Articles for January 12th, 2011
Arlington Jumping Through Hoops for Super Bowl Attendance Record
As we first told you last week, the city of Arlington is hammering out a way to let Jerry Jones shoehorn a record number of fans into Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV. Even if it means they won’t actually be in the darned thing.
Why is There Nothing to Do in Dallas at Night?
I will admit, from the very beginning, that I do not actually think there is nothing at all to do in Dallas at night. There are plays, yes, and operas and musicals, sure, and the museums stay open late sometimes, okay, fine. You can go hear live music. Yes, yes, yes. Stipulated.
But most of those things are isolated events, or at least take planning, and generally more money than I like to spend. At least on an ongoing basis. I will go to a play. I will go see a show. Of course. I’m not talking about the things that appear in our What to Do In Dallas in posts. I’m talking about something else.
Austin, Dallas Jump Ahead in Attracting Young
In the middle of the past decade, hot housing markets like Riverside, California and Phoenix attacted young adults (age 24-35). Now the moving vans are headed toward Austin and Dallas. Jump for the chart from the Brookings Institution report.
Dwaine Caraway Changes Story About Incident
Poor Archie and Arthur, the erstwhile Cowboys and Eagles fans that were blamed for the presence of the police at Councilman Dwaine Caraway’s house last week.
As it turns out, Archie and Arthur were not the reason Caraway called Dallas Police Chief David Brown to send officers to his house, after all. It turns out that the police report was correct all along – it was a spat between Caraway and his wife, State Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway.
In a statement today, Caraway admits the two had a fight, and says he overreacted. He then pleaded for privacy from the council and the public so the two can get to their 50th wedding anniversary (they’re currently in year 16).
Maybe it’s just me, but after you put a call in to the police chief himself to break up your marital spat, and then contradict a police report with a story about your friends Archie and Arthur, isn’t it a little hard to put that particular cat back in its bag?
Dan Petty, R.I.P.
Dan Petty was CEO of the North Texas Commission. Before that, he served as an assistant city manager of Dallas. Dan was a fine and gracious man whose skills enabled him to navigate the treacherous waters of intra-city rivalries to help the region grow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Texas Budget Deficit: $15 Billion or $27 Billion?
We used the $27 billion figure, which the always perspicuous Glenn Hunter challenged in the comments. Yesterday the News‘ Robert Garrett used the $15 billion number. Today the News’ Christy Hoppe uses the $27 billion number.
So which is right? Short answer: both. Here’s how Senator John Carona explains it:
The $15 billion shortfall number is calculated by subtracting the Comptroller’s available general revenue estimate of $72.2 billion for the 2012-13 biennial budget from the $87 billion 2010-11 biennial budget adopted in 2009. The higher shortfall numbers are calculated by factoring in anticipated increases in program costs associated with growth in population and the cost of goods and services. For example, there are estimated to be 80,000 new students in the public school system that the budget from last session does not take into account.
Angela Hunt for Mayor? Maybe., Ctd.
A same-building-working, fedora-wearing Frontburnervian thought I should point out this analysis of Angela Hunt’s chances, from our January ish. So here you go:
Which brings us to Councilwoman Angela Hunt, the poor man’s Laura Miller. She’s a firebrand populist all right. She’ll analyze a Trinity toll road spread sheet with the intensity of a thousand suns. But then, in what seemed like a transparent effort to build a bridge to South Dallas, she supported that tax rate increase, saying it wasn’t actually an increase because appraisals were being lowered. That did not play well in North Dallas. Not one bit. As far as the moneyed crowd is concerned, Hunt is dead to them.
Things to Do in Dallas Tonight: Jan 12
I’m assuming you’re familiar with Eliot Spitzer. Slate columnist. TV pundit. Former New York governor who resigned amid much public scrutiny and shame that followed his involvement in a prostitution ring. Yeah, that guy.
Now, thanks to filmmaker Alex Gibney (and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), you can learn all the details of what went down in the months leading up to Spitzer’s resignation. How? By watching Gibney’s documentary, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, which is being screened by the MAM for one night only. Gibney managed to lineup a number of big interviews for his film, none more intriguing than the ex-governor himself, which help provide insight into the shady actions taken by both Spitzer and his enemies. Stick around after the screening for a Q&A session with author Peter Elkind, who’s kind of an expert on the topic. He even wrote a book about it.
But maybe Fort Worth is too far away, or it’s too cold outside, or you don’t feel like driving in conditions that would pass for summer in Canada. Understandable. Then peruse our complete list of options for this evening right here.
Map of the Day: Dallas Lags in UFO Sightings
C’mon, people. We can do better than this. Get your eyes off the ground. Look up at the sky. And believe.
Angela Hunt for Mayor? Maybe.
Rudy Bush over at the Dallas Morning News city hall beat is reporting that in addition to Ron Natinsky, there may be another council person readying to fill the big gloves of Mayor Tom Leppert – Angela Hunt.
If both do indeed show up on a ballot, it’ll be an interesting race. Natinsky sided with the mayor and was a big supporter of the Trinity River toll road and the city-owned Convention Center hotel, while Hunt was firmly against it.
DSO Snagging Bill Lively, Ctd.
Just back from the coronation . . . er, introduction . . of Bill Lively as the new president/CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Asked how he was going to meet the DSO’s goal of raising $150 million within five years, the current president/CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee said,
“We have to address the culture of the organization. We’ve got to understand the core mission and then create a different environment and process to raise money, because we can’t do it like we’ve been doing it over the past few years.”
To help him focus entirely on this breathtaking task, Lively has “resigned from all my boards.”
First approached about the position in late October or early November, Lively admitted that the job “came out of right field.”
Law Man Walking: Nature Treks With Bill Holston
Bill Holston is a longtime FrontBurnervian. He’s also a lawyer in town who happens to dig nature. So much so that he actually gets outdoors and walks around in it. Insane. Bill asked if we’d be interested in periodic dispatches from his journeys in and around North Texas. I said that of course we would. After the jump, the first installment of Law Man Walking, a series that tackles the misconception that “Dallas nature” is an oxymoron.
Bill Lively To Be Sainted, Have Basilica Built in His Honor
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra officially announced this morning what many have known for some time: after his Super Bowl duties are done, Bill Lively will become the next president and CEO of the organization. The release (after the jump) quotes our own D CEO, which labeled Lively the “master of high-dollar fundraising.” One presumes that after Lively has doubled or tripled the DSO endowment and gotten every musician a Stradivarius (don’t think about that too hard), he will move on to rebuild the Trinity River levees and broker peace between the Morning News and Parkland. Meantime, the DSO is fortunate to have him.
DSO Snagging Bill Lively?
The deficit-plagued Dallas Symphony Orchestra is about to get a new fund-
raising maestro, insiders say. Bill Lively, who led record-breaking campaigns to raise money for the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Super Bowl XLV, apparently has been tapped to do the same for the DSO, which has been without a permanent CEO since Doug Adams resigned abruptly in August. Reliable sources say the deal involving Lively (pictured in photo by Jeanne Prejean) will be announced at a news conference this morning at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Developing.
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