"They Walked Out on their Community"

"They walked out on their community." So said Carla Ranger, Dallas Independent School District (DISD) trustee about her fellow trustees.

After the jump, what precipitated the walkout and the lesson for Richardson.

A String of Pearls on the Red Line

A few isolated urban centers, left to fend for themselves, are going to wither on the vine. Nurture them to grow together into a string of overlapping vibrant urban centers all along the DART line from Spring Valley to PGBT and Richardson will have a cornucopia.

Source: The Wheel.

That's what I said in a recent blog post. After the jump, a supporting argument I read a few days later in a Slate article by Matthew Yglesias.

Stumbling onto the Fun at Eastside

In mild weather on a Friday evening in January, outside Chiloso's Mexican Bistro in Richardson's Eastside, the Berkner Jazz Band played for an impromptu audience of several dozen music lovers. A percentage of the proceeds from dining at Chiloso's went to help fund the band program.

Great food, great music, great time. That's what I call "stumbling onto the fun."

Irony on the Campaign Trail

News from the always irony-rich campaign trail:

• Newt Gingrich, who had affairs while married to his first two wives, who reportedly asked wife #2 for an "open marriage," and who is now married to the other woman from that second affair, was congratulated on his primary victory in South Carolina by the National Organization of Marriage, a group dedicated to the preservation of traditional marriage. (h/t to @pourmecoffee.)
  
• Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to a TSA pat-down at an airport in Kentucky as an governmental invasion of his privacy. Paul was reportedly traveling to a pro-life rally, that's right, a rally against a woman's right to control what happens to her own body. (h/t to @JamilSmith.)
  
• Newt Gingrich (again), who surged to the lead of GOP polls by attacking President Obama, the press, the "elites" and pretty much everyone who doesn't appreciate his greatness, came under attack himself in a GOP debate in Tampa, Florida. Responded Newt: "You know, there is a point in the process where it gets unnecessarily personal and nasty. And that's sad." Newt Gingrich -- self-proclaimed victim.
  
• In June, 2011, Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed voters, "I should tell my story. I'm also unemployed." Mitt chuckled. This week, Romney released his tax return, revealing that he made $20.9 million in 2011. There was no word on whether he chuckled.
  

Are politicians oblivious to the irony or are they just cynical? Such questions are why politics remains endlessly fascinating ... and maddening.

Is Richardson Screwed?

At a large lunch at Dallas's downtown Omni Dallas Hotel, scene of the annual meeting of Downtown Dallas, Inc., keynote speaker Carol Coletta spoke of the importance of urban centers. D Magazine's Peter Simek was there and summarized her message as this: Dallas is Screwed.

After the jump, does this verdict extend to Richardson, too?