Mike Rawlings

Mayor Rawlings Hires PR Firm

Mike Rawlings has hired Laurey Peat Associates, a Dallas-based public relations firm to handle media relations for the mayor's office. The firm replaces Sam Merten, the mayor's previous manager of public affairs and communications, who left the office on September 19 to make a run for the District ... More >>

This Just In: Morning News Sucks Up to Mayor!

Scott Goldstein, who's still new at covering City Hall for The Dallas Morning News, had a piece in the paper a week ago that expressed the longstanding Morning News strategy for new beat reporters, which is pretty much the opposite of the strategy at places where I have worked. He wrote a glowingly ... More >>

With Dallas City Council's Opening Prayers, It's Jesus 96, Allah 0

At the beginning of every Dallas City Council meeting, long before most spectators (and many council members) are fully awake, a religious leader of some stripe stands at the podium and offers a brief prayer. A few months ago, we wondered whether the U.S. Supreme Court might declare such displays un ... More >>

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings Now an Award-Winning Journalist, UNT's Mayborn School Says

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings wears many hats. He's a "man's man," a pizza lover, a terrible actor, the titular head of a major American city. He is also, you might be surprised to learn, a distinguished journalist. So says the University of North Texas' Mayborn School of Journalism. It has named him ... More >>

Not All DISD Reformers Are Elitist, Public Ed-hating Zombies

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings: Fix I-345 First, Talk About Teardown Later

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is still officially on the fence about tearing down I-345, the two-mile stretch of freeway between downtown and Deep Ellum. He's spent the last several months meeting with, in his words, "local business leaders, concerned citizens and the Texas Department of Transportation ... More >>

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Philip Kingston Divided over Whether You Should Eat Meat on Thursday

In further proof that Mike Rawlings' tendency to craft major policy initiatives in secret is ruffling feathers at City Hall, some (or at least one) City Council member is pushing back against the mayor's newly hatched plan to curb Dallas' meat consumption. The blowback comes on the heels of Rawling ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings Walked Out of a Meeting Last Night on the Dallas ISD Takeover Push

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings last night walked out of a meeting he'd called to engage a broad cross-section of Hispanic leaders about the "home-rule" push, an effort to strip control of Dallas ISD from the board and possibly put it in the hands of him. Multiple sources who were at the closed meeting, ... More >>

If Dallas City Hall Is a Ship of State, Who in the Hell is the Captain?

Normally I'm not here to say the left hand at City Hall does not know what the right hand is doing. Whenever I can, I hope to be able to say much worse stuff than that. But this here is a left-hand/right-hand missing-each-other type deal, I do believe. Mid-morning last Sunday Scott Goldstein at The ... More >>

Dear Mayor: Go Global for a New Fair Park

Reporter Scott Parks had an excellent "get" Friday in The Dallas Morning News revealing that Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has been running a secret task force to come up with ideas for the future of Fair Park. Fair Park -- the 277-acre 1930s Art Deco exposition park in the heart of old South Dallas. ... More >>

A.C. Gonzalez Was Not the Best Choice for City Manager

Picking the insider guarantees us more of the same.

Dallas Didn't Freak Out Nearly Enough Over Ice Storm, Says CBS 11's iTeam

Now that Dallas has officially made it through Icemageddon 2013, there are plenty of totally legitimate questions to ask about the storm and its response. Here are a few: -Did TxDOT do an adequate job of staving off carmageddon? -Can DART not shut down the entire light rail system next time?

Could Mike Rawlings Win a Senate Seat Just by not Being Totally Nuts or Shiftless?

Toward the end of last week I reported that some kind of Democrats -- I wasn't sure which -- have been whispering in Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings' ear about running for John Cornyn's Senate seat in 2014. Rawlings admitted he had spoken with them but discounted the whole deal, saying, "I'm way too fisc ... More >>

Dallas City Council Denies Trinity East Drilling Permits

After nearly seven years, Trinity East has its answer. It all began when the Fort Worth independent answered a call put out by a cash-strapped city for bids to sink natural gas wells into the far eastern frontier of the Barnett Shale -- unproven territory few operators had ventured into. It ended We ... More >>

5,000 People Will Get Tickets to the JFK Memorial, and None Can Have "Extremist Ties"

