Articles for December, 2010
Nasher Goes a Bit Heavy on the Wet Stuff
Here’s the scene on Harwood, where the Nasher Sculpture Center is getting a bit aggressive with its sprinklers. As a helpful reminder, here’s the city’s ordinance governing such over-watering. 
Dallas Chamber Proposes Two Easy DISD Reforms
By a majority vote, the board could effect these reforms immediatley. The first is to do away with annual elections. Not only does the frquency reduce voter turnout, it costs the district $300,000 a year. The second is to change the election date to November, which not only reduces costs but substantially increases voter participation. The Legislature changed the election law to allow for the change. For more, read Chamber president Jim Oberwetter’s recent letter here.
Simple as these reforms are, they could meet big resistance. The system was designed to minimize voter turnout so that incumbents could more easily be re-elected. So what if annual elections meant that the board was focused more on itself than the students? The board was there to protect patronage, not to foster education.
But that was then. This is now — with the exception of Carla Ranger. (Hi, Carla! How will you vote on these?)
Harold Simmons and Waste Control Specialists Race To Make Texas the Nation’s Nuclear Waste Dump
This week, down in Austin, an important public hearing by an obscure commission will go a long way toward determining whether West Texas will become the nation’s nuclear waste dump. It appears to matter not that the appropriateness of the site itself to accommodate such waste has yet to be determined to everyone’s satisfaction. Our own Laray Polk explains what’s at stake:
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The Race for Waste Space
Or: Why Worry About the Next Billion Years When There’s Money To Be Made Right Now?
By Laray Polk
It has been almost a year since D Magazine published “Dallas’ Evil Genius: How Harold Simmons Plans to Make His Next Billion Dollars.” The article is centered on Simmons, but, more important, it is a glimpse of the complex political calculus that has made it possible for his most recent venture, Waste Control Specialists (WCS), to land the first licenses in the state of Texas to dispose of radioactive waste. So what is the occasion to revisit this subject matter? I defer to a headline from a recent story in the New York Times: “Texas Proposal Spurs Race to Dispose of Nuclear Waste.” The waste in question is from state sources; the D article dealt with waste from federal sources.
Someone asked me soon after the story came out why I hadn’t covered the state waste. I replied, “Because it’s like the children’s fable about the race between the hare and tortoise. My allotted word count only allowed coverage of one or the other.” To which he asked, “Is the federal waste the hare, and the state waste the tortoise?” I answered, “I’m not sure. Only time will tell.”
The difficulty in discernment, when the analogy is applied to the situation at WCS, is attributable to the absence of any meaningful character study. Although, like the original version, the nonfiction fable that is to follow will have everything to do with the errancy of assumption as it concerns the velocity at which things are traveling.
Things to Do in Dallas Tonight: Dec. 7 (Day of Infamy Edition)
You remember, not so long ago, when the Dr. Seuss masterpiece How the Grinch Stole Christmas came to TV but once a year? Now it’s on, it seems, daily between Halloween and New Year’s. As a result, we’ve lost something as a country, haven’t we?
What kind of future are we leaving to our children, asking them to grow up in a nation where hearing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” is no longer a rare treat?
Thankfully, you can make the experience special all over again. The stage-musical version of the greatest-secular-Christmas-story-ever-told comes to the Winspear Opera House tonight. It runs through Sunday, but don’t wait too long. You’ve still got to fit in your Congressionally-mandated annual viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life too.
Is your heart two sizes too small for all this holiday cheer? Fine. Here are other things to do in Dallas.
Gary Cogill, I Have Your Copy of ‘The Ghost Writer’
As you may have heard, Gary Cogill has left Channel 8. As far as I know, he has not joined D Magazine or People Newspapers. Nonetheless, a copy of Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer was delivered to our office via Federal Express, and it was addressed to:
Gary Cogill
D Magazine, People Newspapers
750 N. St. Paul St., Ste 2100
Dallas, TX 75201
Gary, if you want to come by and pick it up, we’ll be here.
Rebecca Aguilar and FOX4 Square Off in Court
Uncle Barky has left his television set temporarily. He’s down at the courthouse covering the trial of Rebecca Aguilar’s wrongful termination lawsuit against her former employer FOX4. Expected to last four to six days in Judge Jim Jordan’s courtroom, the trial is likely to have Rebecca taking the stand as well as some FOX4 reporters and managers.
Talk about reality TV!
Notre Dame Wins National Women’s Soccer Title
Five of the title winners are from the Dallas area: Courtney Barg (Plano West), Jazmin Hall (Highland Village), Melissa Henderson (Berkner), Jessica Shuveiller (Plano West), and Jordan Snyder (Ursuline).
