Dallas, Moving North Since 1945

Justin Cozart’s been busy updating the Dallas Urban History page on Flickr, and among his recent finds is this 1945 map created for the Dallas City Plan Commission (speaking, as we were earlier, of city planning). Writes Justin, it shows “areas of urbanization in the city and certain obstacles to…

Ann Margolin Has a Survey For You

Dallas City Council candidate Ann Margolin, who’s already raised something like $328 trillion as she looks to replace Mitchell Rasansky as George W. Bush’s council member, has created the niftiest little game: “Rank the Top Five Issues Facing Dallas.” Problem is, she’s already chosen the issues for you: traffic, crime,…

Bush and Booze. Not What You Think?

First, on this Inauguration Day afternoon, a mention of drink specials in honor not only of our new president, but the former one who will make Dallas his home, oh, any day now. A few days back, Simon McDonald at The Libertine Bar forwarded us a handful of welcome-home signs,…

The Clearance Begins at Clear Channel

We’ve tried all morning to get Dallas Clear Channel execs on the phone all morning to discuss layoffs there, which began at 7:30 this morning as expected (and our condolences to the departed, who include someone near and dear to Unfair Park). No luck so far — and I don’t…

T.D. Jakes, Barack Obama’s Obi-Wan

As mentioned last week, Dallas’s T.D. Jakes did indeed deliver the pre-inaugural sermon from the St. John’s Episcopal Church pulpit. The pool report contains the entirety of his sermon, delivered in front of 200 invited guests. Jakes, captured here by Patrick Michels at the Dallas premiere of Seven Pounds, quoted…

SMU Students Need to Pony Up From D.C.

I would not recommend reading SMU’s Daily Mustang for your inauguration coverage. The university sent “a group of SMU communications and journalism students” to D.C. to cover the inauguration. Said last week’s media release, “They will have an up-close view of the Presidential Inauguration.” Um. Um. This is the most…

Giving History a Tax Break

The Dallas City Council’s Economic Development Committee opted to skip this morning’s inauguration and actually hold a meeting, maybe because the committee has plenty on its plate — including, after months of debate and discussion, the installation of streaming-video signs in downtown. There’s another biggie on the table too: using…

Before the Swearing-In, a Texas-Sized Ball

Last night from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in D.C., site of the Texas State Society’s 2009 Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, a good Friend of Unfair Park sent the following message: “The Texas ball is not only a celebration of a new president, but a display…

And So It Begins

A traffic heads-up for tomorrow: Unless you’re planning on protesting George W. Bush’s move to the ‘229, you may want to avoid Mockingbird Lane at N. Central Expressway between the hours of 4 and 7 p.m. That’s when Code Pink of Greater Dallas is planning on celebrating Inauguration Day by…

A Trumpet Stopping Traffic

Yesterday, while exiting Walnut Hill Lane off northbound N. Central Expressway, I spotted this nattily dressed gentleman blowing his horn for spare change. Had the chance to visit during a red light, during which I discovered that his name’s “J.D.,” he’s a Dallas native and Franklin D. Roosevelt High School…

A New Lowe for Bush Library

That headline’s intended with all due respect — because, see, the new director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the SMU campus will be Bourbon County, Kentucky, native Alan Lowe, currently exec director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy on the University of Tennessee…