Sam Merten Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey Things are looking bleak for the GOP, but you don’t have to be at the Radisson to know that. We’re still trying to locate Lowell Cannaday, who’s behind 56 percent to 44 percent with 420 of the 708 precincts reporting. But, in the…
Sam Merten The scene at the Radisson Hotel As Dallas County GOP chair Jonathan Neerman told me earlier, a 20-point margin for Barack Obama would amount to an insurmountable lead to overcome for local Republicans. Of course, with early voting showing just that — a 20-point lead for Obama –…
Sam Merten Jonathan Neerman, Dallas County GOP chair If Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman is nervous, he’s not showing it. Since he arrived at the Radisson Hotel around 5:30, he’s calmly been working the room, checking his Blackberry while sipping from a glass of water. Neerman says the…
Obama receives a hug from his grandmother at his 1979 high school graduation in Hawaii. The first sip: I’ve been convinced Barack Obama will win for quite some time, but for those looking for hope, here’s some optimism for a surprise John McCain victory. The second sip: No matter who…
A stricter smoking ban in Dallas appears imminent. The first sip: The city council, which just may reveal the operator of the convention center hotel today, is poised to take a significant step toward strengthening Dallas’ smoking ordinance when it hears a briefing on the issue Wednesday. As Dave Levinthal…
With early voting wrapping up yesterday, we contacted Kirk McPike, Sheriff Lupe Valdez’s campaign manager and number-cruncher for local Democrats, for the latest on what the party is forecasting. He says Democratic-aligned precincts in general are outvoting the trends in terms of percentage of the vote from 2006 when the…
Sam Merten In true lawyerly fashion, Tom Perkins knows nothin’ ‘bout nothin’. If you thought we couldn’t possibly have left anything of interest out of Tuesday’s lengthy post regarding last week’s city council meeting, there’s one tidbit we’ve been following. Turns out Mayor Leppert kept council member Mitchell Rasansky from…
Sam Merten Still not sure what I’ll wear for Halloween, but I’ve ruled out this costume so far. The first sip: Happy Halloween — and, speaking of, earthquakes in the DFW? Maybe Irving and Grand Prarie are going as Los Angeles this year. Me, I was thinking of dressing as…
As Observer editor Mark Donald, fellow staff writer Megan Feldman and I exited our car and headed to the elevators in the parking garage at the Belo Mansion yesterday afternoon, we bumped into staffers from D Magazine. It was my first opportunity to meet Adam McGill and Zac Crain, and…
15 UNT football players found a unique way to show school spirit. The first sip: As Richie pointed out yesterday, somehow Todd Dodge’s job is safe as UNT football coach despite an 0-8 start and a defense that ranks dead last in the nation in points allowed per game. Perhaps…
Brian Harkin John Wiley Price and John Scovell showed up last week to defend Mayor Leppert’s hotel, but it was council member Vonciel Jones Hill who stole the show. At last week’s meeting, the city council approved selling bonds to refinance the convention center and spending another $4 million on…
Sam Merten Ron Natinsky points out a booger on the wall during a Trinity toll road debate last year in North Dallas The first sip: Dave Levinthal keeps digging into council member Ron Natinsky’s expenses, and things continue to get worse for one of Mayor Leppert’s buddies. Essentially, it amounts…
Those who know me from my days at Dallas Blog might be familiar with a semi-regular segment I introduced called “Virtual Coffee.” The idea — linking to stuff around the Web and providing commentary — was hardly original, but I hoped it would provide an outlet to quick-hit items that…
KDFW-Channel 4 Fourth-grader Cole Berardi, who was killed last week after he was struck by a speeding Dallas police car By now, you are undoubtedly familiar with the sad story of Cole Berardi, the 10-year-old boy who died last week after he was struck by a police car while riding…
Just got off the phone with council member Angela Hunt, who is in her hotel room in Copenhagen, Denmark, catching up on the latest news back home. She says she’s amazed the mayor and city council have decided to move forward with the convention center hotel and ignore the pending…
The campaign between Lupe Valdez and Lowell Cannaday was supposed to be a bellwether race for Dallas County, one that pitted an openly gay Latina Democratic sheriff against a traditional red-meat Republican with outstanding law enforcement credentials. For Democrats, it would measure the power of their incumbency, having to defend…
What does a yellow signal at a stoplight mean exactly? Slow down and be prepared to stop, or hit the gas before the light turns red? Anyone who’s driven in Dallas knows which answer many local drivers would choose, so maybe City Hall’s hurry-up response to a possible citywide vote…
Patrick Michels We’re thinking: T-shirt! In this week’s paper version of Unfair Park, we discuss Mayor Tom’s plans to build the convention center hotel despite what voters may say at the polls in May. And council member Mitchell Rasansky continues to express his disgust regarding Leppert’s tactics, telling Unfair Park…
Sam Merten To our surprise, the city council will not be voting this morning on two items related to the now national story of renaming a street for Cesar Chavez. Previously thought to be under consideration: a vote to rename Ross Avenue “Cesar Chavez Boulevard” and another to rename Industrial…
A very emphatic Mayor Tom Leppert from Sam Merten on Vimeo. In Wednesday’s paper version of Unfair Park, we’ll take a look into the madness of Mayor Tom’s relentless pursuit of the convention center hotel. But until then, we offer this video from the September 24 Build the Hotel shindig,…
You know what needs $40 million worth of upgrades and renovations? The Dallas Convention Center, apparently. Back on February 13, the city council approved two key items, one of which — the $500,000 option on the Chavez parcel — green-lighted the convention center hotel project. The other vote, which spent…
To offset any potential sticker shock at shelling out another $4.6 million for the convention center hotel, the city unveiled development renderings, cloth samples and even a model of the proposed project at this morning’s Economic Development Committee meeting. This prompted committee chair Ron Natinsky to take a quick poll…
