Dallas Firefighters Museum, via The Portal to Texas History

The fire station built on W. Jefferson in 1945 is among the handful of city-owned buildngs currently up for grabs.

​This morning I got that list of the city's surplus properties I asked for yesterday -- and it's not a long one, consisting of just four "improved properties" (meaning, they have buildings on them) and 19 vacant lots, several next to each other on, respectively, W. Laureland and N. Lancaster. Bonnie Meeder, who heads up the city's real estate division, says of course there are more than these that didn't make the list -- including that fire station-turned-canvas on Walnut Hill and the nearby library rotting away on Marsh. But for various reasons they aren't on the list, and right now they aren't for sale.

Take Ol' No. 35, for instance. As Meeder explains, it sits next to a Dallas Water Utilities pump station, and for years that was a single piece of property. But recently it was replatted and split into two parcels so the city could try to offload the crumbling structure. Matter of fact, says Meeder, there are folks presently eying the building, which is zoned residential: "We have two people now who've expressed interest in using it as an artist's studio with an apartment," she tells Unfair Park, "so it would be a residential use but somewhere an artist could paint."

You mean, on the inside this time.

"We're currently in discussion with those folks," she says. "We've taken them to view the building to see if it's economically feasible to rehab it. But that's in the exploration stage."More >>

Photo by Patrick Michels

Back in April, Raymond Crawford and other local environmentalists brought to City Hall the 21-foot-long petition that helped spark the formation of the Gas Drilling Task Force.

​When first formed back in June, the city council-appointed Gas Drilling Task Force had hoped to turn into council by November its list of recommendations for an ordinance regulating drilling in the city limits. Time, after all, is of the essence as companies who paid the city millions for leases wait to see whether the city will allow them to drill, baby, drill -- or not, and run the risk of being sued. But the task force has been off for a couple of weeks and isn't set to return to City Hall till February 21; council shouldn't expect recommendations till March, after which they can decide to start all over again if they don't dig what they see. So this is far from over.

That said, the gas-drilling activists' unofficial task force, to which we were introduced in Octoberthat includes reps Dallas Area Residents for Responsible Drilling, Downwinders at Risk and the Dallas Sierra Club, has dispatched to the task force its own list of recommendations consisting of their top five most important concerns. Among them: "Minimum 3,000 foot setback to protect Dallas homeowners and residents where they live, work, worship and play" -- this, after XTO and Trinity East's reps told the task force that 1,000-foot setback were too big and a "deal-killer." The group also wants to "disallow exporting water for drilling operations outside Dallas, and charge gas companies more for the hundreds of millions of gallons of water they permanently contaminate."

Each point it fleshed out at great length in the missive sent to the task force, which begins:

From our perspective you've gotten many things right in living up to your charge and Mayor Rawling's vow never to put any neighborhood at risk because of money. But we also know that the chronicling of hazards associated with fracking of natural gas is a moving target and new information can make rules that have not even been codified yet obsolete overnight.

As always both docs are below. More >>

Via.

Municipal Court Judge Phyllis Lister Brown

​The city of Dallas and municipal Judge Phyllis Lister Brown have been at odds since November, but as of today she can legally continue serving in her current position as the various lawsuits involving the judge and Dallas City Hall drag out indefinitely. The city intended to kick her off the bench once she officially filed her candidacy for the 162nd District Court, insisting that by running for office she forfeited her current employment; said the City Attorney's Office, that's what the city charter demands. But the judge dug in her heels, and she's making progress.

District Judge Martin Lowy today granted a temporary injunction preventing the city from removing Brown from her position. To do so would mean her candidacy "will be irreparably harmed by creating negative publicity, a negative perception on the part of voters, and the inability to recover back wages," according to the judge's decision.

Lowy also ruled on the city's claim of immunity to the suits filed by Brown. He said that no, the city can't bow out of this legal quagmire simply by virtue of being a city. Brown's attorney, Ray Guy, tells Unfair Park that the city is appealing this decision. "I don't have a definite time table for the court of appeals," Guy says. City Attorney Tom Perkins has not returned our phone calls.

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​Can't say for sure how long the former fire station on Walnut Hill Lane near Marsh has looked like this, only because I haven't taken Walnut Hill to work since Monday, when it did not look like this. (I've been taking Marsh to Lemmon to Inwood to Maple, if you must know -- for tacos, delicious tacos.) But it looks like this now -- and, to be honest, it is a bit of an upgrade from its usual appearance as just one more city-owned structure allowed to go to seed.

