City Manager T.C. Broadnax Hires a Police Chief. Ulysha Renee Hall, deputy chief for the Detroit Police Department and soon to be Dallas’ first female police chief, starts Sept. 5. She has her work cut out for her. With District Attorney Faith Johnson and Sheriff Lupe Valdez, the three top law enforcement jobs in Dallas County will be filled by women.

Police Suspend Investigation Into Incident Involving Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys running back, at least responsible for being in the wrong place Sunday night at the Uptown bar Clutch, was never named as a suspect in an altercation that resulted in one broken nose. The man whose face reportedly sports that broken nose, a local DJ called D Train, has not cooperated with police, and witnesses are scarce. Elliott may still feel the consequences of an investigation by the Cowboys (OK, sure) or the NFL. For those keeping score at home, that’s the second Cowboy this week bailed out of a bad situation by a North Texas musician working under a stage name.

Picky Diners Record Video of Mice in West End Chipotle. The mice got their burritos to go, and it’s probably nothing to worry about.

A New Push To Remove Confederate Monuments in Town. The mayor doesn’t sound opposed to the idea.

The many cranes and construction sites around town are often seen as a harbinger of a bolder and brighter future for Dallas. But is all the building really making this city better, or is it turning Dallas’ streetscapes into a glut of uninspiring, cookie-cutter, cheaply thrown together crap?

If you’ve ever driven around Uptown, or near Fitzhugh, or any of the parts of town that have seen rapid development of new apartment blocks, you know what I’m talking about. They’ve been called the most Dallas-y apartments, or contemporary Soviet-style, which is an insult to much of the Soviet-era brutalism I admire. In fact, I believe Soviet-style apartment blocks would be an improvement over Dallas’ version of homogenization, whose very insipidness is rooted to the many failed attempts at meaningless variation — some bricks here, a splash of yellow there, an out-of-place historical accent plopped on a facade that is as bland as a sheet of copy paper.

How come Dallas developers build so much of this stuff?

Well, lots of reasons.

The city of Dallas has hired its first female police chief. Ulysha Renee Hall, a deputy chief with the Detroit Police Department, beat out six other contenders for top cop. She’s a near-lifer with Detroit, joining the force in 1999 at the age of 29. Which means she’s worked through that city’s collapsing pension and bankruptcy mess while working for a department that saw officers flee for safer suburban jobs at the expense of the city. She’s overseen community policing in a city with rampant homelessness and loose dogs. Sound familiar?

Dallas, of course, is not Detroit. The Texas Legislature plugged the pension hole before the money was gone and well before bankruptcy became a possibility instead of a bargaining chip. But each of the candidates, in interviews with community leaders and city officials, highlighted leading the department through those challenges. Most significantly, in a city of 1.3 million, how do you hire another 1,400 cops to reach the national average rate of 3.4 per 1,000 residents? How do you stave off officers who are leaving for safer, better-paying surrounding towns? She’ll have to take these on.

Noted author and appraiser of commercial properties Harry Hunsicker shot this video of a water main break in front of Javier’s. He called it an infrastructure fail.

Au contraire! You know how the Cane Rosso in East Dallas had a water feature so that kids could play in it while their parents ignored them, until Jay Jerrier had to the tear the thing out because one day he found a dirty diaper in it? This right here is just like that. While Dad is inside enjoying a postprandial cigar, Junior can frolic out front in this new fountain. Genius!

Infrastructure fail. Water main break on Cole Avenue in front of Javier's. pic.twitter.com/WJO9MZ6aPe

— Harry Hunsicker (@HarryHunsicker) July 19, 2017

Alex posted the list of the Dallas City Council committee assignments. I have a few thoughts:

Holland linked this morning in Leading Off to former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver’s 22-page response to a wrongful death suit filed against him by Jordan Edwards’ parents. It made me angry because 1) it doesn’t really add up, and 2) it will probably be enough to get him acquitted. It uses all the right words.

First off, Oliver lied in the immediate aftermath of his shooting of the unarmed 15-year-old Edwards, saying the car Edwards was in was backing aggressively toward him and another officer, Tyler Gross. Bodycam footage showed otherwise — the exact opposite, in fact. So let’s just say his credibility is shaky.

But even if you absolutely believe Oliver on every point, it doesn’t make a ton of sense. A few observations and questions: