I specifically remember being glued to the television on May 2, 1998, tracking the results of the City of Dallas bond vote from my Irving apartment.  I watched with anticipation as Dallas voters went to the polls to vote up or down on a number of propositions, including whether to issue $246 million of bonds for the Trinity River Project.  This included funds that would be used to build the American Airlines Center. I had attended a number of meeting about the Trinity plans, and saved newspaper clippings detailing the need for bridge replacements from some of the roads spanning our fair creek.  While 10 other bond propositions passed with relative ease, the Trinity funds were narrowly approved 51.6 to 48.4. It was then that I made the decision that I wanted to move to Dallas.  It just didn't seem right to leave civic issues that I cared about most (and that I felt most affected me and my family) up to others to decide.  I wanted to be a part of the process, I wanted to cast my vote.  So on Saturday was another big city vote that would be added to voting for Craig Watkins as Dallas County D.A. and ...

I was responding to a message from a friend this morning and figured I'd post what I typed on the blog. Shawn, Just read your latest post. Why is the hotel so important? I don't live in Dallas and I don't have a say but what is it expected to bring. I have heard of conferences but with so little entertainment to offer I don't see that being a big pull. I think it is great that this mayor wants to build up Dallas but I am not sure what or why you all think a hotel is the way to go about it. Friend ### Friend, That's a good question and a question I plan to answer in the next few days. The hotel is important to a city like Dallas because convention and tourism is the lifeblood of major cities. New Orleans is taking their time to rebuild living space, but they wasted no time making sure that tourism was protected and back up as soon as possible. Dallas is the only city in the top 20 convention markets that does not have a convention hotel. Even most opponents agree that the city will benefit from such a venue, they just don't ...

PUT ON FOR YOUR CITY! – VOTE NO! Here’s what’s going on: Many of you moved to Dallas and live here because of the opportunities available to you. You moved here because Dallas is a growing city. Dallas has been losing everything of value to the suburbs. We lost the Cowboys to Arlington. Nokia Theatre is in Grand Prairie. The Texas Motor Speedway is in Fort Worth instead of on I-20 in Oak Cliff. Don’t you want to do things in Dallas? More than $2.5 billion dollars of economic impact and $800 million in direct spending is waiting for us if we VOTE NO! One group is trying to prevent that from getting to Dallas. If Dallas becomes less business-friendly, we lose. The economic future and opportunities of our generation depends on whether or not we VOTE NO! We didn’t like the last Mayor because she shot down every project and now we have a Mayor with great ideas for a great city. We need to have his back! How it affects you Dallas will be become a ghost town. We won’t be able to bring back and build up South Dallas, Oak Cliff, Pleasant Grove, and West Dallas unless we VOTE NO! No more places ...

It's amazing what a group of friends can do with an email a Twitter account, and a few facebook messages. Early this week I got an email from a friend that I trust. It read as follows: Hello: I would like to invite you as my special guest for theDallas Young Professionals for the Convention Center Hotel Luncheon, next Thursday April 16th from 12-115pm at Eddie Deans Ranch (Downtown Dallas off Lamar Blvd). The benefits of attending this luncheon will be powerful networking with the top young business and political leaders in Dallas and information and planning session for supporting the Dallas Convention Center Hotel. This will be the first event of its kind where we are expecting over 300 young corporate professionals/entrepreneurs to attend. If you are serious about building your network and growing your business or climbing the corporate ladder, then you must be there. If you received this email it is because I truly believe that you are a young professional leader who will continue to excel. I'm not sure how many more invites I'll get to events for "young professionals," but I'll ride that train until it runs out. Anyway, I thought since Dallas South ...

I just finished shooting (Wednesday) an interview with Brad Watson from WFAA 8 a few minutes ago. Brad wanted my thoughts regarding the "Vote No" (For the hotel) campaign and a press conference that was held by a group of  Southern Dallas pastors who are against the hotel. The interview is scheduled to run at either 5pm, 6pm, or both on Channel 8.