DALLAS SOUTH

Tuesday, May 20 from 11am-6pm you can go out to Victory Park and try your luck at beating other people at hitting the longest drive in a golf simulator. Dallas Maverick’s star Dirk Nowitzki is set to make an appearance. Gatorade Tiger will name a male and female winner in each of the five cities that will host the Moonshot Challenge.

The finalists will fly to New York City to compete in the Championship Event in Times Square on June 11th. At that competition, a male and female champion will win the opportunity to create their own “out of this world” experience worth up to $125,000.

On behalf of fans who participate in Gatorade Tiger Moonshot Challenge events, Gatorade Tiger will donate $100,000 to the Tiger Woods Foundation. The Tiger Woods Foundation has reached more than 10 million young people through character development programs, scholarships, grants, and the Tiger Woods Learning Center.

JEFF MOSIER and STEVE BROWN of the Dallas Morning News report that Arlington will have to wait for Glorypark Development near stadiums. Too that I ask, is anyone surprised? This kind of has a familiar ring to it.

The Lame Duck in Washington didn’t even act like he was going to develop the ballpark. After selling his share of the Rangers for a 25 fold profit (read this story to see how little Bush did to kick off his political career as a Rangers principal) he got the heck out of dodge.

The Rangers have promised development around The Ballpark for nearly 20 years since voters approved the stadium in 1990. In 2001, an April article by Kelly Patterson in The Dallas Morning News seemed like progress was on the way.

• Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks will kick off a multimillion-dollar development at The Ballpark in Arlington this year with three buildings that will combine office, retail and residential space, Southwest Sports Group officials said Thursday. The buildings will be constructed on what are now parking lots along Randol Mill Road and Ballpark Way.

In March of 2002 it was…you guessed it, terrorist attacks. MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

• Don’t expect to see signs anytime soon of the promised commercial development that was to surround The Ballpark in Arlington.The beginning of commercial construction near The Ballpark remains at least six months away, an executive with the Texas Rangers’ parent company said.Mike Cramer, president of Southwest Sports Group, the parent company of both the Rangers and the Dallas Stars, said the Arlington project remained a top priority for the company. Significant money has already been spent on architectural design work, studies and other initiatives, he said.

  “We work on it every day,” Mr. Cramer said. “I meet personally with the Arlington chamber folks just about every week. We have a very big investment there already in the team and in the land.”

  Arlington officials and residents have been waiting about 10 years for the development at The Ballpark’s 270 vacant acres to begin. Retail, office and residential projects had been billed as another reason voters should support a half-cent increase in the sales-tax rate to pay for the stadium.

  Rangers owner Tom Hicks bought the team and associated properties in 1998 for $250 million. Last April, he announced that the first phase of a long-term major development project would begin in 2001. Three buildings were to be under way by the end of December.

  Mr. Cramer said the terrorist attacks of last fall and the uncertain economy since then had forced the company to wait.

  “Sept. 11 definitely sidetracked us,” he said. “And we can only create what the market will support.”

Dallas Business Journal June 2004, once again it’s on.

• Southwest Sports Realty, owned by Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, has named Cousins Properties Services LP as manager for 340 acres in the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex, including 213 acres around Ameriquest Field and the Frisco Sports Complex.

• The 176 acres around Ameriquest Field make up the largest part of the management deal. Recent developments near the stadium include a corporate headquarters for Siemens Dematic Postal Automation, which opened in December 2003, and two restaurants, which are currently under construction. In the 10 years since the stadium opened, the promised development around the ballpark has largely not appeared, however. Proposed uses for future development include residential, retail, office and hotel facilities.

And now, the dreaded credit crunch. From Thursday’s article:

• Arlington’s half-billion dollar answer to Victory Park has been put on hold because of the troubled financial and retail markets, billionaire Tom Hicks said Wednesday.
• Mr. Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, said Hicks Holdings has been unable to secure financing for the 1.2 million-square- foot Glorypark. The giant mixed-use development was scheduled to open in March 2010.

• The completion of Glorypark, which would have included restaurants, retail, office space and residential, had been delayed at least twice previously. The project was to be built on the parking lots to the south and west of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

“We’re in the most difficult credit crunch I’ve seen the last 20 years,” Mr. Hicks said.
Congrats Arlington! They’ve done it to you again.

Tonight, Former Presidential Candidate John Edwards will endorse Senator Barack Obama for President. With some of the other superdelegates who have come out today, it is clear that the Democrats are finally ready to rally around their candidate. It’s about time.

by Wilton Hollins 

There was time in its history when Dallas was known as a ‘Can Do’ city.  In other words, there were no dreams too big or tasks too major that the city of Dallas could not overcome.

