“Who Do You Trust?” by Sam Merten, April 30 A Water Park Would Be Nice I can’t even imagine the wonders we could accomplish in this city with half a billion dollars. How many community centers equipped with tutors, teachers and computers that will change the future of DISD students…
Better late…: After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its report on the city’s levees in April, we were baffled to learn that construction on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge would continue, especially since drilling a concrete pier for the bridge into the floodway resulted in the troubling discovery…
After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its report on the city’s levees, we were baffled to learn that construction on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge would continue, especially since drilling a concrete pier for the bridge into the floodway resulted in the troubling discovery of sand and the…
As mentioned in this week’s cover story, one of the reasons former council member Ed Oakley says he lost to Tom Leppert in the ’07 mayoral runoff was his decision to run a negative campaign in the final weeks. Oakley’s negativity climaxed with taking a cheap shot at Leppert by…
In my inbox this morning, I received an e-mail from the Vote No! group, who are packaging Proposition 1 and 2 together. For those needing clarification, Proposition 1 will approve a charter amendment prohibiting the city from “owning, financing, constructing, or operating a hotel or other lodging facility,” and Proposition…
It’s another in a long line of sales pitches for Mayor Tom Leppert as he hawks his vision for a convention center hotel. Tonight the promoter-in-chief is going mano a mano against those who support a referendum for a city charter amendment that would put the kibosh on his proposed…
Ron Steinhart, chairman of Enough is Enough, at the group’s press conference not only talked about the negative personal attacks aimed at Mayor Tom Leppert, but he also referred to “inaccurate and misleading statements” from the anti-hotel campaign. Yet when he spoke with the Observer in late March for today’s…
As we mentioned yesterday, tomorrow’s cover story in the paper version of Unfair Park features Mayor Tom Leppert. One of the more fascinating interviews we grabbed while researching the piece was with former city council member Donna Halstead, who since 1998 has been president of the Dallas Citizens Council. She…
We’ve received a lot of feedback thus far regarding yesterday’s item in which we revealed Jerry Allen’s thoughts concerning Mayor Tom Leppert, the convention center hotel and the Trinity River toll road. The most buzz, and rightfully so, came from the statement he gave us after he was asked about…
While researching our upcoming cover story on Mayor Tom Leppert, which will appear in the paper version of Unfair Park Wednesday, we sat down with Lake Highlands city council member Jerry Allen, who announced in a recent council meeting that he believes anything that comes out of the mayor’s mouth…
The Vote No’ers yesterday began airing their second TV ad, which features Mayor Tom Leppert and Dallas citizens Joanne and Bob Goodfellow, whose hot sports opinions regarding the convention center hotel are lacking to say the least — as in, they’re mute throughout the entire 30-second spot. So we gave…
As Robert mentioned earlier, Angela Hunt spent the weekend in Portland and Seattle checking out streetcars with my go-to source at the city for the convention center hotel: Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, which explains why I didn’t hear back from him regarding Monday’s story about how the Dallas Convention…
After approving in February 2008 the expenditure of $170,000 for a feasibility study to refinance the $260 million debt on the Dallas Convention Center, the city in October announced it would use $40 million of the refinancing to expand, upgrade and renovate the convention center. Additionally, the debt savings would…
A supporter of Casey Thomas filed an ethics complaint Monday against Dave Neumann, who’s being challenged by Thomas for his District 3 city council seat, claiming he violated the Dallas City Code. Brian Wesley alleges Neumann accepted $27,925 in contributions that exceed the allowable $1,000 donation per individual in each…
A crowd of approximately 75 Vote No’ers gathered in front of City Hall this afternoon in support of Mayor Tom Leppert and the convention center hotel; among them were Dr. Frederick Haynes of Friendship-West Baptist Church, former council member Ed Oakley, county commissioner John Wiley Price and Deputy Mayor Pro…
Tennell Atkins and LeVar Thomas debated for an hour last night at Paul Quinn College in South Dallas, as the two candidates in the District 8 city council race offered opposing views regarding the inland port, the convention center hotel and giving more power to Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle…
We reported March 30 that two South Dallas churches were potentially jeopardizing their tax-exempt status by allowing Mayor Tom Leppert to advocate positions regarding the two upcoming propositions on the May 9 ballot. Although an update in the story included quotes from a customer service representative with the Internal Revenue…
After taking care of some bidness near DPD headquarters last week, I popped in on my favorite pro-hotel’er, Jack Matthews, whose office is across the street. Matthews, who is developing the convention center hotel for the city, assured me construction has not begun on the project even though work is…
City council candidate Billy MacLeod was assaulted in Deep Ellum early this morning, resulting in a police report naming a “known suspect” who put MacLeod in a “choke hold” and threw him into Elm Street. MacLeod claims the attack was related to the new smoking ordinance, which took effect just…
While it’s admittedly wonkish, we elaborated yesterday on an important issue in the convention center hotel debate raised by Mayor Tom Leppert and the Vote No! crowd: The charter amendment written by attorneys from the anti-hotel group could jeopardize the use of economic development tools on other hotel projects. Sure,…
Mayor Tom Leppert made two stops on his tireless convention center hotel campaign tour Tuesday as he dropped by for “coffee and conversation” with the Dallas County Council of Republican Women shortly before squaring off with anti-hotel group leader Anne Raymond at the Westin Galleria. Leppert addressed the recent TV…
For those willing to fight through the poor video quality, I condensed my footage from yesterday’s city council meeting, where Angela Hunt and Mayor Tom Leppert had different ideas about how the report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers affects the city’s plans to jam a toll road in…
