Patrick Michels, our gas-drillin’ expert, is presently at the Hunt Oil Building for that Woodall Rodgers Deck Park press conference — which, turns out, is worth $9 million (no wonder Mayor Tom’s Mayor Tom till tomorrow). So, then, I’ll share with you a memo council member Angela Hunt sent to…
On Tuesday, you no doubt recall, the city sent word that Walmart’s opening 14 new locations citywide — among them, three in the southern sector, including on the vacant lot at Fort Worth Avenue and W. Colorado Boulevard. Yesterday, on Go Oak Cliff, Jason Roberts wrote about the reaction to…
Tom Leppert writes in his official letter of resignation sent to the city council that he will officially step down as mayor at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. At which point Dwaine Caraway will become the interim mayor of Dallas, and no one’s more excited about that than Schutze, as you’ll see…
In the comments below, a Friend of Unfair Park notes that shortly before Mayor Tom Leppert said his farewells to the Dallas City Council, he hopped on his Twitter account to take issue with President Obama’s announcement that he believes Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional…
Mayor Tom Leppert to Step Down: The Final Council Speech from Dallas Observer on Vimeo.As promised, here’s the entirety of Mayor Tom Leppert’s adios speech given to the city council at the close of today’s meeting. For some reason, the audio and video fell out of sync. Which somehow makes…
Two days ago we received an e-mail from a “william@bubblelifemedia.com” that insisted, “The gang activity at NorthPark sounds like an escalating problem thats not under control yet and could get worse.” The missive also contained a link to this page at something called Park Cities iPhone Reporter (I dunno –…
Moments ago, after the last of the afternoon speakers came to the council chambers microphone to denounce Mayor Tom Leppert and the media one last time, the mayor said what we’ve known was coming since last night, if not well before: He’s outta here.”This will be my last city council…
At its meeting two weeks ago, the Dallas City Council passed a resolution urging the state Legislature to crackdown on payday lenders and “to pass any necessary legislation to protect the citizens of the State of Texas who may find themselves with no alternative but to seek the type of…
About an hour ago, Rudy posted a piece saying Mayor Tom Leppert’s announcing his resignation tomorrow, during the city council meeting. But that doesn’t mean he’s ending his term tomorrow.A little while ago I asked the mayor’s chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, for further details. All he would say is:…
The Dallas County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a new code of conduct for commissioners this morning in response to Commissioner John Wiley Price last week telling several audience members to “go to hell” after pointing out that they were all white. None of the commissioners voiced their opinions in open…
There is no shortage of Walmarts in and around Dallas. But City Hall sends word this afternoon: More are a-coming — “more than a dozen new projects in the city of Dallas,” per the release that follows, including three in the southern sector and one across the street from Bachman…
Last week, Ron Natinsky made it official, taking the missus down to City Hall on Valentine’s Day to file his petition to run for Dallas mayor. This morning at 10 a.m., David Kunkle will follow in his footsteps, filing his paperwork with the city secretary after gathering enough signatures to…
So we didn’t need to wait till Thursday’s press conference to get a few more sneak peeks at the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park scheduled to open early next year. The good folks at the foundation were kind enough to share several more glimpses into the future, following January’s early look-see…
Before taking that mandated four-day break, Mayor Tom’s chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, sent to media a copy of the mayor’s coming-week schedule. And, on February 24, was this note: “2:00 PM — News Conference (Not what you think).” Meaning, of course, Leppert won’t be announcing that he’s stepping down…
Back when those eight council members called for that tax hike intended to keep rec centers open and library shelves stocked and parks mowed and so on, we asked Angela Hunt: Yes, but how will we know that’s where the money’s actually going? To which she replied that she’d spoken…
During the 2007 mayoral campaign, former city council member Ed Oakley sent out mailers depicting himself and convicted felon Don Hill as Democrats and Tom Leppert and former Mayor Pro Tem Max Wells as Republicans. Oakley also accepted the endorsement of the Dallas County Democratic Party and printed thousands of…
I’d been all ready to settle in for a lengthy City Plan Commission meeting this afternoon, conditioned by months of long waits before commissioners got to talking about the things I’d come for — old favorites like gas drilling or food trucks — but today they took each of those…
It’s been close to two years since we last looked at Ash Grove’s federal lawsuit, filed in the fall of ’08, in which the cement-maker whined that Dallas’s refusal to buy its dirty, wet-kiln-made concrete was a violation of the state’s competitive bidding laws. Dallas, claiming its thanks-but-no-thanks was due…
Mike Rawlings formally announced his candidacy for mayor this morning to a group of approximately 150 supporters in front of Dallas City Hall, claiming he’ll utilize public-private partnerships to protect both the city’s infrastructure and its citizens during what he said would be a budget deficit as difficult to overcome…
As Sam pointed out in February 2007, when he covered Tom Leppert’s mayoral campaign kick-off at St. Philip’s School in South Dallas, Roger Staubach served as his campaign co-chair alongside Elaine Agather. But Staubach couldn’t make it four years back; he was “not in attendance.” He is expected at Dallas…
When we stopped by the Elections Department Friday afternoon to speak with newly appointed Elections Administrator Toni Pippens-Poole, something odd happened. As we’ve done numerous times before, we pulled the campaign finance reports for all five members of the commissioners court and the district attorney. And, as we’ve done plenty…
Every so often, Friends of Unfair Park send in e-mails full of questions to which we only wish we knew the answers. And I’ll send those queries to the experts. So, this morning, we tackle two topics pulled at random from the grab bag. First up …Friend of Unfair Park…
