Articles about Local Government
Behold the D Magazine Newsstand at Love Field
A rendering of the proposed D Magazine store at Love Field. We leave it to our readers to photoshop a picture of Tim standing behind the counter.
We’ve been sitting on this information for awhile because the business interests of the D Magazine Empire were involved, but since Unfair Park mentioned it over the weekend: Yes, it looks like there will be a D Magazine Newsstand in the new terminal of Love Field.
Our humble store, on which we partnered with HMS Host to beat out other companies — like Hudson News and Paradies — that sought that deal, should be completed sometime in the middle of 2013. Texas Monthly and CNN are also going to have branded stores at the airport.
We don’t make any revenue directly from this store. So if you’re fearful of funding the creation of our 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas list every time you buy a stick of gum there, don’t worry. Obviously the big benefit to us is the brand exposure, and it saves a tiny bit (like $30 a month) on what it would cost normally to place our magazines in a store like this one. Plus we’ll get some free advertising for our own purposes on the LCD screens in the store.
Yes, we’re all very much hoping we can convince Wick to take the first shift at the cash register.
Leading Off (2/13/12)
Mayor Reveals Southern Dallas Plan Today: Lots to sort through regarding Mayor Rawlings’ new Southern Dallas initiative, “GrowSouth,” which he will formally announce this afternoon at South Side on Lamar. The Dallas Morning News praises it in this editorial as “exactly the kind of enthusiastic and bold approach we’ve been seeking,” while News reporter Rudy Bush notes (paywall) South Dallas plans are a staple with mayors while actual progress remains elusive. Still, there are some tangibles in the plan, like $600K for tearing down dilapidated and abandoned houses. The mayor also wants to help promote new neighborhood associations, “adopt” four schools, and has identified nine “opportunity areas,” such as Jefferson Blvd., which he called “our complete street . . . Let’s just make this thing come to life.” In other words, the vocab sounds right, but the challenge, as always, will be getting investors and competing interests on the same page.
Fort Worth Girl Kidnapped By Mother Found: Daughter and mother, who was feared to be mentally ill and suicidal by relatives, were found near a National Park in New Mexico. Both were tired and hungry, but safe.
Credit Agency Fitch Fears American Airlines Layoffs Impact on DFW: In a message released last Thursday, the credit agency Fitch suggests the 13,000 jobs AA plans to eliminate may have a detrimental effect on the airline company’s home region, where it employs 25,000 people. But the agency did throw in a caveat: it “anticipates limited negative effects to individual cities given the breadth of the employment base.” So there’s that.
Derek Holland’s Harry Carry: Funny or Obnoxious? The Rangers’ pitcher brought his Harry Caray impression to WFAA, where, accompanied by Dale Hansen’s cackles, he delivered Mavs and Stars news. Funny or not? You decide.
What Dallas Can Learn From Portlandia
It’s foolish, certainly, to read today’s final article in the Dallas Morning News‘ three-part series on the growth and development of North Texas and come to the conclusion that Dallas-Fort Worth should absolutely adopt the same approach as Portland, Oregon. (The Portland area collectively sets a boundary beyond which urban development is forbidden.)
But, man, it sure makes sense that the many municipalities and the counties that comprise a region should, you know, work together:
Planners expect the population of the entire Portland area to double in the next few decades, just like North Texas. But Portland’s growth will accompany only an 11 percent increase in land.
Here, space is prized more as a tool for redevelopment than a vehicle for expansion. The high-tech giant Intel houses its Hillsboro campus in a former industrial field. A Chevron gas station in nearby Beaverton also functions as an electrical power plant. And permanently stationed food trucks fill vacant Portland parking lots with everything from poached Thai chicken to pork schnitzel.
The urban growth boundary prevents cities from spreading outward, so they’re forced to look inward. “It has led to a realization that everything is related to everything else,” said Ethan Seltzer, a professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University. “This notion that you’re all in it together, it leads to a willingness to cooperate.”
Maybe, if you’re a certain sort of person, the bit about the food trucks makes you roll your eyes. And perhaps setting a strict regional growth boundary would be a terrible mistake, causing housing prices to skyrocket to the point that it would prevent affordable pricing for decent housing in the core of the city. I’m not sure of the net effect. I’ve heard smart people argue differing sides.
Dallas City Councilman Scott Griggs Panders to His Oak Cliff Hipster Base
Photo by Bradford Pearson
Missed this photo, snapped by Bradford Pearson of our sister People Newspapers, when it appeared on Oak Cliff People’s website yesterday.
It’s Dallas City Councilman Scott Griggs’ official portrait at City Hall. As Brad notes:
He’s playing to his base by not only posing in front of The Kessler, but also propping a bike up against the doors.
Who Is Responsible for the Abysmal Mess Called the Texas DMV? Meet Ada Brown!
The awfulness of the Texas DMV is the topic of the month (catch up here and here or, for more direct experience, just try to get a driver’s license).
