The majority of neighborhoods surrounding Fair Park are riddled with vacant, boarded-up homes and empty lots. Atlanta Street is no exception. Across from the Park South Family YMCA, Todd Russell bought a 672-square-foot house in June 2009 from the city to save it from demolition. But less than a month…
As the Japan-American Society of Dallas/Fort Worth’s website points out, “Dallas and Sendai became International Friendship Cities in August 1997, when Mayor Ron Kirk and Mayor Hajimu Fujii signed a formal agreement in Sendai.” Which is why, shortly after the 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami struck off the shore of that…
Vanity Fair’s Jim Wolcott directs our attention today to a dispatch from Los Angeles-based photographer Donald Barnat: “Disappointment at Dealey Plaza,” posted yesterday. Long story short: Barnat was in town during the Super Bowl and, like most visitors to our city, found himself at the corner of Houston and Elm…
Yesterday we covered Dallas Mayor-turned-U.S. Senate candidate Tom Leppert’s position on National Public Radio. This afternoon, on the Facebook, I got this note from Not Mayor Tom:Excited to launch our new petition calling on President Obama to stop our dependence on foreign oil, boost natural gas production, and create jobs…
Back on February 11, former four-term city council member Sandy Greyson told us that she was “seriously considering” a run for her old District 12 seat now occupied by mayoral candidate Ron Natinsky. The self-described “night owl” e-mailed us shortly after midnight Monday morning to let us know she was…
Real estate broker and international trade consultant Edward Okpa has submitted the necessary 357 signatures of registered Dallas voters required to run for mayor, joining David Kunkle and Ron Natinsky on the May 14 ballot. Former Park Board president Mike Rawlings has also announced his candidacy, but he hasn’t submitted…
In the last 24 hours, press releases have piled up in the in-box announcing three very different mayoral debates featuring ex-Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle, current city council member Ron Natinsky and former “homeless czar” and Park Board president Mike Rawlings.One’s traditional: On April 19 at 7 p.m., KTXA-Channel 21…
Fingers crossed, we’ll get to this asked-and-answered more than once a month. But not a week goes by that four, five e-mails don’t pop up in the in-box wondering what in the wide, wide world of sports became of City Manager Mary Suhm’s plan to take the downtown Dallas Farmers…
It would appear The Hot Topic today is about how hard one can get their drink on at the St. Patrick’s Day Party and Parade along Greenville Avenue Saturday. The Dallas Police Department sends word that one need look no further than the Central Patrol Division’s website, which has the…
A couple hours after U.S. Senate candidate Tom Leppert tweeted what you see above, we contacted Leppert spokesman Shawn McCoy to find out why the former mayor supports eliminating public funding for National Public Radio. He said he’d talk to him and get back to us. We never heard back…
If there was any question that former Park Board president Mike Rawlings would be the top fund-raiser among the three announced mayoral candidates, he’s seemingly answered it by unveiling a new television ad this morning as pricey mailers hit mailboxes throughout the city yesterday. The TV ad and mailer –…
As mentioned below, Gov. Rick Perry was in town yesterday — at Manda Machine Company, on Myrtle Springs Road near Harry Hines — insisting, yet again, that Texas need not tap the Rainy Day Fund to deal with the state’s $27-billion-ish shortfall. You can watch the entirety of his speech…
Jim’s on his way back from that court hearing involving Mayor Dwaine Caraway’s request for a temporary restraining order that would, at least temporarily, block the release of police records documenting Dallas PD officers’ visit to the home of Caraway and his wife, state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, on January…
Never mind what I wrote yesterday. Because yesterday, when I checked the Dallas County District Clerk’s computers, there was no record of it. But early this morning I took another look, and sure enough, there it was — a suit filed yesterday afternoon in the 68th District Court, Judge Martin…
Earlier this afternoon, I noticed that the City of Dallas Store’s selling a Stoelting Model #22608 lie detector, which was the go-to “Emotional Stress Monitor” for the U.S. Armed Forces upon its release in the mid-1960s. I also noticed that 14 people have thus far bid on the item, which…
Seems like only 10 months or so The Hottest Topic in Town was who’d get a crack at those Love Field concessions. And, sure, it seems so 2010, but only for those not paying attention. Because just a few days ago the city put out the request for proposals –…
On Friday, the Texas Attorney General’s Office told the city of Dallas to give up those police records pertaining to Mayor Dwaine Caraway’s pals Arthur and Archie. At which point Caraway’s attorney — Michael Payma of Payma, Kuhnel, & Smith — turned around and sued Greg Abbott, claiming the AG…
By now you’re no doubt aware that the old Municipal Building downtown, otherwise known as the ca.-1914 City Hall, is where the University of North Texas hopes to put the UNT Dallas College of Law, which still needs to be funded by the state Legislature in the current session. Right…
This morning, the council’s Economic Development Committee will take up whether or not to give Dean Foods a $250,000 economic development grant (and $1,673,964 in tax abatements) for that new factory in the southern sector, which Ron Natinsky mentioned last week.At the same time, the committee will consider another grant…
We’ve mentioned in recent months Ralph Isenberg’s efforts to bring Saad Nabeel back to North Texas, where a University of Texas at Arlington electrical engineering scholarship awaits the 20-year-old Frisco Liberty High grad. Nabeel, though, was deported to Bangladesh last year: His family had been denied political asylum a decade…
Austin’s not a “major city”? Hunh. Tried to drive in Austin in the last 15, 20 years? Traffic seems pretty major. And last I looked, there was some big college there — that’s what my diploma says, anyhow. And something about a state capitol? Look, I dunno. I’m always drunk…
Last night, Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores held court in the E.D. Walker Middle School auditorium, where some 100 district parents bundled up to hear Flores talk about the coming budget cuts thanks to the state’s shortfall. (If the district is serious about saving money, maybe it ought…
