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DFWTexEx

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31480

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Schutze on Caraway.  https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dwaine-caraway-did-more-for-dallas-rich-white-people-than-anybody-black-11009407

 

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You must know that this pattern of southern Dallas politicians with their hands out for bribes is the single biggest and darkest force inhibiting investment in southern Dallas. The toll-takers like Caraway are the most important factor in keeping the area undeveloped, poor and segregated.

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But here is what I feel is most tragic. Caraway represents a generation of southern Dallas grifter-politicians who have perpetuated the idea that southern Dallas will always be lucky to get the crumbs, the poker chips, the slices of pie out the kitchen door instead of sitting inside at the big table.

 

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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With the vacating of District 4's council seat it will be entertaining to see who will run. There will be a special election slated on the general November 6th ballot. That will bring out a lot of voters for wider state elections.

More dominoes need to fall in all of this. I would like to see certain payments to Caraway by Austin Industries, Martin Marietta and Union Pacific scrutinized. The timing of their payments is closely tied to critical votes for asphalt, cement and batch mixing plants.

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3101

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20 minutes ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

With the vacating of District 4's council seat it will be entertaining to see who will run. There will be a special election slated on the general November 6th ballot. That will bring out a lot of voters for wider state elections.

More dominoes need to fall in all of this. I would like to see certain payments to Caraway by Austin Industries, Martin Marietta and Union Pacific scrutinized. The timing of their payments is closely tied to critical votes for asphalt, cement and batch mixing plants.

I'm curious about the Dallas Executive Airport deal.  That was approved 8-7 with Rawlings and Caraway on the winning side.  Any smoke there?

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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2 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I'm curious about the Dallas Executive Airport deal.  That was approved 8-7 with Rawlings and Caraway on the winning side.  Any smoke there?

Probably some smoldering fire under that smoke. I don't understand that deal too much since Tennell Atkins was the victim in all that. Atkins had his own shade deal going on there as well.

New rumors this afternoon that the DHA is getting ready to explode with some allegations against Albert Black. This could really impact Broadnax and implode a number of departments.

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cactusflinthead

cactusflinthead 27598

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Is Castle Broadnax about to crumble? 
Indications are that all may not be well within the regime of Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax. And that would be a great shame.
To date, Broadnax and his top people have successfully projected a public impression of extreme competence and efficiency. But over this past weekend, stories of disarray began circulating on the word-of-mouth-web. Multiple sources, all knowledgeable, none willing to go on the record, indicate there could be a dramatic defection from the top ranks soon.
The source of the trouble is the Dallas Housing Authority, which, under the leadership of Albert Black and Troy Broussard, appears to have drifted into hell and high water involving budget and possible evictions by DHA of people who have been paying their rent. The accusation is that Broadnax is going soft on DHA for personal reasons.
As always with these sagas, there is a lurid personal backdrop fueled by rumors of romance, all or none of which may be true. But, I’ll tell you what: if half of what I am hearing is half-true, Mr. Broadnax may be in for some hell and high water of his own. I personally hope he’s not and that this all bullshit, because this is NOT what we need right now.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10215336579919075&id=1573104930

More Schutze

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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21 hours ago, gyroprotagonist said:

does WileyH still post anything insightful anywhere?  Seems like he just retweets a bunch of stuff now and not really comment.

 

He or she. I have a good idea who it is not. I have been at parties, dinners or even just driving around with some of the suspected people who might be that poster during times when there was active posting going on with those accounts.

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15531

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1 hour ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

He or she. I have a good idea who it is not. I have been at parties, dinners or even just driving around with some of the suspected people who might be that poster during times when there was active posting going on with those accounts.

Someone told me who he (and it is definitely a he) is once, and I've managed to forget.  Let it suffice to say that it's not one of the usual suspects (e.g., Angela Hunt).

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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23 hours ago, gyroprotagonist said:

does WileyH still post anything insightful anywhere?  Seems like he just retweets a bunch of stuff now and not really comment.

 

I stopped following WileyH years ago because it was exactly that, just retweets and sharing.  No insight.  Sounds like he/she is still the same.

