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…
A few weeks back, you no doubt recall, Virgin America announced that in December, it would begin flying out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The announcement was made in Houston, at the National Business Travel Association confab, and, turns out, Time’s Stacy Perman was on-hand for the announcement. So too…
Two months ago Intern Elliot broke the news that City Manager Mary Suhm was considering putting Dallas Farmers Market (and Fair Park) in the hands of a private operator, a la the city’s deal with the Dallas Zoological Society last year. At the time, there was no time line for…
From the in-box, this from one good Friend of Unfair Park: “What the h is going on with the landscaping on Central? Is TxDOT letting everything die? It looks like crap.”Good question(s). And I have the answer.First, let’s flashback to a meeting of the city council’s Transportation and Environment Committee…
Led by Councilwoman Delia Jasso, a group of sexual assault resource centers and the Dallas Police Department held a press conference today at City Hall announcing the sexual assault awareness campaign that’s been launched in response to a 25% increase in sexual assault offenses this year. Officially, we didn’t hear…
On Monday I noted that city officials were anxiously awaiting a verdict in the 4-year-old case of City of Dallas v. TCI West End Inc., which concerned the demolition of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Freight Station in the West End in ’06. The trial started two weeks ago, and on Friday, city…
Thanks to Roger Ebert’s early-Tuesday-morning tweet (“Beck’s next rally is planned for Nov. 22 in Dallas, at Dealey Plaza”), I’ve received more than a few e-mails from people wondering, in short: Really? No, not really. (I don’t think.) But he will be in Alaska on September 11. (And the other…
