Dwaine Caraway released from federal prison and back on the Dallas streets per a recent Twitter post by Dallas Morning News oped columnist Robert Wilonsky.
Last time I saw Dwaine Caraway he was about to head off to federal prison in Big Spring in May 2019. Just ran into him at the 7-Eleven at Marsh and Walnut Hill.
While we were talking a guy (probably a Ticket listener) pulled up, rolled down his window and said, “Welcome back.” pic.twitter.com/BwJg2rj2Ny
Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn cited “Caraway’s credibility while testifying” when she ordered his fifty-six month sentence only lowered by five months to a fifty-one month sentence.
Caraway had been serving time at Big Spring Federal Correction Institution. The federal lock up is about three hundred miles west of Dallas, near Midland, Texas.
Judge Lynn sentenced Caraway in 2019 after he pleaded guilty to taking $450,000 in bribes from promoters of a school bus stop-arm camera system in exchange for helping advocate for the system’s widespread adoption. The governmental entity Dallas County Schools was dissolved amid the scandal.
Caraway also solicited bribes from two other unrelated sources – first, Hamilton, and second, two undercover FBI agents posing as developers.
Caraway was never charged for those secondary bribary crimes, but he testified about them during Hamilton’s trial.
It is unclear what Caraway’s next move might be politically, if any. Former state representative Terri Hodge was found guilty of tax evasion after accepting bribes, but was still nominated to be the Electoral College representative for her Congressional District if Joe Biden had won Texas.
The Dallas Police Department has curious timing. A press release dropped Monday saying DPD Honored for Violent Crime Reduction just one day after a mass shooting involving ten victims and no suspect in downtown Dallas.
Garcia’s plans have been mostly kept under wraps from citizens and journalists. The award also comes after Dallas was hit by a data breach which affected nearly twenty thousand cases including assaults, rape, and other crimes against persons.
DPD Honored For Violent Crime Reduction – Numbers, Not Neighborhoods
Police Chief Eddie Garcia had a number of comments in the city press release.
Garcia said, “The Violent Crime Evidence-Based Reduction Plan is the result of work closely with criminologists, hearing from other departments within the City, and, most importantly, listening to our neighborhoods most impacted by violent crime. Our ultimate goal is the reduction of crime, with an increase in community trust. We will strive for both, as these concepts are not mutually exclusive. We will see further challenges in 2022 and our priority now is for our men and women to continue to partner with our community and strive to achieve an even safer Dallas.”
Dallas residents were rightfully concerned by Dallas weather conditions Wednesday afternoon with ice pending, but Dallas City Attorney Chris Caso chose Wednesday afternoon for its Dallas data loss media drop saying Erin Nealy Cox’s report was submitted and going to members of City Council.
The firm’s report, findings, and recommendations were made available to the City Council in a closed session during today’s council meeting.
Dallas Data Loss Media Drop
Erin Nealy Cox took over an independent investigation into the city IT losses which deleted millions of police files used in criminal prosecutions.
Nealy Cox is the former US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and was recommended by Dallas officials hoping to find answers to the data loss jeopardizing upwards of 17,000 criminal cases.
Neither Cox, nor Kirkland&Ellis, nor the City of Dallas have responded to questions about the investigation, but there are at least two allegations we have learned about involving a coverup of federal housing dollars in South Dallas and past and present members of City Council.
The report next goes to the Ad Hoc Committee on General Investigating and Ethics on Tuesday, March 1. The report will be made public this week in advance of the committee meeting. That committee is led by Cara Mendelsohn, District 12.
In a surprise to no one, Southern Methodist University provided a study confirming the obvious: Dallas infrastructure deserts exists, they primarily exist in the southern sector, and they are happening despite massive funding and misspending by Dallas City Council.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Barbara Minsker led the research project using public data and aerial maps.
“An infrastructure desert is a low-income area that has very highly deficient infrastructure compared to other areas of the city,” Minsker said.
The study considered twelve features of neighborhood infrastructure including streets, sidewalks, internet access to access to medical care. Neighborhoods deficient in eight or more characteristics were graded as infrastructure deserts.
The City of Dallas has not had a serious effort to handle its budget priorities in years. This has led to multiple cost over runs and quality control issues leading to issues in both Public Works and other programs.
Dallas Infrastructure Deserts Study Details
The study can be viewed here, but has a warning that it should not be cited since it has not been peer reviewed yet.
It is not clear if the City of Dallas will attempt to overcome accusations that the City of Dallas is now advancing another social equity goal which is both not realistic and will not do anything to overcome the economic gaps it purports to fix.
The city website says:
Equity means that each person has the resources and services necessary to thrive in each person’s own unique identities, circumstances, and histories.
Equity focuses on eliminating disparities while improving outcomes for all.
Racial equity is a situation that is achieved when people are thriving and neither race nor ethnicity statistically dictates, determines, or predicts one’s social outcome or ability to thrive.
Dallas Racial Equity Plan
Critics point to a series of mismanaged steps by current leadership in Dallas and on City Council.
