Arboretum officials were understandably cautious when they unveiled early plans for a Garland Road parking garage last night. The memory of the public uprising and PR debacle that greeted a proposal to park cars on Winfrey Point is no doubt fresh on their minds, so they made clear that the…
It’s been more than a year since a task force sent the Dallas City Council its recommendations for retooling the city’s gas drilling ordinance. But the first step toward updating city code will finally be taken at the Plan Commission. The city attorney’s office will brief commissioners at this Thursday’s…
It’s been more than three years since the City of Dallas first began moving CNG-powered cabs to the front of the line of taxis at Love Field. The protesters have long since vacated the City Hall plaza, and the city’s attention has inevitably drifted. But through it all, the cabbies…
It’s always reassuring to know that no matter how stupid things get in the state legislature, things are just as dumb, if not more so, in Congress. Perhaps “reassuring” is the wrong word. In either case, in order to fully grasp the import of this story, you should know that…
The Arlington Parks Department described the crime in clinical terms. Vandals had come in the night and defaced a piece of playground equipment at Allen Saxe Park, causing $5,000 in damage. But the detached language masked some strong emotions. This wasn’t just any old jungle gym. This was Nessie, which…
The city of Dallas recently sent out a survey to a few thousand lucky residents asking them to assess the state of the city. It’s partly for quality control, a way of ensuring the city is accountable to its customers, partly a self-congratulatory pat on the back, since the folks…
In the end, Belmont Addition attorney Melissa Kingston’s lawsuit against neighborhood activist Avi Adelman ended not with the expected bang, but with a whimper of a settlement agreement. Under the terms of the settlement, Adelman agreed not to do a handful of annoying and/or stalker-esque things, like taking pictures of…
In case you missed it, Gov. Rick Perry used his veto Friday to override the bipartisan will of the legislature, which sought to inject the most meager, almost universally agreeable ethics reform into the state oil and gas regulator. They attempted to do this because the Railroad Commission of Texas…
Governor Rick Perry signed a bill into law today that will require people applying for unemployment benefits to submit to a drug test, if their responses to a screening questionnaire indicate possible drug use, the Texas Tribune reports. (Those questions will likely include: “Which Cheech and Chong movies do you…
The residents of the Dallas West Mobile Home Park on Commerce Street probably should have seen the writing on the wall almost a decade ago, when the Dallas City Council rezoned the property and turned their trailers and RVs into “non-conforming uses.” If not then, when the Oak Cliff hipsters…
Back in March, the operators of Klyde Warren Park surprised neighbors by passing the hat and asking for a modest contribution to keep downtown’s newest jewel clean and running smoothly. And it was modest. The public improvement district they wanted to create would levy a tax of two-and-a-half cents for…
The debate over Joshua ISD’s decision last week to cut the mic on valedictorian Remington Reimer’s graduation speech probably should have died by now. The oft-repeated claim that he was silenced for talking about God is belied by, among other things, the lengthy, overtly Christian prayer that closed the ceremony…
It’s a cute idea, really. A couple of dozen Democratic lawmakers enter to protest looming cuts to the food stamp program by going to the grocery store, elbow-to-elbow with real Americans, and spending $30 for a week’s worth of food. Not only will it shame Republicans into eliminating cuts to…
Republican Congressman Ralph Hall of Rockwall isn’t the most virulently homophobic member of Congress, but he’s not exactly waving a rainbow flag either. On his website, he boasts of his support for “traditional family values,” which he has expressed by decrying the decision to lift the military’s ban on openly…
LGBT activists and allies showed up early at City Hall this morning, all wearing red. One by one, they stepped to the microphone and chastised the Dallas City Council for its epic wuss-out on a marriage and workplace equality resolution. “Leadership requires action, not just words,” said Resource Center Dallas’…
Electricity issues may not get as much ink as abortion-ban legislation here in Texas, but there were a few bills filed this session — more like kale than red meat — that sure as heck would have had a bigger impact on your pocketbook. They were common-sense and pro-consumer protections…
Fisherman from the area have known the pond for decades. Tucked away in the Joppa Preserve in South Dallas, its official, government name is West Pond, but locals refer to it as Bad Leg Fred Lake after the man who once ran a small operation selling bait and supplies to…
In a weekend story previewing the City Council’s discussion today on single-use plastic bags, the Dallas Morning News ran a photo of a tattered Kroger bag snagged on a barbed wire fence, downtown Dallas looming as a backdrop. “What I want to hear is who’s going to go get these…
Here’s how it’s supposed to work: A business or property owner buys a burglar alarm then pays the city for a permit. When there’s a burglar, police show up and make an arrest. If there are four or more false alarms in a year, the alarm owner is charged a…
We had assumed, back when Dallas police first floated their proposal to crack down on “spontaneous encampments,” that the measure was a delayed response to Occupy Dallas. Turns out, we were wrong. “This is not toward a specific group at all,” Dallas Police Chief David Brown told the City Council’s…
The advocacy group Equality Texas has put out its first legislative report card in several sessions, ranking Texas state legislators’ records on working for LGBT rights. The factors Equality Texas took into account include public votes, authorship (both pro- and anti-), resolutions and committee votes. They turned that into a…
Councilwoman Angela Hunt and former mayor Tom Leppert have never exactly been besties. She was a frequent and vocal critic of the mayor, accusing him of lying, putting his ambitions for higher office before the interests of the city, and generally not doing a very good job running the city…