Bad news, "extremists": If you try to get tickets to the upcoming shindig at Dealey Plaza, the one memorializing the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, you will be denied. "What's an extremist?" you may ask yourself, which is precisely the sort of question an extremist would ask. Minus 10 ... More >>

The City Council Spent Its Morning Talking About Gay Marriage, but Voting on It Would Have Been a Waste of Time

LGBT activists and allies showed up early at City Hall this morning, all wearing red. One by one, they stepped to the microphone and chastised the Dallas City Council for its epic wuss-out on a marriage and workplace equality resolution. "Leadership requires action, not just words," said Resource C ... More >>

Strong Mayor: Mike Rawlings Loses the Game but Wins the Crowd at Literacy Center Benefit

Damn. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings got me last night. I resisted, but he got me. Anyway, I finally found the answer to a question that has long nagged me. When he does that affable dumb jock routine? Yeah. He's about to take you for a whirlwind visit to the cleaners. My wife was already falling out ... More >>

At the Mayor's Rally Against Domestic Violence, Big Promises and Some Mixed Messages

The couple started arguing on Saturday, around 3 in the morning, in a house near Fair Park. The man told the woman he hadn't forgotten their past arguments, all the times she had "disrespected" him. He shoved his palm hard against her face and forced her down against a desk. She fought him, pushing ... More >>

After Years of Delay, Developers Finally Start Work on Sylvan Thirty

It was way back in December 2011, in the wake of a seemingly endless series of public hearings and community meetings, that the Dallas City Council gave its blessing to the Sylvan Thirty development in West Dallas and Mayor Mike Rawlings gave the command: "Let's let the dirt fly." Finally, 15 month ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings Says Real Men Don't Hit Women. They Don't Beat on Gays Either.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has scored points in disparate places with his man's man campaign against woman-beating, from New York Magazine to the metro page of today's Dallas Morning News -- all of it much deserved, if you ask me. A guy like Rawlings, Class of '76 at Boston College where he playe ... More >>

New York Magazine Fawns Over the Manliness of Dallas' "Man's-Man Mayor," Mike Rawlings

Mayor Mike Rawlings' recently launched crusade against domestic violence has been earning praise from local media since it was announced it a couple of months ago. Now, after traveling to the Big Apple to speak on the issue alongside Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Michael Bolton, he's gathering attenti ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings Calls for Crusade Against Domestic Violence. There's No Shame in That.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is pushing a personal and public agenda against domestic violence, which used to be called wife-beating. Of course the TV news had to do a story about husband-beating to keep everything correct, and I'm against that, too, along with journalist-beating, French-people-beatin ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings Wants 10,000 Men to Rally Against Domestic Abuse, Isn't Entirely Sure What Will Happen After That

This morning at the Dallas Museum of Art, Mayor Mike Rawlings, along with about 1,000 other men in suits sharing the stage, announced a new campaign dubbed "Men Against Abuse." The next stop on this tour of well-meaning gestures will be a celebrity-packed rally on March 23, which the mayor wants 10, ... More >>

Mary Suhm's Drilling Memo Shows Typical City Hall Pattern: Decide, Then Pretend to Listen

So Mayor Mike Rawlings responded, sort of, to Schutze's post this morning about City Manager Mary Suhm's double-super-secret letter of understanding with gas drilling company Trinity East, in which she promised the city's staff would do its level best to get the company the permits it needs to drill ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings: Obama's Gun Proposals "Are Solid and I Support Them."

Mayor Mike Rawlings said today that he's behind President Obama's push for new restrictions aimed at curbing gun violence. "We already say we can't own Stinger rockets. So the question is where does the line go? And the line being at semiautomatics is the right place," Rawlings told the Morning New ... More >>

Mike Rawlings is Drowning in Cash, Bobby Abtahi Laps the Field, and Campaign News

Yesterday was the deadline for state and local candidates to report their fundraising totals for the last six months of 2012, which meant a flurry of last-minute clicks on the City Secretary's website. The reported figures first real glimpse at candidates' fundraising prowess and a suggestion of whi ... More >>

Dallas City Employees Make "It Gets Better" Video, But What is Mike Rawlings Doing In It?

