Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

DISD reconsidering see-thru backpacks

At their May board meeting the DISD Trustees, at the recommendation of the Administration, adopted a requirement that any student who "chose" to use a backpack or bookbag would now be required to only use one where the contents could be viewed from the exterior. This means a fabric mesh or a clear plastic. It was the District's belief that this would help with inspections of these bags and speed the morning process where all students are checked for "inappropriate" items as they enter school.

There was a significant outcry from parents and apparently from faculty also. These bags are understood to be costly and not very durable. Besides, even an elementary school student can figure out ways to circumvent this particular security measure.

Stonewall Jackson parent Vince Murchison reports this morning that there was a broad feeling at the board meeting yesterday to reverse this policy, with the Administration leading the way by reversing their recommendation. This will still require a vote, but that is expected on June 28, one of the last scheduled meetings prior to the start of school in the Fall.

Why Ed Oakley doesn't deserve to be mayor

Regular visitors to this space know that I do not endorse candidates. I analyze, I criticize, and I ask others to vote their conscience. It should not be any of my business how someone else votes. But this time, for this election, my conscience won't let me remain silent.

Ed Oakley has campaigned as one of the good guys, yet his campaign has been despicable. It is the campaign of a coward. His smears, innuendo and other low-brow methods smack of Willie Horton. Yesterday, I got a phone call from someone purporting to be from something called Progressives for Oakley (or some such) who breathlessly asked me if I knew who Tom Leppert gave money to. I said no, told him his phone call was a travesty of the democratic process, and hung up on him.

Good guys do not do things like that. Good guys run on the issues. It's one of the things that makes the good guys different from the Lee Atwaters and Karl Roves. Oakley has not done that in any way, shape or form. He has back-stabbed Leppert. He has asked voters south of the Trinity to vote for him because he lives south of the Trinity. He has asked Democrats to vote for him because he is a Democrat. Those aren't issues. Those are the methods of a cynical, dishonest campaign. A good guy would explain why Oakley would pave streets and hire cops and also explain why his opponent wouldn't.

I do not write this lightly. I don't see how Tom Leppert will be anything other than another downtown mayor who does the bidding of the elite at the expense of the neighborhoods. But Leppert, at least, has been more or less honest. And, in this campaign, that's enough for me.

Voting for mayor

One of the best political analysts I know, who was raised on Nixon, LBJ, and Jim  Crow, just sighed when I asked her about tomorrow's mayoral runoff.

"It's all about their egos," she said. "The problem with this council, with all of the stuff that's going on -- the Trinity toll road, Leo Chaney's statue, even the tax breaks they keep giving -- is that they all want to have a park named after them. It's not about running the city or making resident's lives better. It's about making sure they leave a legacy. They are terrified people will forget them. And let's face it: Who is going to remember who served on the Dallas City Council? But if they can build big things or help developers build big things, they could get their name on a plaque. It doesn't even matter if we need the big things or not. They just want to see their names on a plaque, so no one will forget them."

Cynical? Perhaps. But it also does put a lot of what has gone on over the past couple of years in perspective. One pro-toll road councilman sent Rick Wamre, our publisher, one of the nastiest letters I have ever seen someone in public life write, all because Rick thinks that the referendum is not a bad idea. This was a councilman, by the way, that the Advocate has been more than generous to. But all of that was forgotten when Rick dared to criticize the councilman's legacy.

What does this have to do with tomorrow's runoff? First, that whoever wins should know that we want results, not an attempt to pad some phony legacy. Second, when you vote -- and please vote -- vote for the candidate who you think will work for our agenda, and not the candidate's. Otherwise, it will just be more of the same.

The tax breaks keep rolling along

Imagine you are a tenant in an office building, but you aren't a good one. You pay your rent late, you cause all sorts of trouble -- noise, garbage, harassing other tenants -- and are generally a pain in the neck. What do you think your chances are of getting a better deal from the landlord?

None, of course -- unless your landlord is the city. Because that's exactly what the City Council did yesterday for developers Lawrence and Rita Sweeney, whose track record is exactly that. We're giving them $12 million and cutting their taxes by a couple of million more to help them build a condo and hotel tower. You can check this link for all the crap that city has put up with from the Sweeneys; it's too annoying for me to recap.

I realize I bellyache about this stuff a lot, but it's not like I don't have good reason. This deal makes no sense whatsoever. So why are we doing it? Can anyone explain that? If this keeps up, I'm tempted to put a deal together to redo a building downtown just to show that the council will give money to any bozo who comes along.

I'm appalled: Service with a smile?

Once upon a time I made some remarks in the comments section of this here blog supporting Albertson's. No sooner had I done that than I started to understand why people hate the chain so much. One checker overcharged me by $20, which I'd never have caught if, noting his lacksadaisical attitude, I hadn't been more observant than usual. Grocery baggers would noticeably avoid certain checkers and, consequently, my damn groceries. Checkers would complain to their managers, in front of me. Worst, everyone seemed to be going through the motions of their jobs with sullen faces and bad attitudes. It had become pretty bad, and I was considering defecting to Tom Thumb (after all, that's where editor Keri Mitchell says all the cute neighborhood guys shop). And then last night happened. First off, there appeared to be a lot of turnover. I noticed quite a few new faces. And here's the big thing: probably no fewer than seven employees asked me how I was doing, did I need any help, could they assist me in locating an item. Would I please have a nice evening? I wasn't even making eye contact when most of these offers of help rang out. It's like some Mandate of Nicety was enforced and the Basic Tenets of Customer Service manual became required reading. So, with reluctance, I guess I'll give Albertson's one more chance. But I'll be sure to tell you if they screw up again.