 

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AggieFactFinder

AggieFactFinder 31

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On 8/13/2018 at 11:27 AM, DalTxHornFan said:

I'm curious about the Dallas Executive Airport deal.  That was approved 8-7 with Rawlings and Caraway on the winning side.  Any smoke there?

I'm curious, too.  That deal stinks.  Our recent airport management is...interesting.  Remember when the city didn't want to bid out retail/concession space at the new Love Field terminal around 2010?  "Oh we have to reward the existing tenants (mainly Eddie Bernice Johnson) and not have open bidding even though traffic is going to skyrocket because they stuck with us in lean times post-911".   WTF?

Rawlings seems desperate to be able to point to any money going to south Dallas.  Prudently spent, or not.  

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C-Man

C-Man 27230

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1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

Someone told me who he (and it is definitely a he) is once, and I've managed to forget.  Let it suffice to say that it's not one of the usual suspects (e.g., Angela Hunt).

Thought it was generally thought that it was more than one person using that account. And, yes, it's just retweets now without any fucking context at all. Quite frustrating.

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15531

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1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Thought it was generally thought that it was more than one person using that account. And, yes, it's just retweets now without any fucking context at all. Quite frustrating.

No--it's not.  It's one guy.  I don't know why he's gone to just retweeting, but it may be something as mundane as his work schedule.

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C-Man

C-Man 27230

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18 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

No--it's not.  It's one guy.  I don't know why he's gone to just retweeting, but it may be something as mundane as his work schedule.

Gotcha. I don't pretend to know, just thought I'd seen that somewhere. Again, though, if you're going to retweet only -- at least give us an idea what the reference is.

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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Resurrecting this thread as the mayor race starts to heat up.   Who's in?

Albert Black - prominent business man; first black to lead the regional chamber

Regina Montoya, political player with lots of connections, GC at Children's, former Clinton aide

Larry Casto, former city attorney and the apparent candidate of the Citizens Counsel money (although the Council said that for the first time it would not be endorsing anyone...not surprising since that endorsement has not been as helpful as its money). Is he taking the support and money that Bobby Abtahi wanted?

Mike Ablon, a developer who did nice things in the Design District....the real estate development community's dream candidate

Jennifer Staubach Gates - Did the Halloween costume really eliminate her?

[Scott Griggs]* - The apparent new urbanist leader of the next wave of city leadership; portrayed as an Oak Cliff liberal, but is really the most economically conservative, pro police member of the City Council (and is certainly the smartest).  Will try to create an "across the aisle" coalition, but will start with Hunt and Kingston on his team.

*unannounced

 

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Stunns38

Stunns38 3460

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Need someone who’ll be serious in revamping DPD. Also,need to help close the DPD loophole where they train candidates that leave for other PDs that pay more.

Finally, really need to focus into ramping up development in the central core(it seems to be happening already).

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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And here we go....

Griggs is in

I was at the launch event last night.  Nicely done.  He spoke about the coalition that he has helped build to stop the tollroad, fix the pension fund, settle the DPD/DFR salary lawsuit, get a housing policy in place, and bring transparency to city hall.  As I posted above, keeping that coalition together will be key.   His support of DPD, pro financial restraint views will have to bring in some conservative voters.  He definitely has a good campaign plan and management team.,  Among the candidates, only he and Solis have actually won elections.  At this point, I would expect that the runoff will be Griggs and one of the pro-establishment candidates (Ablon?), unless Solis can somehow rally the Hispanic vote.  I don't think anyone has ever actually done that city-wide, but maybe. 

Also, WTF with the visitor and convention people spending $150 million unsupervised.  Their CEO makes about $300K more than the City Manager and their budget is more than the budgets for code compliance and libraries.  Crazy bullshit.

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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Already obvious that the Dallas Citizens Council is channel stuffing candidates into this upcoming mayoral election to fracture Griggs strong base and force a runoff. I really want to see Griggs win and institute a younger stronger form of leadership that will wash away the Park Cities moth ball smelling powerbase. I am a Republican and he is a strong progressive but I like his style. Matter of fact, I was at his campaign announcement last night.

Chad West who is tapped as Griggs replacement for district 1 should pick up where Griggs left off in terms of voting with other like minded people.

I am not sure what will happen with Lee Kleinman in North Dallas. He was rumored to not run again for his seat. His wife moved her practice to Colorado recently and he was supposed to go as well. Now he might stick around for his last term. It would be great to see him go to Colorado and get a better candidate on the ballot.

