The Old Eighteen

Local blogger tapped to join Obama's Urban Policy Committee

Congratulations to Michael Davis, who publishes the blog Dallas Progress - he has accepted an invitation to join Barack Obama’s Urban Policy Committee:

Part of Senator Obama's plan is to create a “White House Office of Urban Policy to develop a strategy for metropolitan America and to ensure that all federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs. The Director of Urban Policy will report directly to the president and coordinate all federal urban programs.”

In addition to his accomplishments as a blogger, Davis is also a member of the Dallas City Plan Commission, and Vice Chairman of the Trinity River Committee.  I wish him the best as he represents the perspective of Dallas and North Texas within the Obama campaign.

Dallas City Council ponders the question of what to do with Reunion Arena

Hey, maybe they could convert it into a hotel for Tom Leppert:

Reunion Arena's fate remains in limbo following a Dallas City Council committee meeting Monday during which members couldn't agree on whether to demolish the aging, money-losing facility or keep it open to event bookings.

After council members peppered city staff members with dozens of questions, many of which they couldn't immediately answer, economic development committee chairman Ron Natinsky said he'll call a special hearing on Reunion Arena for next week, probably Tuesday afternoon.

"It's still up in the air," Mr. Natinsky said of the arena's future.

Several council members requested details of Reunion events, attendance, revenue, land appraisals and costs for idling or demolishing the facility.

"I just need more information to go forward," council member Steve Salazar said.

But Mr. Natinsky said if city staff can't quickly develop a plan to stem the arena's cash hemorrhaging – more than $6 million over the past five years – then an existing plan to demolish the arena likely will move forward.

[...] Several council members expressed frustration over an agreement City Hall signed years ago with the operators of American Airlines Center. That deal stipulates that the larger, newer city-owned arena has first crack at any arena-appropriate event attracting at least 5,000 people.

Reunion, therefore, can only book American Airlines Center's castoffs.

"This is the most craziest of agreements I've ever seen," Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwayne Caraway said. "They have us strangled. ... This is why concerts are leaving our city, going down I-30 to Nokia in Grand Prairie. The city of Dallas is losing revenue – revenue that could be coming to Reunion Arena."

"They must come to the table with a reasonable attitude," Mr. Caraway said of American Airlines Center's operators, Center Operating Co. The city owns American Airlines Center, as it does Reunion.

Don't count on such a contract renegotiation, however.

Mr. Poe said discussions with Center Operating as recently as this weekend went nowhere.

"This is an issue that is complex and the agreement was negotiated very carefully by both parties more than ten years ago, which created a public-private partnership that has worked well for the city, Center Operating Company and for the taxpayers," Brad Mayne, president and chief executive of Center Operating Company, wrote in an e-mail Monday afternoon.

That wasn't good enough for Mr. Caraway.

"I will not be one that will be strangled and be pushed into a move, and that's what I feel we are doing," he said, imploring staff to continue direct meetings with Center Operating executives. "I'll be calling for a meeting. I'll be calling for it publicly."

It would be a damn shame to spend millions of tax dollars tearing down an arena that took millions of tax dollars to build in the first place, especially when the city is undergoing a budget crunch, and especially when it could still be used to generate revenue for the city if it weren't for the obstinate greed of Center Operating.  It's amazing that Dallas is losing events to Grand Prairie because this corporation is allowed to exercise veto power over a city-owned facility.

25,000 votes cast for Industrial Boulevard name change

Too bad the Dallas city council appears likely to ignore all of them:

About 25,000 people have voted online or by phone to rename Industrial Boulevard something else – including Eddie Bernice Johnson Parkway and César Chávez Boulevard.

But even though the last votes came in Friday, the results won't be released officially until late this Friday, when the City Council receives its packet for the following week's meeting.

Originally, council members were scheduled to discuss the renaming of Industrial at a committee meeting today. But council member Dave Neumann rescheduled the meeting to June 10 because he and members of the city staff are touring Vancouver, British Columbia, this week for a first-hand look at urban waterfront development.

[...] Ultimately, none of this may matter anyway.

The council seems to have little appetite for the kind of controversy that names like César Chávez and U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, would inevitably stir.