The mere fact that Dallas exists was due to this can do spirit.  There were no natural resources, major waterways, aesthetic beauty, or any of those entities that cause cities to sprout and grow into major tier one cities.  The soil is shifty and the heat is suicidal in the summer, but despite negatives Dallas has grown into a major thriving metropolis. 

The Greater Dallas Metropolitan area can now boast at being the fourth largest metro area in the nation; recently surpassing San Francisco/ San Jose.  This growth can only be attributed to the will of the citizens of Dallas.  But can Dallas be greater?  Can Dallas truly be the “shining star” of Texas?

Many have argued that our city has lost its Can Do spirit and replaced it with a Won’t Do spirit.  It has become bogged in racial strife, exclusionary backroom politics and a lack of vision. 

Does Dallas fully maximize and capitalize on the talents of all its citizens?  I’m afraid the new majority will say no.  Most forward thinking CEOs in corporate America will tell you that by fully embracing the talents and diversity of the workplace, it allows for a broader or targeted view which allows for greater market share opportunities.  Dallas city leaders should adopt this broad targeted view.

There are a number of young African Americans that grow up in Dallas and go on to receive graduate and post graduate degrees; but a large number of these educated Dallasites will move away, taking their knowledge and skills to such cities as Atlanta, Houston, Chicago and New York.  The Dallas’ job market is just as strong if not stronger than the aforementioned cities, so why not stay here?  Could the reasons be associated with not feeling accepted or being made to feel like a stranger in their hometown?

Many in the city will not view this migration of talent as an issue, or a loss of intellectual property.  But they are the same group that does not see the Cowboy’s stadium being built in Arlington as an issue; failing to develop south of the Trinity as an issue or more recently the hesitancy of building the much needed convention center hotel that would anchor growth on the south side of downtown as an issue.  These blinders directly affect the bottom line and results in hundreds of millions in loss revenue dollars for the city. 

If “open hearts, open minds and open doors” won’t bring us together, then maybe dollar signs can.

Click on the link below to see a press release from the J.L. Turner Legal Association (JLTLA). The JLTLA, the African American Bar Association of Dallas, press release concerns the group’s support of Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston and Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins’ call for penalties against prosecutors that intentionally withhold evidence resulting in innocent people being imprisoned.

jltla-press-release-for-prosecutorial-misconduct.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: E. Steve Bolden, II

Phone: (214) 803-6093

estevebolden@hotmail.com

J.L. Turner Legal Association Back’s Dallas County District Attorney’s Call for Penalties for Intentional Prosecutorial Misconduct

President Steve Bolden announced today that the J.L. Turner Legal Association, The African-American Bar Association of Dallas (“JLTLA”) supports recent comments by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in which he endorsed sanctions – possibly even jail time – for prosecutors who intentionally withhold evidence.

“The actions of the prosecutors highlighted by the Dallas Morning News article on May 4^th undermine the credibility of our criminal justice system. Intentionally hiding evidence that could prove a person’s innocence not only violates the U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, but smacks of the sorts of antics in Communist era ‘show trials.’ It’s not American and it makes a mockery of our criminal justice system.”

Texas accounts for 14 percent of the estimated 216 DNA-based exonerations around the nation. Dallas County leads all local jurisdictions with 17 exonerations from genetic testing.

“District Attorney Watkins has taken a stance that may not be popular among prosecutors and some segments of the legal community. Nonetheless, the District Attorney’s stance epitomizes public service over self interest. That is precisely why we support the calls by District Attorney Watkins and State Sen. Rodney Ellis (Houston) for harsh penalties for intentional prosecutorial misconduct.”

“As lawyers, we recognize that sending innocent people to jail, if not to the death chamber, is wrong. And as gatekeepers of our profession, we cannot sit idly by and watch grave injustices being perpetrated by members of our noble profession.”

Mr. Bolden says that JLTLA will also work with other organizations to garner support on this important policy issue. “I believe the citizens of Dallas and across Texas will be upset to learn that when a regular person files a false police report, or when a police officer plants evidence, they can both be brought up on charges and go to jail - but when there is intentional prosecutorial misconduct, virtually nothing happens. Surely, that can’t be justice.”

The JLTLA was organized in 1952, and is the African-American Bar Association of Dallas. It is an affiliate of the National Bar Association, the oldest and largest national association of African-American and minority attorneys, jurists, legal scholars, and law students in the world.

