Scott Griggs

One Drained Pond, a Few Chopped Trees Aside, Trinity Project Doing Great, Carolyn Davis Says

After last week's trading of contemptuous memos, Unfair Park was pretty excited about a potential confrontation between Vonciel Jones Hill and Scott Griggs at Monday's meeting of the city's Transportation and Trinity River Committee. As far as city hall showdowns go, this one was likely to be pretty ... More >>

Vonciel Hill's Loony Memo to Scott Griggs Versus the Facts on the Ground

Here's a nice little moment when the truth comes home to roost: Yesterday Stephen Young shared with you here a memo sent to Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs by council member Vonciel Hill in which Hill basically called a Griggs a liar. Hill accused Griggs of distorting the facts when Griggs ... More >>

Dallas Councilwoman Vonciel Hill Is Really Mad at Scott Griggs for Doing His Job

Rather than, you know, enunciating her concerns at the city council briefing both she and Scott Griggs attended on Wednesday, Vonciel Jones Hill fired off a memo Wednesday morning chastising her fellow council member for his "inaccurate, incomplete and insulting" writing. The rest of Hill's memo is ... More >>

Oak Cliff Streetcar Is Paid For, Inexplicably Stalled

In a memo prepared in advance of Dallas City manager A.C. Gonzalez' first of what he promises to be periodic progress report to the City Council, council member Scott Griggs prepared a memo outlining multiple issues with the city's Trinity office and transportation department. Among them is the stag ... More >>

Somebody Wake Up Dallas City Council and Tell Them to Get to Work

Ran into a retired city department head on a parking lot in the afternoon heat yesterday, thought I was gonna die. This guy had an entire career's worth of anger and frustration to unload, and there I was in the sun with my head uncovered. I think I lost a couple IQ points just listening. Lucky I ha ... More >>

Dallas City Council Members Go to Bat For Texas Horse Park Operator Accused of Abusing Animals

On Wednesday afternoon, as the Dallas City Council gathered in a Trinity River Audubon Center conference room overlooking a shrunken pond and sea of marsh grass, there was a solid thunk of bird hitting glass. No one seemed to notice, save for maybe the security guard standing at attention with hi ... More >>

Dallas Is Trying to Not Kill Sidewalk Cafes, But Old Habits Are Hard to Break

You're an aspiring restaurateur. You've signed your lease, spent tens of thousands of dollars finishing out your space and getting all the proper permits and decide that it could use some European-style sidewalk seating. Great! City Hall is 100 percent behind you and your progressive, urban ideas. ... More >>

We spent $19 Million for Trinity Lakes. Don't Expect a Lake.

Even if Uber Were a Normal Cab Company, It Couldn't Operate in Dallas

Today, in the first of three public forums on taxi and limo regulations, City Council members learned what has been clear since Dallas began its crackdown on Uber: The system, particularly for taxis, is completely rigged. That's partly by design. Historically, because cabs fill an important gap in ... More >>

Five Things Dallas Needs to Become More Bike-Friendly, According to Cycling Advocates

Max Kalhammer is leaving City Hall at a key time for cycling in Dallas. During four years as the city's bike coordinator, he helped develop a very solid citywide bike plan and oversaw a remarkable expansion of bike infrastructure in the city. Downtown is now crisscrossed by shared bike lanes, and mo ... More >>

Hiking and Biking Trails Along the Trinity Blocked by Evil Ghosts of Toll Roads Past

Oh, tinfoil hat, all that stuff about how I'm paranoid, go ahead, say it, get it out of your system. I've got to be ready for it by now, right? But let me tell you something: There's a big difference between paranoia and clairvoyance. And in the matter of the Trinity River toll road, I can actually ... More >>

Delia Jasso Screws the Stonewall Democrats. No One Surprised Except Stonewall Democrats.

