There's an effort afoot, sparked by a council member & a Landmark commissioner, to make McShann Road a historic district, which longtime residents welcome. But many newcomers, who often knew nothing of McShann's history when moving in, are opposed to designation. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

It's got what plants crave.

HELL YES he did.

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: On May 8, 1992, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark & Ray Wylie Hubbard played the greatest honky-tonk Dallas barely had the month before it closed. Here, the soundboard recording from one of the Greatest Nights Ever: tinyurl.com/c28n4r9w Setlist: tinyurl.com/47mx4kpy

Dallas says it has $100 million in TIF money to sink into redeveloping the old Argos plant, but that the Nebraska-based owners haven’t even responded.

A revisit to the old Argos site. With some updates. Like, how much the city's willing to kick in to redevelop the property the city helped its owners acquire in 2015. And how many 311 calls come in about this hellscape. About how angry West Dallas residents are. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

"Johnson, whose lax approach to his job led the The Dallas Morning News to dub him 'the mayor of Somewhere Else,' didn’t show up to the meeting."

After last week's piece about the illegal dump at McCommas Bluff, I got tips -- many tips -- about other such sites across town. The first one that caught my eye was 5.5 acres on Manana, not far from MoneyGram soccer complex in NW Dallas. Because the city owns it. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

The Mayor of Anywhere Else But Dallas could not be reached Friday for a story about a $34-ish million budget shortfall, which will result in hiring and travel freezes. Because, once again The Not Mayor of Wait What's Dallas is leaving the country.

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: For what it's worth, on April 20, 1968, Buffalo Springfield was one of several opening acts for the Beach Boys at Dallas Market Hall. A perfect soundboard keepsake that culminates with an epic "Bluebird." tinyurl.com/nhcvb45v Setlist: tinyurl.com/3zkht7h2

As a great man once said, is this bad?

I did my part to clean up the dumping site when I took home a single brick among the countless strewn across the bluff. My grandfather Harry, and his brothers Jake and Eli, made it. From the front page of the Dallas Times Herald's Business-Finance-Oil-Industry section on May 11, 1947:

Within the span of three years, Dallas' majestic, historic overlook became a crime scene. This is not hyperbole. bit.ly/3QksbNb?link...

The man authorities say allowed this along the McCommas Bluff was booked into jail Wednesday on three state jail felony charges of illegal commercial dumping. The EPA is also pursuing a criminal investigation. This began with forged deeds stealing historic land. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

What is more of a mess: the process to replace the building (city hall) or the organization inside the building?

Months ago, I couldn't get Eddie Grant on the phone. The city wouldn't say if the manager of the Nighttime Economy division still worked there. Grant was eventually fired for The Most Dallas City Hall reason of all, talking to media about the work he was doing. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

After a trial was postponed (again), the owner of 80-year-old Cole Manor Motel has agreed to sell the place or tear it down if he can find no takers. Designed by a famous architect, Charles Dilbeck, it has long been a crime scene and last-chance housing for many. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

Wait. I was told convention centers had to cost more than $3.5 billion.

The Majestic isn't a money-loser. You can't complain about the quality of the bookings. And no would-be operator will want to maintain a 105-year-old building, which is the whole point of the city manager's fishing expedition. Has an EVERYTHING MUST GO vibe to it. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Depeche Mode’s March 27, 1985, stopover in support of "Some Great Reward" at the late Bronco Bowl. All the hits ("People are People," "Everything Counts," "Just Can’t Get Enough," "Master and Servant") and some that shoulda been. www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U-...

The very day the public flooded council chambers to protest the demolition of Dallas City Hall, this 1949 Lustron House on Amherst began its path to historic designation. It will likely be Dallas' smallest landmark and may well outlive IM Pei's brutalist colossus. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

In the heart of several neighborhoods along Scyene, adjacent to the soon-to-be-Looped-in Parkdale Lake, a proposal to build “a facility for the manufacture of materials derived from biomass, plastics, tires, and other inputs." This is called Backward Dallas. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

For Your End of the World Listening Pleasure: On Oct. 24, 2008, days before its last-ever show, R.E.M. played Nokia Live in Grand Prairie. Michael Stipe said after "Drive" that Peter Buck packed R.E.M.'s ever-changing setlist "with as many protest songs as possible." archive.org/details/rem2...

I recommend saving $500m-$5B by not building the convention center at all. But i'll take keeping the bridge connections to Oak Cliff as a consolation prize.

This morning, Dallas City Council member Chad West and Maxie Johnson sent this memo to City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. You're welcome.

