Sam Merten

Are Former Trinity Toll Road Defenders Lining Up at the Confessional?

D Magazine's Tim Rogers covered last week's Trinity toll road public hearing for Frontburner, which is more than I did for my own newspaper, so maybe it's my guilt tilting me toward his favor. I found myself feeling sorry for him when his boss, Wick Allison, commented below his item last week: "This ... More >>

The Nasher, Politics and Pension Fund Management: Can This Be Good?

Got a story in the newspaper newspaper this week I'd like you to see if you have a minute. It's about the Nasher Sculpture Center and Museum Tower, the condo building accused by the Nasher of reflecting too much light on it. I spoke with officers of the city's police and fire associations (unions) l ... More >>

Dirty Business Could Wash Away a South Dallas Car Wash

The usual threats and thuggery at City Hall threaten business owners.

When Dallas Wants Your Business, Don't Be Stubborn. Or else.

So now eight years after this began the city finally shows its hand, and we learn the solution to a very old local riddle: Why in the world eight years ago was the city of Dallas sending armies of cops and code inspectors out to harass two guys who had never been convicted of so much as a speeding t ... More >>

J.L. Turner Legal Association Vows to Keep an Eye on Media During JWP Investigation

Photo by Sam Merten​The J.L. Turner Legal Association is better known as the African-American bar association in Dallas, and bills itself as "the oldest and largest national association of African-American and minority attorneys, jurists, legal scholars, and law students in the world." Its leaders ... More >>

Fun With Redistricting, or: Well, Look Who Done Submitted a Map to the Commission

Map by Sam MertenClick to embiggen a former Unfair Park-er's proposed redistricting map​Steve Thompson beat me to it, but no matter. Because, see, in advance of this evening's meeting of the city's Redistricting Commission, some of us were sneak-peeking the public's submissions made to the commiss ... More >>

Before the Runoff, or Not, a Recap

​Speaking of tomorrow's to-do list ...It's true -- Sam Merten doesn't live here anymore. He up and split a couple of weeks back, all on his own. He can now be found wandering the countryside playing the role of George Armstrong Custer in Civil War re-enactments; he recently wrote from somewhere ou ... More >>

Whitt's Merten's End 3.11.11

Photo by Sam MertenChuck Greenberg and Texas Rangers co-chair Bob Simpson celebrate after outbidding Mark Cuban in an auction to own the club​Whether you've reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's Merten's End: *Well, that was quick. Chuck Greenberg formed ... More >>

Now That the Super Bowl is Over, Let's Disqus. Olive Branch?

​Let me get this outta the way once and for all: I'm short(ish). Bald(ing). And, since I don't adopt  you guys' system of surrendering to middle age but rather I try to combat it, I'm also douche(y). Yes, I work for a free newspaper and my radio station is No. 3 in the sports-talk rating ... More >>

News & Notes: Jenkins Surgery Update, Who Sent Sherbet's Stuff Home and Former Cowboys QB Poised to Swap Senate Teams

Photo by Sam MertenClay Jenkins​What a Week For the New County Judge Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been pummeled in the media and political circles for playing Scottie Pippen to Commissioner John Wiley Price's Michael Jordan in the game to push out Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet ... More >>

Tell Me More, Mayor Tom

Sam Merten​A Friend of Unfair Park alerts us: Mayor Tom Leppert is on today's episode of National Public Radio's Tell Me More, along with Utah Governor Gary Herbert. The subject: How Utah and Dallas are leading the economic recovery, per that Brookings Institution report to which we directed y ... More >>

Major League Baseball Players All Agree: Josh Hamilton Is the 2010 Player of the Year

Sam Merten​This just in: Sporting News has named its 2010 Major League Player of the Year -- and it's a certain Anchorman-quoting center-fielder for Your Texas Rangers. And as SN is quick to point out, that's the consensus among 326 major leaguers -- this isn't no sportswriters' award, keep in min ... More >>

Nolan Ryan Hints at Some Changes Coming to Ballpark in Arlington Next Season

Sam Merten​Speaking of the ballpark ...Texas Rangers president -- and, any day now, co-owner -- Nolan Ryan fielded some questions from ESPNDallas readers this afternoon, and during that chitchat he revealed: Yes, he and Chck Greenberg are going to make significant improvements at the 16-year-old B ... More >>

