Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

What the Trinity petition drive really means

Conspiracy theory update: Jim Schutze at the Observer reports that he is hearing rumblings that something untoward will happen when the 80,000 signatures go to pass muster. Perhaps. But that would be a tad obvious, even for the anti-referendum people. I'm still betting on a vicious, nasty campaign to discredit the pro-referendum side.

From Saturday: That sound you heard last night was the collective panic of the people who think they run this city. Because we reminded them that they work for us.

It almost doesn't matter -- almost being the key word, of course -- whether the Trinity toll road referendum passes in November. What matters is that we scared the hell out of the elite and the bosses and the bureaucrats who do things not because it's good public policy but because it fits some agenda that they have.  The toll road, regardless of anything else, is bad public policy, and we reminded them of that.

In a sensible world, Mayor Park Cities and his buddies on the Citizens Council would cut their losses, announce the toll road is gone, and make the referendum irrelevant. But they aren't that politically sophisticated. This is the same group, after all, that brought us the poll blockers and that thinks people actually pay attention to Wick Allison and Plastic Surgery's Favorite Local Magazine. We poked a stick in their eyes, so they're going to run around like small children until they get even with us.

That means they'll use the considerable resources that they control to smear Angela Hunt, the councilwoman who masterminded this thing. They'll smear the Observer's Jim Schutze, whose reporting on the toll road made me proud that I was once a newspaperman. Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper, which was far from impartial during the petition drive, will forgo any semblance of impartiality during the referendum campaign.

And none of that will matter. This is how many signatures 80,000 is -- twice as many as those who voted in the 2001 city elections and 10,000 more than voted in the first round this year. We have them exactly where we want them, and it feels kind of good, doesn't it?

Trinity referendum on tap: Group says it has the signatures necessary

Just saw this note on the DMN website: Angela Hunt announced a few minutes ago that her group has more than 48,000 signatures, more than enough to force a referendum on the issue this fall. More details as they come in.

Second update: How does 80,000 signatures sound? That's what the Observer's Jim Schutze is reporting. Note to Mayor Park Cities: That's almost more signatures than the number of votes that you and your opponent totaled in the run-off. -- Jeff Siegel

Third update: Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper has already started whining. Editoral writer Colleen McCann Nelson invoked the name of Zac Crain, whose mayoral petitions came up a bit short, and repeated the News' mantra that that the logic for the referendum is mostly about "campaign slogans and sound bites." This, I think, requires a quote from Elvis Costello re The News: "I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused." -- Jeff Siegel

Fourth update: No mention of petition drive success on blog at Plastic Surgery's Favorite Local Magazine. No doubt they aren't quite sure how something they opposed could actually take place. These sorts of things are not supposed to happen in their world. -- Jeff Siegel

Helping who live better, where?

As you probably know, we also publish magazines in Lake Highlands, Far North Dallas and Preston Hollow. One of our avid readers in Preston Hollow, Louisa Meyer, just wrote an op-ed piece for the Dallas Business Journal about what she sees as the Morning News' one-sided coverage of DISD issues. I tried to set up a link to the item, but as it turns out, you have to be a subscriber to read it online.

In a nutshell, Meyer asks a few hard questions about the News' ubiquitous "Helping You Live Better Here" promotion, which I guess is designed to build subscriptions. Anyway, among other things in the article, Meyer quotes the News' Bill McKenzie, an editorial page wonk, saying: "Part of our job as an editorial board is to help instill hope and diminish cynicism about DISD." Meyer's point: How does writing endlessly and primarily about DISD screw-ups, of which there are certainly a few, instill any hope or diminish cynicism among readers? Meyer is a W.T. White parent, 2006 DISD volunteer of the year, and all-around good neighbor, so it's worth grabbing a Business Journal (which has certainly become a respected business publication and is worth reading weekly) to look at what she's saying and giving it some thought. What's she's saying certainly applies here in our neighborhood, too.

Bruce Willis strikes again

Just left the NorthPark AMC after watching the latest Bruce Willis action movie, Live Free or Die Hard. It was 130 minutes of preposterous plot and action, countless moments of violence, constant swearing, even some brief and gratuitous full-clothed suggestive sex, and there's absolutely no way that any one man could sustain the kicks, slaps, punches, whacks and shots that Willis sustains and keeps walking.

