Opinion & Commentary

This picture isn’t me, my office or my pointy lamp. Nonethless, I’ll try to blog on weekends. Try. Stay tuned. — Richie Whitt…

I’m getting a big stall this morning from Dallas Independent School District HQ on a question I put to them regarding the Deloitte Touche external audit, which is months late and in no hurry to poke out a hole and see its shadow. That usually means DISD bigwigs are preparing…

Pissed for years at my ramblings in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram? Constantly annoyed by my weekly columns in the Dallas Observer? Despise my bloggy rants over at Unfair Park? Well then, congratulations and welcome to your worst nightmare – my own sports blog. As long as you’re here, grab a…

Mayor Tom Leppert is still the pilot, but the plane is in stall. No rudder. No engine. Leppert and the whole city council gaze out at the silence of the clouds. He could pull it up. He probably will pull it up. But this is a ragged moment, and I…

Dear Mexican: Consider the similarities between my people, the Celtic Scots, and yours, the Hispanic Mexicans. Both our people trace roots back to Spain. We sailed north to the British Isles and mixed with the aboriginals to become the Scots; you sailed west to mix with the aboriginal Americans. The…

From the Collections of the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library Pacific Avenue, circa 1920 In last week’s paper version of Unfair Park, I wrote about the mess we’re going to have next year when Dallas Area Rapid Transit spills a whole new rail line of traffic down…

Texas Association of School Boards I wish Wilonsky would take the amazingly long list of comments on my recent Woodrow Wilson High School item, bind them in pigskin and publish them as an anthology. Taken together, the whole package is a fascinating specimen of blogography. The original item was one…

Look, if you’re like me you don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “I can’t wait to find out what happened overnight in regional rail policy.” I could wait a lifetime. But I also don’t want to wake up two years from now in a nightmare where downtown Dallas is…

Dear Readers: The paperback version of my book is out in stores now, cheap enough so that even a Guatemalan can afford it. Buy, por favor! Now, on to the preguntas… Dear Mexican: Lately, I’ve been hearing how punks and metalheads in Mexico are trying to beat up emos because…

WXIA-TV When Terrell Bolton got forced out as Chief of Police in Dallas, there was a certain amount of heart-bleeding among persons who saw his fate as somehow tragic. Maybe he was elevated too rapidly, they said. You know, like maybe he didn’t have enough oxygen in his head. And…

Former (and future?) DART board member Joyce Foreman Pretty good fireworks this morning at the city council meeting over a last-minute decision by the mayor to delay consideration of appointments to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board. Several members clearly thought the mayor and his partner, Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine…

Rod Dreher kicked off a lively discussion about Woodrow Wilson High School last week by writing an op-ed about it for The Dallas Morning News that was … well … how to put this in polite terms? Fine — seriously demented. Dreher said the white people who send their kids…

Beverly Mitchell-Brooks The North Texas Regional Council of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has passed a formal resolution opposing the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board candidacy of Greater Dallas Urban League CEO Dr. Beverly Mitchell-Brooks. The protest is on grounds that she has made public racist remarks about…

As I hike down from the high embankment of the levee and out of the Great Trinity Forest, rain and dusk pushing me on, not to mention mosquitoes, I find two cop cars waiting for me on the tarmac below—a discovery that does not surprise. In fact it warms my…

Dear Mexican: I work at a Seattle-based company, and our customer service department uses a phone tree system that asks all callers to press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish and a few other numbers for commonly spoken languages in our area. I handle customer complaints as part of my…

Former (and future?) DART board member Joyce Foreman Lots of buzz this week about a bizarre performance on Monday at City Hall by council member Dwaine Caraway. He tried to rattle Joyce Foreman, who was being interviewed by the council for reappointment to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board. Foreman…

The Great Trinity Forest, while it’s still great Hey, just a shout-out here to any nature boys or girls out there who give a shit about the Great Trinity Forest. Because in July the city staff is supposed to pony up its master plan for the forest, and it’s rumored…

My last few dog-walking tours over the weekend have revealed to me that Rod Dreher, editorial writer at The Dallas Morning News, is the New Great Satan of Old East Dallas and Lakewood. I think I’m jealous. Lord. I had people coming off their porches at me to complain about…

FrontBurner has posted a long essay by Trey Garrison on why Dallas City Plan Commission member Neil Emmons is the Great Satan. Garrison cites several major development projects he says have been unfairly sabotaged by Emmons. Garrison clearly is a lot more familiar with the details on these projects than…

Somebody always says, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Sure. But I have a motto too. Make sure you can tell a gift horse from a damn wolf. I’m talking about the way the city council handles zoning issues and about those idiots over at The Dallas Morning…

Dear Mexican: Sitting on my desk is a levy from the Internal Revenue Service for more than $12,000 in unpaid taxes. Turns out some dude used my Social Security number for two years in Albuquerque to get paid and didn’t bother to pay taxes. It’s taken me plenty in time…

The New York Daily News is reporting that Dallas, among other cities, may be back in the running for fat “congestion mitigation” grants from the federalissimos, now that New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has been knifed in Albany on his plan for congestion pricing in Manhattan. If Dallas gets…