This week's edition of the Dallas Voice features a long article about the video you see above, an "It Gets Better"-themed compilation featuring a whole bunch of LGBT city of Dallas employees, including city spokesperson Frank Librio, assistant city manager Joey Zapata, asisstant city attorneys Melis ... More >>

Conspiracy Theorists Will Leave Their Mark on Dallas' Kennedy Commemoration, at Least According to the Wall Street Journal

From the outset, Mayor Rawlings and the city of Dallas have made it clear that they intend to control the narrative on November 22, 2013 when they mark what they're simply calling The 50th. The 50th what? Never mind that. Just remember that this is about celebrating the life of a president, not dwel ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings Says New Drilling Rules Are At Least Six Months Away. In the Meantime, Trinity East May Drill Under the Old Ones.

Yesterday afternoon, we were summoned down to City Hall via a text message from Paula Blackmon, Mayor Mike Rawlings' chief of staff. After several long months of silence, it appeared that there was finally going to be some semi-official word on the new regulations for gas drilling within Dallas city ... More >>

Judge Halts Dallas' Flow Control Plan, Basically Calls City Hall a Bunch of Liars

A federal judge has ruled that the City of Dallas pretty much lied about every single aspect of its so-called "flow-control" trash program. Judge Reed O'Connor granted a permanent injunction against a new city ordinance that would have forced commercial haulers to take all their trash to the city- ... More >>

At State of the City Address, Rawlings Says Dallas Doing "Very Well, Bordering On Superb"

The first time I saw Mayor Mike Rawlings deliver a prepared speech, he talked about changing the culture of southern Dallas by shooting it with bullets of economic development, so I had high hopes for his lunchtime state of the city address today at the Sheraton downtown. Other than some mild name-d ... More >>

As Minority Council Members Play the Race Card, the Mayor Goes All In on Court Reform

Maybe it is like watching them make sausage, but at least you have to give them a tip of the hat when they get the sausage right. The mayor and the Dallas City Council put themselves through a bruising debate yesterday on municipal court reform and in the end came up with the right answer, mostly. ... More >>

Yes, There Was a Dancing Kidney Bean in Front of City Hall Today

Sure, you could build elaborate shade structures and host impromptu lunch parties to enliven the City Hall plaza, or you could just invite a giant, dancing kidney bean. Shawn Williams, Mayor Mike Rawlings' social media guru, was kind enough to pass along a couple of pics of said kidney bean, ahem Bi ... More >>

City Hall's Notion of Flow Control: Money Flows in, Control Gets Trashed

Last year, Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm and Mayor Mike Rawlings locked arms to push through a so-called "flow control" law, now locked up in a lawsuit, forcing commercial trash haulers in Dallas to use the city landfill instead of commercial dumps. Mayor Rawlings was candid about why. He admitted ... More >>

Mike Rawlings Declares State of Emergency, Wants Entire City Blanketed With Pesticide

There have been 111 documented human cases of the West Nile Virus in the city of Dallas this year, a full quarter of cases nationwide. The county declared a state of emergency a couple of days ago and, this morning, Mayor Mike Rawlings followed suit this morning. That puts the decision over whether ... More >>

Mayor Rawlings Wants Aerial Spraying in Dallas, Which Will Start As Early As Thursday

It didn't take Mayor Mike Rawlings long to make up his mind. Just after meeting with state health officials and reading all those helpful Facebook comments yesterday, Rawlings declared he's all in for aerial mosquito spraying. "Since public safety is my No. 1 job, I think it's paramount to step up ... More >>

Facebook Tells Mayor Rawlings Not to Aerial Spray, So Get Ready For Aerial Spraying

Remember last time Mayor Mike Rawlings went to Facebook to ask for feedback on a controversial topic of citywide import? And how he ignored the overwhelming majority of comments and pledged his full support for the Trinity Parkway? Well, he's put out another call for feedback on Twitter and Facebook ... More >>

City Leaders Kick Off Gay Pride Month With No Mention of Gay Green Lantern

Going in, I was assuming the Pride Month event at City Hall was for celebrating the previous days' revelation that the Green Lantern is gay. It's not Batman or Superman, but baby steps, right? But no one -- not Councilwoman Delia Jasso, not any of the half dozen speakers, not the Turtle Creek Chora ... More >>

What I Learned at the Downtown Dallas Luncheon: Namely, Luncheons Are Fancy and Main Street Needs Food Trucks