From White Rock Lake, no less. During the nationwide Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. Wrote about this a few years back. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: It's the 25th anniversary of U2's Reunion Arena stop one week into the Elevation tour on April 3, 2001. Just yesterday, someone shared a dynamite keepsake from an unforgettable night: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ge8... Show notes: www.u2songs.com/shows/2001_0...

The Jefferson/Houston viaduct changes started with a convo between me and two asst city managers in 2016 to open up land and downtown views on the Oam Farms site. The city willing to sacrifice connectivity for a silver bullet is why downtown is in the state it is.

Seems there is nothing Dallas won't sacrifice for the Convention Center.

Everything in this town is a secret until it's a SURPRISE. Including the impact that new convention center is going to have on your favorite Oak Cliff-downtown connections, the Jefferson and Houston viaducts. Doesn't have to be this way. Which is the Dallas way. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

The Garvin Memorial Cemetery on NW Highway is an actual Dallas landmark. James Garvin buried his first wife here in 1875, the first of some 90 -- or more, it's unclear -- people interred here. That hasn't stopped yet another developer from clear-cutting the land. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: The first full-band performance of "Nude." The last-ever performance of "Electioneering." Here's Radiohead's legendary show at the Music Hall at Fair Park, March 29, 1998. The greatest concert everyone you know says they attended. archive.org/details/Radi...

UPDATE: Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts revealed Friday morning, during a Sports Economics panel hosted by the Greater Dallas Planning Council, who first approached the team about the City Hall site. Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert. “Over a year ago." More in the column. And more to come.

The Dallas Mavericks and city officials held their first "official" meeting yesterday. “Based on the City Council vote," Mavs CEO Rick Welts said this week, "we now have the opportunity to talk to the city about the structure of a deal, and that’s new for us." www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

My latest for The New York Times: a look at the life & legacy of the late great D. Boon. Visited San Pedro to talk to the surviving Minutemen, Mike Watt and George Hurley, as they continue to carry forward the spirit of Boon and the band. Gift link here: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/a...

A brief break from City Hall monitoring to consider the imminent demise of Dallas landmark Hickory House, which opened on Industrial in 1950 and now has an expiration date of May 30 (or sooner) thanks to a landlord jacking up the rent just in time for World Cup. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Went looking for a local Rage Against the Machine show and found this stick of dynamite: the 49-minute opening set during U2's Popmart stop at the Cotton Bowl, May 12, 1997. Play loud. LOUDER. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1GH... Setlist: ratm.live/artists/rage...

Dallas’ crosswalk removal schedule, as posted tonight in the council’s Friday memo stack:

A broke Dallas threw some of its City Hall -- two I.M. Pei-approved benches, to be exact -- in its junk store. Now, one of those benches is for sale in NYC for $75,000. And another just sold for more than $22,000 to a European architect. Alt head: Son of a BENCH. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

I’ve been so busy I forgot to share this yesterday.

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: 26 years ago last night, Bruce Springsteen's reunion tour with The E Street Band came to Reunion Arena. With no new album to promote, the 26 songs came from 11 records, led by "The River" & "Born to Run." And an epic "Light of Day." archive.org/details/bs20...

Matt is one of the best of us. Buy some books from him, friends.

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: March 4-5, 1975, days after Physical Graffiti's release, Led Zeppelin played Memorial Auditorium. Both shows are well documented on the band's website. Then there are recordings. March 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sSO... www.ledzeppelin.com/show/memoria...

The statue of Capt. Jay Banks was booted out of Love Field and banished to Hensley Field six years ago. There was supposed to be "a community discussion" about the man who served as its model. He was meant to go to a museum. Instead, Dallas quietly gave it away. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

"Floors 100 and 101 feature an outdoor pool deck with a cantilevered pool, a 30-foot RoboCop helmet grotto and a ten-story mural of RoboCop on horseback. ... Floor 105 is an observatory themed around Dallas in the year 2100 ... with a robot bartender bar and panoramic views extending to Fort Worth."

After last night's 9-6 City Council vote to begin exploring a City Hall exit strategy, I received a press release from a local architectural firm proposing a "114-story mixed-use tower to be constructed adjacent to Dallas City Hall." Good one. I'd buy that for a dollar. allerior.com/city-hall-to...

If you're bored, or you give a damn, this is JUST starting: Council will vote to explore relocating City Hall staff out of the building, including 311 AND 911, and "explore options for the disposition of the City Hall site." What else ya got to do tonight? Tune in: dallastx.new.swagit.com/views/113

Cool new statue, Texas Rangers! Don't worry, no one will go to the Wikipedia page for it to see why it's not at the airport anymore. www.mlb.com/news/rangers...

After ICE sent her mother back to Mexico, a 17-year-old high school senior was left to care for her younger sisters. bit.ly/4rFk3V7