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No More Mayor Tom: We knew it was going to happen, and now it’s official: Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert will not seek another term as the city’s top dog, and he hints at making a Senate run.

How big are Rick Perry’s ambitions? Speaking of moving on and moving up, Rick Perry may be prepping for a presidential run, and tomorrow’s inaugural speech may tip the governor’s hand. At least that is the opinion of a number of political watchers, such as Royal Masset, former political director of the state Republican Party:

“He’ll absolutely use the speech to talk to a national audience. It will be fascinating,” Masset said.

With West Dallas development looming, can existing neighborhoods be saved? There’s a simple reason why West Dallas is attractive to developers: cheap, cheap, cheap. But once the Calatrava Bridge opens and development gets underway, property values will likely skyrocket. In that scenario, what happens to the existing single family neighborhoods in West Dallas? Will longtime residents be pushed out, or will they cozy up against new, Uptown-style gentrification? That’s what makes the work of the Dallas CityDesign Studio fascinating. Can they figure out a way to make urban infill development something other than scrape and build?

I will admit, from the very beginning, that I do not actually think there is nothing at all to do in Dallas at night. There are plays, yes, and operas and musicals, sure, and the museums stay open late sometimes, okay, fine. You can go hear live music. Yes, yes, yes. Stipulated.

But most of those things are isolated events, or at least take planning, and generally more money than I like to spend. At least on an ongoing basis. I will go to a play. I will go see a show. Of course. I’m not talking about the things that appear in our What to Do In Dallas in posts. I’m talking about something else.

Football-related memorabilia is prominently displayed in the downtown Dallas office of the CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc., John Crawford. Makes sense, since he serves on the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.

He’s also got inspirational quotes from the likes of Vince Lombardi and Clint Eastwood lying around his workspace, which is featured in the new issue of D CEO. But what he should really brag about is what he can see from his perch in Chase Tower.

Judging by the picture (at right, click on it to get a much larger look), he’s able to spy on the goings-on here at D HQ, just a short way down Ross Avenue. You know, if he wanted. And assuming he’s got a pair of great binoculars in one of those desk drawers. Or is he more the spyglass type?

I have long argued against the city’s outdated and counter-productive parking codes. In Dallas, if you want to run a catering service, you must have one off-street parking space for every 200 square feet. If you’re a lithographer (is anyone still a lithographer?), you need one space for every 300 square feet. if you want to built a church, you are required to provide “one space for each four fixed seats in the sanctuary.”

In Seattle, city officials are starting to think a little more creatively. They are introducing variable pricing for on-street parking, “charging more on the busiest blocks at the busiest times, and less at times when extra spaces tend to be available.”

Seattle officials hope variable fees will inspire a quicker turnover of precious parking spaces, boosting commerce and reducing carbon burning. In some U.S. urban neighborhoods, as much as 30 percent of all traffic is caused by people who circle the blocks looking for an opening.

(H/t: Marginal Revolution)

Interesting explanation by Dan Zambolini over at The Januarist. But then why were Dallas’ first affluent “suburbs” to the east? I’m thinking Munger Place, Swiss Avenue, and Lakewood. With the development of Highland Park, wealthy people started moving north, it is true. In fact, most cities’ affluent class live to the north, which I am told has to do with the quality of water.

Which also reminds me that Fort Worth is one of the few cities in the world where the affluent settled in the south and not the north. Good reason for that. The Stockyards were north.

1. If (or, as our January cover story asserts, when) Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert decides to give up a second term as Dallas mayor in order to run for a senate seat, his successor will likely not be a minority, Gromer Jeffers writes. The reasons should trouble you: financial hardship caused by the position, the lack of groomed minority candidates, and the projected expense of running a successful campaign. Have we left behind the brief era that saw mayoral candidates from historically underrepresented populations of the city for the reemergence of a system in which the only viable candidates are those who can both afford to hold the office and are cherry-picked by the business elite, who fund their campaign?

2. Fort Worth turned its back on a $25 million federal grant to help fund the construction of a downtown streetcar. Now, Dallas hopes to get its hand on that money to help with the cost of its own streetcar program. So who’s being shortsighted, the city that believes the investment in streetcars of upwards of $88 million isn’t worth the projected returns, or the city that is going to go all-in on a $100 million streetcar system with the hope that it contributes to the livability and densification of its urban core?

3. The Wall Street Journal picks up on what we have known for some time: for the last ten years, it has been heartbreaking to be a Mavs fan.