 Even with Mrs. Clinton’s “big win” in West Virginia, the math is still the same.  I’m guessing she will pick up a gain of 8-10 delegates on Obama’s lead and 150K or so votes on the total vote.  She will remain over 150 delegates behind.  Now on to Kentucky with 51 pledged delegates and Oregon with 52.

My son and I won a “Sportscaster For a Day” prize in a silent auction held at Frederick Douglass Academy earlier this month. As such, we got to spend some time on the air with Roger B. Brown of KKDA after work today.

Big shout out to Bishop, Ms. E., Flipp (A PHI), Tachia Williams, Skip Murphy, and the entire KKDA Family who really made us feel welcome today. Roger B. actually invited me back to participate on Sunday Night’s show which will air on Soul 73 (730 AM) at 6 p.m.. Make sure to tune in on Sunday and let me know what you think.

And give a shout to Roger B on the web at RogerBBrown.com or on his My Space Page.

Thanks to all the good folks across the pond who invited me to participate in a lively discussion on BBC’s World Have Your Say.

Here’s audio of today’s show, which revolved around the question of whether or not Hillary Clinton should stay in the Democratic Presidential race. It was a really nice discourse on the BBC today with a number of varied opinions. Some of the other blogs that participated on the show which is heard around the world were The Moderate Voice - Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes and The Road to 2008 (Alex).

Unfortunately the words “Dallas South” were not uttered, but it was still fun and I hope to be invited back.

The Washington Post has an extensive article today on how race has played out on the campaign trail this year. To his credit, Barack Obama has made no mention to all the negativity produced by the type of voters Hillary Clinton now welcome into her base. Her base of White Americans, hard working White Americans, and people who won’t vote for Obama because he’s black. Hillary Clinton has started to wear racist voters who support her cause as a badge of honor.

An Obama office in Longview, Texas was vandalized on the heels of a campaign appearance by Samuel L. Jackson. It’s amazing how quick we’re willing to chalk it up as a fluke rather than a manifestation of an underlying sentiment from a sizable portion of the electorate. Take a moment to read Racist Indidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause by Washington Post staff writer Peter Slevin and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta of the in its entirety.  Here are a few of the highlights.

• In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into “a horrible response,” as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.”The first person I encountered was like, ‘I’ll never vote for a black person,’ ” recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. “People just weren’t receptive.”
• Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: “It wasn’t pretty.” She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn’t possibly vote for Obama and concluded: “Hang that darky from a tree!”

• The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama’s controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: “Hamas votes BHO” and “We don’t cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright.”

• Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. “I trust him,” Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama’s face on Seifert’s T-shirt and said: “He’s a half-breed and he’s a Muslim. How can you trust that?”

• Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not. Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. “I think if it was somebody other than him, I’d accept it,” she said of a black candidate. “If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him.”

The Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program matches highly motivated college students from Senatorial District 23 with jobs, mentors, character building opportunities, and community service programs/projects that will change their lives. The 2008 application process for this program is only on-line. No hard copy applications will be accepted.

Please review the below-mentioned criteria and if you meet the criteria, please apply on-line by going to www.conradleadership.com and completing the application immediately. The initial deadline was April 28. Extended until Wednesday, May 14.

We will initiate the process immediately when we receive your on-line application. Sponsors are anxiously waiting on resumes for their review for early consideration and placement. We are looking for all majors but have special requests for students majoring in mechanical and civil engineering, accounting, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, social work and computer science. These students need higher GPAs and must be at the junior and senior level.

Please make certain that your email address and telephone number(s) on the application and your resume’ are correct and of a professional nature.

If you are unable to apply for this year’s program, we would appreciate you distributing this information to other students that might be interested in the program.

CRITERIA:

• Currently enrolled in 4-year college/university as an undergraduate or graduate student, or enrolled in a medical, dental or professional graduate program
• Permanent residence in Senatorial District 23 (central and southernmost parts of Dallas, Duncanville, DeSoto, Lancaster, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill, Hutchins, and Mesquite)
• Complete on-line application
• Provide two references
• Provide electronic copy of college transcript
• Submit 250 word essay entitled “Why is An Internship Important?”
• Provide electronic version of your resume’
• Provide community service/volunteerism reference.
• Minimum 2.25 GPA

The MANDATORY ORIENTATION is scheduled for Saturday, May 17 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the University of North Texas - Dallas Campus located at 7300 Houston School Road in Dallas, Texas. Selection Committee Interviews will take place May 19 – 23, 2008 at the same location.

DISCLAIMER: No applicant is guaranteed an internship placement. The better your interviewing skills, business attitude, resume’, professionalism, and flexibility, the better your chances for placement.