The fire station, ol' No. 35, was built 'round '53 and replaced by its fancy across-the-street upgrade in December 2008. As recently as March 2010, the fire station wasn't boarded up; maybe you remember. But after windows were broken out, the city broke out the wood; can't believe it took this long for the building to serve as a canvas.

The city still owns the building, valued at around $180,000. For how much longer, I'm not sure: City Manager Mary Suhm said back in May that the city's willing to sell off some of its surplus properties, but only when the time -- and the price -- is right. Said Suhm, "We don't want to just give them away." But just last week Suhm and CFO Jeanne Chipperfield told the council they will try to offload surplus properties to balance the books that appear to be short anywhere from $48.9 million to $87 million, let's wait and see.

I'm still waiting on City Hall to send a list of surplus properties it's hoping to offload. I'll post when it arrives.

Oh, and if this is a Dallas Contemporary spin-off, well, my apologies.

​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 I've snipped out the excerpt and dropped it below. Long story short: "I believe freedom is choice, choice creates excellence, and excellence graduates kids." And, far as he can tell, there ain't a lot of excellence in the Dallas Independent School District: "Twelve percent of our students graduating from DISD schools are ready for college. It's only 12 percent. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem."

On Monday, Rawlings will debut his Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan, which will include DISD; how, he won't say just yet. But it wasn't long ago that Rawlings offered a sort of sneak peek in The Dallas Morning News, providing the paper with his report card for the district. To summarize: Amongst a few "signs of hope," he wrote, "we have a lot of ground to make up." At which point the mayor laid out a handful of "tactics critical for our success," among them:

Continue to foster our high-performance public charter schools such as Uplift and KIPP, which are growing and preparing students for college at a record pace. We must find facilities for them to expand.

The entire city council will be briefed on the Uplift bond issue next week, after which there will be a vote the following Wednesday -- Carolyn Davis v. Mike Rawlings, rounds two and three. As the mayor said yesterday, "This is a tough time in this city."More >>

Photo by Anna Merlan

The council -- well, most of it, anyway -- collects Fair Park's prize for being one of the best public spaces in America.

​You may recall that back in October we told you Fair Park had been named a Great Public Space by the American Planning Association. Well, during the council's lunch break today, just after he got emotional about the children, Mayor Mike Rawlings gathered with the city council, Parks Board chair Joan Walne and Ann Bagley of the City Plan Commission to collect that award and sing the park's praises.

"Fair Park is an asset to our region and our state ever year," Rawlings said, from the Texas-OU game to the corn dogs at the State Fair to the Hall of State. "And it still functions after more than 70 years. Think about that." A few moments later, council member Carolyn Davis called for a standing ovation for Fair Park, and everyone in the room happily obliged.

Rawlings pointed out too that it's been just 10 years since Fair Park was named as one of the 11 most endangered historical places in America. But, he said, there is "still a lot of work to be done, and a lot of tough decisions that we as a council are going to make and the community are going to make, to make sure the park becomes a vibrant place that people come to."

"For too long," the mayor said, Fair Park and its surrounding neighborhood "have been separated." The city, he said, needs to find a way to unite them. "In the upcoming bond initiative and the elections," he said, city government has to ask itself, "how do we leverage Fair Park?"

​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 delay the issue till a full briefing can be brought to the horseshoe next week, Mayor Mike Rawlings came this close to cry-shouting about the subject of the Dallas Independent School District and how it's time to help "the poor kids" in the city. Said the mayor: He's going to take on the DISD "in a personal way" beginning next week.

I asked the mayor's chief of staff, Paula Blackmon, what he meant by this. She would only say that the mayor will address the subject Monday, at Jack Matthews's South Side Studios on 2901 S. Lamar, when he unveils his so-called Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan. That will take place beginning at 4 p.m.; says the invite, the event should last till 6 and includes some sort of a reception with the mayor.

But Monday's presentation is merely the first of three Rawlings will give; the others follow at the same spot, at the same time, on February 23 and March 1. Blackmon says the presentations will be the same on each day. If you're interested in hearing Rawling speak in person, you're invited: Just send an RSVP to this email address. And be sure to let them know which presentation you plan on attending.

