In recent weeks the call for a referendum on the Trinity River toll road has come to the center of the Dallas mayoral election. At the end of last week, The Dallas Morning News said in an editorial that Tom Leppert and Sam Coats were the two top contenders, but…
When city council member Angela Hunt succeeded in getting copies of consultant Alex Krieger’s e-mails to the mayor about the Trinity River toll road, we mere taxpayers succeeded in getting a glimpse of the truth. Krieger plainly told Mayor Laura Miller in his e-mail that the road he had helped…
Earlier today, Jim Schutze wrote that Mayor Laura Miller “directly misled the public” concerning the design of the Trinity Parkway. This afternoon, the mayor responds. Schutze, you are wrong. The four-lane Trinity Parkway is precisely what the City of Dallas plans to build. We worked hard to forge a compromise…
Angela Hunt has just blown the center right out of Laura Miller’s defense of the Trinity River toll road, and she has done it with a bit of investigative reporting that should have our tree-climbing ex-reporter mayor tied in little green Boy Scout knots. Miller has been defending her plan…
And you thought I didn’t have any right-wing friends! Russell Fish, education gadfly and high-tech inventor extraordinaire, has organized a little effort aimed at teaching the kids at Virginia Tech not to be such wusses next time. In Russell’s view, it is not the American way for men-folk, even if…
Bill Ceverha’s the mayor’s new best friend, we guess because Tom DeLay won’t return his calls. Laura Miller, our tree-climbing mayor, is planning one of her mom-and-apple-pie press conferences Monday in Fretz Park under the heartwarming motto, “Sink the Petition/Save the Trinity.” It’s an effort to stamp out the petition…
Ed Oakley bought up some property near the Trinity River. Hey, all the other cool kids are doin’ it. On April 19 there appeared in the paper version of Unfair Park a column in which I reported that mayoral candidate Ed Oakley, who is chairman of the Dallas city council…
Tom Leppert prepares for a mayoral forum. We are so kidding. Or…are we? I attended mayoral forum other night at Paul Quinn College, where about 100 students and faculty gathered to hear the candidate posse tell their stories. I had been away from the forum scene for a while, and…
Dear Readers, The Reconquista has arrived! On May 1, Ask a Mexican! comes out in book form gracias to the literary madmen at Scribner. Expect more of the same, but más: more essays, more illustrations from Mark Dancey (the gabacho who created this column’s logo) and more questions. Below is…
Personal unsolicited note of political advice from Jim Schutze to city council candidate Jill Kotvis. Below please find short list of translations from PublicSpeak to reality: PublicSpeak: “This campaign intends to stick to the issues, and we urge our opponent to do the same.” … means in reality: “Guilty as…
Of all the campaign literature piling up on our mail table at home, the most surprising piece came in a couple days ago from TrinityVote, the folks who want a referendum next fall to take the proposed toll road out of the river park downtown. It wasn’t the top but…
My speech a couple days ago at the Lakewood branch of the Dallas Public Library was a huge success. Fans camped out all night so they could be sure of getting in. There were the typical tailgate parties and lewd shenanigans in the parking lot, and then they embarrassed the…
Woonerfs have appeared to me, and now I understand the universe. Even more amazing, for the first time I understand Ed Oakley. Sort of. Ed Oakley. Dallas City Council member. Candidate for mayor. Chairman of the Trinity River committee. Mr. Woonerful. Let me say this about that: At least symbolically,…
Dear Mexican, Have you seen the e-mail flying around, allegedly from country rock star Charlie Daniels? What’s your reaction? —The Mexicans Went Down to Georgia Dear Gabacho, I love it. For ustedes readers who don’t know what we’re talking about: In April 2006, one-hit has-been Charlie Daniels posted an essay…
Always kind of putting yourself out there, aren’t you, Robert? I think it may be worth noting that I was actually a member of the group at the Pontiac Young Men’s Vocational Academy (where I studied journalism and wood-turning), who invented cheerleading. I’m the guy on the far right. That…
Dear Mexican, I lived here illegally for the first half of my life, so I’m very offended when I hear anti-immigrant comments. I especially can’t stand “Illegals don’t pay taxes, so they shouldn’t be here.” When my father applied for residency during the amnesty in the 1980s, part of the…
We need to get a few things out of the way right here at the top. Please tell me that I am thin-skinned. Thank you. Now I would like you to tell me this is all just sour grapes. Great. And finally, please tell me I’m just jealous. Hey, that…
Dear Mexican, What do Mexicans think about President Bush’s grandfather having a hand in getting the guy that robbed Pancho Villa’s head out of jail? —Kruising Klassily in Kennebunkport Dear KKK, Ah, Villa’s stolen skull. No macabre Mexican legend is more mired in intrigue, distortions and looniness. Here are the…
One of the things you hope you get to see every once in a while in a democracy—at least catch glimpses of—is democracy. Those of us who are over 21 and have attended a county fair or two know better than to expect to find it just lying around on…
Next month, the American Institute of Architects is going to give its Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design to the Dallas Trinity River Corridor Project for its having a “Balanced Vision Plan.” This raises the question whether urban design expert Alex Krieger and transportation planner William Eager should receive…
I just looked at FrontBurner and their take on my column and the Trinity River project. Wow. Wick’s really got the hammer down over there if he’s got even Rod Davis toting the note on this crap. Rod, you are the new Steve Blow. I gather from the breathless quality…
Dear Mexican, Why should Mexican nationals have more of a right to stay in this country than Chinese, Somalis or others who can’t cross an open land border and must thus wait on the bureaucracy like everybody else? —700 Miles Isn’t Long Enough Dear Gabacho, ‘Cause this land once belonged…
