Articles for November 21st, 2012
Mayoral Campaign Under Way in Richardson
On Nov. 6, voters in Richardson approved a measure that will make it possible for us to directly elect our mayor for the first time. (The members of the City Council have always decided amongst themselves who should be mayor.) Exactly two weeks after Election Day, the flyer you see here arrived in my mailbox.
I wanted to offer this up as a news tip to my former colleagues at The Dallas Morning News, but I’m not sure the paper with more reporters and more reporting still covers Richardson. The most recent post on its Richardson blog is three months old, and that one appeared six months to the day after the prior one.
Things Will Be Quiet Here The Next Few Days
As the country floats off into its tryptophan-soaked slumber tomorrow, so, too, will Frontburner. Posting will be light the next few days,but we’ll be back full-force on Monday. Until then watch this video, where:
- The entire halftime show takes place in the living room of a ski lodge, maybe?
- Jimmy the Greek wears sunglasses, inside, in November.
- Jimmy Johnson shows up, wearing a tie designed for a much skinnier man.
UPDATE: Watch this instead, for:
- the outfits
- the hairdos
- the level of excitement
- the hat. Yes, the hat.
And maybe start drinking? It’s 2:15, most of your office is probably gone, and you’re on a poorly written blog. You deserve a drink.
Dallas Money Dominates Super PAC Picture
Source: The Texas Tribune
Now that the dust has settled on the 2012 elections, the Texas Tribune took a swing through those totally legal, not-at-all anti-democratic Super PACs. Specifically, the Tribune looked at how Texas residents managed to donate more than $100 million to them this election cycle:
Texas donors provided more than $100 million to Super PACs. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who donated $22.2 million, makes up nearly one-fifth of that total. Perry’s largest single recipient was the Romney-supporting Restore Our Future, which received $10.7 million. Perry also gave $7.5 million to the pro-GOP American Crossroads. Another fifth of that total came from Dallas billionare Harold Simmons, who by name and through his company Contran Corporation gave a combined $25.6 million. Like Perry, much of this went to one group, American Crossroads, which received $19.5 million from Simmons.
In a fantastic, beautiful interactive feature, the Tribune broke it all down. Here’s the Cliffs Notes version, focusing just on Dallas-Fort Worth money. I probably missed some folks.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Nov. 21
Get off my corn crop.
My entire life I’ve spent Thanksgiving with my mother’s side of the family. As we’ve all aged and my cousins got married, we’ve splintered a bit to enjoy our holidays with other family and friends. But wherever any of us go, we bring with us two traditions: Champagne, and the`60s housewife delicacy we call ham dip. Happy Thanksgiving Eve, y’all.
Tonight, still kinda new bar British Beverage Company hosts a Drinks Before Drumsticks party, which is very nice of them considering that the Ye Olde English hardly partake of this particularly American holiday. There will be live music, drink specials (the feature beverage is something called the “Angry Pilgrim,” which is probably delicious but something you should definitely not look up on Urban Dictionary). Perhaps it’s a play on the Pilgrim. That, or they know the happy togetherness of the first Thanksgiving was kind of a cover up for another holiday: Thanks For All These Infectious Diseases, You Total Foreign Jerks. Anyway, tonight’s party benefits the North Texas Food Bank, which needs your donations every day of the year, but especially during the holiday season. Bring a non-perishable food item or canned good and BBC will give you some sort of goodie bag that presumably does not contain an infectious disease.
Elsewhere, the Texas Theatre hosts their usual Wednesday Bar Art night, but with a Thanksgiving twist to celebrate the “dysfunctional” theater family, made up of members and occasional visitors alike. The theater will screen dysfunctional family movies and offer karaoke, food, awkward family portraits(!), and the usual art activity, sponsored as always by Make + Made in Oak Cliff. Bring a dish to share and partake of the potluck pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. Also, the poster for this event is incredible.
For more to do this evening, please go here. And if you’re up bright and early tomorrow morning and feel like exercising before stuffing your face, don’t forget about the YMCA Turkey Trot.