Catching Up With Our Favorite George W. Bush Soundalike at the GOP Convention

Sam MertenWe tried to grab Senator Cornyn after this radio interview, but he scampered off to the VIP area before we could snag him.​As Representative Dan Branch told us yesterday afternoon shortly after addressing the delegation from John Carona's senate district, what a difference two years ... More >>

Mayor Leppert Just Stopped Checking His E-Mail to Chime In on the Love Field Concessions

Sam MertenMayor Leppert, five minutes into the presentation.​Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano began this afternoon's Love Field Concession Committee meeting by letting folks know why the committee was formed -- to clear up "perception issues reported by the newspaper" -- and what the groun ... More >>

Chase's $3 Mil Will Fund the Sidewalk. But The Park Still Needs $25 Mil For a Few Amenities.

Sam MertenContrary to how Sam (always) manages to capture the mayor, he was actually quite thrilled with today's gift.​So sorry. As you can clearly see below, naming rights for the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park won't be going to 7-Eleven or Ray Hunt or Southwest or American Airlines. Syd Nancy, though ... More >>

Build America, Eff Yeah! U.S. Treasurer to Visit Convention Center Hotel Site Tomorrow.

Sam MertenNo, this is not the same picture we've run before. Merten's got a ton of them for his coffee-table book.​Took, oh, 'bout four months, but I see the city finally got around to posting The Official Convention Center Hotel Groundbreaking Video, which I've embedded after the jump. Good timin ... More >>

We're Guessing the Waterfall on Woodall Rodgers Isn't Part of the Deck Park Plans

Photos by Sam Merten​Word that a contractor working for Atmos exposed a water pipe (which eventually ruptured) at Olive Street and McKinney Avenue was enough to convince me to head over there to chronicle the chaos -- most notably a traffic clusterfuck on the Woodall Rodgers Freeway service ro ... More >>

Top 10 Mayor Tom Photos of '09

Mayor Tom Leppert isn't an easy interview to snag these days. At least, not for us here at the Observer. But that doesn't stop us from catching a glimpse of the man whenever we get the chance, and, of course, capturing snapshots along the way. Yup, we've developed quite a fondness for the unique and ... More >>

Federal Judge Barbara Lynn And The Observer Go Toe-To-Toe Over A Vague Legal Principle Known As The First Amendment

How Much Did You Pay to Defend Don Hill?

Sam MertenFormer Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill outside the Earle Cabell, moments after the guilty verdicts were handed down​Schutze and Merten are off in darkened corners finishing their City Hall corruption trial wrap-up (as in, What does it all mean?), so I'll refer you to KXAS-Channel 5's piece ... More >>

As Hills Look Forward to Appeal, Don Says Brian Potashnik "Did What He Had To Do"

Sam MertenAt approximately 10:40 this morning, a packed courtroom on the 15th floor of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse filled with friends and family of the co-defendants, members of the media and lawyers sits abuzz with anticipation. This is it. Finally. U.S. District Judge Barbar ... More >>

After Hubby's Rocky Day on the Stand, Sheila Hill's Attorney Says He Has "No Concern Whatsoever" About Putting Her Up There Too

Sam MertenWe caught up with Sheila Hill's attorney, Victor Vital, after the cross-examination of Don Hill Wednesday afternoon in the City Hall corruption trial, to find out if he had any concerns about putting his client on the stand. "Oh, not at all," he says. "Don did wonderfully today. The truth ... More >>

So, Don, How Ya Feelin' After Your First Day on the Stand?

