In this week's roundup of Dallas news, city council races are getting spicy. Fair Park is commissioning a study on traffic. There's a free seminar on how to handle your money, and a new DART train station in Irving.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

City Council dust-up #1
May 1 is Election Day, when Dallas and other cities will vote in a new crop of city council members. So far, outside of the Reform Dallas page on Facebook, the election has been quiet.

But Johnny Aguinaga, who's running for the seat in District 4, has spiced things up in an amusingly incendiary exchange over campaign signs.

Aguinaga had campaign signs planted in an empty lot in Oak Cliff. When a neighbor complained, Aguinaga said in a series of texts - which were posted on the Reform Dallas page - that "my cousin paid the guys on that land $40" to put up the sign.

The conversation devolved pretty quickly, with Aguinaga telling the neighbor: "You need to [sic] out it back or I'll have my cousin go deal with you. He carries heat too. He likes trouble like you." The neighbor took that as a threat that Aguinaga was going to have his cousin shoot him.

Aguinaga has walked it back, saying that he was intimidated because he saw the neighbor was a gun owner.

District 4 is the southeast Dallas district that once had Dwaine Caraway as its representative.

City Council dustup #2
Richardson City Council member Kyle Kepner is stirring it up by endorsing two other candidates solely because they are Republican - provoking some residents to question whether that endorsement was a possible violation of the city's code of ethics, which says that the city council should remain nonpartisan.

In addition to openly campaigning for Republicans, Kepner also shared the endorsements of the Collin County Republican Party for four candidates for Plano ISD school board.

Fair Park parking
Fair Park First, the nonprofit manager of Fair Park, is searching for a consultant or firm to conduct a parking and traffic study. The goal is to ensure that access to Fair Park is maintained without overwhelming the surrounding neighborhoods and roads' capacity to absorb traffic and protect the property owners' rights.

Applicants can make a formalized request for information (RFI) on www.fairparkfirst.org. Submissions are due on Friday, April 30 at 5 pm.

Free financial seminar
Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity is hosting a virtual Financial Literacy Week from April 12-15, covering topics like budgeting, saving, investing, debt, and buying a home. The series, Financially Surviving to Thriving, will have a variety of free virtual events to promote financial literacy and give the community the tools they need to thrive.

Each day will have a theme:

• Monday: Build Your Financial Foundation - budgeting, building financial resilience, and debunking myths about money and women
• Tuesday: Family and Youth Financial Fitness - a look at the PocketWise Prep program, a LIVE lunch and learn on how to have conversations about money, and a virtual book reading
• Wednesday: Investing Like a Pro - 401Ks, stock trading, and an introduction to investing
• Thursday: Conquering Debt - ways to build credit, tips for paying down debt faster, and a debt management workshop
• Friday: Mapping Your Homeownership Journey - turning your stimulus check and tax refund into savings for a home and steps to buying a home

This event is FREE and anyone can join. Sign up online.

New DART station
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will unveil the new Hidden Ridge Station in Irving on April 9. Hidden Ridge Station will be the 65th station in the DART network. Developed in partnership with the City of Irving and Verizon, the new station is on the Orange Line, between North Lake College and Irving Convention Center stations. The station will serve a planned 110-acre mixed-use development, which will include retail and restaurants, apartments, a hotel and office space.