Must be the day for getting rid of lawsuits involving the city of Dallas. The feds already sent their heads-up that the city’s going to fork over $2.5 million related to ambulance over-billing, and now the Institute for Justice sends word that that lawsuit over the 2008 sign ordinance prohibiting…
No doubt some of you are aware that for the last couple of years or so, the city of Dallas has been entangled in a federal whistle-blower suit instigated by a former auditor at City Hall. Douglas Moore revealed that he’d discovered the city and Southwest General Services of Dallas…
This Friday, shortly before the council goes on summer vacation, we’ll get our latest peek at City Manager Mary Suhm’s FY2011-12 budget “snapshot,” following the mid-May look-see that said she’s still around $60 million short of funding the need-to’s. Speaking of: Last Friday Suhm sent to council a lengthy memo…
In the comments earlier today on Unfair Park, there was no shortage of speculation as to what the two mayoral hopefuls would cover in their next debate: City Manager Mary Suhm’s job security, dead rabbits and Sunday’s Dallas Morning News piece on the Trinity River tollway among them. And sure…
Say this for Deborah Watkins: The city secretary always hops on the phone whenever we have a question. And I’ve gotten to see her in action quite a bit in recent months — including on the witness stand, when the attorneys trying to re-dry Dallas got her to testify about…
Saturday morning we sneak-peeked an item that was just the subject of much debate during this morning’s meeting of the council’s Economic Development Committee: the fact that the city’s going to sink $235,000 in Jack Matthews’ Cedars TV and film production facility, in addition to the $100,000 he got last…
There’s a mayoral debate at noon today at the Belo Mansion; let the Dallas Bar Association know if you’re coming. Or: You can jump to the other side and watch David Kunkle and Mike Rawlings go at it for 22 minutes on WFAA-Channel 8, where they squared off yesterday during…
First off, as promised yesterday, here’s that Statler Hilton update, which was posted last night to the city’s website as the cumbersomely titled Filling in the Missing Pieces Downtown Upcoming Redevelopment Projects Former Statler Hilton Building / Former Dallas Public Library Building (Downtown Connection TIF District), which is also the…
Karl Zavitkovsky, director of the Office of Economic Development, has a long Monday morning ahead of him: He’s scheduled to deliver three presentations to the council’s Economic Development Committee, one of which has to do with two of our favorite topics: the Statler Hilton and the George Dahl-designed library that…
Our first real introduction to First Baptist Dallas’s Robert Jeffress was in the fall of 2008, when the downtown pastor came under fire for referring to Mormon Mitt Romney a member of a “cult.” That came up today on FOX News, where Jeffress is a frequent guest and where he…
Well, that was certainly…unexpected. Last night I went to the SMU-hosted Global Summit on Ending Corporal Punishment and Promoting Positive Discipline and wound up being treated to a presentation by none other than kiddie performer Raffi, who, as it turns out, is a children’s-rights advocate when he’s not entertaining the…
As noted yesterday, the Living Plaza makes its return to the front of Dallas City Hall on Wednesday — this one a collaborative effort amongst city workers eager to keep alive William H. Whyte’s vision of a vibrant space replacing the moribund one that exists now. So, then, perfect timing:…
There was a time, in 2007 and ’08, when you couldn’t escape the name Sam Zell, the billionaire who, in December 2007, bought media giant Tribune Company … and then swiftly brought it to its knees by taking it into Chapter 11. The reason for the bankruptcy: The parent company…
I mentioned this in passing on Tuesday, but just got the Official Release, so here’s the reminder: You can now redraw the city’s council districts, and, hey, who knows — yours might be just the puzzle the city winds up going with. The redistricting website has all the info you…
Last Friday, Robert offered a first look at some of the big names that had applied to sit on the city’s gas drilling task force: Margaret Keliher, Royce West II, Betty Culbreath, the train-bedeviled Chico Grimes and more. This morning, Linda Koop and the handful of other members on the…
Moments after I posted that piece on the Living Plaza in front of Dallas City Hall a few weeks ago, one Friend of Unfair Park took a look at the commissary and crowd and proclaimed it little more than “a bit” — a one-time-only event after which “the plaza will…
I hope Mayor-For-Now Dwaine Caraway brought back pictures from his trip to Nigeria, where he’s been for the past eight days to attend the swearing-in of President Goodluck Jonathan and tend to some business. He’s back this evening, and in advance of his return sends word that, why, matter of…
10. Ate dinner last night at Prime Italian on South Beach. In the midst of ridiculous opulence in the form of $20 valet parking and $100,000 cars, it was relatively affordable. $125 for a steak and a couple drinks. Thumbs up. 9. They also offered prime Kobe steak for $30 an…
Even casual campaign watchers will not be surprised to hear that Mike Rawlings has the support of all but a few current city council members, and plenty of former ones as well. Maybe to underscore the point, maybe to show off just a little, Rawlings invited them all to join…
We’re getting closer and closer to City Manager Mary Suhm’s proposed FY2011-’12 budget, which she plans to give to council members in a couple of weeks before they go on summer vacation. And, sure, she still needs to find $60 mil in cuts, give or take, before the thing’s balanced…
Yesterday morning, the state House Committee on Redistricting and the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting released what’s known as PlanC125 — or the Solomons-Seliger Congressional Proposal — which you can see here. Today, Houston Chronicle Washington bureau chief Rick Dunham, a 30-year veteran of the puzzling process, breaks it down…
Good timing: Later today, Leslie’s cover story for the paper version of Unfair Park dealing with the city’s involvement in efforts to thoughtfully (fingers crossed) redevelop West Dallas at the foot of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge will hit newsstands virtual and otherwise. So happens, according to the announcement that…