Oh, no, wait a minute, please. You're telling me The Stonewall Democrats of Dallas are shocked and amazed because Delia Jasso, the City Council candidate they endorsed against Scott Griggs in North Oak Cliff, turns out to be a spineless flip-flopper? They thought she was going to be what? Abraham L ... More >>

Dallas Really Doesn't Care About City Government and Other Takeaways From Saturday's City Council Election

There was a City Council election on Saturday and, if you're like the vast majority of Dallas, you didn't notice. But whether you were paying attention or not, some important things were decided and some interesting trends emerged. Here's what you need to know: Angela Hunt's legacy: Saturday's mos ... More >>

City Council Likely to Pass Gay Marriage Resolution, and Mayor Rawlings Isn't Happy

The Dallas Voice broke the news Tuesday that Councilman Scott Griggs had won the support from a majority of his colleagues for a resolution supporting marriage equality and would be putting the item on the City Council agenda for a vote. "It's timely, and it's relevant," Griggs later told the Morni ... More >>

Dallas Will Ask the State for $7 Million to Fund Cycling Infrastructure and Education

A couple of weeks back, we stumbled upon the city's campaign to educate drivers about its new cyclist-protection ordinance. It consisted of a single, poorly designed brochure posted to the Dallas Police Department's website that was more concerned with admonishing cyclists to behave than anything el ... More >>

Scott Griggs on Drilling: There Was "Systemic Failure," and No One Asked "Tough Questions"

On Wednesday, we watched together as the Dallas City Council sort of, kind of, attempted to ask City Manager Mary Suhm and City Attorney Tom Perkins a couple of questions. Namely: Why did Suhm quietly sign a side deal with energy company Trinity East, pledging to help it drill on parkland even as se ... More >>

Mary Suhm Signed a Secret Side Deal to Push for Drilling on Parkland as She Told Council It Would Be Banned

Documents released yesterday evening by the city reveal that Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm signed a side deal with a gas-drilling company five years ago to help the company win drilling rights on city parkland, even though she had assured the City Council and park board that drilling on parkland wou ... More >>

Missing Money at the Landfill is Just Part of the Trashy Way City Hall Handles Your Money

Hey, before the moment passes, let's make sure we know exactly what was at stake in Scott Griggs' remarks about the dump last Monday morning. City Council member Griggs called out city staff on the question of exactly how much money really gets stolen every year by city employees at the landfill. S ... More >>

The Lies Keep Rollin' on the Trinity River Toll Road

While I was away on vacation The Dallas Morning News published an editorial saying Angela Hunt, Scott Griggs and Sandy Greyson, our three brainiacs on the City Council, are stupid, don't know how to add and came up with all the wrong conclusions about the News' favorite project, the idea of building ... More >>

Hunt, Griggs Announce $6 Million Network of Hike and Bike Trails Between the Trinity Levees

Last June, Angela Hunt and Scott Griggs went to the Trinity River Overlook and gazed down at the empty floodplain below. Wouldn't it be nice, they thought, if there was a network of trails down there that came up and over the levee and connected with all of Dallas' other trails. It was a thought, b ... More >>

Even Land John Wiley Price Sold is Controversial, at Least for Neighbors and City Council

View Larger Map Remember a few weeks ago when the FBI said that John Wiley Price had sold the vacant land 7001 Grady Niblo Road as part of a massive money laundering scheme? The property was at the center of another, less sensational but probably related debate over at City Hall this afternoon. Co ... More >>

TxDOT Calls BS on its Own Figures Showing Benefits of Project Pegasus

Last week, when Mayor Mike Rawlings announced he had hedged his support for the Trinity toll road after receiving additional data, it seemed like a victory for City Council members Scott Griggs, Angela Hunt, and Sandy Greyson, the project's opponents. The figures Griggs rustled up from the Texas De ... More >>

The Bogus 'Detour' Argument for the Trinity Toll Road is Finally Dead

Wait. Click the pause button. Freeze this. There's a huge point here that some people do not want us to notice. In the last 24 hours, the entire debate about the Trinity River toll road has completely shifted ground. I was just now on the phone about it with City Council member Scott Griggs. He poi ... More >>

The Trinity River Toll Road is Now an (Almost) Unstoppable Force

With Mayor Mike Rawlings' support, only deep pockets can thwart the $2 billion river-ride.