Glad to see Callahan leaving in District 5. A young hispanic man is running for his seat and will be another ally of Griggs if they are both elected. Yolanda Williams the park board member for that area of Dallas quit her board position yesterday to likely run for city council. She is famous for saying "I hate racists....and white people". She is out of control crazy and hopefully won't stand a chance against a better candidate. That district has very low voter turnout and can be won with just a handful of votes, literally.

Sandy Greyson is term limited. She has been an even handed city councilperson who hopefully can endorse someone who will align with Griggs.

I think the rest of the seats are all locks and most are nutty people. That includes Kingston who is weird but votes the way I like, mostly.

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CHEF DIESEL

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31 minutes ago, mdmost said:

That's disappointing as he's been pretty good for this area.

He was the best of the candidates who ran as Kadane's replacement. Clayton was largely voted in as a green candidate and was seen as a foe to restaurant development at White Rock Lake and Arboretum expansion. He caved on a couple key issues like the DUC rowing center which was built against current city code/ordinances. On city wide issues, he has floundered on several key votes in 2018. He could have been the deciding swing vote and as a result things passed that should have been shot down.

The Abrams road construction delays he should have had his foot kicking ass on the lazy contractor for that project. Daily. I blame Clayton for that mess. I'd give him a solid B- grade as city councilperson. He never really did anything. Nothing is often better than something.

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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So, Casto is out and has endorsed Ablon.  And Jason Villalba is in.  Villalba was too moderate (LGBT support) to get out of the Republican primary in his bid to get re-elected to the state legislature.   Miguel Solis, 32 year old DISD board member, is also in.  WIth Griggs, they are the 3 candidates who have actually run and won a campaign.

Those that announced last year had to file financial disclosures.  No suprise that McBee has the most money on hand, but it's way too early for these reports to matter.  But, Black did pretty well, raising $277K last year.   

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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Late surprise announcement by Erik Johnson stirs things up.  He's a legit candidate with solid support in the South and has been able to raise money.  Really raised his profile with the removal of the confederate plaque in the capitol.   Can he run and do his work in the legislature at the same time?

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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On 1/18/2019 at 3:38 PM, Ghost of LL said:

There's going to be a run-off, and it's going to be Griggs and someone.  I just can't figure out who yet.

Maybe Abalon vs Griggs. The establishment vs The new Dallas. Oddly, seeing a number of Abalon signs in the Park Cities, where those residents cannot vote for Dallas mayor.

Johnson and Black will fracture the African American vote and they won't make it to the runoff.

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DDD Dad

DDD Dad 14339

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48 minutes ago, babysdaddy said:

who is this lady? Has she been involved in politics before?

She's a well-connected socialite and philanthropist married to an oil & gas heir who's lived in HP for the last 25 years and is backed by the Citizen's Council.  That should pretty much tell you all you need to know.

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babysdaddy

babysdaddy 2724

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Texas grad with a biochemistry degree isn't bad?  Plus she probably knows Cedric....or at least her hubby does.

If someone wants to be Mayor of Dallas shouldn't they have lived in Dallas for more than a month or two? or is that how it always works.  I've been woefully un-engaged in Dallas politics

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DDD Dad

DDD Dad 14339

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25 minutes ago, babysdaddy said:

Texas grad with a biochemistry degree isn't bad?  Plus she probably knows Cedric....or at least her hubby does.

If someone wants to be Mayor of Dallas shouldn't they have lived in Dallas for more than a month or two? or is that how it always works.  I've been woefully un-engaged in Dallas politics

She apparently got a condo unit next to Klyde Warren Park just in time to meet the requirement (6 month residency prior to election date).  My guess is they're renting, they have their house priced too high to sell, and won't renew lease if she loses.  Or, if they bought the unit they'll just put it back on the market after the election.  I also would be willing to bet they're still spending substantial time in the house in HP still regardless of the Dallas unit (a la Adam McGough).