Downtown Dallas Inc. hosted a very large luncheon yesterday for those with a vested interest in the improvement of Dallas' city center. I sat at table number 98, and there were ten place settings at each table. If everyone who signed up showed up, there were nearly 1000 attendees who came to hear Jo ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings Wants to Make This Clear: "Right Now, I'm a Toll Road Guy"

Mayor Mike Rawlings was a bit late for his 9 a.m. speech at this morning's "Building South" presentation at the Oak Cliff Chamber. I knew it was Mayor Mike because OC Chamber director Bob Stimson, waffling for time, kept saying things like "I was told if I started and talked real slow, the mayor wou ... More >>

Tomorrow, We Learn Where Mayor Mike Rawlings Stands on the Trinity Toll Road

After soliciting a week's worth of feedback from the luminaries on Facebook, Mayor Mike Rawlings, heretofore uncommitted on the controversial Trinity Toll Road, will hold a press conference at City Hall tomorrow "to deliver significant development" and also to "give his perspective on the Trinity Ri ... More >>

DISD Candidate Damarcus Offord Filed an Ethics Complaint Against Mike Rawlins Today

Damarcus Offord, the 20-year-old Dallas Independent School District trustee candidate, struck back at Mayor Mike Rawlings today, and in the course of one short document managed to heed his supporters' call for a feisty outsider and confirm his detractors' suspicion that he just doesn't know what he' ... More >>

Mike Rawlings Endorses DISD Candidates, Continues His Wade into District Politics

Much has been made of Mayor Mike Rawlings' foray into Dallas Independent School District politics in recent months. Depending on who's talking, his involvement is either the leadership and commitment this city needs to save its schools; another sign of the business community's hostile takeover of th ... More >>

Dallas Passes Twice-a-Week Watering Restrictions; Watering Can Stocks to Soar?

A key battle was won this morning in what cable-news commenters might call the War on Sprinklers: The Dallas City Council just voted 13-2 to permanently limit sprinkler use, either by hose or by automatic system, to two days per week, in what can only be seen as a huge victory for the hand-held wate ... More >>

Damarcus Offord, the 20-Year-Old DISD Trustee Candidate, Just Lit Up Mayor Mike

Like him or not, I'm sure we can all agree: Damarcus Offord, the 20-year-old Lincoln High grad who's challenging Bernadette Nutall for her southern Dallas seat on the Dallas ISD school board, is making the typical snoozefest that are school board politics a lot more fun. Last week, Greg showed the ... More >>

LGBT Group to Remind Mayor Mike Tomorrow It's Still Upset Over That Marriage Pledge

It's not often we get invitations to flood the mayor's office with phone calls -- we tend to do that all on our own -- but LGBT rights group GetEQUAL TX is planning a different sort of mass phone-in to Mayor Mike Rawlings's office tomorrow. According to this here Facebook invite, GetEQUAL -- last se ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings Gives Dallas ISD Board, Central Staffers a Lesson In Marketing 101

Rmember when DISD considered replacing its logo? It might come up again.​Edwin Flores said it a couple of weeks back: The Dallas Independent School District has a communications problem. Which is one way of putting it -- the nice way of putting it. And so, following months' worth of dust-ups and s ... More >>

Mayor Mike Rawlings: "South Dallas Is Not a Charity Case. It's A Business Opportunity."

Photos by Anna Merlan​For months, Mayor Mike Rawlings has made it clear that he's got his eye on Southern Dallas. This afternoon, as promised, was the first of three public presentations he'll give on his Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan, which played to a packed house of bigwigs at the So ... More >>

Yesterday, Rawlings Repeated What He's Said All Along: Charter Schools Need to Expand

​At the end of yesterday's lengthy, heated debate over hopping into a bed made of tax-free bonds with Uplift Education, Mayor Mike Rawlings delivered the passionate testimonial Jim and I referenced. Several Friends of Unfair Park have asked to hear the entire thing, the "Our Poor Kids" speech, so ... More >>

Mayor Mike to Debut Plans for Fixing Dallas ISD, Growing Southern Dallas Next Week

​Jim will be along shortly with his take on the passionate discussion surrounding Uplift Education's efforts to get the city to assist with the selling of bonds to help with the charter school's expansion. I'll just note this: During his closing remarks on the subject, just before council voted to ... More >>