"Folks are in favor of a name that reflects the Trinity," Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway said.

Asked whether he would go along with voters if they chose to name the street for an individual, he bluntly said he would not.

The ultimate decision on renaming the street rests with council members. Of the six choices presented to voters in the online and phone poll, they are most likely to choose one of those related to the river, several council members said.

Those names are Riverfront Boulevard, Trinity Lakes Boulevard, Trinityview Boulevard and Waterfront Boulevard.

This raises a few questions: if the council doesn't have any appetite for "controversial" names, then why were they included as options in the vote?  And if the outcome of the vote was going to be disregarded anyway, why bother having a vote?

What a colossal, pointless waste of time and money.

Federal judge strikes down anti-immigrant rental rules in Farmers Branch

A federal judge has thrown out the Farmers Branch ordinance prohibiting apartment rentals to illegal immigrants and making landlords responsible for the verification of legal immigration status or citizenship:

A federal judge found Wednesday that a Dallas suburb's rule prohibiting apartment rentals to illegal immigrants was unconstitutional and could not be enforced.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay concluded that only the federal government can regulate immigration. Farmers Branch didn't defer to the federal government in immigration matters; instead, the city tried to create its own classification to determine which noncitizens could rent in Farmers Branch, the judge said.

The judge found that violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the federal government to pre-empt local laws.

The ordinance also didn't comply with the due process clause of the 14th Amendment because it was vague, the judge ruled.

The rule also failed to provide clear guidance that immigration documents were acceptable and didn't explain what was meant by the ordinance phrase "eligible immigration status," the judge wrote.

[...] Lindsay also wrote that the city's attempts to salvage the ordinance faltered because they would have required the court to draft laws, which is outside of the court's duties.

[...] Residents endorsed the rule 2-to-1 in May 2007 during the nation's first public vote on a local government measure meant to combat illegal immigration.

But a group of apartment complex operators, residents and advocates sued Farmers Branch. They said the rule was so poorly drafted that it could allow exclusion of legal immigrants and citizens, was difficult to abide by because it didn't provide clear guidance for apartment managers and owners, and improperly tried to turn property managers into policing agents.

This ruling will undoubtedly provoke howls of outrage among right-wingers about "activist" judges overruling the will of the people, but I agree with the ruling, and as I've said before, thank god for "activist" judges.  However you may feel about illegal immigration, it's not the responsibility of apartment managers and landlords to enforce federal immigration law.

These anti-immigration measures, in my opinion, have little to do with enforcing immigration law, and much more to do with latent racism against Hispanics.  If most of our illegal immigrants were from Ireland instead of Mexico, I seriously doubt that the fine people of Farmers Branch would have nearly as much of a problem with them being allowed to rent in the city.  And I say this partly because most of the people I've seen stressing out over illegal immigration also want to make it harder for people to immigrate legally to this country, and partly because they spend so much time wringing their hands about immigration (illegal or otherwise) being a threat to our "heritage" and "culture."  I guess they've forgotten that our American "heritage" and "culture" were created by immigrants, and not just white immigrants but by people from countries all over the world.

What we need to do is to streamline the immigration process, so that more people will be motivated to immigrate legally; normalize the status of the people who are already here, instead of rounding them up into glorified concentration camps; and enforce our borders in a way that makes it easier to keep truly undesirable people out, without disrupting the lives of the people who live along the border or denigrating our historic status as a nation that opens its arms wide to people who want to come to America to create better lives for themselves and their families.  This openness is what made us a great nation, and it's because we've begun to turn our backs on this fundamental American value that our greatness as a nation has begun to slip in the last few years.

Dallas, Houston listed among top 10 cities for African-Americans

In an article for its July edition, Black Enterprise named its list of the top 10 cities for African Americans, as determined by a reader survey.  Two Texas cities made the cut:

3. DALLAS

Dallas returns to the best cities list at No. 3, up from No. 8 in 2001. Dallas placed third among the top 10 cities in median household income for black families, future job growth and black high school graduation rate. Survey respondents had mixed reactions about this Sun Belt city. They were pleased with Dallas’ cost of living and the quality of medical care. On the other hand, respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the availability of African American enterprises, even though Dallas has a relatively high number of black residents per black business. They were also pessimistic about their employment outlook. Dallas’ black unemployment rate, though somewhat high at 9.5%, is less than the national average.

