Dallas City Council briefed on once-every-decade redistricting effort
By
Steve Thompson / Reporter

The Dallas City Council was briefed Wednesday on the coming redistricting process, a once-a-decade endeavor to create districts with equal populations and ensure minorities fair representation.
Aside from the mayor, Carolyn Davis was the only council member to comment. She said overall population losses in her district have resulted from the destruction of low-income housing projects.
"But people are moving back, so in the next 10 years hopefully we'll have more people in the district," Davis said.
Categories: Dallas City Council, Dallas City Hall, Steve Thompson

Leppert mishandled Love Field contract debate, says Dallas mayoral candidate David Kunkle

March 29, 2011
By
Steve Thompson / Reporter
In endorsing David Kunkle for Dallas mayor this morning, former Dallas Mexican American Bar Association president Marcos Ronquillo said race relations in the city have taken a step backward.
"Within the last tenure, we've had a racial vote split down the middle, with whites on one side and minorities on the other side," Ronquillo said.
Ronquillo, attorney for Love Field concessionaire Hudson Retail, was likely referring to the Love Field contract debate.The issue came under scrutiny when the City Council considered awarding Hudson Retail and longtime Love Field concessionaire Gilbert Aranza no-bid contracts for more than half the concessions space at a renovated Love Field for a term of at least 12 years.
The no-bid contracts were further complicated by their political connections. Hudson is owned in part by state Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, and a blind trust that controls the assets of U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas.
Former Mayor Tom Leppert narrowly won a bitter fight to put the contracts out to bid.
Asked how he saw the matter, Kunkle said he didn't know the issue well enough to know how he would have voted. But he said Leppert mishandled the matter.
"I didn't agree with the way Mayor Leppert conducted his campaign," Kunkle said. "I believe that the mayor should have debated that issue with his colleagues in the council chambers, not taking it out to the public - not, in my opinion, demonizing people on the council who disagreed with him.
"I'm not familiar enough with how the contract should be broken up, whether it can be bid that way to get qualified vendors and open up the process," Kunkle said.

The entry "Leppert mishandled Love Field contract debate, says Dallas mayoral candidate David Kunkle"is tagged: contracts , david kunkle , love field
Categories: Dallas City Council, Dallas City Hall, Steve Thompson
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Mayor Dwaine Caraway sues city of Dallas

Dallas City Attorney says city is ready to release Caraway records unless a court orders otherwise
Tue., Mar. 8, 2011
At this morning's hearing over Mayor Dwaine Caraway's attempt to block release of police records, City Attorney Tom Perkins (right) made clear the city is ready to release them unless a court orders otherwise.
"The city does not intend to file a lawsuit against the attorney general to stop the disclosure of the documents," Perkins said. "And we think we have an obligation to disclose, promptly and without delay."
Asking about potential awkwardness in the mayor suing the city, Caraway's attorney, Michael Payma, said it's not a lawsuit in the sense most people think about them.
"We're not asking for any damages or making any claims of wrongdoing," Payma said. "This is to maintain the status quo until the court has had a chance to actually hear the evidence."
Caraway's lawsuit to permanently block release of the records has been filed in Travis County against the attorney general alone.
Payma emphasized his client is acting as a private citizen, not as the mayor of Dallas.
"Dwaine Caraway is not in this suit as the mayor, he's just a private citizen just like you and I," Payma said to reporters afterward.
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Mayor Dwaine Caraway sues city of Dallas to keep police records private
Tue., Mar. 8, 2011
UPDATE: Associate Judge Teresa Guerra Snelson has granted Caraway a two-week temporary restraining order.
Original item: Just a few days into office, Dallas Mayor Dwaine Caraway has filed suit in Dallas County District Court against the city he represents.
Caraway, who has already filed suit in Austin over the same issue, wants to prevent the city of Dallas from releasing records of a police visit to his home.
Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is also named in the suit, ruled the records are public and must be released.
Caraway is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the records release, saying providing them to the public will do irreparable harm.
Police went to Caraway's home in early January over a domestic incident between him and his wife, State Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway.
Despite a police report that stated the two were involved in a domestic spat, Caraway told The Dallas Morning News that the incident revolved around a fight between his two friends, Arthur and Archie.
Caraway corrected that false version ten days after the incident at a City Council meeting.
Continue reading at :cityhallblog.dallasnews.com

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert resigns

Photo: Jim Mahoney/Staff Photographer

City Hall blog: Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert resigns, effective Friday.
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert announced his resignation, effective Feb. 25, at Wednesday's Dallas City Council meeting.
By RUDOLPH BUSH
Staff Writer
In a speech that recalled the sharp divisions of his tenure and foreshadowed his expected run for U.S. Senate , Mayor Tom Leppert told the Dallas City Council that he will leave office at the end of the day Friday.
In a 13-minute speech, Leppert praised the city council as a group of dedicated and passionate people who care deeply for their districts and the city.
But he also revisited the difficult fights over raising the city's tax rate and defeating two politically-tied contracts at Love Field airport.
At one point breaking up, Leppert said he always tried to represent the whole city and to do what was best for Dallas now and into the future.
“The measure for me has always been what is best for the entire city and not just today but in the decades to come,” he said.
Resource ; Dallas city Hall blog

Dallas City Hall Blog
Amid snow and taxi strike, DFW Airport suffers critical taxi shortage

11:40 AM Fri, Feb 04, 2011 | Permalink
Steve Thompson / Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips



According to striking cabdrivers, DFW Airport officials sent out an urgent message to cab companies asking for more taxis.
The email forwarded to me by the cabdrivers, which follows, said the shortage was critical.
DFW Airport is experiencing a disruption of taxicab service. Taxicab companies are requested to send any and all additional drivers and vehicles to the airport. Vehicles must be permitted at DFW Airport however drivers with a valid City of Dallas or City of Fort Worth driver permit are being allowed to operate at the Airport." However we are in a CRITICAL state and any taxi you may have will be welcomed.
DFW Airport spokesman David Magana said that he couldn't immediately confirm the authenticity of the email, but the shortage is real.
"This is what we normally do when weather hits or when there's a shortage of taxis in the queue," Magana said. "Our normally contingency plan is to call the cab companies in town and tell them that we're relieving the permit requirements for the day, and that any cabs that they have can come to the airport and roll through the queue."
But Magana said striking cabdrivers cannot take the blame or credit.
"It has more to do with the snow really," he said. "Before the snow was here, we were functioning just fine. There was never a shortage or a disruption in service."
Cabdrivers, on the hand, say it shows their strike is taking a toll.
"This is clear evidence that the work stoppage is having an effect," said Dallas NAACP board member Anthony Bond, who is supporting the cabdrivers.
UPDATE: Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway had asked cab drivers to postpone their strike during the Super Bowl and promised that, in exchange, he would work to bring them back to the table for discussions with the city.
Caraway said he wasn't advocating for changing the city's "front of the line" policy, but said it wouldn't hurt to hear the cabbies out.
"I'm saying let's bring it back and let's allow them fair opportunity to discuss it, to put their views out and let's hear them. Nothing is guaranteed," he said.
Apparently, leaders of the cab strike weren't interested in that proposition as the strike continues.
The entry "Amid snow and taxi strike, DFW Airport suffers critical taxi shortage" is tagged: DFW Airport , taxi
Categories: Dallas City Hall, Steve Thompson
Source: http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com
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asking for justice

Cabbies arrested after protests over rule letting natural-gas cabs to cut in line at Love Field
By RICHARD ABSHIRE
Staff Writers
Published 31 January 2011 10:47 PM
Eight cabdrivers participating in a protest over a Dallas taxi ordinance were arrested Monday evening for blocking traffic at Dallas Love Field.
Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse said that cabbies had left at least 50 taxis parked in a pickup lane at the airport and that those who were arrested face misdemeanor charges of obstructing traffic.
Access to the airport was blocked for 20 to 30 minutes to clear the way for wreckers that towed seven of the cabs before the rest of the drivers moved their cars.
The demonstration was part of a dispute over an ordinance that allows natural gas-powered cabs to cut in line at Love Field.
Independent drivers and small cab companies say that’s unfair because only large companies can afford the fuel conversions.
Mayor Tom Leppert has argued that favoring natural gas over gasoline can help improve air quality. A judge ruled in favor of the ordinance in September.
The drivers’ protest began Monday morning when about 300 of them marched outside the Super Bowl XLV media center in downtown Dallas, police said.
Later in the day, a caravan of cabbies jammed traffic on North Central Expressway and LBJ Freeway, traveling about 35 mph in what Janse called a “rolling protest.”
The Association of Taxicab Operators has threatened to boycott the Super Bowl if the policy isn’t changed. The city has said a boycott shouldn’t have a big impact because there are more than enough cabs.
“We’ve been on strike since Thursday,” said Mirza Sajid, an association spokesman. “We want justice, not Jim Crow back-of-the bus. We want first come, first serve.”
rabshire@dallasnews.com;
tbenning@dallasnews.com

asking for justice

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OBSERVER
Blogs

City Hall
Whether City Hall's Worried or Not, Another Taxi Drivers' Strike Starts Today
By Patrick Michels, Thu., Jan. 27 2011 @ 3:00PM
Categories: City Hall, Transportation
At least 200 cabbies marched around the reflecting pool at City Hall this morning to kick off another strike over preferential treatment for CNG-powered cabs.
While that box of files might've stolen their thunder this morning, at least 200 sign-toting cabbies were back at Dallas City Hall this morning, marching 'round the reflecting pool to yet again complain about the preferential treatment given compressed natural gas-powered cabs at Love Field, where the city allows them to jump to the front of the taxi queues. It's an expensive modification indie drivers say they can't afford.

And even if City Hall isn't convinced it'll be a problem, the drivers rallied around Association of Taxicab Operators leaders this morning to begin another strike just in time for the Super Bowl tourism rush. ATO spokesman Mirza Sajid gathered them up a little before noon today to let them know: "The strike is on." They'll be back out there tomorrow at 10 a.m.

The strikers carried the same kind of red-on-white signs they had last fall, but some of the messages were far more racially charged this time around, calling the city's pro-CNG policy "racist," and saying it amounted to "Jim Crowism." "This is the final straw," said Juanita Wallace with the NAACP. "They're not going to be pushed around anymore."

Some of the drivers, passing around a box of Kool-Aid Jammers juice sacks after the rally, sounded game for standing tough on the strike. But a second plan for dissent was rippling through the crowd, as well -- plans to keep lining up at Love Field, to keep working, and simply box out any CNG cab that tried to jump their place in line.

Tunde Obazee, a former ATO president and cab driver, said he'd support everyone who remained on strike, but that this looked to him like the time to challenge the front-of-the-line policy. He suggested drivers licensed to pick up passengers at Love Field go back and defend their places in line. He said they simply cannot be afraid of being arrested.

"If your gas is not illegal, if your taxi permit is not a second-class permit, if your citizenship papers are in order, then I think you need to stand up like men and women and fight for your rights," Obzaee said. "Any man that doesn't have a reason to die is not fit to be alive."