City Hall clearly didn’t want a repeat of the Texas-OU towing fiasco, which is why it had extra parking enforcement officials out and about Fair Park today for the Cotton Bowl adios. After the jump, the city’s media release documenting the 10 citations doled out to folks directing game-goers into…
A Friend of Unfair Park sends us an eBay item being offered by a disgruntled former Dallas Cowboys “Super Fan”: himself. (At least, I think it’s a “himself.” Has to be.) Says the want ad:You are bidding on behalf of your favorite NFL football team, to acquire a new Super…
Congress gets back to business on Tuesday, and if Texas Republican John Cornyn has anything to say about it, Minnesota will only have one senator seated. That’s because Cornyn, about to be installed as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, vowed today to keep Al Franken out of the…
A good Friend of Unfair Park shot me a photo this week of an SUV parked in Lakewood sporting an advertisement for www.MenarcheParty.com, which helps you “Celebrate Girlhood to Womanhood.” Which, of course, sent me directly to the Web site, to which the missus responded with a bemused, albeit slightly…
So, one of those “Welcome Home, George & Laura” signs popped up in my neighborhood this week — because, right, he will totally see it and appreciate the awesome gesture. And since we are days away from George and Laura’s move to the ‘229, I thought it best to see…
Maybe you saw this story in the paper this a.m. concerning the 55-unit Shelby apartment building that Prescott Realty’s putting up on SMU Boulevard, just east of North Central Expressway. (It’s actually been online for a couple of days, but whatever.) A colleague who lives nearby reminds that this is…
Newcomers (and everyone else, let’s face it) probably don’t recall that when the Dallas City Council passed the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance in 1991, it was a long, contentious process that wound up in court, courtesy some teenagers’ folks who thought keeping 17-and-unders off the city streets after 11 p.m. was…
The Dallas Municipal Building on Harwood and Main streets is a historic heap o’ mess — one short short of a full-blown catastrophe, according to this story and friends who work out of the building. And it has the University of North Texas, which hopes to turn the former Dallas…
Some random notes with which to start your final day of winter vacay. Last night I briefly toyed with the idea of attending the final Cotton Bowl to be held at the actual Cotton Bowl, but an anticipated record crowd of 88,175 — what you get when you combine a…
Meet the new year, same as the old year — at least when it comes to a certain resident of the Dallas Zoo. I so totally meant to make it out to the zoo this morning for the 11 a.m. Concerned Citizens for Jenny press conference (no kidding, 11 a.m.),…
Pass the Advil and crank up the wayback machine. Let’s kick off 2009 with one last, long, loving look back at the Cotton Bowl. Oh, the refurbished stadium will still be around, but its namesake game is moving to Arlington after tomorrow’s Texas Tech-Ole Miss curtain closer and, other than Texas-OU,…
I didn’t believe I was going to jail—actual jail—until the door to the women’s holding tank in the Denton City Jail shut behind me and I stood there facing a room lined with slim metal bunks, two occupied by my cellmates. I sat down on an empty bunk, clutching the…
“Sweating Equity,” by Jim Schutze, December 11 Don’t Blow It Jim Schutze’s question in the December 11-17 issue is a valid one: “Why is Commissioner John Wiley Price trying to sandbag a big business venture that has such clear benefit to his own constituency?” The Allen Group appears to be…
Buzz’s mother had three essential life lessons she attempted to impart to her son: 1) Shut up; 2) Show some respect; and 3) God help you if I ever catch you hanging around that pool hall. Despite her best efforts, delivered with the loving strokes of a left hook that…
Justin Terveen It took a year, but I now feel the way this woman looked in downtown Dallas last New Year’s Eve. You’re now free to get your drink on — oh, little late for that, never mind. Regardless, we come now to the final posting of the year, a…
Survey says — this one, anyway — that people from outside of Dallas wouldn’t mind living in Dallas. In fact, it’s No. 8 out of the Top 10 cities in which folks have searched for new homes, right between suburbs in Seattle and Chicago. (Seattle, I can see that.) That’s…
Amy Severson, keeper of The Dallas Cook Book, has done her good deed for the year — which year, you decide. Today she writes of a very special something she received from City Hall: “a City of Dallas Special Recognition for Helen Corbitt, with a gold seal, red ribbons, the…
Before you muffle your “Happy New Year’s” wishes with tired, old criticism, notice I said “Memorable” and not “Best”. Got it? In lieu of Dick Clark, let me start these balls dropping. 10. Byrd Watching. 9. A National (Anthem) Embarrassment. 8. Jivin’ at the Joule. 7. Morrow’s First/ Avery’s Sloppy Seconds…
The announcement came three weeks ago, but I just noticed on SMU’s Web site that National Film Preservation Foundation has given the university a generous donation so it can do the Lord’s work — in this case, preserving a pioneer filmmaker’s work about, well, the Lord. The G. William Jones…
And here we thought Dallas had the lock on red-light camera drama — damn you, Houston. On December 26, two men filed suit against the City of Houston claiming it was withholding a Rice University professor’s study concerning the efficacy of the city’s red-light cameras. Two days later, a version…
On Page 13A of Your Morning Paper is Dora the Explorer, crying all over a full-page ad that screams: “Time Warner Cable is Taking Dora Off the Air Tonight! Along with 19 of your favorite channels!” Which is a bit of a stretch. Spike? Please. MTV? Since when? 1985? TV…
For those looking for some year-end reading during the slow news cycle, consider my personal favorites of the year from Observer columnist Jim Schutze. I refuse to play favorites, so the list is chronological. And since any commentary from me can’t compare to the work itself, a memorable excerpt from…