5. HOUSTON

“Rocket City’s” fall from grace as BE’s best city for African Americans in 2001 can be tied to a soaring back unemployment rate, high violent crime rate, above average medical cost index, and moderate future job growth, compared to other top 10 finalists. Five other top cities fared better than Houston in terms of its median black household income ($33,562), percentage of black households earning more than $50,000 annually (29.1%), and number of black homeowners (51.8%). Next to Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, black businesses abound in Houston, which has 30 African American residents for every black business. Moreover, African Americans constitute 25% of 2 million residents and own nearly 24,286 businesses, more than one-fifth of the city’s total.

Coming in above Dallas were Atlanta at #1 and Washington at #2.  Nashville ranked #4, and rounding out the top ten were (in order) Charlotte, Birmingham, Memphis, Columbus, and Baltimore.

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(via Unfair Park)

Laura Miller honored by EPA

The EPA announced Monday that former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller is being honored as one of 15 recepients of the 2008 Climate Protection Award for her efforts in opposing the approval of 17 coal-fired power plants in Texas:

City of Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, through sheer determination and organizational and persuasive leadership, led a group of Mayors representing 36 Texas cities, counties and school districts to form the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition (TCACC) that successfully protested the approval of 17 new coal-fired power plants that would have added well over one hundred million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year. Mayor Miller and the Coalition challenged the approval of the additional coal plants in order to preserve Texas air quality, keep the areas of Waco, Austin and East Texas from going into non-attainment, and to lower carbon emissions. In particular, the TCACC intervened against TXU's eight proposed coal units across Texas that would have added 30,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, over 115 million tons of CO2, and nearly 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury each year. Due to the Coalition's efforts, the Administrative Judges allowed discovery regarding carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. This ruling presented the first of its kind during Texas permitting processes. TXU subsequently cancelled the construction of all eight of its plants. Miller, a former journalist who served as Mayor from 2002 to 2007, is now working as Director of Projects Texas with Colorado-based Summit Power to build the first commercially viable IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) power plant with CCS (Carbon Capture and Sequestration) in the United States.

When she stops by to pick up her award, maybe they'll ask her what she's doing now working for Summit Energy, a big energy gas and coal company.

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(via Unfair Park)

Mitchell Rasansky on the convention center hotel

In an editorial appearing in the Dallas Morning News, Mitchell Rasansky asks some necessary questions about the proposed convention center hotel:

It may sound like a good idea at first – so good that our council is rushing to vote today on purchasing land next to the convention center for a whopping $41 million and maybe even to give the go-ahead for the hotel's development.

But wait just a minute. The Dallas Central Appraisal District valued this land at $7.5 million. You – the taxpayers – are going to be asked to foot the exaggerated $41 million bill. Don't be fooled by Dallas' exaggerated tales that we have appraisals. The comparables used are not from similarly situated parcels of land, and the recently raised adjusted value of the property on the tax rolls (because of the announcement of the impending sale) was mandated by state law so as not to jeopardize public school financing.

But wait – there's more. The city never really investigated all land options. The city manager's office should have strongly considered and recommended the unused, readily available portion of the existing Dallas Convention Center as an alternative site.

Although no one knows how much the hotel will cost, it is estimated between $400 million and $500 million for a 1,200-room hotel – a staggering $150 million more than Jerry Jones obtained from taxpayers in Arlington and surrounding communities. And just think: The proposed hotel does not even come with any type of attraction like the Dallas Cowboys.

But the price tag is merely a guess. There is no development agreement, and not one developer has committed to build this project for any amount. To pay for it, Dallas wants to issue more certificates of obligation and bonds – a proposition that is likely to affect our future bond ratings. We are talking about amounts so massive that your children will be paying the interest back for years and years.

These numbers do not make sense. Plus, when you consider that hotel occupancy is not even at 65 percent, Dallas is not getting a golden deal.

The more I hear about this hotel, the less I like it - the idea of Dallas taxpayers paying $150 million more for a hotel than they would have for Jerry Jones' trophy stadium, which would have produced a much greater financial benefit for the city, is pretty absurd, especially when the city has other priorites that need to be addressed.

