HOT MAYORAL RUMOR OF THE DAY

It’s racing up and down the business community, and the enthusiam is so palpable there could be a draft movement by tomorrow. Who will run against Laura Miller in 2007? None other than Harriet Miers. Consider this. She’s got name ID. Unlike any other of the mentioned potentials, she’s run and been elected at-large. After her present job, going back to a law firm would be petty ante. After the beating she just took, it’s a nice recovery. She would be inundated with campaign donations.

I think I like this. Developing…

MARY MAPES FIRES HER SHOTS

Vanity Fair has put its excerpt from her book online. I can’t wait to read the blogs later tonight. I imagine by tomorrow they will have chewed her up and spat her out. She should smile, though–it’ll sell books.

RE: TURNSTILE

Speaking of the stronger-mayor proposal, former City Councilman Bob Stimson stopped by the office just now to give us his thoughts on why the proposal is not a very good one. Stimson is a self-identified “recovering accountant,” so his viewpoint is informed mostly by looking at the budgets. With the budget comes the power, he says. He argues that in the proposed system, the city manager becomes the alter ego of the mayor. The two of them can run the whole show, he says. Yes, but can’t the council just keep firing managers until the mayor picks one the council likes? Nope, says Stimson. The language in the proposal states that the mayor determines the manager’s “compensation,” which could theoretically include such a huge golden parachute that it would be financially unpleasant for the city to do so. Also, as near as Stimson can tell, no other city in the country has a hybird system of government similar to the one currently being proposed.

Note: not one of Stimson’s arguments included any sort of turnstile imagery.

JON FRIEDMAN HEARTS EVAN SMITH

The MarketWatch columnist justifies his trip to Puerto Rico by gushing over the editor of Texas Monthly. My favorite part of the article:

Sitting at the hotel bar, the boyishly handsome Smith took a sip of scotch and proclaimed, “I do the best Q&As of anybody in the business. Period.”

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RE: TURNSTILE

A city-government-watching FrontBurnervian takes me to task:

I disagree. Sherry is a voice of reason. If a majority of the council want to do the deal with Mr. Hunt and the Mayor doesn’t (the case right now) and both can fire the city manager how is a city manager supposed to function or back her staff. Remember the Mayor was yelling at the same assistant city manager a few months ago for letting another deal slip away. The current proposal doesn’t make sense to anyone who has covered city government.

To be clear, I wasn’t arguing one way or the other on the stronger-mayor proposal. I was only pointing out that Jacobson’s argument wasn’t a very good one. As I told this FrontBurnervian, I think the problem for both campaigns (those fer and those agin) is separating the people (i.e. Mayor Miller) from the policy.

JESSICA SIMPSON HAS AWARD-WINNING BODY PART(S)

According to a poll in In Touch Weekly,
Jessica Simpson was voted Best Cleavage in Hollywood. I’m sure her daddy is proud. Seriously. I bet he stuffed the ballot box for her. And, yes, I realize how creepy that is and how creepy that sounds.

A TURNSTILE, YOU SAY? THE HORROR, THE HORROR.

In her column today, Sherry Jacobson argues against the strong-mayor proposal and in favor of City Manager Mary Suhm. In it, she notes Mayor Miller’s propensity to threaten termination, then adds:

Arming this particular mayor with the ability to ax city staffers, directly or indirectly, surely would require the installation of a turnstile at City Hall’s back door to accommodate the outflow of bodies.

Riiiiiight. ‘Cause, you know, turnover at City Hall–a City Hall currently under FBI investigation, no less–would be a terrible, terrible thing. Rather than giving a Dallas mayor the authority to hire the people s/he wants working for her/him, we really should think about the job security of city staffers. That’s much more important than the growth of the city.

RE: LUV HEARTS VEGAS

An airport-knowing FrontBurnervian also read that Las Vegas business article and offers this:

I think the most interesting fact brought up in Velotta’s piece is Southwest’s “penchant to change its mind.” He mentioned that last week the airline moved to Denver International despite vowing that it could never operate at that airport effectively. Now that Kelleher is making going back on his word the norm, let’s indeed look for Southwest to move its headquarters if Wright stays in place, but not to Houston, Las Vegas, or Phoenix — rather to DFW, an airport that is still more efficient than Midway, Baltimore, Hobby, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia (according to DOT Data for February, March, April 2005) and has a terminal waiting for them. Then, much to the delight of local residents, we’ll see Love Field going the way of Stapleton.

By the way, Forest City Enterprises was the developer that transformed Stapleton from airport to neighborhood. Does that name ring a bell? It should. Forest City has the pleasure of bringing life back to the Mercantile downtown.

HORCHOW TO NYT READERS: “YA’LL COME VISIT”

An alert FBvian points us to a Times travel story by Sally Horchow (reg. req.), accompanied by a pretty picture taken by Mark Graham. Horchow declares:

Long a shopping and foodie draw for Southwestern visitors, Dallas is now attracting international art connoisseurs, who formerly bypassed Big D’s offerings in favor of Fort Worth and Marfa.

RE: BLOCKBUSTER BUMMER

A BBI-watching FrontBurner points out there were some developments last week. Developing.

BLOCKBUSTER BUMMER

We haven’t heard about BBI in a while, have we? Just an informed opinion here, but I think we can expect another round of layoffs in the coming weeks. Just wait.

CUBES RESPONDS

Say this about Mark Cuban: He wastes little time responding to emails. He has this to say about investing in Weinstein:

We have a very defined range of budgets and types of movies. We stay out of the blockbuster business. That is exactly their business. We are already partnering with them on movies. So its not comp at all.

And if they ever make moves in our direction, well, we will know it a lot faster as an investor.

MARK CUBAN HELPS OUT DOWNTRODDEN MOGULS

Harvey Weinstein, former head of Miramax, received $500 million from investors to start a new movie studio. Among the investors: Mark Cuban. The piece doesn’t say how much Cuban handed over, but I’m wondering what’s in it for him. Why would he invest with Weinstein when he himself has 2929 Entertainment and HDNet Films? I emailed Cubes this morning asking for enlightenment. Developing.

RE: COURTHOUSE POOP

Remember the case of the cab driver and the dried fecal matter and the pastries? A member of the jury offers his/her anonymous statement after the jump. It’s lengthy, but it provides insight into what went on during deliberations, if you care.
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RE: LUV HEARTS VEGAS

An link-following FrontBurnervian takes me to task for my “Kelleher is bluffing” comments:

No offense, but Velotta doesn’t say the Kelleher is bluffing, nor did Kelleher ever single out Vegas. The article says that Houston or Phoenix is a more likely destination than Vegas. I would say that Phoenix is probably their top relocation destination, with Chicago probably sitting at the second spot.

I would expect that SWA would eventually leave Dallas were the Wright Amendment not…well, amended. The airline has never been known for wasting time or money, so why would they here (I say this as a former intern from many years ago; they never wasted any money paying me)? That said, I like Wick’s idea, or something similar to play out and make the whole thing moot.

Yes, but then I wouldn’t be able to make the Vegas-y metaphor of bluffing. Oh, and if you’re wondering about “Wick’s idea,” click here.