Articles for June, 2009
Time to Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?, Ctd.
Without knowing anything about anything, I’m going to go ahead and say the following: no way would new, modern railcars run on those old rails under the asphalt. The gauge of the tracks, distance between them — stuff like that. Again, I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’m certain of this.
Time To Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?
Peter Simek sees DART as a regional necessity but wonders about its utility as an inter-urban system. He then raises an interesting point:
…if Dallas really wants to build a walkable urban vision, if it wants to create an intersecting web of multi-use districts, if it wants a more vibrant street life, if it wants its touted future urban spaces – the Woodall Rogers Park and the Trinity River Project among them – to function according to their planned visions, eliminating the need for all of our city’s offerings to be surrounded by sprawling parking lots or expensive underground parking garages, then an alternative to DART must be on the table. Luckily, there is a model.
The model is the streetcar system, whose tracks still lie under the asphalt, that was built in 1927. I vaguely remember streetcars still running in the 1950s. They were replaced by a new! modern! airconditioned! gasoline-powered! thing call the bus.
Simek is on to something. Of course, the city was much, much smaller then, so the grid would only serve the inner core. Still, it might provide, as Simek says, the connectivity that the inner core needs. (Forget the budget deficit for now. We’re talking 5-10 years from now.)
Lonely Coyotes Near White Rock
My wife returned from a neighborhood association meeting last night with this story, told to her by a neighbor: we live in the Eastwood neighborhood, on the northeast side of White Rock. Our neighbor goes out to a nearby greenbelt to play fetch with his dog. He throws a ball. The dog retrieves it. Good times. Then the craziest thing: the neighbor throws the ball, but before his dog can chase it down, a coyote dashes out of the creek bed, snaps up the ball, and disappears back into the brush. Our neighbor and his dog both looked at each other like, “Did you just see that?” Thus ended the game of fetch.
Leading Off (6/18/09)
1. Mayor Leppert says what anyone who’s paid a visit to the municipal courts anytime in the last couple of years knows all too well: “Clearly, we have something that’s not working.” When should everyone expect that to change? Ah, well, hmmm…let’s see here..carry the two…how does “eventually” sound to everyone? Good? Okay. Good talk. I’ll see you out there.
2. Everyone do yourself a favor: block off about 10 minutes and watch this tour of the new Cowboys Stadium hosted by Martellus Bennett, aka Marty B, aka the most interesting backup tight end in the history of ever.
3. This isn’t necessary local, but whenever someone/thing purporting to be Governor Rick Perry’s hair starts a Twitter page, I feel it is my duty as the guy tasked with (usually) writing the Thursday morning Leading Off to bring it to your attention. (via)
Texas Doctor Becomes New Head Of AMA
J. James Rohack is widely admired nationally for what he did as president of the Texas Medical Association, especially in the area of tort reform. Yesterday he took the reins of the national association and quickly told his fellow doctors to chill out on health reform, quoting the 9th principle of the AMA’s Code of Ethics…
“…a physician shall support access to medical care for all people.”
What Is The Thomas Foundaton, Ctd
Here’s the non-profit’s 2007 IRS form 990. FrontBurnervians are the best.
What Is The Thomas Foundation?
While Eric and Marty are whiling away the afternoon, I’m trying to figure out the Thomas Foundation, with the assistance of a law-practicing FrontBurnervian (who, I grant, has actually done all the work). Here’s what we know so far. The foundation was incorporated on November 2, 2004. Its board at the time consisted of Stanley Thomas, Deborah Thomas, and Harry Reever. In 2006, it received a grant for $10,000,000. Its registered legal address is the same as Christian Rock 89.7. Eldred and Raye Nell Thomas took effective control of a previous station and the 89.7 spinoff in the 1970’s. The station accepts donations.
The Worst Explanation for a Boondoggle Ever
Dave Levinthal has a great item over on the DMN’s City Hall blog about Councilwoman Carolyn Davis explaining her taxpayer-funded trip to Belize. She said today, “Belize has a lot to offer to the city of Dallas, just like Africa.” Awesome. I wonder what Cancun can offer Dallas. Maybe Davis ought to check out Ibiza, too. We need to get some trade going with those guys. (Keep in mind, this is the woman who doesn’t even know the names of the committees on which she sits.)
Chace Crawford Is HOT!!
People has named Chace Crawford the hottest bachelor of the summer. Hey, remember when we ran into him at the Black Friar? I’m going to borrow a line from the FrontBurnervian who sent me the People link: just posting this makes me feel a little gay.
Dallasnews.com Gets a D- on Design
An alert FBvian points us to this review of the top 25 newspaper sites in the country. The DMN gets a D-. The review begins:
Dallasnews.com looks like it was put together by The Mad Hatter.
And please, before you start your own blog and point out that we at D live in a glass house, etc., etc., understand that I’m just pointing to that review. Not saying I agree with it. You believe me. Right?
Is Wick the New Fingers of Fury?, Ctd.
Marty Cortland sends this zinger:
The big difference being, of course, that you can comment on Big Bob’s posts.
Why Does Texas Still Have The Death Penalty?
Back in May, you may remember, former Dallas prosecutor James Fry wrote a searing article about how he convincd a jury to convict the wrong man 27 years ago. The Innocence Project, spurred by current Dallas DA Craig Watkins, has already exonerated 37 others based on DNA evidence — and that is mostly because Dallas County kept DNA evidence, so you can imagine how many innocent men and women are still in jail or perhaps awaiting the death penalty who had the misfortune of being convicted in other Texas counties.
Now Grits for Breakfast reports on a new study that shows that 82% of criminologists — the people who work with crime and study crime every day — do not believe the death penalty is a deterrent and 87% say abolishing the death penalty has no effect on crime rates.
What more do we need? Are we keeping the death penalty just so a few state politicians can claim to be ”tough” on crime? Are we endangering lives merely for the sake of posturing?
Is Wick the New Fingers of Fury?
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So, yes, aside from the whole Catholic/Jewish, Rich/Not Rich, Republican/Democrat, smooth-skinned/chaka-like, hate me/love me thing, they’re basically the same person. I hereby dub Wick NFoF.
How Bad Laws Get Made In Texas
This time it is not the lobby’s fault. It is good intentions run amok. Tara Hill examines how a child-abuse law got passed and why it is dangerous.
Texas Top State For Business
Directorship Magazine (which I’ve never heard of) announced our dear state leads the pack. Key quote:
What puts Texas first? It has a pro-business tax climate that ranks third, a low cost of living, a relatively solid economy, and a litigation environment that ranks 10th on our list. Texas also ranks first in the number of Fortune 500 companies located there. We used the Fortune rankings as one measure of attractiveness to large companies and an indication of strong infrastructure. Texas’ central location and time zone also make it an ideal hub, especially for companies with a national distribution or customer footprint.
But we already knew that, didn’t we.
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