Sam MertenOf course, Hill couldn't actually answer the question as he's restricted from speaking to the media, but this photo we snapped during the media frenzy that followed today's testimony from the former mayor pro tem tells the story. Sure, it was merely a verbal "Wikipedia entry" as Robert de ... More >>

City Lands Low Interest Yield On Convention Center Hotel Bonds, But CFO Reveals Trickery Used to Push Project Forward

Sam MertenFirst Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans (left) and Frank Poe (right), the city's director of convention and event services, sign the financial documents finalizing the convention center hotel project. Evans and Poe are president and vice president of the Dallas Convention Center Hotel Dev ... More >>

One Way or Another, the City Council Will Put a (Parking) Boot On Your Ass

Sam Merten​Speaking of old business ... At 2 today, the city council's Transportation and Environment Committee will yet again take up the business of how to regulate parking-lot owners who wanna boot patrons who they claim ain't paid up. Seems months of meetings and complaints from Deep Ellum and ... More >>

Prosecution Looks to Right Stumbling City Hall Corruption Case By Calling Brian Potashnik

Sam MertenDon and Sheila Hill left the courthouse Tuesday afternoon in good spirits.An admittedly nervous Steve Williams spent all of Tuesday afternoon on the stand discussing his eight-year tenure as Don Hill's administrative assistant, pushing the anticipated debut of developer Brian Potashnik to ... More >>

Dot Games Highlight Exercise in Futility at White Rock Lake Last Night as Residents Offer Little to Help Solve City's Budget Crisis

Sam MertenYippee! Red and green stickers!It was standing room only last night as approximately 200 folks battled the heat at White Rock Lake's Winfrey Point for the final of four community budget forums, where several city staffers were on hand to get input on how best to address the city's $190 mi ... More >>

The No. 1 Cost-Cutting Suggestion From East Dallas Residents? The Dots Say Stop Spending Dough on the Trinity River Corridor Project

Sam MertenWe'll have more tomorrow from this evening's final community budget forum held at White Rock Lake's Winfrey Point, but when the dust cleared after residents were given sets of 10 green and red dots to assign one each to items in the budget they hoped to keep (green) and ditch (red), the cl ... More >>

Hunt Uses Low Voting Success to Rally Supporters at Post-Inauguration Lunch

Sam MertenAfter this morning's city council inauguration, Angela Hunt celebrated her third term with a lunch at the Stoneleigh Hotel, where approximately 100 invited guests watched her open a copy of today's Dallas Morning News. She read from Dave Levinthal's article about the council members' voti ... More >>

Rasansky Calls Budget "Non-Transparent," Says Increased Fees Are a Tax Increase and Introduces $21.7 Million in Savings

Sam MertenMitchell Rasansky and Linda Koop celebrate the end of his eight years on the council and her birthday with glasses of grape cider. Rasansky later crushed the plastic glass with his foot and yelled, "Mazel tov!"City Manager Mary Suhm, Mayor Tom Leppert and CFO Dave Cook all stressed this mo ... More >>

After City Approves More Than $1 Billion in Bond Funding for South Dallas, Task Force Finds Ways to Spend Another $100 Million

Sam MertenSeveral members of the Mayor's Southern Dallas Task Force packed the city council chambers Tuesday afternoon as they unveiled plans to revitalize 10 areas of South Dallas. The task force, consisting of approximately 250 folks split into 13 groups, recommended the city include a minimum of ... More >>

MacLeod of Smoke: City Council Candidate Gets Smoked in Outrage Over New Ordinance

City council candidate Billy MacLeod was assaulted in Deep Ellum early this morning, resulting in a police report naming a "known suspect" who put MacLeod in a "choke hold" and threw him into Elm Street. MacLeod claims the attack was related to the new smoking ordinance, which took effect just minut ... More >>

Go Home, GOP|Money For Nothing|Corrections

And The Maximum Price For Your New Convention Center Hotel Is...

Moments ago, Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez announced a GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) for the convention center hotel of $356 million to the council's Economic Development Committee, which will be voted on by the full council in January, along with a final development agreement with Matthews ... More >>

Projections Show Dangerously Low Occupancy Rates. So Let’s Build a $550 Million Hotel!

