Back Talk Far North Dallas

No to Chavez instead of Ross; Industrial might be next

The city plan commission voted 7-6 Thursday to deny an application to change the name of Ross Avenue to Cesar Chavez; the plan commission's "no" vote means that if the measure goes before the city council, it will take 11 votes to overturn the plan commission's decision and rename Ross. According to the DMN story, Oct. 22 looms as decision day — at least at this point — potentially for both Ross and Industrial at city council. That's when the full council could consider a request to rename Industrial as Riverfront and/or consider renaming Industrial for Chavez.

Greek Food Festival this weekend

Just a reminder, the Greek Food Festival kicks off this weekend--which means good Greek food, and a lot of it. Don't get me wrong, the deep fried jelly beans and bacon you'll find at the State Fair are great and all, but you just can't beat those gyros and baklava. Plus, where else can you learn to cook authentic Greek meals, plus find all the groceries you need to make them? You can checkout the entertainment lineup and buy your tickets online. It looks like the weather is also going to cooperate. I know I'll be out at the festival this weekend enjoying that cooler weather, gyro in hand. Opa!

New city ordinances for pet owners

If you own pets there are a few new city ordinances you should know about that go into effect today. 
From now on, you can own a total of six dogs and/or cats—and if your lot is half an acre or larger, you’re allowed eight animals. If you want to own more than that, you may love animals a little bit too much.
You also aren’t allowed to leave your dogs tethered for longer than three hours at a time, and they must be kept on leashes at least 10 feet long. If you leave them in a pen, there must be at least 150 square feet per dog and they must have access to a shelter.

Josh, Michael, Tom and the gang: The Observer does 'em all proud

There are three great stories in this week's Dallas Observer, if you're interested in Josh Howard, DISD's budget problems and the taxpayer-owned convention center hotel.

Jim Schutze weighs in on DISD Supt. Michael Hinojosa and his culpability, or lack thereof, in the budget mess. I was standing next to Schutze for about an hour of last week's board meeting (we were jammed together in four-by-five-foot area behind the chairs, pressed against the wall by all of the TV station camermen and reporters gathered for the meeting), and his account of the portions of the meeting he cited is correct. I don't necessarily agree with his conclusion, but he persuasively argues that Hinojosa is more responsible for the mess than he seems willing to admit.

Dirt skirts and common sense

The news yesterday that the city council voted to prohibit dirt skirts means one of two things. Either council members had a flash of wisdom and realized that dirt skirts –- a ploy to allow builders and developers to get around zoning height restrictions by pretending the ground is taller than it is –- are silly, or the council suddenly realized that there is an election next spring and they have alienated untold numbers of constituents.

I vote for the latter.

By next May, the council could be looking at a city budget that has fallen on its face, courtesy of the on-going U.S. financial meltdown. (Are we really balancing the budget by charging non-residents $400 to $600 when they get in auto accidents in Dallas?) It may well be handed its head in the convention center hotel referendum. And then there is the Ross/Industrial/Chavez shambles, which has the potential to turn into a Dickensian-style nightmare in the manner of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit, alienating everyone for generations to come and resolving nothing.

So, given an opportunity to show voters they were on top of at least one thing, they jumped on the dirt skirts (no pun intended) and ended up doing the right thing.

See how easy it is?

Technorati Tags: dirt skirts,Dallas City Council

Video of woman thrown from car on Dallas North Tollway

A few days ago on this blog, I told you about a woman who was thrown from a moving car on Dallas North Tollway. Turns out a TxDot camera caught the whole thing on tape. The police have just released that video in a hope that it'll lead to some crime-solving tips. You can watch the video online.

LBJ Freeway construction begins in a few months

Construction of the new $1.5 billion tollway tunnel on LBJ Freeway will start in early 2009. This reconstruction project, which is one of the largest that North Texas has seen, is supposed to turn that parking lot we call LBJ into a functioning freeway. LBJ was originally designed in 1969 to handle about 180,000 cars. Today it's estimated about 280,000 motorists commute on LBJ.
I had coffee with councilwoman Linda Koop earlier this week, and I picked her brain a bit about this new LBJ overhaul. She said while the construction will be a huge pain in the neck, it's a necessary evil if we want to see things get better in the long run. I tend to agree. Something needs to be done, and unfortunately, all the solutions involve some sort of inconvenient construction.
She's also obviously hopeful that the project will be completed within its five-year timeline. I'm not as hopeful. Maybe that's because I still remember the nightmare we all saw on Spring Valley when they added a tunnel under Central Expressway. That project turned Spring Valley into a concrete disaster for about four years. That project was small in comparison to the one about to take place on LBJ. So I can't help but seriously doubt it'll all happen in five years. Plus you throw in all the development that's going on near the Galleria, and you’ve really got yourself a commuting headache. I don't know about you, but I've already started mapping out those side streets.

Convention center hotel, Ross Avenue: What a lousy time to leave town

I got on an airplane for France at 5:30 p.m. a week ago Wednesday. I saw my first English-language news (save for a couple of very brief visits to the web site of Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper) on Tuesday morning, when I picked up an International Herald Tribune in Paris and discovered that the U.S. financial system was about to collapse.

But that wasn’t what shocked me. I also found out, courtesy of the Wi-Fi at the airport, that the plan commission had voted not to rename Industrial and Ross, and that Mayor Park Cities was really upset that someone who wasn’t a malcontent opposed the convention center hotel.

Wine review: La Poule Blanche 2006

Or, for those of you whose French is a little rusty, chicken white wine.

La Poule Blanche ($11, available at Whole Foods) comes with an excellent pedigree. Sacha Lichine, the man behind it, is the son of Alexis Lichine, one of the legends of the French wine business. And the wine is that good.

It’s a blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and viognier that combines a New World fruitiness (very ripe apples, maybe) with French style. That means crispness, minerality and not a touch of oak. I drank it with roast chicken (big surprise, huh?), but it would work with seafood pastas, white pizzas and cheese courses. If it cost $1 less, it would make the $10 Hall of Fame.

Technorati Tags: Sacha Lichine,white wine,wine reviews,wine of the week,La Poule Blanche

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Go-Hotel' kickoff pep rally Wednesday at City Hall

Even as the "No-Hotel" people are out trying to gather 20,000 signatures to bring the city council's taxpayer-owned convention center hotel to a vote, the "Go-Hotel" people are gathering Wednesday in the city hall flag room to stage a pep rally for the $550 million project. If you're inclined to attend, the event starts at 11:30 a.m. at city hall, 1500 Marilla.

One disappointing aspect of what's happening right now: Assuming the "No-Hotel" people get enough signatures to require a referendum on the project, and assuming the council respects voters/taxpayers enough not to break ground on the project before a possible "no" vote, there's a 50/50 chance there will be absolutely no hotel, which would be unfortunate for the city.

My concern: We really do need a hotel at the convention center in order to attract the big conventions here. But thanks to the way Mayor Tom Leppert played his hand on this deal, voters could be facing a choice between spending $550 million on a hotel we don't want to own, or spending nothing and ensuring a hotel won't be built. The referendum language (click here to Download 0916petition.pdf and read the proposed charter amendment) seems to preclude the city from putting any seed money into a hotel deal, which is the way this deal should have been structured in the first place —  a minority ownership with a real return on our investment as opposed to outright ownership with all of the associated risk.