Having said all of that, it's worth the admission price. If you liked the first two Die Hard movies (that is, if you were old enough to have even heard of them), I think you'll find this one to be pretty entertaining. It's definitely not politically correct, though, and the one mini-sex scene (a guy is thrown out at first base) might be a little hard to explain to a youngster sitting next to you, as would be the laughs that accompany the many bad guys' deaths. But if you're looking for a little mindless fun and want to get out of the rain, check it out.

Trinity River flooding: Only a minor inconvenience

How much do you want to bet that these photos will not be in Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper or plastic surgery's favorite local magazine?

Know what the scariest thing is about this flooding? It's not one of those once in a century things. The last time this happened was in the early 1980s, according to a long-time Dallas resident that I asked. Hope everyone enjoys the equestrian park. Will you get a snorkel with your saddle?

Update: News conference set for  4 p.m. today to announce petition results. Story isn't too snarky, considering it's in The News. Also, I did not see any mention of the park site flooding in The News or on Channel 5 this morning.

Kayaking anyone?

I don't think he wore a wetsuit or probably even media-flashy raingear, but our intrepid shooter Can Turkyilmaz did venture out to the White Rock Spillway this morning specifically to get a blog photo. By the way, the flood warning has now been updated to extend through Monday morning. From weather.com: AT 1000 AM THURSDAY THE STAGE WAS 39.95 FEET * MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MODERATE FLOODING IS FORECAST. ... THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE TO RECEDE AND FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY SUNDAY EVENING. * AT 40 FEET MAJOR FLOODING WILL OCCUR IN DALLAS ALONG THE RIVER. So, yeah, we're pretty damn close to major flooding. But then if we weren't, I guess Sam Champion wouldn't be here. And my Weather Channel-addicted father in Phoenix would quit calling me to see if I'm treading water yet. (Love ya dad!)

Oakley redux - a slimy feeling ...

Jim Schutze offers another interesting look at Ed Oakley and his connections with the Trinity revitalization project in this week's Dallas Observer. It's more on Oakley's land interests in the corridor, but this column features a few comments from the city attorney's office, too. The gist of the column, if I can sum up a lot of words in just a few, is that there's just something funny about what's going on with the Trinity, and whether there's another vote (hopefully) or not on the plan, someone needs to help Angela Hunt wade into the whole mess and figure out what's really going on and what's really going to happen and who're really going to benefit.

The more I find out about the project, the more I get the sinking feeling that a lot of people are going to be buying very nice, expensive, new cars with their take of the Trinity booty long before you or I ever get to run barefoot through the lush grass in our new "park".

Celebrity in the water ... White Rock spillway

I woke up this morning, started huffing and puffing on my elliptical, and there on TV was ABC Good Morning America's Sam Champion braving the elements at the White Rock Lake spillway. Sam droned on for awhile about the water running over the spillway, which didn't look particularly shocking to me, but I guess when you're in town to cover a horrible storm, and you don't want to get too far away from the Adolphus Hotel downtown (or wherever the big news crews stay), the White Rock spillway is a pretty good place to be. Important note to readers: The picture of Sam here shows him in an anti-gravity suit; I couldn't find a picture of him in his rain gear...

More watering the lawn

If anyone knows the people who live around Axton and Kellman and Abrams and Danbury who were watering their lawns this morning, could you please let them know we're having record rainfall and flooding? They can probably hold off on the sprinklers for a day or two. (I would have done it, but it was a little early this morning when I walked by.)

Award-winning Texas wines

Just got back from two days of judging at the Lone Star International  Wine competition, and was quite impressed with the results. I have been a judge for three years, and this was easily some of the best wine I have tasted.

I'll write more about the state of the Texas wine business in an upcoming magazine, but I wanted to note these wines (which are available from the wineries, and at some retailers for the Becker and Brennan), which were quite impressive:

• Sweet wines: Signature Red Muscadine from Guerra Vineyard in East Texas is an amazing achievement, because muscadines (related to grapes but not grapes) usually make crummy wine. Collina Bianca, from Pleasant Hill Winery in Brenham, is a white blend that is very well made.

• White wines. Brennan Vineyards Viognier is softer than a chardonnay, with some floral touches, but still a dry wine. Two from Becker Vineyards in the Hill Country: a chenin blanc, which was one of my favorites, and a fume blanc, which is a sauvignon blanc and semillion blend. The Beckers are also great buys at $12 or so.

• Red wine. Another Becker, a blend called Prairie Roti. It's very fruity, dry, and a good hot weather red.