There’s probably never been a worse time to build this sucker, which ain’t stopping Mayor Tom. The first sip: PKF Consulting of Atlanta revised its 2009 forecast of the hotel industry after the stock market crash and now expects a 4.4 percent nationwide drop in occupancy rate, which would resul ... More >>

Knee-Jerk Gun Buying, Pig Organs and a Bogus Gold Glove

The first sip: After all the media hype surrounding the increased turnout in this year’s election, national numbers show it wasn’t really much different from 2004. The second sip: “So less than 48 hours after Democrat Barack Obama was elected president, Craig went out to buy an M-4 rifle.” ... More >>

So, Houston, Do We Have A Problem?

Sam Merten The scene at the Radisson Hotel As Dallas County GOP chair Jonathan Neerman told me earlier, a 20-point margin for Barack Obama would amount to an insurmountable lead to overcome for local Republicans. Of course, with early voting showing just that -- a 20-point lead for Obama -- I grabb ... More >>

With Hope Dwindling, Republicans Compete For Next Caption Contest

Sam Merten Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey Things are looking bleak for the GOP, but you don’t have to be at the Radisson to know that. We’re still trying to locate Lowell Cannaday, who's behind 56 percent to 44 percent with 420 of the 708 precincts reporting. But, in the meantime, co ... More >>

GOP Kisses Sheriff’s Race Goodbye

Sam Merten Lowell Cannaday and his wife Rose, who was choked up during her hubby’s speech After John Carona, Dan Branch, Angie Chen Button and Pete Sessions celebrated the handful of victories by the Republican Party in Dallas County, Lowell Cannaday -- who I had been trying to track down all n ... More >>

Take It Easy On Lupe. And: EARTHQUAKE!

Sam Merten Still not sure what I’ll wear for Halloween, but I’ve ruled out this costume so far. The first sip: Happy Halloween -- and, speaking of, earthquakes in the DFW? Maybe Irving and Grand Prarie are going as Los Angeles this year. Me, I was thinking of dressing as Sheriff Lupe Valdez -- ... More >>

Friends of Unfair Park: Your Morning Cup of Joe

Those who know me from my days at Dallas Blog might be familiar with a semi-regular segment I introduced called “Virtual Coffee.” The idea -- linking to stuff around the Web and providing commentary -- was hardly original, but I hoped it would provide an outlet to quick-hit items that either I d ... More >>

The Whole Country Now Knows About "Cesar Chavez Boulevard"

Sam Merten This morning, the Associated Press posted a piece headlined: "Dallas officials clash over a street's name." Which is? Cesar Chavez Boulevard, but of course. Only took a few months, but there ya go. And, throughout the day, the story's started appearing all over the place: Newsday, New Y ... More >>

Mayor Tom and Friends Really Would Like You Stop Asking About That Hotel

Sam Merten If you don't support the hotel, Mayor Tom will destroy you. Just got back from the big Build the Hotel pep rally in the Flag Room at City Hall, where Mayor Tom and friends announced they’ll be doing some signature gathering of their own. Apparently, they are asking people to sign up an ... More >>

Jett Wave|Don't Get Friendly|Cynical? Ill-Tempered? Us?|Busted by Buses|King of Comedy

Sign of the Times: So, Wait, They Really Are Gonna Rename Ross Avenue?

Sam Merten snapped this photo yesterday in front of Chapman Motors, located at 4312 Ross Avenue near the Peak Street intersection. Said the Friend of Unfair Park who tipped us to its existence: "The whole Ross Avenue renaming controversy seemed a little, ya know, abstract until I saw the sign." --Ro ... More >>

Daddy Dearest|Beats Us|Give Him an "A"|Lights Out

The Back of Josh Hamilton's Head Has Never Looked Prettier

Sam Merten's most favoritist ball player in the history of leather and wood graces the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, and as beautiful as the cover is, Albert Chen's story is even better. The title: "The Super Natural." The lead: Josh Hamilton is at peace now, at peace even when he sleeps. ... More >>

Shame on Us, as Usual|A Slice of Pie, Please

Trinity Toll Road to Be Done Six Years From Today. No, Seriously. Bet on It?

Editor's note: Now's as good a time as any to introduce Unfair Park's newest contributor, Sam Merten, whose work we've long enjoyed over at Dallas Blog. Sam will be writing for the blog and the paper version of Unfair Park, beginning ... now. A new and improved timeline for the Trinity River projec ... More >>