Articles for November 21st, 2011
Merrie Spaeth on the Penn State Disaster
Frequent D CEO contributor and crisis manager Merrie Spaeth was asked by the PR site Bulldogreporter.com to reflect on what went wrong in the university’s awful response. Her thoughts go beyond the particulars of the case and apply to any organization, whether a university or a business or even, saints preserve us, a media outlet.
Tear Down the East Dallas Portion of I30
At a recent TED event in Philadelphia, Next American City editor-at-large Diana Lind reviewed the movement to dismantle highways that disrupt a city’s natural flow. From a report by Andrew Nusca:
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the city of San Francisco faced the tremendous task of rebuilding the structurally-damaged Embarcadero Freeway. Instead, they tore it down, replaced it with a people-friendly boulevard that encouraged development. The surrounding area has since rebounded, Lind said, with higher property values, more tourism and more housing for city residents.
The same phenomenon occurred in New York City when it rebuilt the elevated West Side Highway in 1989 as a surface roadway, giving New Yorkers access to parks, piers and picturesque views on the West Side of Manhattan.
Our opportunity lies with the elevated portion of I30 that runs from downtown through East Dallas. I argue here that tearing down that 2.5-mile portion and creating a boulevard in its place would unleash millions of dollars in development (and new taxes).
Programming Note: Watch Raya Ramsey on WFAA’s Daybreak Tomorrow Morning
For those of you who are normally awake by 6 a.m., ShopTalk’s own Raya Ramsey will appear on the WFAA (Channel 8 ) morning show, Daybreak, sometime between 6 and 6:20 a.m. tomorrow. Â She’ll be talking about upcoming charity to-do’s.
Please tune in and let me know whether Raya falls asleep during the telecast. I’ll still be in bed myself.
Mark Cuban on his New E-Book: ‘Don’t Feel You Have to Read It Like a Book’
Our D CEO CEO of the Year, Mark Cuban, has published himself an e-book. According to the Wall Street Journal, much of it is culled from blog postings that were already freely available.
I like how candid Cuban is about just wanting to sell books. The last thing he wants you to do is weigh the likelihood of whether you’ll actually read the thing before turning over your $2.99:
“Don’t feel you have to read it like a book,” he writes in the book’s foreword. “Use it as a way to get fired up. A way to get motivated.”
Evan Grant’s MVP Choice Is Not Popular
Just about every year, one unlucky sportswriter is pilloried for his selection for American or National League Most Valuable Player. This year, that unlucky sportswriter is former InsideCorner writer Evan Grant, because he picked Michael Young. (Detroit Tigers pitcher — and recently named Cy Young winner — Justin Verlander won, in case you haven’t heard.)
So, Do You Like the Omni?
Because Dallas Morning News writer Scott Cantrell went on a tour, and he doesn’t, so much. The article is behind a paywall, so those of you who haven’t a) paid to scale it , or b) figured out a way to scale it for free, here are the highlights:
- The Omni has a split personality, and is “awkwardly trendy on the outside, timidly but fussily nostalgic inside.”
- It’s really big.
- The windows don’t all match.
- There are LED lights between floors to make the hotel look pretty at night, only Cantrell says, “Exterior light features have become Dallas’ architectural answer to breast enhancement.”
- “The building’s worst feature is the cheesy metal grille, its angled supports clearly visible, swooping across the top and carrying the Omni logo.”
- The inside is done in earth tones.
- TVs! In the mirrors! Of the crapper in the hotel rooms! Can I say crapper? Facilities? Powder room? Bathroom?
There you go. Our city’s hotel is the architectural equivalent of a boob job or something. And you can watch TV in the bathroom. I read the news so you don’t have to.
Wouldn’t ‘Advice & Puzzle’ Have Been More Appropriate?
Because the Dallas Morning News has eliminated its Arts & Life section on Fridays, the paper has created a new Fridays-only section called Comics & Puzzles. Based on the cover of the first edition, maybe the word “columns” or “advice” should have been worked into the section’s name.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Nov. 21
Weekend recap. Friday, I visited the John Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. I couldn’t hear a word the mannequins were saying, but I did meet a nice artist type who gave me the last copy of his super hero comic book that he just so happened to have in the inner pocket of his jacket (a pocket, by the way, he had ripped off an old pair of pants and sewn into the lining himself). Let’s call that one a wash. On Saturday, I finished 1Q84. I wanted to fling the whole frustrating thing out the window. In conclusion, I’m need of cosmic balance, and I’m looking forward to a short week. I’m sure the rest of you are, too.
I have very vivid memories of the first time I ever set foot in a Central Market. Pretty sure it was the Fort Worth location, ages ago. I’d never seen a store with so much space devoted to bread, and it was love at first sight. I bought a plastic box of cranberry-orange scones and never looked back. And in front of all the holiday baking coming up, CM will teach you how to create all the tasty carbs you could ever want. Tonight’s class features treats like bacon, Gruyère (one of the best cheeses to use with breads or pastry crusts, by the way. I bake Gruyère into all my pies), and scallion muffins, pumpkin cranberry bread (yum), and gingerbread (my all-time favorite). There are only three spots left. Go.
If you’re lucky enough to have the time off this week to spend with the kids, head over the Gaylord Texan at some point for the resort’s gigantic Lone Star Christmas. There’s a snow tubing hill. With real snow, something you may not see around here for another month or so. It’s open late, too, so no need to rush to it or through it.
And hey! Our new travel blog is live. Go look. And add your own adventure. But remember that no place will love you like Dallas. For more to do tonight in our fair city, go here.
Enjoy Our New D Magazine Travel Website. And Share Your Own Story and Photos.
Awhile back we asked you to tell us about your vacation. Here’s why: Today we’ve launched our new travel website, which includes a mix of content from our readers and from our D Magazine editors. We expect it to be a place where Dallas travelers share the stories of their adventures. Please take a look and let us know what you think of it.
New CVB Video Makes Me Scratch My Head
An alert FrontBurnervian draws our attention to a new Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau video. It’s beautifully shot. The voiceover is poetic. But if you were trying to decided between taking your vacation in, say, Chicago or Dallas, would this draw you here?
Leading Off (11/21/11)
Tough Times For Dallas Tech Sector: In a new Forbes survey of technology jobs, Texas doesn’t fare well and Dallas fares worse, something the magazine admits is “shocking,” considering the area’s long-time role as a telecommunications powerhouse. Nonetheless, Dallas, “generally a job-created dynamo,” Forbes writes, “has seen roughly a quarter of its high-tech jobs go away, due primarily to losses in telecommunications carriers and in manufacturing of communications equipment and electronics.”
Hairdresser Murder Still Mystery: On November 3 around midnight, Elizabeth Lightfoot purchased two packets of ramen noodles at a Tom Thumb at the corner of Preston and Belt Line. An hour and a half later, and the woman was dead, her body and automobile burned. No one knows what happened or who did it, but what is baffling is that there is little evidence (sub. req.) that any of the typical explanations — sexual assault, robbery escalating to murder — apply.
Dried Up Lakes Reveal Underwater Ghost Towns: At a number of lake sites throughout the state, water receding from the drought has uncovered long submerged remnants of towns once flooded. Depleted Lake Whitney, south of Fort Worth, uncovered Native American tools and fossils. Underneath Lake Texoma, foundations from the long lost town of Woodville, Oklahoma are now visible again for the first time since the Red River was flooded to create the lake in 1944.
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