In light of the LGC news, let’s look at two quotes from the mayor. Here’s from the DMN today, regarding the Trinity park:

“You can’t build something this big or this quick with that sort of restraint on you. I’m just very excited about this. We’re going to get this park done. We’ve got the organization in place. Everybody wants the park. Let’s just kind of grab each other’s arms and let’s get it done.”

And then there’s this from the DMN, from back in 2014:

“I was having a meeting the other day, and people were telling me that my position has not been clear. And I was very offended about that because I thought I was always clear. But I want to make myself terrifically clear. … The more I get challenged on the parkway, and the more I study it, the firmer my feet get in the concrete about this being an important thing for the city of Dallas.”

What am I implying by juxtaposing these two quotes? Nothing. Not yet. I’m just thinking about them. As you should.

After the demise last summer of its bookstore, BookEnds, now the site of the madhouse that is the Office of Vital Statistics on the first floor of its downtown branch, the Dallas Public Library turned to moving its surplus stock with biannual clearance sales. The summer sale is set for Aug. 12 and 13 at the J. Erik Jonsson central branch, the library announced today.

There’s an interesting read over on newgeography.com by John Sanphillippo, a San Francisco-based writer and developer who visited Dallas a few years ago for what sounds like the Congress for the New Urbanism, though I could be wrong. He writes about the challenges of urban renewal in places like Deep Ellum – places that, on the surface, seem primed for the kind of small-scale, mom-and-pop, “placemaking” developments that make cities feel welcoming and vibrant. In Deep Ellum, Sanphillippo discovered more than the average amount of opportunity. Not only are there historical, human-scale buildings and pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, but the effort to tear down the elevated highway — I-345 — that ravaged the neighborhood and disconnected it from downtown when it was constructed in 1973 holds the potential of unleashing lots of land and economic potentiality for large-scale urban redevelopment.

If only urban renewal were so easy. The problems start, Sanphillippo argues, when you start running the numbers on the land and creating projects that are marketable in a car-driven society:

The mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth, along with the mayors of Texas’ three other largest cities, are conspicuously absent from a list of city leaders meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott this week, the Austin-American Statesman reports.

Mike Rawlings and Betsy Price were among the 18 mayors to sign a letter last week asking to meet with the governor, “whose specific concerns with Texas cities” have been characterized as a war on local control. More than a few issues on the agenda for this special legislative session, including proposed caps on municipal spending and other bills aimed at local ordinances, have pitted leaders in Texas’ blue cities against conservative state lawmakers.

Abbot, however, will not snub every mayor who requested a meeting. He’s set to speak with the mayors of Galveston, Corpus Christi, and San Marcos today, Lubbock, Amarillo, and El Paso on Thursday. Next week Abbott will sit down with the mayors of Arlington, Frisco, McKinney, and Irving. Maybe they can put in a good word for their neighbors in Dallas.

The Latest and Greatest Bathroom Bill Passes the Texas Senate. And by “greatest” I mean “even more pointless than ever before.” The most important thing to tell your trans child on the first day of school is that he will not be arrested for using the bathroom of his choice, but, and you can leave this part out while kissing him on the forehead and helping him with his new Pikachu backpack, Ken Paxton can sue his public school if it tries to adopt a formal trans-friendly bathroom policy. It should be no surprise that Texas law enforcement and school districts are speaking out against the bill, and it’s expected to have a hard time getting through the House.

More Bad News for Carrollton’s Spa Castle. The owners were arrested for tax fraud in March, then several women accused the mega-spa’s employees of being peeping toms, and now, reports are coming out about an incident involving feces in a women’s pool, which was spot-cleaned with bleach, but not drained and thoroughly sanitized.

Did You Watch Yesterday’s Cowboys Press Conference? Don’t. It was a bit of a beating for everyone. All questions revolved around Lucky Whitehead, and Jason Garrett was not willing to stray from a PR-ordained “we stand by our decision” mantra. But my favorite moment of the 56 seconds I watched before I just couldn’t take anymore, was when Dale Hansen asked, “Do you have some people working for the Dallas Cowboys who are just too stupid to be working for this team?” For a good summary of yesterday’s events, read this. And I will echo Tyrone Crawford’s hope that Lucky Whitehead will find a team with which to play and “ball out.”

Here we go again.

Yesterday on Facebook, Dallas City Councilman Scott Griggs shared drafts of the documents that would establish the Local Government Corporation (LGC) to take control of the Trinity River Project. The council will be briefed on the documents on August 2, but this is the first look at the legal structure and authority that the new entity may  have. I’ve uploaded the three documents for your perusal (the Term Sheet, Bylaws, and Certificate of Formation), and I would suggest looking at them in detail. I’ve spent the morning attempting a close read, and I’m left with a few questions.

I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea of Local Government Corporation taking over the business of managing, designing, and improving the Trinity River Watershed. That said, in this post back in April, I laid out some considerations and stipulations that would go a long way toward reestablishing public trust around the Trinity River Project by creating an entity that was both transparent and responsive enough to ensure that the public’s — and the Trinity’s — best interests. Does the LGC laid out in these documents meet those expectations? Yes and no. Let’s dig in.