Dallas Blog

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 result in the worst rate since Smith Travel Research started tracking the data in 1988.

The fallout? Lower hotel rates and smaller hotel staffs, which is not good news at all for Dallas because of its already historically low occupancy rate. And ’09 isn’t looking better as it faces a projected 4.8 percent drop in occupancy to reach a pathetic 56 percent.

Of course, Mayor Leppert and the city council will be digging dirt on a new convention center hotel next year, which makes plenty of sense, especially when you consider this part of the USA Today story: “Part of the problem is that declining demand for hotel rooms will coincide with a boost in new rooms -- a double whammy for hotel owners and operators.”

The second sip: Bloomberg’s Joe Mysak provides thoughtful commentary on the hotel mess.

If it was up to Angela Hunt, you wouldn’t be able to light up in front of the kiddos in your own house.

The first sip: The big city council news yesterday was the unanimous vote to keep Ross Avenue’s name intact and another renaming Industrial Boulevard “Riverfront Boulevard,” which killed the apparent compromise orchestrated by Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Elba Garcia. But since I already knew what would happen with Ross, I was far more interested in the City Smoking Ordinance Special Ad-Hoc Committee meeting that was scheduled after the agenda meeting.

In Episode 6, you were warned that a stricter smoking ordinance was imminent. Last night, I caught up with committee member Angela Hunt on her way home from a long day at City Hall, and she says the committee is developing a skeleton ordinance that will eventually be voted on by the full council on December 3. While the committee has yet to agree on a final version of a new ordinance, they supported bans on smoking in bars, pool halls and within 15 feet of public buildings.

Hunt supports a ban on smoking in tobacco shops, parks and restaurant patios. She also wants a ban on smoking while driving with a child, but she says the committee didn’t agree. I asked her why such a measure makes sense considering a parent can legally smoke in front of the same child at home.

Update: Hunt does not support a ban in tobacco shops.

Hurry, there’s only 380 available!

The first sip: Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start filling out your Christmas wish list. And, as a reminder, who wouldn’t love a Cowboys end zone in their backyard? Yup, for a mere $500,000, you’ll get your very own end zone and tailgate party with Cowboys cheerleaders and Jerry Jones. Best of all, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, as Jones will donate the purchase price to the Salvation Army. But buyer beware: installation costs are not included.

The second sip: President-elect Obama admitted to his first gaffe after making a joke about Nancy Reagan, but Mark Cuban claims his first mistake was the lack of an entrepreneur on his economic advisory team. He says Obama’s team “looks more like a semester’s worth of great guest speakers for an MBA class than an economic advisory team that can truly help him.”

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.”

The third sip: Genetically-modified pigs are being bred to supply transplant organs for humans, with kidneys expected to be available within three years and widespread use anticipated within a decade.

The fourth sip: Are blogs making newspapers irrelevant?

The fifth sip: Rangers shortstop Michael Young won his first Gold Glove award yesterday, which, as ESPN’s Rob Neyer points out, was amazing since Young is one of the worst everyday shortstops in recent history. Unfortunately, this will likely make moving Young to another position much more difficult.

The final gulp: Ed Bark hearts NBC’s 30 Rock more than ever and takes credit for noting that star Tina Fey resembles Sarah Palin on August 29, although he says, “I didn't have time to check any other Web sites.” --Sam Merten

The first sip: In what is likely to be the first of many leaks in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, McCain campaign aides told Fox News’ Carl Cameron that they had “great concerns” about Sarah Palin as second in command. Among the issues cited were Palin’s belief that Africa is a country, her inability to name the countries in NAFTA, along with a stunning refusal to prep for her interview with Katie Couric.

“The woman is not a stupid woman,” said Bill O’Reilly, but you be the judge. The full video is on The Huffington Post, which includes tales of Palin meeting with staffers dressed in a towel and throwing temper tantrums after reading press clippings. She was also described as a “shopaholic” and “hard to control emotionally.” Here’s a shorter version:

The second sip: The Texas House is currently at 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats, but Dallas County election officials are in the process of reviewing provisional ballots that could change Linda Harper-Brown’s slim 25-vote victory into a defeat, leaving neither side with a majority. House Speaker Tom Craddick’s power is in serious jeopardy, and Paul Burka examines the current situation.

The first sip: In last week’s Observer, editor Mark Donald described his early voting experience as not only a relief but “friggin' cathartic.” My experience yesterday, however, was quite the opposite. After turning the dial and pressing the button for my choices, I walked around for the rest of the day with an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

It wasn’t long before I realized my problem. I knew deep down that my presidential pick had no shot to win, and, even worse, I really wasn’t sold on John McCain after casting a vote for him. He was just a better option than Obama in my book -- the lesser of two evils so to speak.

