Let’s talk (some more) about red light cameras, the subject of a report released today by the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG), a watchdog organization that researches various subjects of public importance. The report, Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead, examines private companies’ agreements with municipalities (about 700 throughout the…
Over the years, the re-do of the Continental Building downtown has started to feel like a bit like Guns N’ Roses’s Chinese Democracy. Forest City, the developers behind turning the vacant building on Commerce into condos (complete with spa and yoga studio) kept telling us it would be done. They…
Speaking of issues with redistricting …There’s an online petition being virtually circulated concerning the new council districts map sent to the Department of Justice earlier this week; so far it’s been signed by 105 who also want Justice to slap down the city’s official submission. Among the reasons:With community assets…
I had to call Karl Zavitkovsky, head of the city’s Office of Economic Development, about something that turned out to be nothing this morning. (Well, if you must know, I wondered if “The Collective” referred to here is just “The Orleans at La Reunion” by a new name, and it…
Overnight, several Friends of Unfair Park sent different versions of the same story, which says: The state quite deliberately submitted to the Department of Justice new election maps that discriminate against the Hispanic voter — especially in Dallas-Fort Worth. As in: “There is direct and circumstantial evidence that the development…
Well, we had planned on following up this afternoon on two items of interest: Developer Craig Hall’s plans to fill the Arts District with giant signs attached to his Hall Arts Center, which we told you about Monday, and that much-debated, and that proposed Lower Greenville bowling alley next to…
New Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is in for the first serious grassroots challenge to his leadership — a march on City Hall announced today by a broad-based coalition of young Southern Dallas leaders, Latino groups and the Dallas County Democratic Party. It’s that trash thing, back again to bite him…
Woke up this morning to find the in-box filled with missives from friends and fans of a man named Nathan Winograd — “the de-facto face of the ‘No Kill’ movement,” as Huffington Post called him last year, referring to efforts to stop animal shelters from euthanizing strays. Winograd, an attorney…
Several news outlets have reported in recent days that the Dallas Police Department is investigating the possible sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl at the Occupy Dallas camp near City Hall. The original report, from KTVT-Channel 11, cited an anonymous source within the police department who said that a 14-year-old…
In the early days of the mayoral race, former Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle quietly proclaimed on his website that he wanted Dallas to become “No-Kill City,” meaning: With significant tweaks to its policies and procedures, Dallas Animal Services should be able to stop euthanizing strays. Six months later, the…
City Hall just sent word: At long last the city has submitted to the Department of Justice the new council districts map approved by the council on October 5. But that is hardly the entirety of the package sent to the DoJ yesterday: If you click here you’ll find the…
According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Trinity Parkway will cost around $1.8 billion, give or take a few million. That money’s not there. But, hey, what’s the rush: As we mentioned this morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact statement on the Dallas Floodway…
Dallas Police Chief David Brown sent a sub to address the city council’s Public Safety Committee this morning: Assistant Chief Charles Cato, who explained the crime-stat summary you see above. Said Cato: Crime’s down 4 percent overall citywide, but when pressed by council member Delia Jasso later, he predicted that…
In an interview published Sunday in Parade magazine, Rick Perry was asked whether he believes the president was born in the United States. His response, which you’ll find below, has caused some alarm, because it makes Perry appear to be aligning himself with the one-roll-of-Reynolds-Wrap-per-hat faction of the Tea Party…
Speaking of transportation projects across and around the Trinity River …Saturday’s hike-n-bike installation perched atop the Cedar Crest Bridge is one of myriad items about which the city council’s Trinity River Corridor Project Committee will hear this afternoon, following its field trip to and walk across the Margaret Hunt Hill…
First there was a Better Block; then, a Better Boulevard; then, just yesterday, a Better Bridge. Of all the efforts to temporarily transform a piece of the city into something other than what it is, yesterday’s brief installation atop the Cedar Crest Bridge, which connects Oak Cliff to South Dallas…
One years ago, when Mayor Mike Rawlings was merely Park Board President Mike Rawlings, the city held its first-ever Dallas Parks Summit at the Music Hall at Fair Park. By way of invite in 2010, ad man Rawlings said this:”Walt Disney once said he didn’t want the public to see…
The Degolyer Estate at the Dallas Arboretum is a beautiful spot, a big house set back from a broad lawn, edged this time of the year with pumpkins and purple flowers. In the library, retreating Dallas City Council members and various other City Hall types (City Manager Mary Suhm, the…
Back in January, an online petition appeared asking that Bexar Street in South Dallas be renamed to Rev. Carlton Garrett Street in honor of the founding pastor of The Lord’s Missionary Baptist Church. Six people signed it. But on August 19, council members Dwaine Caraway, Carolyn Davis and Tennell Atkins…
Sam’s World Series Game 1 preview-open thread’s upcoming any minute now; start polishing your bats. Till then, this: The governor’s office sends word that Rick Perry has, but of course, made a wager with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon concerning the outcome of Rangers-Cardinals. And it’s not a terribly thrilling wager…
As promised, the public comment period at this morning’s Dallas City Council meeting featured several members of the Domingo Garcia-led Latino Redistricting Task Force . In the council briefing room, every chair was full, with many people wearing white or blue tees that read “Count Us In” inside a drawing…
Had a brief chat with Mayor Mike Rawlings last night concerning what appears to be the never-ending process of redistricting, about which the city council will get an earful this morning from Latino leaders who insist they’re not properly represented on the map the council approved to send to the…