As someone who spent half of his adulthood watching various Allisonettes play soccer in the driving snow and 110 degree heat, I congratulate not only the players, but their long-suffering parents.
To the left, Jordan Snyder holds the trophy.
Leading Off (12/7/10)
1. Millions of $100 bills are in Fort Worth waiting to be inspected, because a printing error left them with creases. The inspector? This guy.
2. In this story about the convention center hotel being “just shy” (or $900,000 — it’s really six of one, half a dozen of another) of its bookings goal for 2012, I found this detail: “Developer Jack Matthews has found a tenant for a new three-story, 30,000-square-foot office building to be built just east of the hotel along Lamar Street. Gonzalez declined to name the new tenant but said it is a business that assists in filling the hotel.” So guess what, you guys? We’re getting a brothel.
3. I really know nothing about livestock and wild animals and so on, but were 75 deer killed just on the possibility that maybe at some point in the future they would get a disease that might harm other animals, potentially? That’s kind of messed up.
4. This is probably more messed up.
5. You rascal.
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck Does Not Renege on Bets
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his staff enjoy the barbecue Mayor Cluck sent them after the Rangers lost the World Series.
Chuck Norris’ Pastor Went to Look at the Liberty Bell, and Chuck Got Very Offended
Texas Ranger for real Chuck Norris has the Internets at home, apparently, and writes for something called WorldNetDaily. Today, he talks about how Obama keeps leaving out Jesus, and then how his pastor got all offended because when he went to Philadelphia to look at the Liberty Bell the tour guide told him George Washington didn’t go to church.
He said a lot of other stuff, too, but I think he’d have a better presentation if he included a video of himself giving the National Parks Service guide a roundhouse kick to the head. After all, that’s what Chuck Norris should do when offended, yes? In fact, that’s all I was imagining, and forgot to read the rest. So you do it, and summarize in the comments.
Join Us For the Final Installment of FrontRow’s Film Series, Cinema Paradiso
Have you ever seen Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore’s elegiac love song to the joy of watching movies? Ever see it in an old movie house reminiscent of the theater that is the movie’s heart? Here’s your chance.
Tim O’Hare Wants Farmers Branch to Break Up with Carrollton
Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O’Hare is no stranger to making waves – after all, he headed up an effort to pass an immigration ordinance that has had the city in court defending it since it was passed in 2008.
Now, he wants the city to examine whether it’s time for Farmers Branch to separate from the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD and form its own district. Part of his beef seems to stem from the local chapter of LULAC and its mentoring program designed to reduce the drop out rate. He says having a high school within city limits – one with the all-important Traditional American Values – will raise property values in the city, too. He says real estate agents find it difficult to sell a house in Farmers Branch because of the way the current district is run. Maybe all of that is true, but if I were mayor, and I wanted to make my case, I’d have some hard numbers to back up those statements.
And what’s more interesting is that C-FB ISD board president Lynn Chaffin disagrees with O’Hare, saying the creation of two smaller districts would not be in the best interest of the students, and could actually make Farmers Branch schools more Hispanic. Plus, it costs lots of money to create a new school district and build a new high school.
News Solves Problem by Charging for TV Weekly
Here’s the problem. Not many people actually rely on printed TV guides anymore. (TV Guide itself once was the best-selling magazine in America.) But those that do rely on them are devoted. So if you’re a newspaper publisher, you’ve been printing a gadzillion guides that cost a bundle but that only a few of your subscribers want. But those subscribers are adamant about their beloved guides. If you eliminate the guides, you’ll lose those readers. So what do you do? Simple. You start charging for them. You make the few people who want them to pay out the nose to get them. That slices the print order expense and produces new income. Brilliant!
Things to Do in Dallas Tonight: Dec. 6
I was prepared to cry “for shame” at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra when I learned that their performance of Handel’s Messiah isn’t scheduled to take place until next April. Is it or is it not a Christmas tradition? Why is the DSO requiring me to send all of you over to Fort Worth this evening, to see Cowtown’s finest fiddlers tackle this choral masterpiece?
But then my thorough research determined that, actually, Handel’s work was first performed during Lent, not Advent. So now I’m not sure what to believe. (Discussion Topic: Which is the greater holiday, Christmas or Easter?)
Until I sort out just how to feel about this shocking revelation, I’m going to stand by my endorsement of the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra concert featuring the Southwestern Seminary Master Chorale. It should be a hoot.
Meanwhile, if you’re constitutionally incapable of trekking down Interstate 30, here are other things to do in Dallas.
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