It’s really a sad commentary on the Republican Party as a whole. And everything became clearer as Obama was giving his speech last night, as someone at the county Republican bash mentioned how Palin should have been the party’s nominee instead of McCain, which almost made me barf.

It’s time for a major overhaul for the GOP, not just countywide but countrywide. And even though Obama was the greater of my two evils, I gotta say there’s something great about not just a black man, but a man of mixed race, becoming president of the United States. Pretty cool stuff indeed. And while he’s in power for the next four (and likely eight) years, hopefully my party can find a candidate that can give me a cathartic experience too.

Obama receives a hug from his grandmother at his 1979 high school graduation in Hawaii.

The first sip: I’ve been convinced Barack Obama will win for quite some time, but for those looking for hope, here’s some optimism for a surprise John McCain victory.

The second sip: No matter who you’re supporting, you have to feel awful for Obama, whose grandmother died Sunday night.

The third sip: Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka breaks down early voting numbers for the 15 Texas counties with the most registered voters. Dallas County, you vote here; Tarrant County, go here; Collin County, have fun; you too, Denton.

The final gulp: I totally want to see this during Obama’s acceptance speech: --Sam Merten

A stricter smoking ban in Dallas appears imminent.

The first sip: The city council, which just may reveal the operator of the convention center hotel today, is poised to take a significant step toward strengthening Dallas’ smoking ordinance when it hears a briefing on the issue Wednesday. As Dave Levinthal pointed out yesterday, council member Pauline Medrano says the item skipped the Quality of Life and Government Services Committee because it’s such a big issue and all of the council members want to be heard.

The question doesn’t appear to be if council members will act to stiffen the ordinance at the November 19 agenda meeting; it’s a matter of how closely they want it to resemble California’s total ban. Among the ideas under consideration: banning smoking in bars, pool halls, streets, sidewalks, public parks and while driving in a car with a child.

The number of people willing to defend smoking seems to be a dwindling minority, most of which are die-hard smokers themselves. So I fall into a very, very small faction of non-smokers who think the government needs to stay outta the bidness of telling people where they can and can’t exercise their right to smoke.

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 -- a popular suggestion in the office cubicles, where dress-up's a tradition -- but, now, maybe, Charlton Heston as Stewart Graff. Or Cherry Pit owner Jim Trulock, whose sexy mug Jay Leno showed last night during his opening monologue. Video to come, soon as NBC posts. (Update: Here's the entirety of last night's show, with the Trulock reference at 5:45 into the monologue.)

The second sip: Speaking of Valdez, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast says the real people that should be held accountable for the problems at the Dallas County jail are the county commissioners. As he points out, Valdez is in charge of managing the jail, but she has no control over the budget.

I recently spoke with County Commissioners Ken Mayfield and Mike Cantrell, both Lowell Cannaday supporters. Mayfield laughed when I asked how many times he had been inside the jail, and Cantrell said he had only been a few times. Yet they control funding for a jail system that has failed five straight state inspections and is under federal oversight. I was amazed at their responses, and more so with Mayfield, who thinks it’s crazy for John Wiley Price to spend time there on a regular basis.

Tim Rogers, executive editor for D Magazine

As Observer editor Mark Donald, fellow staff writer Megan Feldman and I exited our car and headed to the elevators in the parking garage at the Belo Mansion yesterday afternoon, we bumped into staffers from D Magazine. It was my first opportunity to meet Adam McGill and Zac Crain, and then Tim Rogers extended his hand. Reluctantly, I accepted.

We were there for the Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards, and Mark later referenced the exchange between Rogers and me, saying, “You should have seen your body language. You leaned back as if you were going to spit at him!”

I always try to play nice, even with people I don’t necessarily like or respect. Most times, it’s out of courtesy for the people I’m with. There was no need to make Mark and Megan tense, I thought, not to mention McGill, Crain and the others. But it was mere seconds before I regretted shaking Rogers’ hand.

It had only been two days since I began to digest “Why the Observer Stinks,” a column by Rogers in this month’s D Magazine. He claims we’ve “committed two offenses that call into question whether the paper has anything of worth left to say.” Those offenses, according to Rogers, were Jim Schutze’s September 4 column (“Toll You So”) and Robert Wilonsky’s September 9 blog item, both of which were related to the Trinity River Corridor Project.