Yesterday, after posting this item that asked when Dallas would finally implement mandatory watering restrictions in the midst of this historic drought, I spoke further with City Manager Mary Suhm, who reiterated: The city may indeed go to mandatory twice-a-week watering sooner than expected. But she won’t say exactly when…
Mayor Mike Rawlings called moments ago to discuss DPD’s announcement that it has in custody a 24-year-old registered sex offender who police say assaulted a 14-year-old girl at the Occupy Dallas encampment behind City Hall. City Hall has already issued an official statement concerning the investigation, but Rawlings wanted to…
Waaaaay back in the spring of 2006, the council’s Economic Development & Housing Committee was told: The food kiosk sitting in the middle of the downtown Farmers Market is “a visual barrier” and needs to come down. See that photo? That’s from this briefing, prepped in advance of the 2006…
During all the fuss, hubbub and ruckus over the Lower Greenville Planned Development District Ordinance requiring business owners to get late-hours specific use permits, there’s been one constant question: When the hell is Ship’s Lounge going to get its official okee-doke to stay open past midnight? Well, so glad you…
As of today, per city ordinance, you no longer have to water your lawn before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m.; that rule’s only in place from April 1 till October 31. But according to the latest data, Dallas’s reservoirs are close to 25 percent depleted — 7 percent higher…
This morning, there was Rick Perry’s latest ad — he’s a doer, see, not a talker, or so he says (which is weird, because he’s not a talker … but a drinker, maybe). But lest we forget, from another GOP would-be, there’s a new Tom Leppert spot out there too…
My most terrifying night at Dallas City Hall involved a six-hour Redistricting Commission meeting, during which I was forced to eat 1,000-year-old, partially fossilized peanut butter crackers for dinner. It was harrowing. City Hall employees held their annual Halloween party in the plaza just outside the building today, which was…
But two weeks ago Jerry Allen kicked off a meeting of the Dallas City Council’s Budget, Finance and Audit Committee by boldly announcing that the city’s been “tainted by ethical acts, and the challenge for us is to find ways to establish a clear ethical standard and use it to…
Half the comments below are about Rick Perry’s appearance in New Hampshire Friday, when it appeared our governor began his weekend a little too hard and a little too early; strange stuff, and the clip follows for those who’ve yet to see it. It’s good for a contact buzz, if…
This just in: U.K.-based Great City Attractions, which was working with Dallas County and the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau to drop that giant Ferris wheel in Founders Plaza, has opted to roll away — for the time being, at least. No doubt, Schutze will be greatly disappointed. But after…
The plan to siphon off the water from Lake Palestine, which is just southwest of Tyler, has been around for close to four decades; in ’72 Dallas acquired the contractual rights to the lake, at a rate of 102 million of gallons of per day. In 2007, the city council…
Gov. Rick Perry’s record on racial issues has always been a little complicated. Earlier this month, there was that dust-up over his family’s Paint Creek hunting lease, which Schutze thought unfairly loaded up Perry’s shoulders with Southern-boy baggage. But back in 1990, during his run for agriculture commissioner, Perry ran…
It only took, what, a week? But here, at long last, is GOP pollster Frank Luntz’s presentation to the Dallas City Council, given last week during its retreat at the Arboretum. Mayor Mike’s chief of staff, Paula Blackmon, just sent it along, complete with the tiny-type data tables I didn’t…
The poster at right is for what could be the best Better Block event yet, scheduled to take place in and around the parking lot of R.L.’s Blues Palace No. 2 in the shadow of Fair Park — an institution. Jason Roberts, QB for Team Better Block, says there are…
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…