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31480

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12 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

She apparently got a condo unit next to Klyde Warren Park just in time to meet the requirement (6 month residency prior to election date).  My guess is they're renting, they have their house priced too high to sell, and won't renew lease if she loses.  Or, if they bought the unit they'll just put it back on the market after the election.  I also would be willing to bet they're still spending substantial time in the house in HP still regardless of the Dallas unit (a la Adam McGough).

It is priced pretty high it seems but I suppose that is a pretty prime location if the house isn't that spectacular.  That is his parents' house, deed xfer date is 2005.  I dunno how long Allan has lived in HP, certainly 0-18. 

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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16 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Also, Clayton isn’t running again. 

 

When the real reason that Clayton is leaving the city council is made public, remember this thread. It will be either a serious problem with the State Fair of Texas or dealings with the Timberlawn mental health facility. I hear strong rumors. I think some in the media are tipped about it and holding back on it till the mayoral election draws near. You'll notice soon that everyone will distance themselves from Clayton and quietly ask him not to endorse them in other offices.

I think that former city councilman Gary Griffith is trying to drum up someone out of the Lakewood elementary attendance zone to run for Clayton's seat. Someone who would push for restaurants at White Rock Lake and expansion of the Arboretum on behalf of the monied Park Cities folk.

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DDD Dad

DDD Dad 14339

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When the real reason that Clayton is leaving the city council is made public, remember this thread. It will be either a serious problem with the State Fair of Texas or dealings with the Timberlawn mental health facility. I hear strong rumors. I think some in the media are tipped about it and holding back on it till the mayoral election draws near. You'll notice soon that everyone will distance themselves from Clayton and quietly ask him not to endorse them in other offices.

I think that former city councilman Gary Griffith is trying to drum up someone out of the Lakewood elementary attendance zone to run for Clayton's seat. Someone who would push for restaurants at White Rock Lake and expansion of the Arboretum on behalf of the monied Park Cities folk.

Please not Sheffie again.

 

Lakewood Elementary zone has become Park Cities East. The school population has gone from diverse (when DDD attended) to almost 100 percent homogeneous, with few if any at risk children. He will have no problem finding someone in a starter home waiting to move to the bubble to suit those interests.

 

And no there is no way in hell you could get me to run for city council.

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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8 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Please not Sheffie again.

 

Lakewood Elementary zone has become Park Cities East. The school population has gone from diverse (when DDD attended) to almost 100 percent homogeneous, with few if any at risk children. He will have no problem finding someone in a starter home waiting to move to the bubble to suit those interests.

 

And no there is no way in hell you could get me to run for city council.

Sheffie in his last year of office was starting to look very feeble minded. I have not seen him in public for years.

Since Angela Hunt's husband is rumored to be running for that spot maybe it will scare off some of the snobby Lakewood types. He's formerly from the M-Streets and fits that mold. Glorious douchebaggery now resides in Lakewood. Really impressed at the pure assholery of people south of Mockingbird.

Lakewood and the M-Streets(Kingston's area) are only luke warm to progressives like Kingston who had to throw some weight behind his last re-election. I don't see anyone serious taking on Kingston this time because his last challenger(Matt Wood) was given a cushy role at Fair Park/State Fair. He'd likely not give that up to for another shot at Kingston.

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DDD Dad

DDD Dad 14339

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2 hours ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

Sheffie in his last year of office was starting to look very feeble minded. I have not seen him in public for years.

I saw Sheffie the other night coming towards me on Lakewood Blvd.  Yelling at me (like clouds) as we both tried to negotiate cars parked on both sides of the street.  I chuckled.

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Since Angela Hunt's husband is rumored to be running for that spot maybe it will scare off some of the snobby Lakewood types. He's formerly from the M-Streets and fits that mold. Glorious douchebaggery now resides in Lakewood. Really impressed at the pure assholery of people south of Mockingbird.

Present company excepted, I hope.

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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Schutze's Take on Dallas City Hall -  Another solid piece about old school Dallas.

And here is Philip Kingston's take on it (from his FB page) and the race for Mayor (TLDR:  Only Griggs)

This will be interesting.