The DMV falls under the purview of the Public Safety Commission. Its five members can be found here. A glance at the panel reveals the answer to why the DMV is so disasterously managed. Three of the five members are attorneys. One is a private equity type. The fifth is herself a former bureaucrat. In other words, not one member of the commission has run anything in their lives. They have never had to satisfy customers. They have never had to implement processes based on efficiency and performance. The DMV is a mess because its leadership simply doesn’t know how to fix it. It may, in fact, be utterly oblivious to the problem.
The only Dallas member is one Ada Brown, who I am sure is a fine lady and who I know is a brilliant attorney. (I know she is a brilliant attorney because it says right there in her bio that she’s a member of the Mensa Genius Society.)
Ms. Brown practices law at McKool Smith, a very well respected Dallas firm. The next time you’re stuck in a four-hour line at the local DMV, you might want to give her a call at 214-978-4000. As a dedicated public official, she is undoubtedly more responsive to the needs and problems of the average citizen and consumer of DMV services than DMV employees seem to be.
Rawlings Eyes ‘Accomplishing LGBT Objectives Long-term’
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says he isn’t surprised that gay-rights activists are upset with him for declining to sign a pledge supporting same-sex marriage. But he hopes Saturday’s closed-door meeting with about two dozen LGBT leaders will lead to more understanding, at least.
Asked before a North Texas Commission luncheon today whether he expected such an uproar from the LGBT community over his stance, Rawlings replied, “I was not surprised. They are an important constituency and passionate about their concerns. I wouldn’t expect anything less of them.”
So, what will he tell them tomorrow? “We’ll be talking about how we accomplish their objectives long-term, and how we understand the different players.” Also on the agenda: “How they can leverage me as a mayor, and how I can best represent their concerns. … That can only be accomplished through good conversations, and that’s what we’re going to have.”
Urban Expert to Downtown Boosters: Dallas Is Screwed
Read between the lines, and that’s what former CEOs for Cities CEO Carol Coletta said at yesterday’s annual Downtown Dallas Inc. luncheon. Details on FrontRow.
Let’s All Chip In and Help Out Robert Rowling
The Morning News reports that TRT Holdings, the outfit that owns Omni Hotels & Resorts, Gold’s Gym International and a bunch of other stuff, will announce a headquarters move today from Irving to Dallas, specifically to Harlan Crow’s Old Parkland Hospital complex. The story (sub. req.) also says that “the matter” is on the City Council agenda, because more than $2 million in tax abatements are being sought, and that Crow’s company will develop the new space.
The article points out that, since TRT has the big contract to operate Dallas’ new convention-center hotel, some people thought it might be nice for the company to have its headquarters in Dallas, too. But, hold on. What the article fails to mention is that TRT is controlled by Dallas’s Robert Rowling, who according to Forbes is one of the world’s richest billionaires. So, why in hell does this guy need a subsidy of any kind at all from the city? Especially given the tough times, and the fact that he was over a barrel and basically had to move here, anyway? Just asking.
The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge: So, What Are We Actually Going to Call This Thing?
A Santiago Calatrava rendering of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
We need to take care of this before it gets to be too late. We kept telling ourselves we’d get around to deciding how we should refer to the decade that ran from 2000 through 2009. The 2000s? The Aughts? And we never could come to an agreement.
Let’s not allow the same thing to happen to the Woodall Rodgers Extension Bridge, or, as the Hunt Petroleum Company would have us call it: the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
Hunt contributed $12 million to the Trinity River project and therefore has the right to honor the family matriarch. I have no objection to that being the official name, for the purposes of press releases and on first reference in newspaper stories. But that’s a heck of a long eponym, compounded by the fact that the double surname makes it difficult to know the proper way to abbreviate. Should it be the Hunt Hill Bridge, or just the Hill Bridge?
Generally, we the media have punted. It’s usually either something like “the Calatrava bridge” or “the Santiago Calatrava-designed bridge” on second reference in news articles. When we just can’t avoid the issue, we’re stuck having to repeat the whole damn name, as the Dallas Morning News does here, or as our own FrontRow blog does here.
Stop the madness. Surely we’re going to come up with a generally accepted nickname anyway. You know, whatever traffic helicopters will say when they need to talk about bottlenecks on the bridge, e.g. ”Heavy backup onto Woodall this afternoon due to a three-car pileup on the Marge.”
Let’s make this happen sooner rather than later. My proposals:
Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Novelty ‘Playgirl’ Cover Shoot: The Inside Story of a Work of Art
By Michelle Rawlings
We told you a couple days ago about the upcoming art exhibition of work by Michelle Rawlings (the daughter of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings), which starts Jan. 21 at the Oliver Francis Gallery. In perusing the young artist’s website for material about which I might make snarky remarks, one item initially escaped my attention.
