A couple of weeks back we took at look at City Manager Mary Suhm’s proposed cuts for the Dallas Public Library system — fewer workers at the branches, shorter hours downtown and more, meaning, of course, less. But libraries are in trouble nationwide, besieged by budget cuts and encroaching technology…
A few items of interest with which to belatedly kick off your work week (lucky):On Thursday we noted that Dallas Independent School Board trustee Carla Ranger has found a new obsession: banishing the minimum-grade policy that disallows teachers from handing out grades lower than 50. This morning, she continues her…
Our weekly rock-and-roll-and send-off will have to wait till tomorrow morning, as, at long last, Andy Siegel has filed that long-promised writ of mandamus in which he contends that the organization formerly known as Progress Dallas didn’t get enough valid signatures to call the November 2 election that could make…
Last night we told you that City Manager Mary Suhm’s considering letting someone else manage Dallas Farmers Market. And, well, news of the market going private, just maybe, is news to the farmers. “Are you serious?” said J.T. Lemley when we asked him how he felt about the idea. Lemley’s…
Finally, the city of Dallas sends word. It has no Official Comment on the federal suit Robert Groden filed against the city on Wednesday, in which he says he was jailed for nine hours in mid-June for selling his Kennedy conspiracy-theory wares in Dealey Plaza — something he’s done for,…
After 70 years of municipal control, it now sounds like City Hall could be handing over the management of the Dallas Farmers Market, as well as Fair Park, to the loving hands of the private sector. City Manager Mary Suhm confirmed for Unfair Park today that the city is requesting…
Still waiting for Official Word from the city concerning Robert Groden’s lawsuit filed yesterday concerning his ability — or, in this case, inability — to sell his conspiracy-theory publications in Dealey Plaza. But when we went down to the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, we left behind one significant…
Back in October, the Trinity Trust ponied up $2 mil for the creation of the City Design Studio, to be based out of Dallas City Hall and run by, among others, bcWORKSHOP’s Brent Brown. Larry Beasley, an urban planner known as the man who built Vancouver, was also tapped to…
Maybe you heard: A couple of weeks ago, Dallas police began cracking down on vendors at Dealey Plaza selling maps, magazines, books and other conspiracy-theory whatnots. Deputy Police Chief Vince Golbeck said some folks down there were cussing at and spitting on visitors to the Kennedy assassination site, and “that’s…
Two quick items whilst I try to clean up some breaking news:ESPNDallas asked Mayor Tom Leppert to provide 10 reasons why LeBron James ought to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. The mayor, being a good sport, complied. Examples: “Great airports at both DFW International and Love Field. Central location makes…
A couple of days ago I happened to find myself, during the waking hours of business, standing in front of Dallas City Hall, where the only person in sight was the one half-submerged in the reflecting pool. In black hip-waders and a Parks & Recreation baseball hat, Jose Peña was…
On Monday, we told you about an e-mail we received from Mayor Tom Leppert’s campaign thanking his city council mates for agreeing to defer the vote on two concession contracts at Dallas Love Field Airport so city staff could cook up some new options to consider at the council’s August…
Several Friends of Unfair Park have asked in recent days: When’s Andy Siegel filing that lawsuit in which he, and a coalition of businesses and clergy (and suburbs?) opposed to the pending wet-dry referendum in November, will insist Progress Dallas didn’t collect enough valid signatures to get it on the…
In advance of its public meeting tomorrow concerning plans for the former Mrs. Baird’s site at Mockingbird and Central, SMU has posted yet another notice — this one complete with a FAQ. As in: “I thought you planned to put residence halls on the Mrs. Baird’s site?” and “What about…
After Mayor Tom Leppert quashed public comments and instructed city staff to bring more options to the city council in August regarding the Dallas Love Field Airport concession contracts, Schutze declared victory for Angela Hunt, who had told us that she had enough support to defer the item until the…
I remember Dad taking me a high-school football game to old P.C. Cobb Stadium, and I saw the Dallas/Fort Worth Spurs play minor-league baseball at Turnpike Stadium. What I don’t remember is something called the Dallas Submarines. Apparently they evolved into the Dallas Steers? P.C. Cobb is now the Infomart…
City Hall just posted the latest fiscal forecast for what remains of FY2009-’10, and, unexpectedly, it’s cloudy with a chance of shitstorms. Right now, it looks like the sales tax falloff through April, at least, is $6.3 million less than originally budgeted — if, that is, revenue rates stay the…
City Manager Mary Suhm and I spoke a few days about about how she’s trying to find $131.1 million to excise out of the FY2010-’11 budget, which she’ll present to council upon its return from summer vacay in August. And so, while the council takes its summer break and Suhm…
A couple of weeks ago, we broke the news that Park and Rec would like to ask voters for the permission to some day maybe pretty please sell Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, two properties given to the city by physician and philanthropist William Worthington Samuell with the…
Hard to say when Andy Siegel’s going to file his lawsuit against the city of Dallas in which he will claim that the city council called an illegal local option election concerning the sale of beer and wine citywide. He told me last night it should be today; I’ve also…
[Update at 9:14 p.m.: So, for those still with us at this late hour (and, really, why?), the council’s back — and City Secretary Deborah Watkins has just announced that Progress Dallas did indeed gather “a sufficient number of signatures” to trigger a November 2 election regarding the sale of…
Mayor Tom Leppert just stopped down the city council’s meeting to announce that, yes indeed, Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and Ron Natinsky and Friends of Fair Park’s Craig Holcomb have managed to resurrect the Fair Park Fourth … on July 5. And they’ve done so with the donations of…
