Thanks to Mayor Tom Leppert’s push for a lobbyist registration ordinance, we’re now privy to the lobbying efforts of City Hall insiders like the mayor’s top South Dallas consultant, Willis Johnson. And with quarterly reports due by the end of today, we figured it was a good time to see…
Back in June we noticed there were plans afoot to build a 150,000-square foot teevee and movie production facility at 2901 S. Lamar Street — in a warehouse owned by a partnership that includes South Side on Lamar and convention center hotel developer Jack Matthews. The $400,000 build-out cost is…
Angela Hunt wants to make one thing clear: That proposed ordinance that would rezone Lower Greenville Avenue as a Planned Development District isn’t “Area 51, black helicopter, keep-it-quiet stuff. There’s nothing secret about this.” Which is why, late Tuesday, she released the revised ordinance to be presented at a July…
A few profs and economists, among them SMU’s own Bernard Weinstein, are among those in the new issue of Fortune trying to figure out how “Texas powered through the global fiscal crisis,” while California “remains locked in such a pronounced slump compared to its economically and demographically similar cousin to…
Apart from the Caesar salad, there wasn’t much to report from the Keep the Dollars in Dallas press conference at the NorthPark Maggiano’s that couldn’t be found in Ray Perryman’s 25-page report, which we’ve already posted. So instead of back-and-forthing it with the respective pro and con groups, who’ve already…
For the last several days I’ve been trying to find out the answer to one simple question: Is the water in Fish Trap Lake — site of the Dallas Watersports Complex since put on indefinite hold by the Dallas Housing Authority — safe for wakeboarding?Chad Lacerte, who had hoped to…
Elliot’s at the Keep the Dollars in Dallas press conference at this very moment — he’ll post his Qs and their As shortly. Till then, some light lunchtime reading follows on the other side: Ray Perryman’s 25-page report — The Economic and Fiscal Effects of Expanding Alcoholic Beverage Sales in…
Been trying to get more info from the city concerning what, exactly, this just-handed-down ruling from the Fifth District Court of Appeals of Texas means. But, in short, it appears that a lengthy legal battle concerning a small slice o’ street off Inwood Road and Walnut Hill Lane has come,…
… turns out, it was already out-of-date.Council member Angela Hunt just sent us the latest iteration of the proposed ordinance that would turn Lower Greenville into a Planned Development District. And though much of it’s the same as Avi’s copy, which dates back to April, the new version (so new…
A major tip o’ the yarmulke to Avi Adelman, who, in advance of a July 29 meeting called by council member Angela Hunt, just posted a draft of the proposed ordinance that would turn Lower Greenville into a Planned Development District. Avi got the doc today via an open-records request…
I don’t know if Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway is a smart man. I don’t know if he’s an honest man. But I know Dwaine Caraway loves to hear Dwaine Caraway talk, and for some reason, people love to watch Dwaine Caraway loving to hear himself talk. Which maybe explains…
Two months ago to the day, we told you about Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman’s public information request for the calendar of Democratic Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins dating back to his first day in office — January 1, 2007. Seemed like a reasonable request — after…
Last week I noted that a fairly significant wakeboard event — scheduled to be held at the long-in-the-works Dallas Watersports Complex on Fish Trap Lake — had to find a new home, after the Dallas Housing Authority pulled a Sybil and told Chad Lacerte thanks but no thanks after giving…
When I spoke to City Manager Mary Suhm on Friday, she reminded: As she works to cutgut $131.1 million from the FY2010-2011 budget that’s due to council next month, the numbers change “every day.” Why, she said, at the end of last week “we got a good sales tax check…
One week ago, as you no doubt recall, attorney Andy Siegel filed a writ of mandamus in which he claimed, among other things, that the organization formerly known as Progress Dallas did not garner enough legit signatures to trigger a local option election concerning the off-premise sale of beer and…
“Painful. Painful, painful, painful, painful.”That’s what City Manager Mary Suhm said when I asked her earlier today how it’s going as she works to gut the budget before council’s return next month.”Painful.”As I noted below, I wanted to talk to Suhm about some e-mails I received this morning dealing with…
This morning, there were several e-mails in the Unfair Park in-box concerning City Manager Mary Suhm’s latest suggestions for cuttinggutting the budget of the Dallas Public Library system. Two I’ll need to set aside till Suhm calls back (she’s in meetings all morning). But others direct our attention to a…
Spent a little time Thursday talking to city officials about the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority’s $5-mil loop through downtown. And, almost always, our conversations ended with the person on the other end saying, “You really need to talk to Keith Manoy,” referring to the city’s senior transportation planner and a…
As I mentioned in January — upon the publication of Historic Dallas Hotels and its accompanying postcard set and Park and Rec historian Sally Rodriguez’s White Rock Lake — Arcadia Publishing has long done a bang-up job documenting Dallas’s history. To that estimable collection add another title: Historic Dallas Parks,…
Update at 4:47 p.m.: The City Attorney’s Office just sent a statement concerning Robert Groden’s lawsuit and his efforts to sell his magazines and DVDs at Dealey Plaza. It’s in full on the other side, but here’s an excerpt:Robert Groden has no written agreement or permit from the City to…
I know, I know — it’s a few weeks off. Still, write it down in your Trapper Keeper: Beginning at 5 p.m. that Tuesday, the Dallas Bar Association’s Public Forum Committee is holding a three-hour what’s-up-Dallas at the Belo Mansion featuring quite the foursome: Mayor Tom Leppert, University of North…
Perhaps you’ve heard: The Dallas Watersports Complex — which was scheduled to open on Fish Trap Lake in West Dallas by no later than September — has been drowned by MaryAnn Russ, head of the Dallas Housing Authority. She’ll revisit the subject later this year. Or next year. Or never…
