Archive for September, 2008

Las Vegas school officials could be in Dallas recruiting as early as next week.

Between the two cities, the school district issues couldn’t be more different. While DISD has too many teachers, Las Vegas doesn’t have enough. And why does DISD have too many teachers? Because DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa has somehow managed to run the district almost $84 MILLION over budget this year….and the school year just began a few weeks ago.

And for those teachers looking into the idea of making the move, the choice has both its positives and negatives.

As DISD officials continued to crunch numbers in Dallas, Trustee Ron Price traveled to Clark County in Nevada to learn about one number in particular, 400. That number is about how many job openings the school district there has for teachers.

Clark County’s school district is twice the size of Dallas, and has more than 300,000 students and 18,000 teachers. Its urban setting and diverse student body could make for a smooth transition.

But, will their paycheck feel the pinch?

The starting salary for a new teacher in DISD is just more than $44,000. But depending on education and experience, one could make up to $81,000 dollars.

Calculating the cost of living, Dallas teachers making $44,000 would have to make more than $52,000 in Vegas to maintain the same lifestyle.

The biggest expense would be housing, which on average is 80 percent higher. And while groceries run about 6 percent more a year, teachers could expect to save a bit on utilities.

But in Clark County, teacher salaries start at $35,000, which is $9,000 less than Dallas and a difference of about $16,000 when the cost of living is considered.

Clark County officials say their putting ads in this Sunday’s newspapers in Dallas to reach out to potential employees.

Information related to job fair is expected to be available after Thursday’s layoff vote.

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said the state will consider whether to take action based on the outcome of Thursday’s Dallas Independent School District school board meeting. There is the possibility that the State will step in and take over DISD.

The Dallas Museum of Art kicks off the amazing “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” this Friday.

The Opening Weekend Lecture will be: “The Grand Museum Project of the 21st Century”
Saturday, October 4, 3:00 p.m.
Theater, Center for Creative Connections, Free
Seating is limited. Special exhibitions require an additional ticket.

Ali Radwan, Professor of Egyptology and Member of the Board of Trustees of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Mohamed Ghoniem, Executive Director of the Grand Museum, discuss the Grand Museum Project, a new state-of-the-art museum currently under construction in Egypt.

Dallas-area resident, Michael Wilkes was crowned king off the corny dog eaters when he consumed 12 Fletcher’s Corny Dogs in 10 minutes at the State Fair of Texas over the weekend.

In 2007, Wilkes tied with Brent Ricord, of Keller, for the honor.

This year Ricord managed to stuff down 11 corny dogs — but that was only good enough for second place.

Third place was a three-way tie between dog gobblers John Bradford, Carlos Gomez and Jacob Freeby.

During the past two Presidential elections, Dallas-based 7-Eleven has offered it’s coffee drinking customers a way to let their opinions be known. Choose a red cup, and you’re pro-McCain. Blue and you’re pro-Obama.

The promotional campaign kicks off this Wednesday (1 Oct 08) and runs through Election Day.

Is there any validity to this casual poll? Take a look at the results from the past two elections:

2000 election
Presidential candidate // U.S. voters // 7-Election voters
George W. Bush // 47.9% // 51.2%
Al Gore // 48.4% // 48.9%

2004 election
George W. Bush // 50.7% // 51 %
John Kerry // 48.3% // 49%

The Trinity Railway Express will offer new early-morning westbound trips for patrons of its commuter rail line, and provide more eastbond trips in rush hour as well. The changes, along with dozens of others, take effect Oct. 6.

The commuter rail service, which has seen increased ridership for much of this year, will also offer a new late-night trip, leaving Dallas’ Union Station at 11:45 p.m., and arriving to the west at the CentrePort Station in Fort Worth at 12:15 a.m.

More information about the schedule changes, which include new arrival and departure times for many other routes, can be found here. A full schedule — effective Oct. 6 — is maintained the TRE’s site, here.

The TRE is jointly operated by DART and The T, in Fort Worth. In August, about the commuter line provided a daily average of about 11,000 rides, nearly 20 percent more than August, 2007.

