Mayoral Candidates Love South Dallas and the Arts. And You. They Love You.

Yesterday's Sam Coats items have sparked a minor debate about Coats' position on the TXI board, his take on the Trinity River toll road and the exact reason why his tenure in the state legislature was so abbreviated. You can ask him about all these things and much, much more tonight as Coats heads to South Dallas tonight to "discuss his plans to create a South Dallas Economic Development Authority to spur job creation and affordable housing redevelopment in the city's southern sector." It takes place beginning at 7 p.m. at the Thurgood Marshall Rec Center.

While Sam Coats is talking economic development at a rec center in South Dallas, his fellow mayoral candidates will be tucked away in the tony digs of the Nasher Sculpture Center for the "Mayoral Forum on the Arts," where they will tell Arts District patrons that they do, in fact, support the arts. The free-admission forum -- which, says the ad in today's paper, will be "an important discussion about the importance of the arts in Dallas and how each candidate's initiatives will help ensure this momentum continues into the future" -- begins at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 5 for those who wanna get the bestest seats. --Robert Wilonsky