Only a few days ago, The Dallas Morning News ran a piece about Texas’ Tango Blast gang, which was formed within the confines of the state’s penitentiaries and “could change the Dallas landscape because it rejects old notions of prison gang exclusivity and lifelong commitments,” wrote Tanya Eiserer. (The D-Town…
Every so often for about the past month or two, someone will whisper to me in hushed conspiratorial tones, “So, did you hear? That Deep Ellum deal is dead.” Then, they will slink back into the shadows, no doubt to giggle their told-ya-so’s into someone else’s ear. Because, frankly, for…
This morning at City Hall, some three dozen urban planners, architects and city officials gathered on the fourth floor to begin discussing precisely how to turn a dollar-a-spot parking lot behind City Hall into a self-sustaining community. (That’s the site above.) Meaning: How, precisely, can you turn an barren spot…
Bill Holston, good Friend of Unfair Park, asks us this morning to make mention of tomorrow’s memorial service for the Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball, whose battle with cancer was documented in The Dallas Morning News only a few days before her death on Tuesday. In both pieces, the 50-year-old Baskin-Ball was…
Editor’s note: As noted earlier, Avi Adelman reports from today’s hearing concerning Lone Star Auto Services’ towing license.Lone Star Auto Services’ Permit License and Appeals Board hearing started at 10:30 this morning, at City Hall, and you knew it was going to be a long day when an assistant city…
Mark Graham Haseeb Chishty On Tuesday night, Farhat Chishty got the news: The U.S. Department of Justice, after months of investigating, had completed a scathing report on the Texas State Schools for the disabled and was threatening to sue the state for violating residents’ constitutional rights. Chishty, whose crusade to…
Texas State Board of Education member Mavis Knight, a Democrat whose District 13 includes part of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, had no idea till reached by Unfair Park this afternoon that her fellow board member Cynthia Dunbar has published a book. But, sure enough, there it is on Amazon: One…
The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts has a new CEO, Mark Nerenhausen, formerly president and CEO of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, where he worked for 10 years. As announced earlier today, Nerenhausen will start the job here in March, six months before the…
The U.S. Attorney’s Office just sent word: Arturo Tinoco is going to federal prison for a long, long time — 19 years and then some. Why? Because twice in the span of seven months, the 29-year-old was stopped by Dallas police, who, both times, found a whole bunch of methamphetamine…
So, yesterday this old photo of Odell McDuffy and Sam Stillman selling newspapers on a Dallas street corner (circa 1913) showed up on Shorpy, which highlights daily several beautimous old photos stored in the Library of Congress’s archives. One mouse click later, and yesterday had turned into today as I…
So, that Lone Star Auto Services hearing in front of the Permit and License Appeal Board down at City Hall got a late start — 10:30, more or less. And it’s expected to last a good hunk of the day. But, fret not, we’ve got a special Unfair Park correspondent…
What you see at top are three sculptures installed over the weekend in front of the new Fire Station No. 35 near the Marsh-Walnut Hill intersection, which officially opened this week and replaces its 55-year-old counterpart across the street. As I drive by this miniature Stonehenge twice a day, I…
A brief follow to yesterday’s item concerning the Fort Worth playwright suing Tyler Perry over Diary of a Mad Black Woman out in Marshall — chiefly, because Perry testified yesterday and reiterated his claim that he didn’t lift a single word from Donna West. Recounts the Associated Press: “‘I never…
MediaBistro’s TVNewser is reporting this morning that NBC Universal is set to lay off some 500 employees — including folks who work in NBC News’ Dallas bureau. The network’s been shuttering bureaus since the summer; Paris was the first to go, back in August. And in September, word was NBC…
The things you learn by peeking at the Permit and License Appeal Board meeting agenda set for this morning’s hoedown. For instance, Jose Rodriguez will be down at City Hall this morning appealing the city’s decision to deny him a late-hours dance-hall permit for the San Luis Night Club, which…
First, a key spoiler: Cadillac Records is not the story of Chess Records, the blues label started in Chicago in 1950 by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess that featured among its stable of artists Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Etta James, plus many others who birthed…
When reached Monday to discuss the Landmark Commission’s months-long battle with the city over rules regulating the demolition of homes in historic districts, Preservation Dallas executive director Katherine Seale said she was “on cloud nine.” The reason, though, had nothing to do with the city council’s Public Safety Committee’s decision…
This just in from Sean Avery, via his L.A.-based publicist, concerning the comments that got him indefinitely banned, at least till his meeting with National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman tomorrow:”I would like to sincerely apologize for my off-color remarks to the press yesterday from Calgary. I should not have…
Local Realtors Jerold and Terry Smith today provide this worth-a-look listing of some of Dallas’ tonier foreclosures, which are going for cheap, cheap, cheap — if, that is, your idea of cheap is a Beverly Drive address for the low, low price of $1,199,000, which is about $50,000 more than…
While we wait for Sam to post from the city council briefing — where, for the first time, the entire council will discuss the smoking ordinance — a few random notes. First, a Friend of Unfair Park points us toward the latest earnings report from Irving-based arts-and-craft emporium Michaels Stores,…
A Friend of Unfair Park points us toward the perfect Christmas present for the kid who has everything: his or her own skating rink! Better than a pony. Not as good as a flight simulator, though.Ten years after former Black Panther Fahim Minkah fought like hell to open Southern Skates…
Tom Schieffer — you remember him, right? Former president of Your Texas Rangers. Co-owner of the team too, with some dudes named Rusty Rose and George W. Bush. Oversaw construction of the Ballpark in Arlington. Served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Brother of CBS’ Bob. Right, that…
