News & Notes: More Tax Hike Talk, More DPD Officers Put on Leave, D's Logo And ... Sports!

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Sep. 13 2010 at 8:31 AM

Categories: City Hall, Crime, Media, Sports

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Some killer filler this early a.m. before the showdown at City Hall:

Speaking of: Ann Margolin has posted to her website "10 Reasons Why a Tax Increase is a Terrible Idea." (And by "terrible," I assume she means terrrrrrible. Anyway.) Margolin, of course, is among the handful of council members joining Mayor Tom is pushing a budget amendment that adds $8.9 million back to the budget, using everything from private donations to parking meter money. Among her Top 10:

It really is a tax increase for businesses. With sales tax revenues down 11% in the past two years we know that retail businesses are hurting. Business personal property tax, another form of property tax on the assets owned by businesses, will increase by 6.5% creating an additional expense for most businesses.

Higher taxes reduce residential property values. A decision to buy a home encompasses many things, including the cost of owning the home. All other things being equal, Dallas will lose homebuyers to cities with lower tax rates. This will put downward pressure on all home values.

Speaking of "downward pressure," on Thursday we noted that Dallas Police Chief David Brown placed two officers on administrative leave following their dash-cam-captured assault on a man arrested Tuesday night following a brief chase. DPD has said it will release the video following an investigation, and the FBI's been called in to consult. Dwaine Caraway, head of the council's Public Safety Committee, said late last week he'd really like to keep that tape locked away lest it fuel racial tensions. Over the weekend, things got a little worse: DPD sends word that "during the course of the ... criminal investigation, additional information regarding the actions of several other officers has led the Department to place an additional officer on Administrative Leave and three officers on restricted duty." ...

Here's a completely different legal matter, baby: Late last week, D Magazine took Dallas Moving Services to court. The claim: the moving company ripped off its logo. Why, yes. Yes, it did. Done. Why is why D wants, among other things, "awards of money damages, the moving company's profits attributable to the alleged infringement, and for attorney fees and litigation costs. The publisher asked that the damaged be tripled to punish the moving company for its actions." ...

And, finally, speaking of triple punishments, this is what The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon writes this morning about The Worst Dallas Cowboys Game In the History of Ever:

The Dallas Cowboys could be the single most overrated team in football ... maybe the single most overrated team in all of professional sports in America. The franchise has won one playoff game since 1996. Every acquisition they make, every game they win is overstated. Their players are overly praised. They haven't mattered in a decade nearly as much as the New England Patriots or Pittsburgh Steelers or Indianapolis Colts or even the New York Giants or Philadelphia Eagles in their own division.

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