Oh, good, my favorite dish. Time for a bite of crow. In my column in the paper version of Unfair Park this week, I wax rhapsodic — apparently catatonic — on urban redevelopment taking place in the concentric rings around downtown — “without any help from and often in spite…
I have always been a member of the Church of We-Have-to-Save-Downtown. Whatever that means. I sing in the choir. It’s a lifelong expression of my profound wannabe urban cosmopolitology. A religion. Why? Obvious. Because downtown is…uh, well it’s down. And it’s…you know…town. Now all of a sudden I have doubts…
Dear Mexican: With a scant four weeks before I cram my mochila with a few clothes for me and a horde of presents (read: bribes) for my future cuñadas, sobrinas y mi mera suegra, I found myself terror-stricken tonight as mi novio and I watched a home video of his…
Wow. Now this takes a little bit of work to follow, but I think it’s worth it. And here is where we are headed: First, The Dallas Morning News hides the ball. Then, to cover themselves, they show the ball — very briefly, sort of a sneak peek. But now…
Very interesting piece on The Wall Street Journal op-ed page today about “cool cities” versus “family-friendly cities,” suggesting cities like Dallas do better because they attract well-employed young breeders rather than sidewalk hipsters. The essay, by The New Geography author Joel Kotkin, cites research that runs against the grain of…
So if East Dallas is Cool Dallas, then everybody in East Dallas must be cool with each other, right? But in fact it’s a strange law of human nature that nobody gets more un-cool with each other than cool people. Yeah, and that is exactly what I am telling myself…
Dear Mexican: What’s the deal with Spanish-language car dealership commercials that feature bikini-clad porn star wannabes copulating with used cars? I just saw one where three girls were rubbing melted chocolate on each other. Surely, no one in mainstream Caucasian America could get away with such overtly sexual, misogynistic advertising…
Well, a very disappointing outcome today in the situation I am wrote about in my column this week: The Dallas Homeowners League has opted to bar the Belmont Neighborhood Association from membership in the DGHL. Why? Because Avi Adelman is a member of the BNA. The DHL’s six-page letter of…
Michael Morris, Director of Transportation for the NCTCOG, lives in Arlington. Which doesn’t stop him from poking his nose into other cities’ bidness. Michael Morris sighting this morning. I want to read it into the record. Morris, of course, is my least favorite local politician. Nothing personal. Morris is “transportation…
I know I promised I was going to go Dallas Morning News-free for a while, but I’m sitting here in the homely home office with the shakes and the jitters, and I just gotta have one more pull on that sweaty bottle of Old DMN. Michael Lindenberger is the guy…
Sorry. One more column about The Dallas Morning News and the recent Trinity River toll road referendum, then I promise to do a twelve-steps thing. I think there is a larger theme–the difference between the Dallas that believes in telling the truth and the Dallas that doesn’t get it or…
Dear Mexican: Is Lou Dobbs right when he says that close to 80 hospitals in California have been closed down because of the illegals, or is he lying? —Cabrónes No Necesitamos Dear CNN: Dobbs is right to a certain point, and only in spite of his idiocy. The father of…
Public Appeal to Michael A. Lindenberger, transportationologist, Dallas Morning News: I called you yesterday seeking comment on a story you had in The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday saying that the North Texas Tollway Authority may have to ask Dallas taxpayers for more money for the Trinity River toll road…
Dear Mexican: I like to think that I’m an open-minded sorta guy for a teenager. I fervently oppose racial stereotypes, though I do think that they’re good for a laugh or two sometimes. I have several Mexican friends, and none of them live up to the “Mexican standard” of lawn…
This is one of the worst deadline pickles I think I have ever encountered in my 200 years as a newspaper writer. I am writing this at the end of the week before the Trinity toll road election. The results from the election will come in about an hour after…
O.K., let’s do this. We know that everybody on the Angela Hunt side will be gracious. So I believe I owe it to that side to do them a small service here and not be gracious. I mean, who expected me to be gracious and dignified, right? So, instead of…
M. Thomas Lardner — and the M, apparently, stands for “Man, that dude is smart and handsome!” All these snap-crackle-pops at The Dallas Morning News want to tell me that of course the Trinity River toll road will be good for development downtown. How in the hell would they know?…
Jim now says he was “ill” during Tracy Rowlett’s visit two weeks ago. So that explains it… So Tracy Rowlett did in fact use our interview on his weekly “Perspectives” mini-show last night. I liked the piece very much, mostly because it gave me an opportunity to call Mayor Tom…
Angela Hunt has been doing some research. Mayor Tom keeps saying the cost of the Trinity River toll road has more than tripled because of inflation. So Hunt put together a table showing what effect the Department of Labor’s inflation index would have had on the cost of the road…
Wait a minute. Think about this. The main argument for keeping the toll road inside the park downtown is that it can’t go anywhere else because of the cost. I just looked at files in the offices of the people who would build the road. It’s flat-out untrue. This is…
Dear Mexican: How do I go to the Mexican grocery store and bakery to buy supplies for our Día de los Muertos party without looking like I’m doing the kitschy-goofy thing I’m doing? I walk up to the register and smile ingratiatingly, saying “Gracias” as usual—but a basketful of sugar…
I think maybe what I should do at this point is go down by the Trinity River with a baseball bat, hit myself in the head and just fall in. How can we be 10 years into the debate on putting a toll road inside the river park downtown? How…
