Articles for March, 2009
Behind the Scenes at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts
A few of us just returned from a cool field trip to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts construction site, where a guy named Doug Curtis took us on a hard-hat tour. Curtis is the vice president of design and construction for the DCPA, meaning he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. They’re going like crazy down there, about 600 guys working on both the Winspear and Wyly. Yes, North Texas needs some rain. But these guys would be happy to have things stay dry a bit longer. The whole joint is scheduled to open in October.
Here you see pictured, from left, Eric Celeste, Doug Curtis, and friend of the show Willard Spiegelman. Want more photos? Of course you do. For now, you can jump. And before too long, the greatness that is Kyle Kearbey will have a video for your eyes.
Star-Telegram to Become an Edition of DMN?
An alert FrontBurnervian points us to this story from Time: “The 10 Major Newspapers That Will Either Fold or Go Digital Next.” No. 9 on the list is the Star-Telegram, which Time apparently thinks still has the words “Fort Worth” (but not a hyphen) in its moniker.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram is another one of the big dailies that competes with a larger paper in a neighboring market — Dallas. The parent of The Dallas Morning News, Belo, is arguably a stronger company that the Star Telegram’s parent, McClatchy. The Morning News has a circulation of about 350,000 and the Star Telegram has just over 200,000. The Star Telegram will have to shut down or become an edition of its rival. Putting them together would save tens of millions of dollars a year.
There are a couple of things that strike me about that. First, the parent company of the DMN is AH Belo, not Belo. Second, AH Belo isn’t in a position to acquire a decent Metro columnist, much less another newspaper. Third, people in Fort Worth won’t stand for an edition of the DMN. Anyone who has spent time in Fort Worth (I’m looking at you, Eric) knows how different that place is from Dallas.
D CEO A Finalist In National Magazine Competition
Not to toot our own horn, but–wait, yes I will toot our own horn. Just learned that D will be represented by D CEO magazine in the 24th annual National City and Regional Magazine Awards competition. D CEO, which is D’s business publication, was nominated as one of three five finalists in its category, called “ancillary publications.” Texas Monthly led the pack this year with multiple nominations in a variety of categories. The iron will be handed out at the annual conference of the City and Regional Magazine Association May 30-June 1 in New Orleans.
Marty Cortland Rankles Area Certified Financial Planners
In the January issue of the “print product,” the inimitable Marty Cortland delivered some financial advice, the thrust of which was: get out of the market and pay down any debt you have. Our good friends at the Dallas Fort Worth Financial Planning Association thought the advice was short-sighted. The group’s president, the ever-amiable Mark McClanahan, asked for equal time. His response to Marty comes after the jump:
Jeb Hensarling Fights The Good Fight — To Save The GOP From Itself
Hensarling continues to try to eliminate earmarks, and his GOP colleagues keep fighting to keep them. Earmarks are a tiny percentage of the federal budget, but they are the most egregious example of waste in government spending. They lead to corruption, special-interest pandering, and stupid projects. According to the Center for Media and Democracy:
The 1970 Defense Appropriations Bill had a dozen earmarks; the 1980 bill had 62; and by 2005, the defense bill included 2,671. Among the earmarks in the 2005 bill was money to eradicate brown tree snakes in Guam. Similar increases are seen in the history of the Transportation Appropriations Bill. When President Dwight Eisenhower proposed the first national highway bill in the 1950s, there were two projects singled out for specific funding. In August 2005, when Congress passed a six year, $286.4 billion Transportation Bill, there were 6,371 earmarks, ranging from $200,000 for a deer avoidance system in Weedsport, New York to $3 million for dust control mitigation on Arkansas’ rural roads. In all, there were roughly 15,000 congressional earmarks in 2005 at a total cost of $47 billion.
Note that in 2005 Republicans controlled Congress. And Jeb Hensarling was fighting even then to rein them in. After the GOP lost control of the House in 2006 — which even Karl Rove attributed to out-of-control spending — you’d think they would have learned. But no. If there is one issue on which a clear, bright line could be drawn between Democrats and Republicans, it could be earmarks. But as a friend of mine says, “The Democrats are the dangerous party. I, on the other hand, belong to the stupid party.”
