Cowtown Coup

Downtown Fort Worth racks up another award for urban excellence

Sundance Square Plaza, with its new buildings, fountains and giant umbrellas, received the Downtown Pinnacle Award from the International Downtown Association.

Sundance Square Plaza/Facebook

Downtown Fort Worth has long been considered an exemplar of great urban living, and last year's addition of Sundance Square Plaza has bolstered its case: The Washington, D.C.-based International Downtown Association (IDA) has bestowed its Downtown Pinnacle Award to the plaza.

Entered in the category of Downtown Leadership and Management, which showcases comprehensive and unique organizational approaches, projects or programs that improved the effectiveness of downtown management organizations, Sundance Square Plaza came out on top in a group of 10 entries.

Although Sundance Square was already established as a destination, it became even more so after its two square blocks were joined together with two new buildings surrounding a plaza featuring, among other things, a popular ground water fountain and four giant umbrellas.

“The addition of the plaza created a centerpiece in downtown Fort Worth that has quickly become a destination for North Texas residents and visitors from all around the world,” said Johnny Campbell, president and CEO of Sundance Square, in a statement. “Sundance Square Plaza is a treasure for our city and the response to the pedestrian-friendly plaza has been overwhelmingly positive.”

“The Sundance Square Plaza is a wonderful example for all cities to emulate,” said David Downey, president and CEO of IDA, a champion for vital and livable urban centers that strives to inform, influence and inspire downtown leaders and advocates.

The IDA award is just the latest in a series of accolades for downtown Fort Worth. A survey by Livability.com earlier in 2014 ranked it as the No. 1 downtown area in the entire United States.

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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