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Jim's got an important piece about our city's absolutely perverse spending priorities. His examples are excellent, but I usually illustrate the problem this way:

Over the course of the last 20-30 years, Dallas has fallen behind more pragmatic and responsible cities in failing to purchase the new generation of traffic signals. One of the reasons for the extreme congestion on our highways is that you can't reasonably use the surface streets for a commute of any distance because of their slow throughput speeds. There's also some data to suggest that bad light timing makes people drive more dangerously between lights or even run red lights. Use of modern technology can improve throughput, reduce pollution, and build data for transportation planning. Dynamic light timing can get you where you're going faster AND safer. And you better believe your local firefighters and cops would like the ability to preempt signals on their way to a call. The deferred replacement needs have grown to about $300mm. City staff has known about this growing problem the entire time, but the first time they ever mentioned it to Council was September, 2013, and we've done little to correct it (I helped get some starter money in the '17 bond).

During roughly the same period, we built two Calatrava bridges of questionable utility. As Jim points out, the I-30 one still isn't open, but even the Large Marge is not a successful project. Its pedestrian and bike features were value engineered out of the project (as cost overruns reached $140mm. really, $140mm). And the remaining structure is a dinosaur of highway design. It's marked for 35 mph, but the design speed is infinity with monstrously wide lanes. So drivers go ... IDK, I've definitely seen 80 mph.

Total cost to you for both bridges: about $300mm. So there are many places in Dallas where you can be stopped at a failed traffic signal with an amazing view of boondoggle bridges. They're monuments to bad spending priorities.

There are many other examples Jim could have mentioned. Why did you pay for a horse park that 99% will never see and a golf course that 99.9% of you aren't ALLOWED to use? Why did you come within a gnat's whisker of giving away Fair Park and $35mm/year to the mayor's buddy? Why did you almost get gas wells in your parks?

All this boondoggle spending raises two points about the mayor's race:

1. Scott Griggs for Dallas has, by a very great distance, the best record of fighting this sort of cronyism and waste. He has worked like an investigative reporter to expose these abuses and then fought them every step of the way. He has almost single-handedly stopped the abusive use of eminent domain by the city. Without Scott, you might this very day have a tollroad in the Trinity.

In fact, he's the only person in this race with any record whatsoever of opposing all the bad stuff Jim and I are pointing out.

2. But there's worse. Many of the people running to be your mayor actively, loudly cheered for these awful projects. Supposed urbanist Mike Ablon for Dallas Mayor was a stalwart advocate for the Trinity Tollroad. So was Albert Black for Dallas Mayor. Lynn McBee for Mayor raised money for the bridges (in her defense, no one was able to raise much, except the taxpayers). They're all going to distance from these projects now, but my advice would be to ask yourself what kind of thought processes they're likely to use at city hall if this is their history.

Then there are the ones with no history. Watch carefully to see where their money comes from. More than one looks like a Manchurian for the very people who brought you the unusable bridge and the fake rapids. One has money from the people behind Rawlings' attempt to take over DISD. They're going to bleat about their progressiveism and fresh approaches. It's not what they're telling the Money.

All the coverage of the race seems to want to comment on how many candidates there are. I only see two: Scott vs 10 Establishment mimeographs. Dallas needs a new kind of mayor, and there's only one in the race.

#newkindofmayor

 

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DFWTexEx

DFWTexEx 276

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D and DMN are going after Griggs for some campaign contribution stuff.  Looks like over the years he took a few contributions from kids (possibly shady, but not illegal) and some that aggregate to over the limit for adults (possibly illegal).   He is correcting the reporting errors and returning money, but he clearly should have been better about that it.  Am I wrong in thinking it's a common mistake that campaigns make and if it's only a handful of items in many reports over the years (not indicative of a trend or intent to manipulate) it's not a big deal?  The reporting shows that other council members did the same thing, but they are not running for Mayor against the establishment.   I have already one set of friends that are withdrawing their support of him at least for now.

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CHEF DIESEL

CHEF DIESEL 126

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23 minutes ago, DFWTexEx said:

D and DMN are going after Griggs for some campaign contribution stuff. 

I think that DMagazine's Tim Rogers is throwing a couple punches at Scott Griggs right now to clear the table for hitting other candidates much harder as the election approaches. DMagazine will be able to point at the Griggs issue and say that they are not playing favorites.

The Dallas Morning News on the other hand might as well straight out endorse Mike Abalon right now. Just get it over with and endorse the real estate developer that all the Dallas Citizens Council money is behind.

 

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