This originally appeared on Spotify. The great Pete Schulte calls long distance to Loserville to explain the nearly unbelievable case of the wrongful prosecution of Judge Suzanne Wooten. See all episodes   Sign Up To Receive News Stories Delivered Weekly To Your Inbox Signup for our weekly newsletter delivered every Monday at 8:00 AM CST and receive a $20 gift card from Ellen’s Restaurant! [contact-form-7 ..read more

A south Dallas food park will be serving more than delicious food for visitors. Led by Desiree “Dee” Powell, Founder of DRBTS Urban Planning, the Sunny South Dallas Food Park aims to be different from others in and around Dallas. “With Fair Park and South Dallas, the intention is large,” said Powell. “The idea is to bring people out and see people, being able to provide resources, and impact black and brown-owned businesses.” Prioritizing South Dallas Food Truck Owners To Build Generational Wealth “It’s about this idea of redistributing the black dollar of South Dallas,” said Powell. “Let t ..read more

The City has allowed GAF to Skirt the Rules for 76 Years. It’s time for Accountability.   Over 40 years ago, West Dallas faced a landmark environmental justice fight, putting Dallas in the Environmental Justice history books. The RSR lead smelter poured tons of poisonous lead into the air every year, severely contaminating surrounding neighborhoods. Blood tests confirmed an entire generation of children had toxic levels of lead in their bloodstream, potentially affecting their health and development for the rest of their lives. The City of Dallas made the decision to force RSR’s cl ..read more

Dallas has become one of the most unaffordable cities in the country for low-income renter households according to a study released by United Way of the National Capital Area. The study sought to determine the state of housing affordability for low income renters across the U.S. with the results painting a grim picture. The report used data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and analyzed 50-plus cities across the country. The data was used to analyze the gap between affordable and available rental homes, the number of low-income renter households, and hours low income renters ne ..read more

A panel discussion on gentrification and displacement in Dallas allowed community leaders to vent frustrations along with hope for solutions. Hosted by Builders of Hope and moderated by Stephanie Champion, Chief of Community Development & Policy, the panel included community advocates such as Jonathan Maples, President of Elm Thicket Northpark Neighborhood Association, Raul Reyes, President of West Dallas 1, and Mark Melton, Founder of Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center.  In addition, Heather Way, University of Texas at Austin Law School Clinical professor, a national expert in afford ..read more

This post originally appeared on Coffee and Politics 101. Precinct chair Louis Bedford, IV former Election Protection Legal Fellow and Michael Scarpello with Dallas County Elections Department will discuss the importance of understanding all the ways to legally vote. Making sure you know deadlines to update your VR (voter’s registration). Sign Up To Receive News Stories Delivered Weekly To Your Inbox Signup for our weekly newsletter delivered every Monday at 8:00 AM CST and receive a $20 gift card from Ellen’s Restaurant! [contact-form-7 ..read more

An amendment to the current Oak Cliff TIF district will be proposed to expand current district boundaries and allocate a budget for the purpose of homeowner stabilization, home repair, and displacement mitigation due to construction of the Oak Cliff deck park according to sources from the City of Dallas. This is four years after property values started to increase significantly and developers began acquiring multifamily properties in the proximity of the Oak Cliff deck park still under construction off Interstate 35E near Ewing Avenue and Marsalis Avenue.  Proposed in 2017, the Oak Cli ..read more

Announced as an innovative solution to help first time homebuyers in Dallas, the Bank of America Community Affordable Loan Solution may not be all its cracked up to be. High closing costs and asset reserve requirements may prevent low income first-time homebuyers in Dallas from participating in this program. Announced in late August, the Community Affordable Loan Solution program is currently available to select areas across the country including Dallas and promises zero down payment and a no closing cost mortgage solution for first-time homebuyers. The program also does not require mortga ..read more

In a 12 – 1 vote, the Dallas City Council approved up to $1 million in grants for multimillion dollar company, Revantage, a Blackstone-owned company, to move their U.S. headquarters, currently in Chicago, to Dallas. According to profiles of Revantage, its annual revenue is estimated to be between $50 – $100 million and provides corporate services to Blackstone’s portfolio companies. “I think it amounts to corporate welfare. I don’t think as a policy we should be incentivizing large wealthy corporations to locate in areas of the city that have enough attributes to attract such businesses on ..read more

Nearly sixty years ago this September, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University declaring the United States would go to the moon by 1970. Kennedy said Americans would accomplish this not because it was easy, but because it was hard. He knew the goal was challenging, but Kennedy was not willing to postpone it any longer. The same must be true for the City of Dallas and its approach to budgeting for Planning & Urban Design (PUD) and Development Services this year-it must start adequately funding these departments. Now. World class cities must fund world class develo ..read more