Banking is where he made his fortune, and it looks like he’s plunging back in. Last week the rumor was that Dallas billionaire Gerald Ford was considering a bid for the troubled Guaranty Bank. Now it looks like he has, leading a consortium of private funds.
According to this market comparison from the job-search site indeed.com, that ratio puts Dallas squarely in the middle of the top 50 metro cities in the nation. Washington, Jacksonville, and Baltimore the best cities for job hunters. Detroit, Miami, and Riverside are the worst. Austin at #10 turns in the best state-wide performance, followed by San Antonio at #12. Houston at #25 is right behind us at #24. So much for Texas exceptionalism.
Dallas has taken another big step toward construction of its convention-center hotel. According to a news release from Mayor Tom Leppert’s office, the city’s just nailed down “buyer commitments” for nearly $480 million in revenue bonds for the hotel at an average interest rate of 4.69 percent. That’s good news because that rate is well below the 5.5 percent cap set by the city council–meaning the city will be having to pay out less dough.
You in the Harwood area? Then you’re not reading this unless you’re reading it on a phone. An alert FBvian explains:
Do you remember that news story about the construction worker on the St. Anne project in the Harwood area? The one that fell to his death? Well, that same construction site seems to be cursed. They have just crossed a cable leading from (what looks to be) the fifth floor over the live power line over the alley, causing a power outage to the adjacent buildings. There were two episodes of smoke coming from the building and the lines themselves. They have closed off the street as all of us in the neighboring building look on.
People are still exercised about KERA’s membership drive, which continued last night with an interesting takeout on the Benny Goodman era. One irritated FBvian points to yet another aspect of the money-raising campaign:
I’d happily sit through hours of champagne music makers and doo-
woppers if it would mean the termination of those snake-oil salesmen and sleazy “doctors” and pseudo psychologists and misadvisors who want to sell us their pet Solutions for Everything (love, parenthood, financial independence, self-actualization) and their books, DVDs, pamphlets and elixirs during pledge drive. Shame, shame on Public Television for promoting this con-game. And shame on KERA. Yes, yes, it brings in money. So does prostitution.
Another FBvian returns to the original point:
Your observations are correct. None of that “Heather Has Two Mommies” stuff at pledge time. Remember when Newt Gingrich and the Congress were going to stop funding PBS? Funny how PBS turned down the Bill Moyers Blame America Crowd tone and turned up a little Lehrer News Hours Tone stuff. Then, when the Republicans RAN EVERYTHING AND WENT MAD, they had the temerity to suggest having a (GASP!) Republican running PBS! The Outrage! In fact the shrieking and shrewing (maybe not a word but should be) was so loud the REPUBLICANS WHO RAN EVERYTHING gave up on the idea. And so, PBS has sort of drifted back to its natural bent, which is, has been, and will always be, Leftward. More LEFT at times than others, but LEFT nonetheless. Does anyone really watch PBS anymore? I don’t. And if there are 322 gazillion channels available now, tell me again why tax dollars are needed for TV?
I haven’t yet had time to watch all of Wick’s appearance on Think, whereon he debates Geoffrey C. Orsak, dean of SMU’s Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering about whether engineers are evil or good (slight overstatement). So let’s open the comments for those who are inclined to watch the video and tell us what we ought to think of it. (See what I did there?)
I asked for new nicknames for the bank robber who has hit five banks in two weeks in North Richland Hills, Burleson, Euless, and Fort Worth. Here’s what you came up with:
• Señor Rockabilly
• The Incubator Bandit
• The Overdresser Bandit
• The Heat Stroke Bandit
• The Cold-Bloodied Bandit
• The Sweater
• The Sweating Bandit
• The Some Like It Hot Bandit
Of those, I think I like the Heat Stroke Bandit best, with the Some Like It Hot Bandit a strong second.
UPDATE: Another entrant, one that might appeal to any Ticket P1s out there: Sweaty Theft.
My desk calendar, featuring headlines from the Onion, today portrays a frightening possibility for North Texas, “5-Million-Car Pileup Kills Dallas-Fort Worth.” The most frightening bit:
Dallas, 151, and Fort Worth, which turned 134 two weeks ago, are survived by their sister city, Arlington, and several younger suburbs.
The month isn’t over yet, but I think it’s fair to say that this one will win the prize [contact information redacted]:
From: C. Bruce Willis II
To: Glenn Hunter
Subject: CEO D-Magazine
Dear Mr. Hunter:
I represent Aircorp, Inc., who owns the 727 aircraft photographed in D-Magazine’s latest CEO Edition. The specific page of the aircraft is located on page 53, concerning Frederick Merril. This aircraft was used in your magazine for a commercial use without any prior written or oral consent and without any acknowledgment in the magazine of aircraft ownership. To avoid any judicial intervention and to resolve the matter amicably, we would like printed acknowledgment concerning this aircraft in your next issue. Please give me a call if you have any questions. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
C. Bruce Willis, II
General Counsel, Aircorp
Dallas, Texas
(1) The aircraft was not “used for a commercial purpose.” It was in the background of an editorial photograph. Mr. Willis apparently missed that class in law school. (2) It was parked at Dallas Love Field, which is public property. (3) We are not obliged to list the owners of every object included in every photograph in our magazines. Under Mr. Willis’ novel legal theory, every photo of the Dallas skyline would be required to list the owners of every building pictured. (4) What kind of “judicial intervention” does Mr. Willis have in mind? Is he going to rush down to the courthouse to try to keep us from publishing a magazine that has already been published? (5) If the objective of Mr. Willis’s letter was to obtain a public mention of Aircorp, Inc., the objective has now been achieved.
I assume that resolves the matter amicably. Let’s shake hands.
1. A Dallas County sheriff’s deputy was fired, and 14 other deputies were disciplined, for working at strip clubs in their off hours. The deputy who was fired also had been disciplined before, once for not reporting his phone number had changed and once for being untruthful. The lesson: I could never be a Dallas County sheriff’s deputy.
2. Police arrested a man and his son for the assault of a Southlake woman in a Chik-fil-A drive-through lane. The woman had honked at the men when she was ready to leave, because they were blocking her exit. Yes, I, too, hope the other inmates hear that they beat up a woman. I think they’ll treat those boys real nice.
3. Can’t improve on the lead from this story from the Star-T:
A man suspected of driving drunk is accused of ramming three cars early Sunday on a service road and a parking lot, making a U-turn on the road, and attacking one car with his pickup truck, police said today. Police arrested the driver after his truck became disabled and he got out of it, punched himself in the face, and sat down.