Waltz Across Texas: Monday, May 12

News and notes from the Lone Star State for Monday, May 12:

• LULAC and the Mexican-American Bar Association of Houston filed a lawsuit Friday against the Texas Democratic Party, claiming that the party failed to seek necessary clearance from the U.S. Justice Department for the "Texas Two-Step" process of selecting delegates by both primary and caucus, and that the system unfairly diluted Latino votes by giving fewer delegates to predominantly Hispanic districts.
• Texas' failure to inspect dams in a timely manner due to an understaffed dam safety program could pose a risk to public safety, according to a state auditor's report released last week.  Texas' dam safety program currently has only seven staff inspectors and contracts with two outside entities to inspect 7,603 dams, and the state ranks last nationally with about 120 high-hazard dams per inspector.  Dam safety experts say that the best way to address the program's shortcomings is to give the program more money to work with.  And we supposedly have a budget surplus.  Hmmmm...
• Texas Tech's Board of Regents voted on Friday to go against a statewide trend and freeze tuition rates for the 2008-09 school year.

Don't forget to vote today

If you live in Dallas County, here's a list of polling locations to get you pointed in the right direction.  Polls are open today from 7 am to 7 pm.

On a related note, the Justice Department will be monitoring the vote in Farmers Branch and Irving, two of the hot points in the immigration debate.  Given that this is the Bush Justice Department we're talking about, I'm not sure whether to be reassured or worried about hearing this.

Waltz Across Texas: Friday, May 9

News and notes from the Lone Star State for Friday, May 9:

• Texas Senators yesterday heard the testimony of nine men who were freed from prison after DNA testing exonerated them.  According to The Justice Project, since 2001 DNA testing has cleared 33 wrongly convicted Texans who had spent a combined 427 years in prison, and in 27 of those cases eyewitness misidentification was a factor.  Thankfully, some people are talking about needed reforms: Rodney Ellis has promised to sponsor a bill next year that would mandate specific procedures when eyewitnesses are presented with live lineups or photo arrays for identification.  A more intriguing proposal, and one that I'd particularly like to see enacted, would have Texas become the first state in the nation to create a crime lab oversight group.
• The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that a surge in demand for concealed handgun licenses has overwhelmed the department's capacity to process applications for permits and renewals, resulting in lengthy delays.  The number of applications in April was up nearly 40 percent over the same time last year, leading to delays in processing new applications of up to 30 days beyond the 60-day approval deadline mandated by state law; for renewals, the wait is currently 75-80 days beyond the law's 45-day deadline.  There's no clear indication of what's causing the surge, but changes in state law to protect the privacy of license applicants, which took effect last year, might be a contributing factor.
• With the city of Dallas facing a possible $50 million budget shortfall, city council members are bouncing around ideas for creating new revenue streams in order to avoid cutting services or raising tax rates.  One particularly odious idea being floated by Jerry Allen would have the city selling naming rights to city-owned property and facilities.  I've got a better idea: why don't we sell the naming rights to the members of the city council instead?  I can't speak for others, but I wouldn't mind being able to shell out a few dollars for the privilege of changing Allen's name to Captain Shithead.  Hell, the mayor can even keep his last name, as long as I get to change the first: I happen to think that Dallas Mayor Def Leppert has a nice ring to it.
• The Uptight Citizens' Brigade Duncanville City Council has approved changes intended to strengthen an ordinance banning sex clubs.  The ordinance was originally adopted in November in order to close down the Cherry Pit, a swingers club that Jim Trulock and Julie M. Norris operate out of their home.  Trulock has filed a lawsuit to fight the ordinance, which is currently pending.  Here's hoping he prevails - the government has no business meddling in what consenting adults do together in the privacy of their own homes.
• Congratulations to Nick and Olivia Rogan, students at the Greenhill School in Addison, winners of the Tournament of Champions national debate competition.
• Happy birthday to Jenny, the world's oldest captive gorilla, who celebrated her 55th birthday at the Dallas Zoo yesterday with a four-layer frozen fruit cake and banana leaf wrapped treats.  As long as she stays in the cage, she can celebrate however she wants to.