Only yesterday I watched as my son’s school’s librarian begged the Dallas ISD school board to reinstate 42 librarians likely to be let go next school year. Trustees who agreed were told: Fine, but we’ll have to fire 42 teachers to make room. Trustees who disagreed insisted: Why do we…
Wednesday afternoon photo intern Taryn Walker stopped by the Living Plaza, which made its return to Dallas City Hall … and not for the final time, as organizers within OCP headquarters now expect it to become a monthly event, at least. Yet again, bcWORKSHOP’s shipping-container-turned-food-commissary was parked on the plaza,…
This morning we find two items of local interest contained within the virtual pages of IndieWire. First: Long-ago Observer-er Dana Harris sends word that the extremely authorized Sarah Palin propaganda filmdocumentary The Undefeated has found a collaboratorexhibitor, the AMC chain of theaters. As a result its producers and distributors say…
With The Finals tied 2-2, Mayor-For-Now Dwaine Caraway finally made a sports bet with a Miami politician — not Mayor Tomás Regalado, but Miami-Dade County Commissioner Chairman Joe A. Martinez, who extended the wager. The note came from City Hall late yesterday:Caraway added a twist to the traditional bet: the…
For 14 years, a salvaged portion of a Southern Pacific Railroad bridge from 1909 gathered dust, waiting to be recycled as main support of the trolley turntable now under construction at Cityplace Station near the West Village. Earlier today, a giant crane lifted the piece of bridge and lowered it…
There is a big hole in Fair Park. Finally. Eventually the crater will be filled with a 500-foot pole surrounded by a doughnut-shaped slowly spinning glass chamber. This new rotating ride will give visitors a 360-degree view of Dallas and, so they say, rival the Texas Star. But you knew…
The photo you see above was taken and sent our way today by, who else, Jason Roberts, for whom I happened to have many questions. So, good timing. As always.First thing’s first: That’s Three Sheets’s double-decker, which will be rolled out at the end of the month as part of…
Oak Cliff Metals’ move, which was on the council’s to-do list last month, returned this afternoon, with Mayor-For-Now Dwaine Caraway once again squaring off against Vonciel Jones Hill over the site that’s in her district near S. Central Expressway and Loop 12 and across the train tracks from his. This,…
In case you hadn’t heard, the state and county redistricting processes have already gotten a tad … heated, let’s say, what with all the threats of lawsuits and the temper tantrums. The city of Dallas’s Redistricting Commission is trying to avoid the same fate on the local level: Its members…
That headline comes from the request for proposals mentioned yesterday — the one where the city’s looking for marketing pros to “generate additional income for the City through naming, sponsorship, advertisement, and marketing partnerships with private corporations.” And if you’re a marketing professional interested in the gig, well, you’d best…
At some point this morning, the city council will vote to pay something called 11900 Marsh Lane, L.P. out of Houston a little more than $800,000 for a piece of land currently on the tax rolls for around $458,000. That’s a piece of property near Marsh and Forest where once…
The city council’s last big day before going on summer vacation is June 22, when the agenda will be action-packed. On the hefty to-do list: voting on the makeup of the gas drilling task force in advance of its first meeting some time in July, as task force head Lois…
Let’s go back to City Manager Mary Suhm’s budget Q&A memo for just a moment, because there was one Q that had me at A:What is being done to generate revenue by marketing the City? A Request for Proposal was advertised on May 12 and 19, 2011 seeking proposals from…
Must be the day for getting rid of lawsuits involving the city of Dallas. The feds already sent their heads-up that the city’s going to fork over $2.5 million related to ambulance over-billing, and now the Institute for Justice sends word that that lawsuit over the 2008 sign ordinance prohibiting…
No doubt some of you are aware that for the last couple of years or so, the city of Dallas has been entangled in a federal whistle-blower suit instigated by a former auditor at City Hall. Douglas Moore revealed that he’d discovered the city and Southwest General Services of Dallas…
This Friday, shortly before the council goes on summer vacation, we’ll get our latest peek at City Manager Mary Suhm’s FY2011-12 budget “snapshot,” following the mid-May look-see that said she’s still around $60 million short of funding the need-to’s. Speaking of: Last Friday Suhm sent to council a lengthy memo…
In the comments earlier today on Unfair Park, there was no shortage of speculation as to what the two mayoral hopefuls would cover in their next debate: City Manager Mary Suhm’s job security, dead rabbits and Sunday’s Dallas Morning News piece on the Trinity River tollway among them. And sure…
Say this for Deborah Watkins: The city secretary always hops on the phone whenever we have a question. And I’ve gotten to see her in action quite a bit in recent months — including on the witness stand, when the attorneys trying to re-dry Dallas got her to testify about…
Saturday morning we sneak-peeked an item that was just the subject of much debate during this morning’s meeting of the council’s Economic Development Committee: the fact that the city’s going to sink $235,000 in Jack Matthews’ Cedars TV and film production facility, in addition to the $100,000 he got last…
There’s a mayoral debate at noon today at the Belo Mansion; let the Dallas Bar Association know if you’re coming. Or: You can jump to the other side and watch David Kunkle and Mike Rawlings go at it for 22 minutes on WFAA-Channel 8, where they squared off yesterday during…
First off, as promised yesterday, here’s that Statler Hilton update, which was posted last night to the city’s website as the cumbersomely titled Filling in the Missing Pieces Downtown Upcoming Redevelopment Projects Former Statler Hilton Building / Former Dallas Public Library Building (Downtown Connection TIF District), which is also the…
Karl Zavitkovsky, director of the Office of Economic Development, has a long Monday morning ahead of him: He’s scheduled to deliver three presentations to the council’s Economic Development Committee, one of which has to do with two of our favorite topics: the Statler Hilton and the George Dahl-designed library that…