Scott Griggs Thinks The City's Being "A Little Misleading" About Its Power to Regulate Boarding Homes

Immediately after Mayor Mike's extremely non-surprising show of support for the Trinity River toll road yesterday, the city council members retreated into executive session to continue talking about how to regulate the city's boarding homes . After more than an hour off-camera, they came back and ... More >>

The Ongoing and (Slow-Moving) Fight to Regulate Boarding Homes in Dallas

The city of Dallas has been grappling for years with how to better regulate boarding homes for the elderly, mentally ill and disabled , which are currently subject to very little oversight. About three weeks ago, the city council's housing committee was told that licensing and regulating the homes c ... More >>

The Anti-Drilling Set And City Councilman Scott Griggs Will Discuss The Future of Drilling

The city of Dallas has a bit of an issue with gas, one that anti-drilling activists call potentially silent but deadly and hydraulic fracturing proponents call a huge economic relief for the city -- one that would provide an whopping amount of energy. The issue seemed to briefly and temporarily subs ... More >>

Assistant City Manager Answers Scott Griggs's Questions About Saving, Selling City's Water

​A couple of weeks back, during those water conservation and watering restriction briefings, council member Scott Griggs had a few questions for Dallas Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett that she wasn't prepared to answer, among them: Is the city presently selling water to gas drillers, and, be ... More >>

Drink In the City Council's Discussion on Conserving (And Selling) Dallas's Water Supply

I was in the middle of watching the city council briefings on water conservation and the Stage 1 watering restrictions yesterday when I got pulled away -- and just when it was getting interesting too. So this morning I started going back to review the tape, beginning just as Sandy Greys ... More >>

Race to the Finish: After Ugly Redistricting Meeting, Council (Barely) Settles on Map

​Yesterday afternoon, around 5:30, as a tiny audience sat in the city council chambers, former Mayor Dwaine Caraway came by and declared to Unfair Park, "I think we got something." That's right. A final redistricting map. Finally.Caraway spoke about three hours too soon, though. Last night at 8:30 ... More >>

All The Sound and The Fury From Yesterday's City Council Debate Over Redistricting

Below, Anna told you all about how fugly it got 'round the horseshoe Wednesday afternoon and evening before the council finally voted, 9-6, to send a new map of districts to the Department of Justice. But many have asked to see the whole debate -- or, at least, what happened after Mayor Mike Rawling ... More >>

M.I.A.: Angela Hunt Goes With the Flow, and Jim Schutze Vows a Rescue

Angela, I was there. I saw everything. I know what they're doing. I am on my way. One way or another, I will get there, and I will exert myself and do whatever it takes to rescue your husband, even if it means waking up the next morning with extreme muscle soreness. I will not let them get away with ... More >>

Council Members Wrestle Over Park Clean-Up, Pothole Fixing and Cleaning Up After TxDOT

Scott Griggs and Jerry Allen at this morning's meeting​A little after 9 this morning, the city council just took up those budget amendments we mentioned Saturday morning. First up was the slam dunk: the en masse suggestion, led by Mayor Mike Rawlings, to eliminate one more city-worker furlough day ... More >>

This Week in Council Memos: Members' Budget Wish Lists, Flow Control and Looking Ahead

​Those in need of a little light reading this Saturday morning will find on the other side the stack of heads-ups sent to the city council last night, the highlight of which will probably the proposed budget amendments offered by council members before Monday morning's briefing and straw vote. And ... More >>

As Council Was to Take Up L.B. Houston Gas Drilling, It Retreated Behind Closed Doors

From today's council agenda​Council just wrapped discussing that police helicopter sale; Sandy Greyson, concerned about terrorist what-ifs, wanted it pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion, but the sale sailed through. This item's about something a little further down the agenda. As ... More >>

Well, At Least One Council Member's Ditching the Mayor's Dinner Tomorrow Night

Photo by Patrick Michels​Still having a hard time figuring how Mayor Mike or his staff could schedule a dinner with the council tomorrow night -- the same night as one of only two gas drilling task force public hearings. A couple of council reps think it's important enough to mention to their cons ... More >>

Scott Griggs's Request for Change in Drilling Task Force Make-Up Falls on Deaf Ears

