While we had Angela Hunt and council member-elect Ann Margolin on the phone yesterday, Unfair Park asked for their evaluations of the city’s $190 million budget deficit. Hunt says right now it’s hard to pinpoint the cut resulting in the biggest impact to residents because it’s early in the process,…

After a special June 19 city council meeting popped up on Wednesday’s addendum, we reached out to City Secretary Deborah Watkins and Danielle McClelland, assistant director of the city’s Public Information Office, for an explanation. Neither had an answer as both cited the lack of an agenda for the special…

Several members of the Mayor’s Southern Dallas Task Force packed the city council chambers Tuesday afternoon as they unveiled plans to revitalize 10 areas of South Dallas. The task force, consisting of approximately 250 folks split into 13 groups, recommended the city include a minimum of $100 million in the…

Johnnie Mae Shaw, an 83-year-old woman with heart problems, needed a ride to cast her vote May 9, so she called a phone number left on her answering machine offering free rides to those unable to make it to the polls. Evelyn Woods, Shaw’s neighbor and friend for 39 years,…

As we mentioned yesterday, the city council’s Quality of Life & Government Services Committee got a look-see Monday afternoon at some of the proposed budget cuts before the full council is updated in a June 17 briefing. To close the $190 million deficit, City Manager Mary Suhm is recommending significant…

The Transportation and Environment Committee failed to vote Monday on the proposed booting ordinance, choosing instead to schedule a third meeting before the city council’s July recess. In the meantime, booting companies continue their aggressive tactics, as we witnessed last night during a ride-along with a Dallas police officer patrolling…

Sure, we haven’t always been on the same page as Mayor Tom Leppert, but one thing we apparently agree upon is there’s no shame in accepting cash from people or businesses otherwise shunned by the masses. When we found a strip club’s vice president among the sponsors of Leppert’s fund-raiser…

The city council’s Transportation and Environment Committee failed Monday afternoon to vote on a proposed ordinance to regulate booting vehicles in private parking lots, opting instead to hold a third meeting on the issue. After some committee members asked questions already outlined in the briefing and others sought to modify…

When Mayor Tom Leppert testified last week on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, he conveniently failed to mention his own agenda while lobbying the U.S. House Financial Services Committee to loosen the municipal bond market. Instead of arguing the merits of the convention center hotel, he mentioned “building…

The city council’s Transportation and Environment Committee yesterday afternoon met for 90 minutes in executive session after Unison Consulting, the city’s consultant for Love Field airport, presented a briefing on the benefits of competition for the airport’s concessions. Because rent is paid to the city based on a percentage of…

Convention center guru Dr. Heywood Sanders tells us, “I have seen Dallas’ future” when finding room rates at two brand-spanking new convention center hotels in Fort Worth and San Antonio at $99 and $109 respectively. Of course, the HVS study performed in April 2008 on Dallas’ hotel claims its average…

Whilst digging around for info on the city’s Web site yesterday, I clicked on one of the council members’ pages, which, to my surprise, looked nothing like the previous page design that was apparently implemented shortly after Al Gore invented the Internet. Of course, while the new design is long…

The Dallas City Council yesterday afternoon wrapped up a lengthy discussion on how best to tackle the city’s $190-million budget deficit by agreeing that a tax increase and making cuts to the police and fire departments are not the answers. Council members opposed several of the proposed cuts by City…

Mayor Tom Leppert kicked off today’s budget briefing by acknowledging that “the challenges will be significant” as the Dallas City Council finds ways to eliminate a $190-million deficit. He stressed that national and international issues are the cause of the shortfall, and the mayor likened it to the economic struggles…

When we brought to your attention an item on eBay selling ceramic tiles of Mayor Tom Leppert, who’s described in the ad as “perhaps one of our greatest United States leaders,” our hope was to hear back from the seller so we could find out how Leppert caught the eye…

Since becoming mayor less than two years ago, few have enjoyed the success of Tom Leppert. First a key victory in the Trinity River toll road campaign, then two more big wins last week after defeating two charter amendments, and now his very own commemorative ceramic tile. Even though we’re…