In recent weeks the back-and-forth over Texas’s redistricting and the will-it-won’t-it primary date has turned into a blur of legal briefs and oral arguments; seems that May 29 is the primary date now, so long, Super Tuesday. All of which you’d know if you follow Michael Li: The former Baker…
A little after 2:30 the council got ’round to that Uplift briefing, which was supposed to be about the city’s creating a nonprofit corporation to help the charter school sell tax-free bonds for its expansion into Deep Ellum and Fort Worth. Which, as the council’s been reminded over and over,…
In the wake of the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s vote yesterday not to grant Uplift Education the parking waiver it requested on Elm Street, in the old Baylor offices in Deep Ellum, I spoke with some staffers in Sustainable Development about why they changed their minds. Because initially, city staff…
In one way, shape or form we’ve noted most of what the city council will discuss this afternoon during its briefing. But there’s one briefing we’ve overlooked: Water Conservation and the Land Development Process. This one addresses a familiar subject ’round these parts: the city’s attempt to conserve water during…
It feels like forever ago that we began discussing Uplift Education’s plans to open Laureate Preparatory in Deep Ellum, in the old Baylor offices on Elm Street; but, no, it was only a few weeks ago. And we found out about it, in part, because Uplift had filed with the…
In light of a few things — namely the one-year anniversary of the most widespread rolling blackout in Texas history; the razor-thin reserve margins that left the state teetering on the verge of more rolling blackouts during that hot-as-hell summer; and ERCOT’s assertion that there aren’t enough plants to power…
For months, Mayor Mike Rawlings has made it clear that he’s got his eye on Southern Dallas. This afternoon, as promised, was the first of three public presentations he’ll give on his Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan, which played to a packed house of bigwigs at the South Side Studios…
The bureaucratic red tape for bike lanes is loosening in Dallas. Well, OK. There’s talk of it loosening. Which, for those who like to want to ride their bicycles, who want to ride them where they like, is better than nothing. At today’s meeting of the city council’s Transportation and…
Below is an audit just dispatched by City Hall, which says that for various reasons Dallas Fire-Rescue isn’t giving some buildings the proper once-over. Among the reasons why not: The forms they use either aren’t complete or consistent, and the department’s practices and procedures aren’t very up-to-date. Which, says auditor…
We’ve had this conversation before. And before that. And before that. Why oh why oh why is Fair Park — “our jewel,” in the words of Dwaine Caraway — so underutilized, so unloved?Daniel Huerta, Fair Park’s exec general manager, and Park and Rec head Paul Dyer, actually came to the…
Below is the charter school briefing the city council was promised last week, but only after the heated discussion punctuated by Mayor Mike Rawlings’s fiery call to expand charters — because, as he said, “freedom is choice, choice creates excellence, and excellence graduates kids.” The purpose of the briefing, of…
Turns out there’s nothing at all random about the day the city chose to debut its Seeds of Change website devoted to Southern Dallas. It comes just three days before Mayor Mike Rawlings unveils his so-called Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan at Jack Matthews’s movie studio on S. Lamar, which…
And just the other day I was grousing that Dallas City Hall’s yet to plant those long-promised Seeds of Change. But moments ago city spokesman Frank Librio sent word: that “coming soon” is “right now” as City Hall attempts to combat The Dallas Morning News’s 10 Drops in the Bucket…
This morning I got that list of the city’s surplus properties I asked for yesterday — and it’s not a long one, consisting of just four “improved properties” (meaning, they have buildings on them) and 19 vacant lots, several next to each other on, respectively, W. Laureland and N. Lancaster…
When first formed back in June, the city council-appointed Gas Drilling Task Force had hoped to turn into council by November its list of recommendations for an ordinance regulating drilling in the city limits. Time, after all, is of the essence as companies who paid the city millions for leases…
The city of Dallas and municipal Judge Phyllis Lister Brown have been at odds since November, but as of today she can legally continue serving in her current position as the various lawsuits involving the judge and Dallas City Hall drag out indefinitely. The city intended to kick her off…
Can’t say for sure how long the former fire station on Walnut Hill Lane near Marsh has looked like this, only because I haven’t taken Walnut Hill to work since Monday, when it did not look like this. (I’ve been taking Marsh to Lemmon to Inwood to Maple, if you…
In Dallas and across the country, the astronomical number of deportation orders issued by immigration courts is at last beginning to fall. President Obama’s new strategy focuses on intelligent enforcement and prosecutorial discretion. Translated: We’ll show bad guys the door, but the undocumented student brought here as a child can…
At the end of yesterday’s lengthy, heated debate over hopping into a bed made of tax-free bonds with Uplift Education, Mayor Mike Rawlings delivered the passionate testimonial Jim and I referenced. Several Friends of Unfair Park have asked to hear the entire thing, the “Our Poor Kids” speech, so I’ve…
You may recall that back in October we told you Fair Park had been named a Great Public Space by the American Planning Association. Well, during the council’s lunch break today, just after he got emotional about the children, Mayor Mike Rawlings gathered with the city council, Parks Board chair…
Jim will be along shortly with his take on the passionate discussion surrounding Uplift Education’s efforts to get the city to assist with the selling of bonds to help with the charter school’s expansion. I’ll just note this: During his closing remarks on the subject, just before council voted to…
At this very moment the city council members are discussing whether they’d like to get into the bond business to help Uplift Education with its plan to sell tax-exempt bonds to help open a new charter school in the former Baylor offices Deep Ellum. (Sounds, so far, like the item…
