Back Talk Oak Cliff

Dallas budget: Three questions for the council

We emailed Oak Cliff council members Elba Garcia and Dave Neumann three questions about the proposed city budget. Garcia, who represents District 1, responded by the deadline. Here are her answers:

Q: How confident are you in the city manager’s prediction that property tax revenue will increase by seven percent?

1: A prediction can be missed.  Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm has a very good track record of being on target or very close to it.

Q: Are there trade-offs in the proposed budget — like cutting clearance rates for some crimes — that make you uncomfortable?

2: No answer. 

Q: Where does the proposed budget cut services that you think need to be restored?

3: Whenever you cut into a budget, you are decreasing services in one way or another.  I will continue to work to restore the open days at the Dallas Zoo to seven days a week, the Neighborhood Touring Program, and the volunteer services coordinator for the Library.

Technorati Tags: Dallas city budget,Oak Cliff,Elba Garcia,Dave Neumann

Restaurant review: Bolsa's secret ingredient — ice

I finally sampled one of Bolsa's red raspberry sangrias this week, and quickly realized the fruit juice and wine aren't the only elements that make the drink — it's also the crushed ice.

Ice is important (as anyone who chooses to make the drive to Sonic rather than to the nearby convenience store would attest), and Bolsa's ice is just like Sonic's ice. When asked if the restaurant buys their ice from Sonic, however, Bolsa co-founder Christopher Jeffers quickly squelched the idea. The restaurant uses so much ice, he says, that it bought a 750-pound custom ice machine to keep the drinks on the rocks. Also, the ice is perfect for packing fish and meat, Jeffers says.

By the way, if you Google "Sonic ice", you'll quickly find the ice machine website featuring the "Scotsman MDT2C12", which creates what is known as "cubelet ice, 'Sonic™ Ice', 'the rabbit turd' ice or nugget ice" which "can enhance your drinking experience by melting more slowly and is easy to chew once your drink is consumed." Maybe this is the machine that Bolsa acquired?                                    

Rename Dallas for Cesar Chavez? That's what Schutze says

He says he means it, and so I guess we'll take him at his word: How about renaming the city of Dallas after the late California migrant worker organizer. At least, that's Jim Schutze's take on the whole Industrial to Ross to Chavez conundrum in the Observer this week. My favorite part of the column, which talks about the rationale for the change and the implications — Jerry Jones would soon be marketing the "Cesar Chavez Cowboys", just in time for the North Texas Super Bowl!

Home prices: A tale of the headlines

We follow home prices quite closely here, whether it’s a national report, regional news, or our analysis of home prices in your neighborhood (the link is to our East Dallas blog -– we didn’t do one in Oak Cliff in July then, but when I update Oak Cliff home prices in January, we'll have a post). So this week’s news that Dallas-area home prices declined another 3.2 percent, according to the respected S&P/Case-Shiller survey, is worth noting.

But what may be even more interesting is how this story gets reported. Is it any wonder the subject is so confusing?

Ross Avenue rename: So that's what a smoke-filled room looks like

Interesting take on the Cesar Chavez/Ross Avenue renaming process in the Observer's blog today, as Sam Merten walks through the backstage theatrics of how we arrived at a point where some city street — maybe any street except for Industrial — apparently has to be named to honor Chavez and to save face for the council's Hispanic politicians. Among the interesting points: Apparently the city's Trinity River Corridor Project committee got together before the street name vote, decided to link the two votes together (one to rename Industrial, the other to rename Ross) and then essentially traded votes among the group to ensure that everyone supported everyone else's agenda — as one Observer commenter point out, isn't there a requirement for open meetings to keep this stuff from happening? Mayor Tom Leppert continues to pull his invisible man routine on this issue, failing to provide some public leadership on a way out of this politically idiotic tradeoff. Maybe he's in Italy looking for another steel supplier for the bridge...

Oak Cliff streetcar: A video glimpse into the future

This is a pretty cool video from the Oak Cliff Transit Authority — a digital version of the Oak Cliff streetcar east/west proposed alignment out of the Bishop Arts District. (I'm not sure why a remixed version of Nina Simone's "Sinnerman" was chosen as the background music, but I guess the song does have a train-like undertone.)

A Labor Day respite: Free Day of Yoga

Yoga studios across the metro area are offering free yoga classes this coming Monday, Sept. 1. The goal of the event is to allow people to try yoga for the first time, try a new instructor, or try a different type of yoga. (I had no idea how many types there were until I read this incredibly helpful Real Simple article — and this list isn't exhaustive.)

The complete schedule includes a couple in our neighborhood — classes with Oak Cliff Yoga at Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff.   

The day ends with a giant sun salutation class in the new One Arts Plaza downtown. Namaste.

Briefing: Did you get yours?

Update: I still haven't found a copy of the paper, but I did find the media kit. And The News has blown off Oak Cliff -- don't expect to see any copies south of the Trinity. Apparently, no one in this part of town is affluent enough to rate Briefing.

I raced out the front door this morning, and was shocked –– shocked –- to discover that Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper doesn’t consider me affluent enough for its new free paper.

This is the day that The News starts throwing Briefing, which it's delivering to what it describes as "200,000 upscale households not already taking the traditional newspaper." What a disappointment for me. To think that I have worked so hard all these years to make something of myself, to eventually own a house in one of Dallas’ nicest neighborhoods and to make a living that my accountant insists is quite nice -- and not to make The News’ cut.

I’ll try to find a Briefing (maybe drive over to the Park Cities and swipe one?) and report back later today.

Technorati Tags: Dallas Morning News,newspapers,Briefing

Wine review: Koster-Wolf Riesling Trocken 2006

Dallas in August. Hot weather. Glaring sun. So why do so many people insist on drinking heavy red wines?

I don’t know. Instead, I drink wine like the Koster-Wolf (about $10 for a 1-liter bottle, available at Central Market) — light, low in alcohol, lemony, and cheap. Plus, it’s both food friendly and well-made enough to drink on its own. Think chilled, sitting on a shaded back porch in the evening just before the sun goes down. Or serve it with grilled or boiled seafood.

Trocken is the German  designation for a dry wine, but don’t be confused. It’s not nearly as dry as Americans are used to. But this doesn’t mean that it’s unduly sweet. Rather, it’s balanced by the acidity in the wine -– as this one is, with the lemony flavor.

DART's $60,000 fiasco: No employees fired in accounting mess

Here's an update on the DART jewelry scandal discussed here on Back Talk awhile back, as the Morning News reports that DART's internal review has concluded and no DART employees will lose their jobs even though the mismanagement in this fiasco is breathtaking.

According to the DMN story, the problems — which involve a DART employee group that allowed employees to purchase jewelry from a vendor through payroll withholding — go well beyond simple mistakes. Instead, the review found that money wasn't withheld from paychecks, and it appears that hundreds of tickets sold by the committee to pay for a party were never paid for/invoiced.