Two months before last year’s May 9 referendum on public ownership of the Dallas Omni Convention Center Hotel, we cautioned voters that one of the key selling points of the project — the erection of residential units, restaurants, shops, bars, nightclubs, and other entertainment venues surrounding the hotel — had…
I’m generally considered a pissy guy with a half-glass-empty view of the world around attacking me. But there are times when I can be joyfully hopeful. The Cowboys’ season ended with a resounding 34-3 thud, but there were plenty of warm-n-fuzzy moments to keep us both satisfied about ’09 and…
Because I can’t go two days without posting something by the great Justin Terveen, his latest: a shot of Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Pearl Station. Actually, Justin explains, it’s three shots in one: “Two were stitched, while the remaining shot was blended in to create the static effect within the…
Back in October, we spoke with Daniel Iacofano, the “I” in MIG, Inc., which the city hired to develop the latest downtown master plan known as Downtown Dallas 360. Though the study isn’t due till June, a Friend of Unfair Park points out that on his thoughtful, hell-raising, attention-getting blog…
On August 11, 2008, Mark and Patty Lovvorn wanted nothing more than to tear down their massive house on Nonesuch Road, the famous manse designed by Roscoe DeWitt for Stanley Marcus in the 1930s. “Energy inefficiency” was the reason offered in the couple’s letter to the Texas Historic Commission, which…
The Cowboys won’t be in Miami for Super Bowl XLIV February 7, but Dallas will be represented all over South Beach in the form of the latest and greatest in safe, sassy transportation – VAULT. I saw this thing – it’s like a giant combo limousine/Hummer/armored truck – pull up to a…
I was wrong. Not about the Minnesota Vikings beating the Dallas Cowboys, mind you. That one I nailed. My mistake was predicting that—short of a Super Bowl appearance—head coach Wade Phillips wouldn’t return in 2010 and beyond. Even in the wake of an embarrassing 34-3 dismissal from the NFC Playoffs…
Clearing the smoke: Every two weeks or so, we wander into our publisher’s office and flip through copies of our company’s sister papers in Denver and California, where medical marijuana is legal. “Wow, they must be raking in the ad dough,” we say, looking at the advertisements for medical pot…
Unlike his neighbors’ homes, Craig Cunningham’s house in Northeast Dallas looks abandoned. The grass is dried out. The concrete slab under the front door is lopsided and cracked. The green exterior has faded to a toxic-looking shade. Yellow Pages pile up near the front door, and the black mailbox is…
Shortly before the end of the year, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes told me that the Dallas-based videotailer is a “football team that’s rebuilding. At first, the press is all over you. They’re gonna hammer you, tell you you’re dead, you’ll never be as good as you were. Meanwhile, you’re slowly…
On Sunday we sneak-peeked City Manager Mary Suhm’s money-making proposals for covering the latest inevitable budget shortfall. They include everything from a plan to “vaporize” waste to imposing a tax on plastic bags and bottles to leasing the city’s seal to private companies to selling City Hall for $900,000 cash…
Seriously — the city wants to know. Needs to know. Right now. So it claims, anyhow, which is why the city’s official Web site-bulletin board now features a heads-up for three “community meetings” during which city officials will hear from you (and maybe you, but not you) about what you’re…
Just last month we mentioned the city’s proposal for regulating neighborhood farmers markets — another bright idea from what Jim likes to call the Municipal Ministry of Food Production. For those who need some catchin’-up, the city wants to make sure the smaller markets, like those at Celebration and at…
When J.D. Freeman called with the news about Lex & Terry, he dropped this bomb: Jack E. Jett will not be allowed on CNN 1190 beginning Monday, which we had announced yesterday. The reason, according to Freeman: something Jack said in the item posted Tuesday evening. Which was? So glad…
Longtime listeners of KEGL-FM (97.1) will notice something different tomorrow: Lex Staley and Terry Jaymes, otherwise known as Lex & Terry, will no longer hold down the morning-drive slot. That’s the word from Clear Channel’s Dallas market manager, who tells Unfair Park that nighttime host Cindy Scull will take over…
As mentioned Monday, the city had one of its attorneys — in this case, Charles Estee, joined by one of the state’s lawyers — down in Austin yesterday presenting oral arguments before the Supreme Court of Texas in a long-running case involving towed cars that were seized by the Dallas…
When we last left your Dallas Mavericks – this is Cowboys’ country, right? – they were opening the NBA season with a humbling 11-point loss to the Washington Wizards. Tonight they travel to D.C. for … revenge? Naw, just to open the second half of the season. In between wars with…
Speaking of Fair Park, yesterday, in our item about how the city’s cutting deals to get folks to Fair Park, general manager Daniel Huerta said, “We locals take Fair Park for granted.” Preservation Dallas wants to do something about it: I just visited their site and noticed that on Saturday,…
So, back to that question of: Why did the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau not put Fair Park on the convention planners’ to-see list last week? Yesterday afternoon, I spoke with DCVB CEO Phillip Jones, who had plenty to say on the subject. But, long story short, this was a…
The Weitzman Group delivered its 20th Annual Shopping Center Survey and Forecast yesterday, and, as expected, the news was grim for developers and retailers: Last year saw a steep decline in construction starts and occupancy rates, and 2010 looks to be no better at all — unless, oh, you’re a…
Whether you view it the continuation of tangible progression or merely a continuity of mediocrity, Wade Phillips is back as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. A three-year deal is imminent. Simple question …..
So, back to those Trinity Beacons for a second. We went to this afternoon’s meeting of the Trinity River Corridor Project committee convinced the council would bite on the 120-foot-tall light towers, which would cost $3 million in ’98 bond money earmarked for the so-called Loop 12 Gateway. But we…