Dallas Receiver Moving Fast On Stanford Bust
Ralph Janvey is the Dallas attorney appointed to figure out what to do about the Stanford Ponzi scheme. He isn’t wasting any time. On Friday, he fired 1,000 Stanford employees to conserve investors’ cash. Today he’s unfreezing the accounts of investors with $250,000 or less so they can transfer their funds.
Leading Off (3/9/09)
1. There are good columns to be written about the inland port saga. This is not one of them.
2. Two condo owners suing SMU over the Bush Library are now trying to get depositions from the former prez and his wife. I’ve been trying for several minutes to stick the landing on a joke, but nothing’s working. Figure it out for me in the comments.
3. Plano police are trying to figure out if an incident caught on a Wal-Mart security cam was a kidnapping or a prank. My gut reaction is prank, but it’s Plano, so who knows? UPDATE: It was a hoax.
Dallas Stars vs Montreal Canadiens: Let’s Muck it Up on InsideCorner, eh?
Hockey talk, keep talking hockey talk
Talk about sports you like to watch
You got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream
How you gonna have a game come true?
Jaap to Lead Chi-Town Orchestra — Again
Jaap van Zweden has been tapped — for the second time this season — to guest-conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This shows how highly he’s thought of outside of our fair town (not to say he doesn’t enjoy the same deserved rep here, btw). And while I’m thinking of it, D Home shot the Van Zwedens’ pad at the Ritz for the current issue. Check it out.
Friday Afternoon Random Question (3/6/09)
Since everyone could probably use a little levity while holding onto their hats or, unfortunately, trying to find a new rack for said hat, here’s a classic:
Would you eat the moon if it were made of barbecued spare ribs?
It’s a simple question, doctor.
Why the DMN’s DISD Coverage Kills Me Dead
This happened more than a week ago, and I’ve just been too caught up in stuff going on here [insert sound of 40s being poured] to post it. So, a quick recap is necessary. A think tank, the Brookings Institute, produced a study of big-city school districts that showed DISD was 2nd overall nationally in terms of academic gains in the past seven years. First, read this Associated Press account, which lays it out in a straightforward fashion:
DALLAS — Achievement test scores at big-city school districts in Texas still lag far behind their suburban and rural counterparts but they’re making great strides and narrowing the gap, according to a report by an education think tank released Wednesday. A study of 37 of the nation’s largest urban school systems by The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., found that city schools are improving more than other school districts in their respective states. … It was designed to determine how big-city school districts fared when compared to their suburban and rural peers. The study was able to standardize scores between states, even those using different tests. … Dallas showed the biggest improvement among the large Texas cities, and was 2nd overall nationally. … In 2000, Dallas was outscored by 100 percent of the state’s school districts. By 2007, just 90 percent of suburban and rural districts did better than Dallas — a significant improvement given its demographics, the study’s author said.
Now, this is good news, right? Not great, because the district, as noted, still has a long way to go. But it suggests things are getting better. Is that your takeaway? Well, I don’t think it would be if you just read how the DMN covered it.
A Note About Comments
More than one FrontBurnervian has asked about our policy on moderating comments. So here goes:
Sarah Jaffe on ACL Stage Left
The venerable Austin City Limits has sprouted an online offshoot called ACL Stage Left. They describe the venture as follows “[Stage Left's] mission is to find the very best, most unique, undiscovered or ready to be re-discovered, passionate music artists and provide them with a strong platform with which to make great art, turning their listeners and our viewers into life-long fans.” What does that mean for you? Local gal Sarah Jaffe performing on a stripped-down version of KLRU-TV’s iconic skyline stage. Here you go.
ACL STAGE LEFT – beta 01 (Sarah Jaffe) from dutch rall on Vimeo.
While I’m here talking about music, Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) appears with The National on SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers. She performs Crooked Fingers’ “Sleep All Summer.” The disc is packed with indie-rock heavyweights, both performing the cover versions (Bill Callahan, Bright Eyes, the New Pornographers) and being covered (Superchunk, Neutral Milk Hotel, Robert Pollard). It comes out on April 7.
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