Museum Tower Rejects Nasher’s Louver Fix as the Fight Gets Nasty
As Krista mentioned in Leading Off this morning, the Museum Tower’s owners (aka the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System) have told us what they think of the Nasher’s proposed fix of the problems created by the heat and light reflecting off the tower. In short: the pension fund says the retractable louvers won’t work. I’ve put in some calls this morning to talk to people who can provide perspective. I doubt, given the Thanksgiving break, that I’ll hear back from those people today. Too, we are on deadline for our January issue. Hopefully by Monday I’ll have some more information for you. Till then, here are a couple points to consider:
Pete Sessions’ Seat Could Soon Be Turning Hot
Since we’ve been talking a lot about the shifting demographics of Texas, let’s focus that energy on a shift happening right here in Dallas.
The Morning News (paywalled) broke down the changes in Congressional District 32, the one currently represented by Pete Sessions. As you can see on the map, it’s a wild district, one that represents tony whites in the Park Cities and a large Hispanic base in Irving and northwest Dallas Richardson and Garland. That dichotomy, and the growing Hispanic population within the district, could mean trouble in the future, the News hints.
“The district’s Hispanic-origin population will grow from 25.6 percent to 29.7 percent by 2016 and will only continue in years to come, according to population projections from Esri, a leading provider of demographic software and data. The percentage of registered voters in the district with Spanish surnames grew from 7.3 percent of eligible voters in 2002 to 8.8 percent in 2010.”
But not so fast.
“The big takeaway, looking at the last couple of elections in Texas, is that things are changing demographically – and that certainly has political implications,” SMU political scientist Matthew Wilson said. “But the partisan levels of those implications aren’t rising as quickly as the Democrats had hoped for.
“Change is slow, and looking at 2014 or 2016 as a tipping point might be getting ahead of the game a little bit.”
Sessions took 58 percent of the Nov. 6 vote; Democratic challenger Katherine McGovern drew 39 percent. But then again, Jason Villalba could be waiting around the corner.Â
Update: I’m an idiot and forgot to use the new district map. It’s fixed.
Who Does a Baylor Grad From Dallas Root For?
Griffin III reiterates that he was never a Dallas fan growing up, looks forward to disappointing his Dallas friends with a win.
– Redskins (@Redskins) November 20, 2012
At Cliff Fest this weekend, I overheard some variation of this conversation:
“Ugh, I love RGIII, but I hate the Redskins.”
“Who are you going to root for on Thanksgiving?”
“The Cowboys, of course, but I hope RGIII has a good game, too.”
I have that dilemma every week with my fantasy team(s). I want the Jets to win Thursday, but I also hope they let Brandon Lloyd walk a few touchdowns in. Fandom is a slippery slope that eventually ends with me, hopeless and teamless, wandering around a fantasy football convention talking about the stupidity of non-PPR leagues.
Forget Thanksgiving: Thirty-Two Years Ago We Found Out Who Shot J.R.
Source: Juglar del Zipa, via Flickr
Well I didn’t. I wasn’t born.
But since people seem to care a lot about this show, 32 years ago (Nov. 21, 1980) was the original airing of the “Who Done It?” episode of Dallas. I have no idea who did it (The butler? The sassy friend? I’m playing off archetypes here.), as I’ve never seen an episode of this show.
But, if you’d like to commiserate/ talk about the reboot, the comments are open.
Leading Off (11/21/12)
Museum Tower Rejects Louver System. Tim called it: the Museum Tower reps said a louver system won’t work.
Tarrant County Named Hail Capital of Texas. Since 1995, there have been 800 hail events in Tarrant County. The second place county, Randall County, had only 680 events. These findings will be presented at the War on Hail Conference, which takes place in Irving next week. Two questions: 1. How did Irving get the War on Hail Conference? 2. There’s a War on Hail Conference?
More News on Hostess. I know you haven’t heard enough about Hostess this week, so here’s another bit of news: mediation talks with the union failed. So those little items are that much closer to being a thing of the past.
Emmitt Smith Eliminated from Dancing With the Stars. Yep. It’s true. Smith was eliminated from the show. I remember my husband and I meeting Smith. We couldn’t think of an opening line. He’s done a thing or two in his lifetime, but I figured we needed a good opening line. You’re thinking I’m going to say that we mentioned his first time on DWTS. Nope. We mentioned his appearance on How I Met Your Mother about his appearance on DWTS. At the time, I thought it was a good idea.
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