Photos by Leslie MinoraMayor Mike Rawlings and city council members pose for a photo op after their first meeting.​The post-inauguration celebration didn't last long, as Mayor Mike Rawlings and city council members new and old got straight to work at a 2 p.m. meeting. After a few housekeeping ... More >>

Gas Drilling Committee Trims List of Task Force Applicants to Nine Slated For Council Vote

Photo by Leslie MinoraLinda Koop, seated next to outgoing council member Dave Neumann, chaired yesterday's meeting.​After postponing last Thursday's meeting so council members could ride in the Dallas Mavericks' parade through downtown, the city council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating ... More >>

Scott Griggs Makes His Debut at City Hall to Ask for Delay on Stevens Park Conservation District

Dave Neumann has some advice for you, Scott Griggs.​For as long as anyone can recall -- at least six years, right? -- there's been an attempt to create a Stevens Park Conservation District intended to preserve the neighborhood around the Oak Cliff golf course. Most of the homeowners in the area ar ... More >>

Behold: A Trinity River Park Plan That Actually Makes Sense

How do you actually make an impact on the Trinity River? Make it small, cheap and fast.

Mayor Caraway to Push Back Vote on Gas Drilling Task Force Till Griggs Is Sworn In

Photo by Patrick Michels​Patrick's heading down to City Hall shortly -- not just for the noon-thirty all-star press conference on the plaza, during which the mayor and police chief and council members will fill in every last blank concerning Thursday's 10 a.m. Mavs parade, but for today's meeting ... More >>

Griggs Begs Council to Hold Off On Picking Gas Drilling Task Force Till He's in Office

Photo by Sam MertenDave Neumman was ousted by Scott Griggs, who can't fathom why Neumann's involved in selecting the gas drilling task force. Good question.​The city council's last big day before going on summer vacation is June 22, when the agenda will be action-packed. On the hefty to-do list: v ... More >>

Scott Griggs Ousts Dave Neumann

From Jason Roberts's Facebook pageMoments ago, Still-Mayor Dwaine Caraway mazel-tov'ed Scott Griggs on taking District 3.​It was awful hard to hear Scott Griggs over the phone from the watch party that turned into a victory party. But with all but four out of 56 precincts reporting in from Distric ... More >>

Neumann and Griggs Clash Over Gas Drilling, Walmart, Cliff Manor and Trinity Toll Road

Photos by Sam MertenTwo-term incumbent city council member Dave Neumann and political newbie Scott Griggs at last night's debate in North Oak Cliff.​Following the mayoral forum held last night at Methodist Hospital's Hitt Auditorium, District 3 city council candidate Scott Griggs and incumbent ... More >>

Ron Natinsky is the Chosen One? What's Our Second Choice, Then?

In the Shadow of Cliff Manor, Scott Griggs Formally Announces His City Council Run

Patrick MichelsScott Griggs announces his run at Dave Neumann's city council seat, with Cliff Manor in the background. Last week, Robert passed along the news that omnipresent North Oak Cliff lawyer and activist Scott Griggs would be stepping up to challenge Dave Neumann for his city council seat in ... More >>

Tonight at City Hall, the Public Debut of the High-Concept Dramedy Riverfront Boulevard

From the April 20 council briefing titled "Riverfront Boulevard Design From Continental Avenue to Cadiz Street"​Several weeks ago we directed your attention to plans that would turn IndustrialRiverfront Boulevard into a so-called "complete street." Two days later, Bike Friendly Oak Cliff called bu ... More >>

Why's City Messing with Farmers Markets When There Ain't Many to Begin With?

​On Monday, Daniel went to the council's Transportation and Environment Committee meeting where council members couldn't agree on how to regulate neighborhood farmers markets -- as in, how much it ought to cost, how many permits vendors would need and how many other roadblocks City Hall could thro ... More >>

In West Dallas Yesterday, Yet Another Argument Over How the City Remakes Itself

Rebecca Dugger, director of the Trinity River Corridor Project, was out and about on Thursday afternoon, selling the citizens on the need to redo the N. Beckley Avenue-W. Commerce Street intersection. But Belmont Hotel owner and developer Monte Anderson wasn't buying."I'd rather have nothing," he sa ... More >>