It was on my second time through that I looked more carefully at the image you see at right, labeled simply as “uncle — installation.” The strikingly mustachioed man is the focus of the work, so one can easily be forgiven in not noticing the shirtless fellow to the right on the novelty Playgirl cover. Damned if that didn’t look like Mayor Rawlings himself. And it is.
Michelle confirmed as much, via email. And the story she shared about this wonderfully goofy mock magazine cover was surprisingly heartfelt:
Meet Michelle Rawlings, Mayor Mike’s Daughter, and Her NSFW Artwork
"I Love You All" by Michelle Rawlings
FrontRow notes that artist Michelle Rawlings, the daughter of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, will have an exhibition of her work at the Oliver Francis Gallery starting Jan. 21.
Even if you don’t give a whit about art, please click here and scroll down to behold “Pin the Macho on the Man,” a (NSFW) piece of which her papa must be especially proud.
Meanwhile, I’m going to try to make it compute that the printing of a photo on an inkjet is considered art.
UPDATE: Stop the presses! Is that Mayor Mike himself on the fake Playgirl cover with the uncle?
UPDATE UPDATE: Yes, it is.
Leading Off (1/9/11)
City Manager: ‘Time To Deal With Flood Control’: This one is behind the paywall, but in short, City Manager Mary Suhm is preaching to the council about how Dallas is desperately in need of a major flood control overhaul. The central project proposed is a $302 million drainage tunnel. But the pump stations on the Trinity River levees also need to be reconstructed, and there are additional repairs and improvements that have been left undone for years. In all, Suhm estimates the total bill for flood control measures will be around $1 billion, and 40 percent of this year’s bond program may be allocated toward flood control projects.
Deported Dallas Teen Back With Family: The Oak Cliff teen who was mistakenly deported to Colombia was back with her mother and grandmother late Friday night and spent all day Saturday with them at an undisclosed location. Reports indicate that the girl, Jakadrien Turner, 15, was adjusting well to life in Colombia, finding a boyfriend, friends, and allegedly coming home pregnant.
Texas Drought Has Killed Estimated 500 Million Trees: That via The Texas Forest Service which believes that after the driest year on record and the second hottest, 10 percent of the state’s trees have died.
Mother Jones Pays a Visit to Highland Park
Writer Josh Harkinson, who is from Dallas, begins his look at 75205 from Highland Park Village or, as he calls it, “a strip mall clogged with Ferraris and fashion boutiques.”
Nothing that anyone familiar with “the Bubble” doesn’t already know, except perhaps this bit about Dallas Country Club, which references Wick’s column about the club’s de facto segregation:
Lambasted as recently as last year for not admitting African Americans, Highland Park’s 117-year-old Dallas Country Club revealed, after repeated calls, that it does in fact have black members but wouldn’t say how many or when they joined. A Parkie friend whose family belongs to the club told me he has never seen a black member.
The 5 Worst Texas License Plate Designs
There’s been national coverage over the recent decisions by the Texas state government to reject a specialized license plate sought by the group Sons of Confederate Veterans and to approve a design that supports Calvary Hill, a Christian anti-gang organization in Nacogdoches.
The Confederate Veterans’ Sons are suing the state for the right to their plates. Meanwhile some groups are complaining about the Calvary Hill plate, which features crosses and the words “One State Under God,” though the slogan is part of the official Texas state pledge, and other plates have featured crosses, like these for the University of St. Thomas.
On what grounds is it OK to approve one and not the other, especially since acquiring either is an entirely voluntary act? The Confederate flag, and the fight to preserve the horrors of slavery that it represents, is seen as a symbol of hate by many. That seems like a sensible enough disqualifier. But do some atheists find the presence of crosses on a government-issued item equally as offensive? Perhaps.
That’s not what I’m here to debate. I’m here to point out the most heinous offense perpetrated by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles: allowing so many terrible plates on our roads. The following are the five worst.
My New Measurement for Governors
Want to know how good a governor is? (Yes, I’m looking at you, Rick Perry.) Make a visit to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
In Texas, you’d better take a book, a crossword, and two or three past issues of the New Yorker. I recently spent 4.5 hours waiting there with Allisonette #4, and we still didn’t get the problem resolved (one guy said one thing, another guy said, sorry, what the first guy said is not right, etc.).
In Indiana, on the other hand, visits to the DMV take an average of six minutes and forty seconds. They know it because they clock it. Mitch Daniels, Indiana’s governor, mentioned it kind of offhandedly in a small luncheon a couple of weeks ago in Dallas, and the executives around the table nearly exploded in appreciative laughter. In Texas, such a thing is unimaginable. (But then again, so was the fall of the Soviet Union, which the DMV so much resembles.) In his new book, Keeping the Republic, he explains how he did it. Basically, it came down to collecting and analyzing data about the problem, figuring out where technology could help, then applying some intelligent scrutiny to where it couldn’t.
Yes, I know. I mentioned the word “intelligent.” Poor Texas.
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