Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

I am glad I do not get The NFL Network

After listening to the complete disaster of Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collingsworth last night during the glorious Cowboy's victory, I am left this morning happy that I do not have The NFL Network on cable. That was one of the worst games to watch in terms of commentating and in terms of production. I cannot even begin to start listing all the mistakes made as there were so many!

If "big cable" execs watched the game last night, they must be wondering why in the world would we pay $$ to add that channel to our lineup?

Desperate times for food banks

Get out the check book -- local food banks need your help. (Actually, every food bank in the country does, according to the New York Times. Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America’s Second Harvest, which distributes more than two billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually, said the shortages at food banks were the worst the organization had seen in 26 years.)

In Tarrant County, donations are down 50 percent from last year at the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Demand, meanwhile, is up 20 percent at the North Texas Food Bank. (You can donate cash or food at either web site.)

There are any number of reasons for the shortages -- the higher cost of food, cuts in federal aid, an increase in needy families, and fewer donations from supermarkets, warehouse stores, and the like. Those companies, thanks to better inventory controls, have less excess food to donate. In addition, they sell much of what's leftover to discount and dollar stores instead of donating it.

Dallas man asks: Do you believe every word?

In the most recent CNN/YouTube debate among GOP candidates, 24-year-old Joseph Dearing of Dallas asked the candidates:

"Do you believe every word of the Bible?"

And then, according to yesterday's DMN article, Mr. Dearing was disappointed in all the candidates' answers, which he felt skirted what he was driving at (though I'm still not sure what answer he was looking for — the DMN reporter, frustratingly, either didn't ask Mr. Dearing what answer he was looking for and what his motivation for asking the question, or asked and didn't print his response.) I gather, however, that he was looking for a simple "yes."

Anyway, it was an interesting if overly simplistic question that has spurred plenty of comments and debate on CNN's political ticker blog. Click on the link and you'll also get a glimpse of Dearing.

Skillman nears completion

I don't know if there is enough daylight to finish today, but at 11 a.m., three of the four lanes had asphalt and the work crew was starting the fourth lane -- closest to the curb, south bound from Mockingbird to just past Tietze Park.

In other words, can they lay a bit more than a mile of asphalt in six hours?

Henderson Avenue's makeover: Should it mark a change in how the city subsidizes development?

If you've ever driven down Henderson between Belmont and Ross, windows up and sidearm at the ready, you'll know what Jim Schutze is talking about in his Observer column this week — what a difference a day or two make for that street. Jim talks with the Andres brothers, whose family seems to own just about every other block in East Dallas, about their role in the ongoing and remarkable transformation of Henderson from riff-raff into ultra-cool. Schutze raises an interesting point, too, about the city's seemingly never-ending subsidies of downtown construction — when is enough enough downtown, and how is that the rings around downtown are doing better without the city stipends? Angela Hunt talks about her view on subsidies/tax abatements on her blog, too, although her focus is more on South Dallas neighborhoods. Both Schutze and Hunt are wandering toward the same question, though: Do we need to be taking a harder look at where and to whom the city is handing out money? And how much money should we be handing out when it appears that smart developers like the Andres family are making a go of areas like Henderson without much city assistance?

Wine review: McPherson Cellars viognier

I like Kim McPherson. He's funny, he tells a good story, and he always returns my phone calls. But I'd recommend this wine even if he wasn't any of those things.

His viognier (about $13, available at Central Market, Stony's, Perry's, and the Wine Therapist) is one of the best examples of what Texas wine can be. It has viognier character, which means it's a white wine with crisp apple and pear flavors that isn't as heavy as chardonnay or as citrusy as sauvignon blanc. But the wine doesn't taste like it was made in California or France, either. It's lighter and more fruit forward, and it's easy to drink. Note to wine snobs: Easy to drink is not a crime, but a goal that well-made wine should aspire to.

Serve this with white wine dishes or on its own, chilled to about 55 degrees.

Shameless plug: I've added a web site for my wine writing. There may be some overlap with what you see here, but it gives me a chance to write about less local wine subjects.

Want a Snuffer's franchise?

Pat Snuffer, who has turned burgers and cheese fries into a nifty little empire, is going to franchise the business. In this, he is as honest and up front as he is about most things: "We can better administer the franchisee and help them succeed instead of, 'Here's the recipe book, the name, and good luck to you,' " he said.

Anyone who has ever dealt with franchising (I write about it in one of my other lives) knows that it offers a chance to make piles of money. It is also incredibly hard work, especially for the franchisee, and monumentally litigious. One of my favorites is the Schlotszky's saga, and the link only hints at how complicated that one was.

No word yet on whether any of the franchises will have a ghost.

Convention Center hotel is crawling up the political ladder

Gromer Jeffers' weekly political column in the DMN offered an interesting trial balloon this week: Would Dallas residents be interested in paying $30 million for a convention center hotel site located between the DMN building and the convention center for the possibly $350 million hotel project? The council's Economic Development Committee met in closed session last week, Jeffers reports, to discuss the sites under consideration and the viability of the entire project, which is going to require some degree (as yet, unknown or at least unpublicized) of city subsidy to make it happen. Make no mistake: Without an adjacent convention center hotel, Dallas is having a difficult time competing against Atlanta, Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago and the rest for major conventions. But the bigger question is how much money the city will and/or should sink into a project that will, by its very nature, compete with privately held hotels downtown. There's no absolute answer for this one, but we should be hearing more about it soon since after the Trinity, it's the highest priority deal floating around downtown.

Hopping on the grocery store bandwagon

Channel 5 -- shock of shocks, awe of awes -- has discovered that parts of Dallas aren't served by the major grocery store chains.

Where ever did the station's news hawks get that idea?

Mayor Park Cities and the fast track

I have a question for the mayor: If the city can't re-pave a mile or so of Skillman on time, how can it speed up construction of the Trinity toll road? Or, as he phrased it, "within the space of a couple of years."

This is the mayor's second blanket guarantee in the last 10 days. His earlier promise: To put all the resources of the city at the disposal of the DISD, as part of his campaign pledge to help reform the Dallas public school system. Hopefully, the school district doesn't need any roads paved.

I realize that I'm not as smart as the people on the winning side of the Trinity vote. Perhaps the intrepid journalists at plastic surgery's favorite local magazine can point out the error of my ways. Because, as they always point out, they are smarter than the rest of us.

I have tried to be a good loser about the Trinity vote, but the mayor's posturing is getting to be a bit much. Let's see if the city can hire enough cops, pick up the garbage, and pave our streets before he starts making promising promises that can't be kept.