Dallas City Council Member Angela Hunt’s territory represents a large section of Ross Avenue. The following is the posting from her personal blog and she is also against the renaming of Ross. The City Council must have 11 of 12 voting members to pass this initiative as Mitchell Rasansky cannot vote due to owning property in the Ross area.

Renaming Ross Avenue

Yesterday the Plan Commission voted against renaming Ross Avenue “Cesar Chavez,” and now this debate comes before the City Council. Since much of Ross Avenue is in my council district, I wanted to share my position on this issue.

Some have implied that the looming threat of renaming Ross Avenue should be used to force the City Council to change the name of Industrial Boulevard to Cesar Chavez. I cannot emphasize how strongly I disagree with that argument. Under no circumstances should Ross Avenue be used as a political pawn in the Cesar Chavez debate. Doing so is an insult to the property owners along and near Ross Avenue, the very constituents I was elected to represent. I have heard from them loudly and clearly that they do not want to change the name of the street because of its historic nature. I share those concerns and will not support changing the name of any part of Ross Avenue.

Frankly this debate has taken time away from more important city issues. The residents I talk with are concerned about crime, code enforcement, and the poor condition of our streets. That is not to diminish Mr. Chavez’s accomplishments or his worthiness to have a street in Dallas named for him, but no street renaming should consume this much of the council’s time or energy.

This debate has also become unnecessarily divisive, when it didn’t need to be. The blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the city. First of all, if the intent was to give Industrial Boulevard a “riveresque” moniker, the Trinity River Committee should have stated upfront that only such names would be considered. That would have eliminated this whole debate about Industrial being named after a person.

Second, the Trinity River Committee made a mistake by approving (on Dwaine Caraway’s motion, seconded by Elba Garcia) a public survey about proposed names for Industrial Boulevard (Mr. Rasansky voted against doing so, and I’m not on that committee). If the committee wasn’t going to respect the outcome of the survey, or make it a legitimate vote with real ballots, then it shouldn’t have taken a vote at all. There were already signs at that meeting that this was becoming a divisive issue, and at that point, the city should have nixed the public poll.

Third, the Trinity River Committee had no business proposing that Ross Avenue — which isn’t anywhere near the Trinity River project — be renamed for Cesar Chavez. That was a cheap political trade to “protect” Industrial.

Lastly, once it became apparent that there was support within the Hispanic community to name a street in honor of Cesar Chavez (or another Hispanic leader), the mayor should have pulled together a small, racially diverse group of leaders from across our city, representing all parts of Dallas. He should have tasked them with proposing to the council at least three streets for renaming, with the following caveats: The proposed streets could not be historic and the property owners on the streets must be supportive of the change. This would have headed off the divisive Ross debate and prevented an “all or nothing”/”you’re either with us or against us” mentality that is pervading what should have been a collaborative, celebratory discussion.

Dallas’ Hispanic community is an integral and important part of our city and their heritage should be honored. Some have argued that renaming a street for Mr. Chavez is not appropriate because he doesn’t have strong ties to Dallas and because we have so many great hometown Hispanic leaders we could honor with this distinction. I greatly respect Mr. Chavez’s legacy, but I, too, would prefer to see a Dallasite honored in this way. We are so lucky to have so many Hispanics who have made remarkable contributions to our city, and I’d love to see us preserve their legacies by naming a street after them. However, I defer to those in the Hispanic community to decide who they believe is most deserving of this honor.

Ok boys and girls, The State Fair of Texas is now open! Opening day is always a wonderful time to go….

….the park is clean…
…the carnies still have their voices…
…the grease is fresh…

Fletcher’s Corny Dog’s are the original and located near Big Tex’s boots, the struedel, fried twinkies, lemonade and battered deep fried bacon is all waiting for you.

The Midway’s game booths are stuffed full and the Arts & Crafts building show off amazing crafts handmade by local residents and the Embarcadaro building has the best of Texas produce whether it’s salsa or jams.

And remember, nothing beats people watching at the Fair! Mullet hunting season is now open.

See ya’ll out there.