The former Baylor offices at 2625 Elm in Deep Ellum where Uplift Education expects to open a new campus in August

​At this very moment the city council members are discussing whether they'd like to get into the bond business to help Uplift Education with its plan to sell tax-exempt bonds to help open a new charter school in the former Baylor offices Deep Ellum. (Sounds, so far, like the item will be deferred, though, as Angela Hunt just said, "it sounds like we're being asked to take sides" -- charters or DISD.) Last week, business owners from the area met at the Deep Ellum Foundation's HQ to fret about what the project will mean for their bars and restaurants, specifically a rule that prohibits new alcohol-having businesses from opening up within 300 feet of the school. (Privately, some of them have started calling Uplift's new venture "Nightlife High.")

But last night, Sean Fitzgerald, president of the Deep Ellum Community Association , dropped by the weekly meeting of the Deep Ellum Enrichment Project (D.E.E.P) to cautiously deliver some good news. He "can't say a whole lot yet," but after a meeting with Uplift higher-ups, it's possible that they will agree to lobby the city to grant a variance on the 300-foot rule, making it possible for new bars and restaurants to freely open up around the school.

"In general, the tone of that meeting was very positive," Fitzgerald told the crowd, consisting of several dozen who'd crammed into La Bella Cupcakes on Elm Street. "We want to be in control of the nature of this neighborhood." Small business and bars, he said, "are our life-blood. ... We're still in negotiations, but we can probably work out a way that this is a win-win."

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Daniel Cates

​The leadership of the Thomas Jefferson High School student council (sniff), guests of Ann Margolin at this morning's meeting of the Dallas City Council, got quite the treat this morning: a parade of public speakers once again thoughtfully, kindly but also forcefully berating Mayor Mike Rawlings for not signing that same-sex marriage pledge to which dozens of other big-city mayors attached their names.

Rawlings has offered myriad reasons for why he didn't sign the pledge; he's met with gay-rights activists, explaining why he didn't sign the pledge. And yet they remain unmoved.

Rawlings knew they were coming; Cece Cox, executive director and CEO of Resource Center Dallas, said she was "not here as a surprise." And so, once more, she asked Rawlings to sign the pledge and asked the council "to support him." Said Cox, who is raising a 13-year-old son with her partner, Barbara Houser, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas: "This is a matter of standing for justice pure and simple. ...This is about equality, civil rights and justice for the sixth-largest LGBT community in the U.S." Cox, who said Texas "is a mean state for an out lesbian," asked the council to "take the courageous position and ask your mayor to do the same."More >>

​One month ago Dallas Area Rapid Transit released its 2011 Customer Satisfaction Survey, with nine out of 10 riders insisting they would recommend DART to others. But Pages 19 and 20 of the 23-page report are filled with concerns over security aboard DART buses and trains: Only 78 percent of those surveyed said they felt safe at stops and stations, a five-year low for the transit agency; and only 70 percent said they see DART cops riding the rails, a new low. "This may have a direct correlation to customers' decline in feeling safe on DART trains," said the survey.

DART said it had several fixes in mind: "modifying deployment plans to increase police presence," installing closed-circuit cams at stations by the middle of the year, strengthening the ties between DART police and local and federal law enforcement agencies. "One particular effort with Dallas Police," said the release accompanying the survey, "is aimed at reducing crime involving juveniles." This, after 19-year-old Octavius Lanier was killed by kids, between the ages of 12 and 14, at the MLK Station in November; and 20-year-old Dominique Wilson was shot and killed in January at the Pearl Station.

A little farther north, of course, was the scene of yesterday's incident that began when a man, thought to be around 25, boarded a bus at the Arapaho Center Station and had a run-in with a driver. Cops were called; shots, ultimately, fired. And in the end, two are dead: the gunman and a passenger waiting on a platform, caught, perhaps, in the crossfire. A DART officer was also wounded.

And once again DART will be asked: Are you doing enough to make the trains and buses safe?

"This, in my opinion, has gone too far," council member Dwaine Caraway tells Unfair Park this morning. Till now, he says, he's been fine with letting the council's appointed members to the DART board deal with issues of security; now, he says, it's time for the council to ask questions of DART President Gary Thomas and Chief J.D. Spiller, among others. "I will turn up the heat and my voice: They have to do something. They must. Today. They need to have a new plan and implement it. An emergency plan. They need to keep the people safe. If it's a fact of money, stop building and keep the people safe. They're gonna build and build, but who's gonna ride if it's not safe?"More >>