Articles for July, 2010
Did the State’s Driver Responsibility Laws Work?
Over the weekend, the Dallas Morning News reported on the changes in the number of uninsured motorists in the state since the TexSure program went into effect. The short version: There wasn’t much of a change.
Later the same day, Grits for Breakfast analyzed the same report, as well as the DMN story. Scott Henson points out that even with Dallas’ extra measure of impounding the cars of people found to be driving without insurance, a quarter of all Dallas drivers are still carousing city streets uninsured.
So if the threat of having your car impounded isn’t enough to make you call up a discount insurer for the minimum liability coverage, what will? Henson has an interesting solution. (more…)
D Magazine Tags Downtown Building, Ctd.
What’s that you say? You want more pictures of our sign installation over the weekend? You’ve come to the right place. The image you see here was taken by FrontBurnervian Cindy Camp, who lives high atop the 1900 McKinney building. Judging from the angle she shot this from, if we turn our office telescope away from the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and just a little more north — oh, my. Cindy, you might wish to draw the blinds.
After the jump, some pics from our staff photographer, Elizabeth “Spider Monkey” Lavin. She helped document the installation.
What to Do in Dallas Tonight: July 19
This being a Monday in July, we know you may be tempted to spend your off hours planted on the couch in your boxers lapping up sherbet and plotting how you’ll spend your lottery winnings while the Weather Channel softly drones in the background. Man, you’re lazy.
Here’s a better use of your time: learning the basics of triathlon training at REI Dallas on LBJ. Your lecture leader will teach you how to pick a race, how long you can expect to train, what you should wear, etc. The beauty of this plan is that you don’t even have to break a sweat to feel superior to the slothful majority. You just have to show up!
Reward your obvious commitment to physical fitness with a cup of seasonal frozen yogurt at Pinkberry, or linger over a dish of gelato and a cup of tea at Natsumi. We bet you’ll be glad you didn’t waste your night watching House reruns again.
What’s the Worst Date Movie Ever?
I need my dolls!
On Saturday, my sister and I attended the 2010 Paramount Summer Film Series double feature in Austin. We saw Valley of the Dolls and Showgirls. Valley of the Dolls was amazing; its the perfect combination of bad singing, bad acting, and bad writing. Patty Duke is a force of nature. A bad force. People roared throughout the movie, and a good time was had by all. But things changed during Showgirls. The crowd thinned out. And I’m certainly no prude, but I think the Showgirls camp is much more hilarious in its TBS glory than its NC-17 state. We left after about an hour, and that got us talking about two things: “bad” movie festivals bring out the funniest and friendliest people. Also how horrible would seeing Showgirls be on a first date? When I was a sophomore in college, a way-out-of-my-league-much-too-good-looking senior asked me out. He took me to see Basic Instinct. (We went to Baylor, which makes it a little weirder somehow.) Obviously, after seeing all that nudity, we got married. Not really—it was a bad date. Anyway, my question is this: what’s the most inappropriate movie for a first date ever?
Car Dealer Hit as Rich People Close Wallets
In a weekend story, the NYTimes reports that wealthy people, whose spending helped power whatever economic recovery we’ve enjoyed, are closing their wallets again. The report includes the observations of a luxury car dealer in Arlington:
Last year and early this year, when the major stock gauges were rising, “everybody seemed to be a little bit more optimistic,” said Tom Hauswirth, general manager and partner of Moritz Cadillac, BMW and Mini in Arlington, Tex., near Dallas.
“Then I think everybody was affected when they saw the stock market go below 10,000,” he said. “Even though it may not affect their ability to buy or not, it affects their thinking.”
Mr. Hauswirth said that those who had recently bought new cars were sometimes fearful of being labeled as conspicuous consumers. A few, he said, insisted on buying new cars in the same color as their old models.
“They didn’t want their employees to know they bought a new car,” he said. “It doesn’t look good during a wage freeze or when they’re cutting people.”
Moritz laid off about 15 percent of its sales staff last year, and Mr. Hauswirth said that he did not yet feel comfortable hiring back until sales improved more.
Coming next, most likely: higher taxes on these folks. That should really kick-start the ol’ economy.
Pete Sessions on Sunday’s “Meet the Press”
The segment below is painful to watch. David Gregory repeatedly asks the Dallas Congressman how exactly he would cut Federal spending. One answer Sessions gives, “We should read the bills.” Okaaay.
Meanwhile, Todd Gillman reports that at a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Tom Pauken called for Sessions to be replaced as head of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He said Sessions “is not up to the job.” And that was before Sessions’ appearance on Sunday.
Leading Off (7/19/10)
1. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has banned the death penalty for the mentally retarded, but the psychological evaluations that prove that death row inmate Bruce Carneil Webster is handicapped can no longer be entered as evidence because Webster has exhausted his appeals. So, Webster, who participated in the raping and burying alive on an Arlington teen in 1994, will still be put to death by the state, even though it is technically illegal.
