Earlier this year, the Dallas City Council said it wanted no part in plans to turn a former hotel at 1011 S. Akard Street into a home for the homeless. Perhaps you recall said brouhaha, the result of which will be 250 low-income apartment units once developers Ted and Larry…
View Larger MapThe New York Times’ Great Homes and Destinations blog wonders what kind of pad you can get for $250,000 and comes up with a few options: a three-bedroom, three-bath 179-year-old house near the Fore River in Portland, Maine; a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath house in Athens, Georgia (oh, to live…
Few days back, Politico ran a piece about how politicians’ town hall meetings have gotten a little out of control. Such phrases as “house of horrors,” “angry, sign-carrying mobs,” “disruptive behavior,” “pointless” and “boiling anger and rising incivility” crop up throughout, often in reference to House Democrats’ meet-and-greets where they’ve…
Since the 2006 elections, when the courthouses were flooded with Democratic judges, many of those very same barristers have been trying to put the kibosh on the Dallas Bar Association’s judicial evaluation poll. Why come? Well, they claim, among other things, that it’s unfair, overtly political, a popularity contest, a…
While I’m sitting around waiting for a few call-backs, a suggestion: Head over to DC9 for a moment, where Pete’s got some songs worth downloading to your Walkman or whatever it is you kids use to listen to music these days. I highly recommend Roy Hargrove’s swingin’ “Ms. Garvey, Ms…
For now, at least, this final item about Jose Escobedo and his fake lawn, which the Landmark Commission wants yanked up pronto since it’s not “appropriate” for a historic district. But, a warning: There will be a follow-up eventually: Escobedo says he’ll appeal Landmark’s ruling to the City Plan Commission…
That’s because it looks like Forbes was on to something last week after all. Friend of Unfair Park David Webb, keeper of The Rare Reporter, sends word that Out magazine’s done compiled its list of “The 60 Greatest Gay Bars in the World,” and the only local joint to make…
Tom Hicks has been all kinds of busy making deals; alas, none of ’em Rangers-related. Instead, it’s his publicly traded investment company, Hicks Acquisitions, making news this week, as once more he tries to keep the venture from being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, which threatened to make…
Last time ’round, Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway’s call to turn in your arms arms turned into quite the sideshow, complete with a French New Wave film of some kind starring Caraway and Trey Garrison. Which hasn’t deterred Caraway one bit: This afternoon at Dallas City Hall, he’ll provide further…
While I was at City Hall today, Joanna Singleton sent word that the Texas Department of Transportation has selected Archer Western, which has done work on the rail expansion for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, to handle construction of the $43-million-plus Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. Her press release also notes the…
It’s been precisely one year since we first wrote about efforts to rewrite the ordinance that clarifies when, why and how the city can demolish a structure in a historic district. In the months since then, there have been myriad meetings during which preservationists and city attorneys have attempted to…
View Larger MapJennifer Fulbright, a United States Postal Service employee for 39 years till her retirement in March 2008, is the secretary and treasurer of the Dallas chapter of the American Postal Workers Union. And she called late last week to dispute the USPS’s claim that it’s not looking to…
Just as a Friend of Unfair Park was sending along photos of Jose Escobedo’s phony front lawn, Melissa Crowe, one of our summer interns, walked into my office to report that the lawn’s no mow … pardon, the lawn’s no more. At least, that’s how the Landmark Commission ruled moments…
That’s right — get ready to call the Fort Worth-based chain “The Shack” starting Thursday. The name change ain’t official: It’ll still be known by its more formal and familiar moniker. But according to Lee Applbaum, RadioShack’s chief marketing officer, well, just forget about that whole “Radio” part of the…
View Larger MapJust returned from Dallas City Hall, where, in just a few, the Landmark Commission will meet to formally discuss all the items you’ll find listed here. Sadly, we won’t get to see the Statler shroud: Mark Doty, the city’s historic district planner, told the commissioners that AIA Dallas…
The steel for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge’s been down by the Trinity River for, oh, a few days at least — I breathlessly ogled the two cylinders, each 36 feet long and 17 feet across, only yesterday while driving from Oak Cliff to downtown (surprisingly, no one else was…
Hadn’t planned on going to Landmark Commission this morning, but the briefing session at least does look irresistible. First up is that much-worked-over ordinance that would allow the city to tear down historic structures with nothing more than a court order. We’ve been writing about this thing for a year,…
Yesterday’s Austin American-Statesman provided a lengthy sneak preview of Judge Sharon Keller’s defense in advance of her August 17 special trial: The Greenhill and SMU grad is going to claim the defense attorneys lied, maybe just a little but maybe a whole lot, about having computer problems on September 25,…
In his New York Times op-ed this morning, Frank Rich pours one out for Henry Louis-Gate. And as he moves from Cambridge to the White House (for the free beer), Rich stops to huff the Brit Humes at FOX News, where everyone’s calling everyone else a racist these days (oh,…
Word came earlier this week that Mayor Tom Leppert wants to turn over to the Dallas Zoological Society the keys to the Dallas Zoo in order to shave a few million off a staggering budget deficit of $190 million. But what says the City Council? We should have a pretty…
We end the work week with this awfully golden oldie. Seems our photo-loving, history-having pal Justin Cozart’s been digging in his grandpa’s box of photos again, and this time ’round he’s come up with something particularly fascinating: slides from the 1950s-era study “documenting the advent of sprawl in Dallas.” Visit…
Here’s a fun weekend activity: Scroll through the Texas Education Agency’s accountability ratings for the Dallas Independent School District, which were released this afternoon. (You can go here for the full statewide breakdown by district, region, etc., while KTVT-Channel 11’s Steve Pickett offers a ratings ranking for area’s school districts.)…