Let's call each other names and see if the voters notice

Is the Trinity Cheerleader's rise in the polls a result of his vicious, reasonably untrue attacks on the Construction Magnate? Is it a result of the war in Iraq? (My favorite explanation for what's going on, by the way.) Or is it for some reason we have yet to think about?

As noted previously, I'm having a difficult time caring. It's not like these guys are all that different in tone and approach. They tell us all is fine in the city, we need to hand out more tax breaks to developers, and that they'll pass a magic wand or two over the budget to come up with money to pay for city services while at the same time cutting our taxes.

Which means that whoever wins, we must remain ever vigilant. I want to pass on this gem from the memorial service for the writer David Halberstam, who was telling off a general in Vietnam who was criticizing the assembled media because Halberstam had called another general at home. But the sentiment remains the same.

"General," Halberstam said in his great loud voice, "we are not corporals. We do not work for you. We work for our editors. If you have any complaints, complain to our editors. We will disturb the commanding general at home any time we have to do so in order to get our job done. The American public has a right to know what’s going on here. Is that clear?"

Is it?

Update: Just to show how absolutely bizarre this election has become, there is an Ed Oakley sign on a home on Swiss Avenue near the post office -- which, unless I can't remember anything at all, had a Support the President sign during the first couple of years of the Iraq war. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I completely overwhelmed by what's happening?

Photography show at the Garden Cafe

On Thursday, June 14, the Garden Cafe will be hosting a showing of the photography of neighborhood resident Jeanine Michna-Bales. Jeanine may be more familiar as the owner of the Quaint Home Gallery next door to the cafe. The show consists of a number of hand-printed, silver gelatin images from two different bodies of work. The first is a series of stunning rural landscapes. The other is comprised of moody, thought provoking images encountered on solitary walking paths.

The show runs from 6 to 8 pm. Complimentary wine and cheese will be available.

Renovation plans for Casa Linda

Michael Mosteller, an old pal of the Advocate, sends news that Casa Linda's new owner has posted a couple of drawings and some architectural sketches of its plans to renovate the shopping center. The site also has a survey that neighborhood residents can fill out to offer their preferences for new tenants as well as updated renovation plans.

What's really impressive, though, is that AmREIT, the new owner, has hired The Weitzman Group, one of the savviest commercial real estate companies around here, to handle leasing. This is a big deal, and not just because Weitzman leases property like Addison Town Center. My real estate guy tells me Herb Weitzman is one of the sharpest people in that business in this town. If Weitzman thinks his company can make money bringing quality tenants to Casa Linda, then maybe it can be done.

AmREIT has definitely impressed so far (especially compared to the progress being made by developers for the proposed Lake Highlands Town Center, who are still trying to close on land for the deal). Nevertheless there are still a number of jokers in the deck, including the theater, which is owned by a different company, and whether the resurgence in home prices around here holds up long enough to impress would-be tenants with our spectacular wealth. But it is a fine start.

A poll, a poll, my election for a poll

This morning, Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper has deigned to grace us with a mayoral election poll.  It's almost not important what it reveals (though it is interesting that The Trinity Cheerleader has almost made up a seven-point deficit and added 25 points to his total). What is fascinating is why we got one, especially since The News did not do a poll for the first round of the election.

I'm now at the point where I firmly believe that save for the most mundane of stories, The News has an agenda about what it covers, how it is going to cover it, and when it runs the stories. This is unusual for me, because I am about the last person in the world to give in to conspiracy theories. But The News' behavior since its second round of layoffs last year has convinced me otherwise.

Case in point (and I'm going to exclude its abysmal Trinity coverage, to show my impartiality): The number of important stories that run on Saturday, the least read paper of the week. This has been going on for at least a year, but it really came to the forefront last Saturday, when The News ran a major expose of police corruption. The story noted that the paper had been working on the piece since March, so this wasn't a hurry up and get it in sort of thing. So why run it on Saturday? So no one will read it. This satisfies the reporters (and it was a well-reported effort), who can't complain they are being censored, and pleases the bosses, who know no one will read it and who can't be criticized for censoring their reporters.

Which brings us to the poll. Why now? Well, it is news. But I also think the paper is trying to exert a little authority, remind everyone in the elite that it is still a player despite its financial woes and its loss of readership. Is the race a dead heat? Who knows? How accurate can any poll be when turnout is going to be so low -- just five or six percent of registered voters? But I can guarantee that everyone in the elite is running around this morning with their dresses over the head parsing the numbers and talking about The News.

And, finally, why run the poll on the day early voting ends?

Is there a neighborhood vampire watch?

Was doing my walking the other day, and saw someone had hung a a couple of strings of garlic -- a lot of garlic -- by their front door. Can anyone tell me if this has any significance, other than to ward off vampires, werewolves and the like? Is there some sort of Southern or Texan hospitality symbol here than a transplanted Chicagoan, despite his best intentions, doesn't know about? Or is someone just drying garlic?