2. In the inner-ring suburbs, poverty is increasing. The population living below the poverty line has grown by 2 percentage points since 2000, and schools are feeling the pressure. Meanwhile, in the outer-ring suburbs, there are coyotes.
3. Average credit scores in Dallas are only worse than one other U.S. city (Seattle). As far as I can tell, there is no clear reason why we like debt, but feel free to speculate in the comments.
D Magazine Tags Downtown Building
It’s quite a production, hanging a sign atop a 22-story building. Wick got there this morning just in time to miss out on signing his name inside the sign. But he did get to watch the 250-ton crane lift the sign to the top of St. Paul Place — and then lower it back down. Turns out the sign didn’t quite fit on its moorings. When the workers said it would take 45 minutes to make some adjustments and try again, I went for breakfast. Sitting on the patio at Tacos Y Mas, on the corner of Ross and Greenville, I can still see the crane from about 3 miles away. The sign should be hung and lit up by this evening. If you drive by, check it out.
UPDATE: I am told that while the sign was lowered, Wick got his John Hancock on it
Did Democrat Chris Bell Take a Payoff?, Ctd
Chris Bell responds:
Wick,
You know I have a great deal of respect for you. That’s why it’s disappointing that you choose to overlook the fact that this was the settlement of a lawsuit and every lawsuit settlement in this day and age includes a confidentiality provision. I have settled three cases for clients in the last month and all contain such a provision. There was nothing out of the ordinary. I would have loved to have been able to talk about it but that’s never the way a settlement works. Ask any litigator. Otherwise, nice post and I hope you’re doing well.
To which I responded:
Chris,
Thanks for the note. It appears your confidentiality agreement was designed to give maximum political benefit to Mr. Perry. It was not a run-of-the-mill commercial dispute. It was a lawsuit about violation of election laws, something that strikes at the heart of the democratic process. Therefore, I am disappointed — even aghast — that you chose to treat it as a private matter, as if it were a personal grievance for which you deserve compensation.
And we’ll give Mr. Bell, in his response to my response, the last word:
The law treats it that way. I didn’t write the law.
I lied. The last word belongs not to Chris Bell, but to our readers. I am not a Democrat, and I didn’t give money to Chris Bell. I am curious to hear from those who are and did.
Local Editor Does Indeed Post a Blog
Tim, thanks for your encouragement. It really means the world to me that you care so much about my posts. My apologies for the tardiness of this post, but it’s been a challenging day. I’m shipping a magazine. I felt it important to watch as much of The Open Championship at lunch as possible. And then I had to make an appearance in your film that you made in order to brown nose Mr. Bart Weiss (the man given the unenviable task of teaching the D staff how to make videos). And most importantly–as one commenter pointed out–we haven’t heard a word from Jake recently, so things are tough. I hope to eke another one out before my busy business lady meeting at the Old Monk.
Why Dakota’s Is Called Dakota’s
I mentioned Dakota’s the other day on this blog. It’s one of our favorite watering holes downtown. (Especially since, when you walk into Stephan Pyles at 4:45, those surly folks bark, “We’re closed!”) Anyway, a memory-having FrontBurnervian dropped some knowledge on me about Dakota’s: how it came to be named that and how it wound up in that odd location. This might not be new to everyone, but it was new to me. Thought I’d share:
Dallas Skyline to Change This Weekend
At some point tomorrow morning, the Dallas skyline (at least that portion visible from Woodall Rodgers and Uptown) will change. How? This picture should give you an idea.
Local Editor to Post Blog Post Today
Hey, Laura, where are your two required blog posts for the day?
Did Democrat Chris Bell Take a Payoff?
The 2006 Democratic challenger to Rick Perry filed lawsuit charging that Perry had illegally funnelled campaign contributions through the Republican Governors Association. New financial disclosures, reported today by Jason Embry in the Austin American-Statesman, show that the day after the GOP primary this year, the Perry campaign settled the lawsuit by paying Bell $426,000. The money went to Bell personally, not his campaign.
Three observations: (1) That’s a fairly strong admission of guilt by Rick Perry. (2) The timing of the settlement shows that Perry knew it was a fairly strong admission of guilt. (3) If I were a Chris Bell campaign worker/donor/supporter, I would be madder than hell. Not only did he profit from the lawsuit, but he agreed to keep it under wraps. It looks like collusion and personal profiteering of the worst sort.
Jim Schutze Compares Brown, Peters
The story around the murder/suicide of Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters and her daughter Corrine continues to get simultaneously more sad and more mysterious.
But I just read a post by Jim Schutze, who has another take on the reaction surrounding the Peters’ deaths, as he compares and contrasts this incident with another – the reaction surrounding the death of Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s son.
Interesting take, and read.
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