After months of anticipation, election day is here, and that was the dominant topic in city news. Here's a summary of what people were saying and doing in Dallas this week:
Iffy Trinity grant
One more revelation from the thousands of emails procured by Dallas City Council members Scott Griggs and Philip Kingston is a sleazy-sounding deal between the City of Dallas and the Trinity Trust Foundation, the group pushing for the Trinity toll road.
The Trinity Trust Foundation gave the city a $105,000 grant to hire Philadelphia firm Wallace Roberts and Todd (WRT) to do some renderings the foundation wanted so they could sell the toll road as a fun park with landscaping and picnic areas. WRT is also the firm that designed the Continental Avenue pedestrian bridge.
Later, the Trinity Trust Foundation appointed WRT employee Ignacio Bunster-Ossa to the Dream Team, the panel of experts who were supposedly impartial outsiders.
As Kingston points out, it's risky for the city to rely on nonprofit money, especially when the city doesn't really know where that $105,000 comes from.
DMN email
More revelations seem likely to emerge from the email cache that Kingston and Griggs obtained, but one that captured some attention is from a Dallas Morning News editor to a spokesman for Mayor Mike Rawlings. The email begins "Hey dude," and shows DMN editor Mike Drago coaching spokesman Scott Goldstein on how to rewrite a pro-toll road column penned by Rawlings. Goldstein used to work at the DMN, so that might explain the email's cozy vibe. But tips like, "I don't mind the bullets down lower. In fact, I like them," makes it feel like the two still work together.
CND endorsements
The Coalition for a New Dallas, the group centered on tearing down I-345, released its endorsements for five Dallas City Council seats. Most are in sync with other endorsements previously offered by the Dallas Green Alliance and the Stonewall Democrats: Carolyn King Arnold for District 4, Sherry Cordova for District 5, Mark Clayton for District 9 and James White for District 10. The only exception is the endorsement for Baranda Fermin for District 7.
Mayor Mike Rawlings, up for reelection.
