Articles about Local Government
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.
What Would You Have to Do to Pioneer Plaza to Cause $1 Million in Damage?
So the Dallas Morning News notes that the permit that was granted to the Occupy Dallas group to remain encamped at Pioneer Plaza through Friday requires that they provide proof of having $1 million in liability insurance by 5 p.m. today.
Odds that this will happen?
No More Last Meals on Texas Death Row
Apparently the large, uneaten meal of the Death Row inmate convicted of that awful dragging death in Jasper in 1998 was the last straw.
State Sen. James Whitmire complained to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and a few hours later they agreed: no more specially ordered final meals. They can eat what all the prisoners eat.
The Texas Tribune report indicates there may be general agreement on the change:
Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said he is opposed to the death penalty, but he agreed with Whitmire’s sentiment. “It is anomalous that you would do this for anybody in prison,” Harrington said. “To me, it sort of reflects sort of a guilty idea, some guilt that the person is going to be executed.”
Leading Off (9/19/11)
What a 1976 Trial Tells Us About John Wiley Price: The latest investigative brouhaha surrounding County Commissioner John Wiley Price isn’t the first time the politician has been backed into a legal corner. But what does an acquittal in 1976 tell us about how Price will handle the latest trouble? In short, don’t expect him to be eager to cooperate with the prosecution.
North Texas Economy Strengthens Guanajuato Ties: Most urban areas in the United States tend to draw migrants from specific regions of Mexico, and in the case of Dallas, it is the mountainous Guanajuato (which is one reason why someone needs to launch a new MLS team, Club León USA, and stick them in the Cotton Bowl, but that’s besides the point). In the current economy, in which the North Texas economy is outpacing other parts of the country, the labor-pool network remains entrenched and stronger than ever (sub req).
Bush Raises More Than $300 Million for Library: George W. Bush still has some serious fundraising swagger.
Collin County Cattle Brands Online: The Best and Worst in Farm Animal Scarification
Came across the NBCDFW story about how Collin County has taken its registration of cattle and horse brands online. What used to take their clerks about 40 minutes to deal with in large printed binders now takes about two minutes.
But reporter Randy McIlwain is missing the story here. This new online database provides unprecedented access to information about the latest local trends in ritually scarring horses and cattle. So what’s hot and what’s not? While the traditional use of the owner or ranch’s initials continues to dominate the form, there are a few brave envelope pushers.
Cheers to Beth Billera of Parker, who places this classic Rolling Stones lips and tongue logo (at right) on her horses. Does this mean that Mick Jagger or Keith Richards can make a valid ownership claim on her livestock?
And cheers to Nathan Anderson of Melissa, for this almost avant garde use of but a single, understated line.
Barbara Mallory Caraway … for Congress?
Thanks to Dave Levinthal, formerly of the Dallas Morning News and now of Politico, I was alerted to the fact that Barbara Mallory Caraway, wife of Dwaine Caraway, has filed the appropriate paperwork to run for Congress.
So there you go.
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