Dallas Police Chief David Brown never gave a terribly convincing defense of an ordinance barring protesters from demonstrating near highways. He said it was intended to protect the safety of motorists who might be distracted by a sign-waving demonstrator, but as council member Philip Kingston highlighted as the City Council…
For the last month, Dallas has been buzzing with plans to temporarily shelter thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children. Some 60,000 kids are expected to flow into the United States this year, and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ hotly debated plan would have provided temporary relief for stressed border resources, in…
On Thursday, the city of Dallas’ Fair Housing Office released a presentation outlining its specific policies regarding dress codes and other means of potential discrimination at bars, restaurants and other public accommodations. There’s nothing new in the guidelines, which were seemingly reiterated in response to the multiple charges of racism…
We’d be remiss if we didn’t start this post by saying that Unfair Park is not an entomologist. Not even close. That being said, looking at the address of locations being sprayed to combat West Nile, we think we’ve noticed a pattern. Mosquito control measures this year had focused on…
Local protests have increased in recent weeks against the expected influx of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children, part of an unprecedented surge of kids fleeing poverty and violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. As resources are stretched at the border, at Lackland Air Force base and other shelters,…
If there’s one thing Unfair Park has taken away from the high-stakes civic lesson that’s been the Cityplace Sam’s Club case thus far, it’s this: The notices sent to homeowners telling them about proposed zoning changes in their neighborhoods are terrible. The notices are meant to let people who own…
On any given day, the 10th floor of the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas is filled with men, women and children waiting to appear before an immigration judge. On certain days, like yesterday, many of them are Central American children, having arrived at the United States border, alone,…
Governor Rick Perry’s sending the National Guard to the border may not be the best idea. Sending soldiers to perform law enforcement functions usually doesn’t end well. That being said, at least there’s a certain logic to it. Perry perceives the influx of undocumented kids crossing the border as a…
In Dallas, the political atmosphere for payday lending reform is optimistic. After three years of ordinances limiting lending practices, the local movement has spread to 17 other cities across the state. Today, Dallas City Councilman Jerry Allen went before the Amarillo City Council to try and recruit that city to…
Governor Rick Perry today announced his intention to deploy up to 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border. While Perry cited criminal and cartel violence as his reason, the move comes following the recent surge of Central American children into Texas. Some 60,000 undocumented and unaccompanied kids are…
It’s been a few weeks since Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ startling announcement that Dallas would help shelter the influx of Central American kids. Initial reaction was, in general, positive if riddled with questions. Faith groups across the area have been busy raising funds and holding food and clothing drives…
One year ago yesterday, Governor Rick Perry signed into law one of the country’s most restrictive abortion laws. It’s been a little over a year since Wendy’s Davis’ landmark filibuster, and it would be another few months before the bill withstood legal strutiny in federal courts. But here we are…
Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar this week were heralded, by The Dallas Morning News among others, for their proposal to hire scores of new immigration judges to begin ruling on child migrant cases within a week or so of their arrival, as a show of force…
With Central American kids streaming across Texas’ border and nothing but partisan posturing on the horizon, Dallas County, under the leadership of County Judge Clay Jenkins and in partnership with the feds, is preparing to shelter thousands of unaccompanied minors from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, starting as soon as…
Lamar Alternative Education Center used to be Lamar Elementary. It’s part of the Grand Prairie Independent School District, and it officially closed its doors at the end of the 2013 school year because of low attendance. Today, the school sits empty in a working-class neighborhood, and looks the part of…
District Judge Emily Tobolowsky issued an order Friday blocking, at least for now, developer Trammell Crow’s plan to build a 130,000-square-foot Sam’s Club in Cityplace, just north downtown. Residents in the neighborhood near Haskell Avenue and Central Expressway won a temporary restraining order that prevents the city from issuing building…
As expected, the Dallas City Plan Commission voted this afternoon to approve the Trammell Crow backed plan for the area surrounding U.S. 75 and Haskell Avenue. The plan, for a development that’s been labeled the East Village, was presented to neighbors as being for a walkable, diverse multi-use outcropping. To…
President Obama and Governor Perry have been facing weeks of political tension regarding the recent surge in unaccompanied immigrant children fleeing central America and arriving at the Texas border. Although Dallas has made headlines in its promise to shelter many of these kids, it’s an issue that has been attracting…
U.S. Representative Marc Veasey doesn’t have a Republican opponent in Congressional District 33, which is made up of gerrymandered swaths of Oak Cliff, Irving and Tarrant County. That doesn’t mean he’s running unopposed, just that his sole challenger happens to be Jason Reeves, a California-born Libertarian whose most recent political…
East Village Association, a group representing residents who live near the proposed East Village development, has filed a request for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction against the city of Dallas and the Plan Commission to block a zoning change that would allow construction of a 130,000-square-foot Sam’s…
It’s not every Tuesday that you see reporters from three Dallas TV stations live tweeting a Dallas County Commissioners’ meeting, but that’s just what happened today. Why the hubbub? This meeting was a de facto public hearing on County Judge Clay Jenkins’ plan to house up to 2,000 undocumented minors…
GOP leadership has officially announced that exotic, exciting Cleveland will be hosting the RNC convention in 2016. The final announcement has come after weeks of teasers. Last month, the RNC selection committee narrowed the convention site shortlist to four cities. Then, last week, they announced that Kansas City and Denver…
