Articles about Automotive
When the State Levels a “Punitive Tax”
Most people don’t pay it. A program intended to make DUI driving too expensive has instead produced 1.2 million scofflaws.
Budapest Solves Dallas’s Parking Problem
A mere 19 years ago Hungary was a broke Communist country. Now it has solved the most perplexing problem that any downtown faces. John Crawford and Mary Suhm, how fast can you get on a plane?
A Picture That’ll Generate Some Comments, Just Maybe
An alert FrontBurnervian took this shot on the streets of Dallas earlier in the week. I pass it along with giggles. Like that guy’s moxie.
Sewell Transitioning From Hummers to Subarus
Obviously that’s no Subaru behind this big new sign at Sewell Automotive’s Hummer dealership off Lemmon Avenue. But Hummer’s being retired as a new-vehicle brand, the victim of high gas prices and the recession in general. As a result this Sewell location will become Subaru’s Dallas point within the next few weeks, a spokesman says. Dallas had been without a Subaru dealership since 2009, when David Thomas merged his Lemmon Avenue Suby location into his Subaru of Plano operation and sold off the property to John Eagle. Sewell’s Subaru store will continue to service Hummers, the Sewell spokesman says.
Leading Off (6/7/10)
1. One takeaway I had from the Dallas Morning News’ two part story (part 1 and part 2) on “black flight,” the steady decline in the number of African American students attending Dallas Independent School District schools: maybe the concept of geographically based public school is outdated. Is there an argument here for a re-segregation of public schools, with distinctions not drawn up along racial lines of distinction, but on need-based lines? Say we reorganize the district so that some schools specialize in raising math skills, some in reading skills, and some in language skills. There could be some schools that specialize in engaging immigrant families in their children’s educational experience and others that specialize in engaging families in certain social-economic situations. This might end up looking like racial segregation, and it opens up tons of room for abuse (cough, cough, Preston Hollow Elementary), so I’ll leave you to tell me why it’s a dumb idea in the comments.
2. After shooting John F. Kennedy (allegedly, right?), Lee Harvey Oswald hopped a bus to cross the Houston St. viaduct, but when it got caught in traffic, he jumped off the bus and hailed a cab. That cab had been in the collection of the now defunct Pate Museum of Transportation. On Saturday, it was auctioned off and sold to an Illinois museum. It’s not exactly our Elgin Marbles, but I hate to see that one get away.
3. And file this good news story under “Thank goodness there are people like this out there”: a couple in Azle, Texas, used money from their savings to buy a five-bedroom home and take in five special-needs foster children, because some people are just awesome like that, I guess.
What To Do In Dallas Tonight: June 3, 2010
What do you get when you combine wigs, classical instruments (flute, violin, piano, and clarinet), and members of the Polyphonic Spree? You get the Chameleon Chamber Group, tonight’s performers at the Silk Road Lounge at the Crow Collection of Asian Art. The group describes themselves as “electro-acoustic symphony,” and they apparently combine traditional classical music with digital and electronic components for a futuristic sound. I’m just digging the Antoinette-style wigs. Remember: it’s free, and beer and wine samples are given out. Starts at 6. More of what to do after the jump.
Drunken Driver Launches Car at DFW Airport Toll Booth
An alert FBvian points us to the below video of a drunken driver launching her Chevy Impala from one of those protective concrete ramps that guard the toll booths at DFW Airport. This happened yesterday. (h/t Jalopnik via the Observer)
Dallas Auto Sales Up 30%
Is this pent-up demand? Were there big incentives? Or can we start pretending that the Great Recession is over?
Texas Auto Insurance Rates Not All That Bad
Hey, here’s something else Rick Perry can take credit for. Texas is not the most expensive state for auto insurance. Louisiana is. Maine is the cheapest. Texas is #24 — right in the middle of the pack – with an average cost of $1,462.65
Say Yes, Ashley
It’s prom season! I only know this because I park in a parking garage with students. And I saw this little message from Michael to Ashley asking her to go to prom when I arrived this morning. It’s cute. He could have used a darker chalk that would have showed up in a picture, but I digress.
Super Bowl Gives Highway New Name
I know you all love hearing Super Bowl updates whenever we get them (lookin’ at you, Mike), so here’s another one brought to us by the Star-Telegram. Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments made an announcement last night that Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth will be renamed the Tom Landry Super Bowl Highway. The change isn’t official yet. Morris wants to run it by the NFL. I’m not sure when the change may take place, but what I want to know is whether or not the highway will go back to its original name after the game. And, also, how costly will this project be? (Wait before you say I’m not a journalist because I didn’t do any investigating. I have a call in to Morris to ask these questions. He’s just busy.)
Dallas Saves You Time, Kinda
This month, Real Simple did a list of the top 21 time-saving cities. The magazine ranked cities based on how easy and fast they are to get around; how long it takes to see a doctor or the response of emergency services; availability of wireless and broadband and resources such as 311 hotlines; bike friendliness and recycling; and on the number of personal trainers and takeout restaurants per capita. Dallas came in at number 16, in a tie with Cleveland. We scored a 14 on the time-saving scale (getting around: 2; health and safety: 3.5; information and technology: 3; green time-savers: 3; lifestyle: 2.5). I think Dallas should have had a higher score in lifestyle, but I’m biased.
Also in the same issue, I learned I could use a ketchup bottle as a pancake dispenser. So there’s that.
Finally, How to Save Downtown
It turns out to be really simple: we just need to host 126 NBA All Star Games a year. You see, I just got back from a detour down Main St. to see what the scene looked like, and it took me 30 minutes to go from Pearl to Ervay. Let me say that again: 30 minutes. Pearl. To Harwood. To St. Paul. To Ervay. Three blocks. And let me just say, Dallas looked pretty damn sexy all gridlocked-up in the snow.
David Margulies Offers Some Unsolicited Advice to Tiger Woods
David Margulies, “media relations expert,” had a conundrum: the biggest news story going in the world right now is l’affaire Woods. Margulies’ problem: he has no involvement with the story. Tiger Woods has not retained Margulies’ services. Nor has Elin. Nor has Jaimee Grubbs. Nor the neighbor whose tree so courageously stopped Tiger’s Escalade that night. So what was Margulies to do? How about issue a press release yesterday (in full, after the jump) critiquing Tigers’ publicists’ handling of the situation? Brilliant!
Perot: GM Executives Need to Eat in Cafeteria
Ed Whitacre, from San Antonio, became the acting CEO of GM earlier this week. Reuters asked Ross Perot about how well he thinks his fellow Texan will fare, given Perot’s own difficulties working with GM in the 1980s:
“I disagreed with what they were doing,” Perot told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “Then suddenly, they just didn’t want anybody around to point out what we needed to do. They decided to get rid of the nuisance.”
Perot described the GM culture back then as “insulated” and “aloof”:
The first time Perot hosted GM executives at EDS in Texas after the acquisition, they were shocked, he said.
“We went to lunch and we got in line and they almost fainted,” Perot said. “They couldn’t believe I ate in the cafeteria and that I had to go to the back of the line.”
They were also surprised how good the food was, and that’s the point, Perot said. When company executives are treated the same way as the frontline workers, quality rises, he said.
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