Bon matin, Mes Amis de le Parc Qui Est Unfair. Overflow crowd this morning at the City Council Budget Meeting in 6ES, and Tom Leppert, pin-striped as ever, has just told the packed house to sit tight while they figure out what to do with everyone. Atmosphere is stuffy and…
Some killer filler this early a.m. before the showdown at City Hall: Speaking of: Ann Margolin has posted to her website “10 Reasons Why a Tax Increase is a Terrible Idea.” (And by “terrible,” I assume she means terrrrrrible. Anyway.) Margolin, of course, is among the handful of council members…
Mayor Tom Leppert has said it time and again: No tax hike. No way, no how. But in case you missed it the first 29 times, his e-vite to tomorrow morning’s council budget briefing serves as yet another just-say-no note in which he takes aim at Angela Hunt and the…
We’re but days away from the due-by date for the FY2010-11 budget, which will dominate much of the council’s time this week and next; City Hall expects so many speakers at Monday’s budget briefing that the mayor will convene the council in chambers at 9 a.m. before moving everyone upstairs…
Speaking of conceptual renderings …Just because the Downtown Connection TIF District Review Committee canceled its meeting yesterday for lack of a quorum doesn’t mean you can’t look at the Grand Ricchi Dallas design docs that were passed out ahead of time. Whenever the committee finally does get together, it’ll discuss…
Preston Hollow Democrats get a kick out of a couple of things — firstly, being Preston Hollow Democrats, and secondly, Andrea White, wife of Bill, he of the running for governor of Texas. The PHD was formed in the wake of the March ’08 primaries during which Obama fever was…
Patrick MichelsAngela Hunt at a budget town hall in late August at Frontiers of Flight MuseumYesterday, shortly after I posted that budget amendment memo in which eight council members called for a 4.91-cent tax hike, I heard from countless Friends of Unfair Park who said, more or less: “Yeah, but…
I’d planned on going to the Downtown Connection TIF District Review Committee Meeting, but, well, I had a prior commitment, and, besides, the thing was canceled for lack of a quorum. There was, though, an item of interest on the agenda: “Review and approval of design plans for 1600 Pacific…
Along with Mayor Tom Leppert and our good friends at Telemundo, we got up early this morning and rode over to the Dallas Convention Center, where the FIFA World Cup Soccer Site Selection Committee stopped by to size up the place. Like a team of mall-walking grandmas, they showed up…
Between the weather and the Rosh a few things fell through the cracks yesterday. Like, oh, former FBI agent Terence Hart’s report to City Manager Mary Suhm concerning the funeral procession for Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s son. City Hall sent the 11-page doc, and Suhm’s accompanying memo, late Wednesday…
On the other side is a fresh-off-the-virtual-presses press release from the city warning that by early tomorrow morning, there’s a pretty decent chance that as the Trinity River crests — and, as of right now, NOAA has that happening at 42.8 feet — “some areas of the City may experience…
Moments ago I received from council member Angela Hunt’s office a memo that follows, in which Hunt and seven of her colleagues (Delia Jasso, Vonciel Hill, Steve Salazar, Carolyn Davis, Pauline Medrano, Tennell Atkins and Dwaine Caraway) call for a significant tax hike — 4.91 cents per $100 in valuation…
Like I said Friday, the the FIFA World Cup Soccer Site Selection Committee’s coming to town — tonight, if Hermine doesn’t mind. Last night, Mayor Tom Leppert’s chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, sent a few more details concerning the visit in advance of the December 2 decision — as in,…
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White criticized Gov. Rick Perry for failing to find the funds to pay for an additional 1,000 local law enforcement officers and 250 state troopers near the border — part of White’s six-point plan for border security. Speaking this morning at the Hyatt Regency with Dallas…
Now that Steve Salazar’s run the City Council’s Public Safety Committee out of the briefing room, his Housing Committee is powering through the afternoon in here for a look at the latest on efforts to place homeless folks into permanent supportive housing. With bullet-pointed stats presented in soothing ocean blues,…
Afternoon, Friends. I’m up here in City Hall’s good old room 6ES for the council’s Public Safety Committee meeting we told you about earlier today — on the menu are that upcoming police women reality-docu show and the Dallas Police Department’s pursuit policy. The cameras and media types are here…
For months Theresa O’Donnell, director of the city’s Sustainable Development and Construction department, has been meeting with contractors and developers about how to loosen up the permit-granting, inspection-making logjam caused in recent months by departmental layoffs and other budget-busters. Says O’Donnell, TEXO, which reps most of the major commercial contractors…
Every now and then I check to see if the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan website’s up and running, because ever since that jam-packed open house in late May it’s been little more than a new-site-coming-soon place-holder with a survey. But, sure enough, I clicked over from City Hall’s home page…
OK. Back to the greenery — or brownery — along N. Central Expressway. I’ll keep it brief, but I did want to answer some Friends’ follow-ups questions from yesterday.This morning I got a call from Assistant Public Works Director Alan Hendrix, who knows more about this subject than anyone. He…
Chris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert’s chief of staff, sent hizzoner’s weekly sked this morning, and it says that Wednesday night and Thursday morning (and, like, early Thursday morning) he’s got a date with the FIFA World Cup Soccer Site Selection Committee. Remember: Dallas is among the 18 cities that made…
Eddie Bernice Johnson, who keeps changing her story about those scholarships that went to family members, appeared last night on Anderson Cooper 360 (via telephone). The segment was called “Keeping Them Honest.” And Anderson did not disappoint…
Sooner or later, sure, we’ll all be biking to work or play. Or taking DART. Or riding hovercrafts. Or jet packs. Or solar-powered water taxis. But till that day happens, well, we gotta park our cars somewhere. And, like I need to tell you, that ain’t easy sometimes. Which is…
