Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

The return of the Casa Linda Cafeteria

Good news for everyone who has asked about the future of the Casa Linda Cafeteria, which closed in January. (And that's a lot of people -- the various Casa Linda items are among some of the best read on the blog.) The cafeteria is returning, as the Highland Park Cafeteria, for Mother's Day weekend. So make those brunch plans now.

The cafeteria's savior is local businessman Jeff Snoyer, who was out of the office when I called. I'll post more details after he calls me back.

John's Cafe update

One of our readers wondered if and when the new John's Cafe on lowest Greenville was going to open, so I checked with my source, Deep Breakfast. DB told me that  that stricter city building codes, combined with an older building, are slowing renovations substantially. Apparently, the Spiros family had to tear up the old floors to get at the plumbing, which was a mess. So now they have to replace the plumbing and the floors.

Sunnyvale Steve's bond election

OK, which one of us wants to make a comment about Sunnyvale's controversial school bond election , so that Steve Blow of Dallas' Only Daily -- who has educated us on the Trinity tollway project -- will know what to do?

A 5-story Emerald Isle

And who says you can't fight the downtown real estate developers and win? Casa Linda area residents have just done that.

The 25-story Emerald Isle project has morphed into a 5-story building, which the Dallas Plan Commission will apparently approve today. The new project, though not perfect, fits the area in size and appearance, brings some of the development that Emerald Isle supporters say Garland Road needs, and shows that the system works. Something else interesting: If I have read the city documents correctly, developer Mark Miller, who was one of the public faces of the project last summer, doesn't appear to be involved anymore.

Prostitution stings and most wanted lists

Anyone who cares about crime in our neighborhood may be interested to know that the Northeast Police Division just got its new website up and running. One highlight is the news about recent police arrests and initiatives, such as last week's reverse prostitution sting that led to eight arrests in two hours. (And I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but find humor in the fact that the sting took place at the intersection of Senate and Dilido.)

Another interesting feature about the website is that Northeast is compiling its own most wanted list, on top of the list the Police Department generates for the entire city. The list will have descriptions of suspects as well as descriptions of vehicles and such involved in crimes. What's posted right now is a description of the vehicle and suspect involved in the recent road rage murder near Richland College. Deputy Chief Jan Easterling said at last night's crime summit that detectives have spent a lot of time in that area talking to people who might have seen something, but they have no leads. She practically begged for anyone with any kind of information to notify police. My guess is that if people check this page regularly, we might be able to help catch the suspects of not only this crime but others that take place on our streets.

One more interesting tidbit of information from last night: Easterling said crime in the Northeast Division is down 7 percent from last year, the lowest it's been in five years. It's also a bigger drop than any other division in the department.

Kotvis and Kadane trade punches

I'm starting to regret the original posting (thank you, Jeff) on the Sheffie Kadane-Jill Kotvis deal for a couple of reasons, but not for the reasons you might expect. One, since we didn't do any original reporting, we weren't adding anything to the mix. Two, weighing in on an ongoing election is always asking for trouble, particularly if we aren't adding anything factual to the mix. However, the point of the blog is to get neighborhood information out to readers in a factual manner and then see what readers (and us, too) have to say about it. So I wanted to start fresh with a different approach this time - here are links to what has been published elsewhere so far, including a story in the Morning News Wednesday morning. First, here's the link to Pegasus News, an online news source that talked with Jill and one of Sheffie's kids about the original allegations of Jill's arrest and answers about whether she has been involved in "criminal proceedings or civil suits" on a Morning News candidate survey that all candidates receive. Second, here's link to the Morning News survey in question. Third, here's a link to Sheffie's campaign press release asking Jill to drop out of the race because of the alleged mistatements on the Morning News survey. And fourth, here's a link to a letter Jill wrote to Sheffie asking him to quit the mud-slinging and take the high road. And, as promised and hot off the internet, here's a link to the WFAA story that just ran, too. Those are all of the facts I'm aware of, and now as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story...until tomorrow, I imagine. As additional information pops up, whether from us or other trusted sources, we'll provide it here so you can sift through it all and decide for yourself what you think. And, hopefully, you'll use this space to tell the rest of us what you think, too.

Angela Hunt's $70 hair primp

I suppose in the scheme of things, Angela Hunt's use of campaign funds to have her hair done doesn't look good, although it seems to be legal to use campaign funding to pretty-up for a press conference or for campaign literature. I don't see how paying someone to make you look good for a campaign flyer is any different than paying someone else to print it or paying someone else to write it. But I imagine we wouldn't be reading about about any of this if the press conference in question hadn't been to announce the petition drive for the Trinity tollroad referendum. I wonder who dug up the info (presumably from a campaign filing) and how it came up? No offense to Mr. Glogowski (Hunt's council opponent), but he has run for council before and never seemed like a guy inclinced to dig around in his opponent's campaign filings. I suspect some of the pro-Trinity people are digging for dirt on the anti-Tollroad's leader. And let's face it, what's bigger news: The mayor dumps a councilman from a board post for defying her (Morning News Metro page 7) or a councilman spends $70 of campaign money to have her hair done prior to a press conference (Morning News Metro page 1)? Just asking.

Dinner and a movie

One of the highlights of the Dallas Wine & Food Festival, which starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend, is the Gourmet Cinema event at the Angelika at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. This year's dinner and a movie features Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, paired with a five-course dinner from chef Weerayut (“Oudi”) Utedpornratanakul of Flavor Asian Fusion & Dessert Bar. Tickets are $75, and are available through the web site.

Ed Oakley's geography lesson, Part II

Feel free, those of you who wondered if you should vote for Ed Oakley for mayor, to vote for someone else. Oakley says those of us up here should vote for Gary Griffith.

How else to explain his truly bizarre behavior at a mayoral forum at the Townview Center in Oak Cliff? Those who live south of the Trinity, said Oakley, should vote for him because he lives there. He also told the crowd it was OK to vote for Don Hill. Which was darn decent of him, wasn't it?

I will, as another public service to the Oakley campaign, explain how this thing is supposed to work. You have a platform, and you offer views and programs and so forth that you will support as mayor. It's even possible that some subjects, like fixing pot holes or not giving handouts to real estate developers, appeal to people in all parts of the city. Believe it or not, Ed, some of us up here share many of the same concerns as voters down there and that's how we decide to vote.

Kotvis vs. Kadane - a little below-the-belt action?

Reader and fellow blogger Michael Davis sent along this link to Pegasus News about the council contest between Jill Kotvis and Sheffie Kadane - the story highlights a little news, a little mud-slinging (however unintentional) and is pretty interesting. I'm not endorsing the Pegasus News story as fact or fiction, but it reads as if the story was handled fairly and is worth a read.