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Robert Wilonsky at the Observer broke the story — city manager Mary Suhm wants to sell the Farmers’ Market and Fair Park to raise cash.  Gee, I wonder where she got the idea to privatize the farmer’s market?

The market is one of the sacred cows in the city budget, … more

The blog is mostly off today for the holiday, but we’ll be back on Tuesday. Until then, a bit of Dallas history — the State Fair’s triple roller coaster from 1936, built for the Texas Centennial (courtesy of Swampfoxer at YouTube).… more

Progress Dallas, the group that brought us the petition drive for November’s pending wet-dry election, has changed its name to Keep the Dollars in Dallas. It’s claiming that the city loses $20 to $30 million annually in tax revenue that is spent on booze in wet suburbs like Addison.

Nothing … more

Retail occupancy in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has not started to improve, reports The Weitzman Group. The current occupancy rate is 86.2 percent, down from 86.4 percent at this time last year. The good news is that the study’s authors think the market may have bottomed out after more than … more

Want to join the Wine Century Club? The Erik’s the Red is a great place to start.

This red blend, from the wonderfully eclectic and goofy Toad Hollow Vineyards, is made with 18 grapes. Yes, 18. Which means drinking a glass will put you almost one-fifth of the way toward … more

Altano 2007 ($10): Portugal

July around here is known for two things — the Fourth of July, of course, and heat. The average high temperature in Dallas in July is 95, and the record high for every day is 105 or more for 30 of the month’s 31 days.

So … more

The city council has authorized the wet-dry election for November, and now the fun begins. Don’t expect any organized campaign to defeat the vote. The people I’ve talked to on the dry side think they have a better chance of preventing the election than they do of winning it.

Our … more

How badly does Mayor Park Cities want to be a U.S. senator? So badly that he has double-crossed his black and brown allies on the city council and is counting on the vote of the one person on the council he has repeatedly stabbed in the back to pass his … more

People always ask: “How do you pick wines to review?” I have a couple of criteria. First, it has to be an interesting, well-made bottle of wine. What’s the point of wasting my time telling you what not to drink? Second, it has to be available. What’s the point of … more

Let’s get the good news out of the way first, because we do need cheering up when it comes to the budget. April sales tax collections hit the city budget target, and we’re only off 4.4 percent for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

And, given our budget troubles, down 4.4 percent … more