooper and Grace Claiborn (aka, Cranberry Grace) enlisted Sanger (formerly of Post from Vermont and Budapest One) to provide live beats for…
The council’s talking now, and I think it’s gonna be a sweep, damned near. “Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the country, and we’ve developed half of it,” says Bill Blaydes, who looked like he was dozing during the naysayers’ speeches. “There is a major need for what we are…
John Fregonese, the proud papa of ForewardDallas!, is in the house, but has kept quiet. He’s been walking around, standing and sitting and stroking his beard, looking alternatively bored, frustrated, aghast and elated as his baby gets batted about the room. His name has been evoked a hundred times today–sometimes…
Among those in the audience is Dwayne Jones, executive director of Preservation Dallas, who says he is “perplexed” by the outrage being directed toward the plan and the council committee that approved it. Contrary to the opinions of the speakers snaked around the council chambers, who insist ForwardDallas! will ruin…
So far there have been legal and accounting issues raised regarding FD! One speaker said it violates Texas zoning law, another said it’s inviting dangerously speculative development along the so-called transit corridors that cannot even withstand the density proposed in the plan. And a woman from Bluffview cried at the…
Of the 700,000-plus people estimated to have entered the United States illegally last year, at least 463 died trying, 140 of those in Texas. Many more bodies lie undiscovered in the desert. Because of increased border enforcement in urban areas, illegal immigrants are increasingly turning to more hazardous routes across…
The first speaker against the plan was Neil Emmons, a plan commissioner. He was representing Cay Kolb, a former city planning commissioner and former DART board member. She could not attend the meeting today, Emmons told the council, because she is tending to her husband in an intensive care unit–and…
Don Hill says he is giving 45 minutes to each side of the FD debate, which may be impossible. When he asked who was here to speak, everyone raised hands. Lill and Finkelman are going last, but Larry Duncan is up now: “This is where I came in 30 years…
Jim and I have decided Laura is on a Southwest flight to Vegas, cause she sure as hell ain’t here. One thing I did notice as Bill Blaydes was bemoaning the yay vote regarding the homeless shelter (“It will destroy the southeast corridor!”): He’s kinda…unhinged. –Robert Wilonsky…
Uh…as Jim just asked, “Where the hell is Laura?” The FD debate is about to start, and she ain’t here. –Robert Wilonsky…
The chamber is packed with Angela Hunt fans–if nothing else, their bright green “CPC YES” and “PEOPLE’S PLAN” stickers suggest they also want the version of Forward Dallas! containing the Plan Commission’s alterations. Not yet to the discussion yet, and room is getting warm and restless. –Robert Wilonsky…
Veletta Lill’s back amongst the council, patting backs and doling out hugs. Still talking Deep Ellum–Lazerz, specifically, and its late-night crowd. Uh, where’s the mayor? –Robert Wilonsky…
Observer blogmeister Robert Wilonsky is bravely putting his sanity on the line–and online–to blog live from City Hall as the council debates the ForwardDallas! master plan. He’s paying attention so you don’t have to. Take it away, Bobby W.: City council chambers are stuffed–if they charged admission, they could pay…
Somewhere, the old boy must be chuckling sardonically under his big, bushy mustache. First, Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a tale of boyhood life on the Mississippi suitable for children. Nine years later he produces The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starring one of the little rascals from…
Leading man: How many times does a rumor have to be repeated before a responsible journalist passes it on? Beats us. We’re Buzz, not Responsible Journalist Man, so here goes: Twice in the past week we’ve come across rumors that Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill was the leader in a…
A time-traveling dominatrix is pursued through three time periods by a homicidal maniac as she hustles to save the lives of two of his victims, who happen to be the future late wives of the client the hooker was called to service in a hotel room in the year 2014…
Light the corners: Remember the good ol’ days at the Dallas Independent School District? Crooked Yvonne Gonzalez riding a big bulldozer and writing mash notes to top administrators. Threats of blood in the streets. Guns. Shouting. If you were a parent or, God forbid, a student back in the ’90s,…
Last night many women who attended a huge church conference at the Dallas Convention Center found themselves in the midst of a nightmarish crowd control situation when thousands of people were forced to exit through only two sets of two doors. When they finally wrenched themselves out of the mass…
So yeah, our fine city is most known for one devastating day, the Grassy Knoll, that presidential X-marks-the-spot. While America remains obsessed with our version of the royal family, the name Kennedy has been sadly associated with Dallas since 1963 and probably will be forever. If you search the Internet,…
If you’re a college student looking for some summer cash waiting tables, then we have a deal for you: $8 an hour plus benefits. Sounds great, right? Of course, the commute will be kind of a bitch, since the job’s in New Orleans. Doing our part to help with hurricane…
One day after news broke here that Sheriff Lupe Valdez flunked a required state law enforcement test, Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher is thinking that the folks down in Austin need to draw some guidelines on who exactly can ascend to the top law enforcement position in Texas counties. “You…
What would John N. Bucher think about our endless fascination with Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker? Never heard of him? That’s probably because the Hillsboro store owner wasn’t depicted in the movie Bonnie and Clyde. Bucher opened his shop one night in 1932 to two men who said they needed…
