Code enforcement

The Dallas Observer's Unfair Park blog (Judge's Ruling in Massage Parlors' Lawsuit Rubs Spa Owners the Wrong Way), reports that the City of Dallas' current imbroglio over illegal massage parlors took two steps forward, one backwards, in the last month.

...the massage parlors sued Dallas, claiming the city had revoked their certificates of occupancy without due process.

At which point, the city fired back: Said City Attorney Tom Perkins,

The certificates of occupancy were revoked because each application for a Certificate of Occupancy did not state that the use would be operated as a massage establishment, nor did the applicant supply a copy of a massage establishment license.

Lowest Greenville neighborhood associations blocking full participation for BelmontNA with Angela Hunt's implausible deniability

The past few weeks have been abuzz with comments about Angela Hunt's plans (with CM Pauline Medrano) to rezone specific areas of Lowest Greenville and require businesses open late to have permits. (link - Lower Greenville's Future). Though this concept - the most significant proposal since the 2000 Lower Greenville Land Use Study (shot down and stomped on by LGNA) has been discussed in secret with Ms Hunt and City Attorneys for nearly a year, the recent tragic fire on March 2nd that consumed Terilli's, Mick's, Greenville Bar & Grill and Hurricane Grill moved the topic to the front burner.

Councilmember Pauline Medrano and I have proposed a special zoning district for Lowest Greenville that would require businesses that want to stay open past a certain time — say 11:30 p.m. or midnight — to get a special permit. That’s it.

The permit can be granted for several years for known businesses that haven’t caused problems, or it can be granted on an annual basis for those businesses that are new, unknown quantities. Or it can be denied for bars that cause problems weekend after weekend. And even those bad operators won’t have to shut down; they’ll just have to close their doors at 11:30 p.m. or midnight.

We believe this will bring some balance back to Lowest Greenville and encourage a better quality and mix of businesses.

As she gets ready to go offline in a few weeks for the arrival of a baby girl (mazel tov!), Ms Hunt is holding a series of informational meetings and discussions with the boards of neighborhood associations, the property owners and even business owners to get their reactions, comments or outright fawning motions before a big public meeting of residents in June.

By Greg Kandra, CBS News

(CBS) Walter Cronkite, who personified television journalism for more than a generation as anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News," has died Friday night in New York. He was 92.

Known for his steady and straightforward delivery, his trim moustache, and his iconic sign-off line -"That’s the way it is" - Cronkite dominated the television news industry during one of the most volatile periods of American history. He broke the news of the Kennedy assassination, reported extensively on Vietnam and Civil Rights and Watergate, and seemed to be the very embodiment of TV journalism.

Click here for the complete story at CBS News

The Dallas Police Department reported three armed/aggravated robberies, a knife cutting, and bunch of arrests for stupid stuff this weekend.

There was an armed robbery early Friday morning in the BelmontNA area of Lowest Greenville. According to DPD Offense Report 0177460-W, 28-year-old Jo Yea of Carrollton and another witness were robbed at gunpoint by an unknown suspect at 230am near the corner of Matilda and Prospect.

But that's not all...

BD is wondering about the sensibilities of your average armed robber in Dallas. Why go to all the effort of robbing someone on Lower Greenville on a weeknight, when the big money is out here on the weekends.

Maybe it was this guy's idea of a bad April Fools joke, but two victims are not laughing.