They point to bait and switch economic development programs run by the former director, Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson, and a South Dallas/Fair Park Opportunity Fund which has been missing trust since it was founded, but has been a cash cow for politically connected minority political operatives.
Response to COVID19 may have hit a road block locally after a Dallas City Council rap song is going viral.
The live “music” performance was performed by Alex Stein, a graduate of Highland Park High School who seemed to be coaxing Instagram followers for himself.
Alex once wanted to be the “most epic villain in reality tv history.” It is possible this stunt was designed to become the most epic villain in city council open microphone history.
Dallas City Council Rap
The one positive to come out of the video is it was intended to be positive. It is hard to make the same call for Renee Hall’s Take A Knee video in 2020.
Future crime data will be limited by a move by Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia.
The otherwise public information is used by both news outlets including Other Side Dallas and by neighborhood groups to monitor community based crime will be harder to access in Dallas based on the secretive police chief’s decisions.
In recent weeks, Garcia has been said to be living on Eddie Garcia Island, by his own staff members. They allude to him being out of touch with both citizens and officers.
Crime Data Accountability
This move puts Garcia squarely at odds with groups seeking police accountability after incidents like the George Floyd protest and lack of responsibility taken by the department after its officers injured bystanders and protestors alike. The city and the department have both been quiet about the Dallas data breach which endangered thousands of prosecutions locally.
It also does not reflect recent actions by Dallas police officers who were caught beating civilians on the streets of Deep Ellum without cause or the recent detention of a family, who were in their own home, in an incident that reminds us of the Botham Jean murder.
The Dallas City Council gives more tax breaks to billionaires in one more corportate giveaway while simultaneously telling the homeless they can not ask for money on street corners.
City Council approved an “incentive” to facilitate a new mixed-use and mixed-income development project proposed by Kroger Co. and its development partner Southeastern called One City View at N. Hall Street and Flora Street.
The project, the second in collaboration with Kroger in recent years, will bring a full-service grocery store and affordable housing to the downtown/uptown area.
“The mixed income component of this project brings 375 new housing units, including a much needed 75 affordable units to Dallas,” District 14 City Council Member Paul Ridley said. “I welcome such opportunities to partner with the private sector to achieve the city’s objective of creating more affordable housing close to jobs, transportation and community resources.”
The new five-story development will include a Kroger grocery store (approximately 80,000 square feet) on the ground level and almost four hundred apartments on the upper four levels. At least seventy-five of these apartments will be rent restricted for households earning a maximum of 60% Area Median Family Income (AMFI). The total project cost is estimated at $108 million.
The incentive approved by the City Council to facilitate the project authorizes a real property tax abatement agreement for a period of ten years in an amount equal to the City’s taxes assessed on 50% of the increased value of the property.
“This partnership is a step towards greater economic and equitable development in communities with untapped potential. We look forward to collaborating with Kroger and Southeastern and hope this project will serve as a beacon to attract similar partnerships,” Chief of Economic Development & Neighborhood Services Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson said.
In 2019, the City Council approved an initial partnership with Kroger for a new $100 million fulfillment center located at 4241 Telephone Road in the Southern Dallas Inland Port. The Dallas-based automated fulfillment center, in partnership with Ocado Solutions USA Inc., will source, package and prepare grocery products for direct delivery to consumers throughout Dallas and neighboring communities.
Tennell Atkins was overjoyed by the news saying in a city issued statement, “this partnership will lift and leverage our efforts to achieve equitable development in Dallas. We are happy to support Kroger in this project, and hope to see more positive and impactful collaborations like this one in our City.”
Atkins is Chair of the Economic Development Committee.
The City of Dallas also provided $3M to a South Dallas grocer with almost no strings attached after city council intercession. It reeked of the economic devlopment problems of the old South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund and todate has not provided additional jobs or additional food options.
That move has since been lambasted as another giveaway to developer friends of local city council members.
Construction of the latest taxpayer funded boondoggle is reported to be nearing completion. 350 full-time positions for the new facility will begin to ramp up in the coming months.
In addition to providing the tax break for Kroger and Company, the City of Dallas is also coordinating with the company to use tax dollars to provide employees to Kroger via city run job fairs.
Erin Nealy Cox takes over the city investigation into IT losses which deleted millions of police files used in criminal prosecutions.
Nealy Cox is the former US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and was recommended by Dallas officials hoping to find answers to the data loss jeopardizing upwards of 17,000 criminal cases.
Council members on Thursday also questioned the head of the city’s IT department about a 131-page report released two weeks ago that found the country’s ninth-largest city lacked basic policies and procedures for backing up archived data.
The City Council’s general investigating and ethics committee unanimously agreed Thursday to recommend law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to conduct the independent review. The City Council will have to approve the decision to make it official.
“The data loss incident may have originated with a single employee who broke the rules,” said council member Cara Mendelsohn, who is chair of the committee. “But it’s clear from this report that there are no rules.
“The discovery of the data loss is horrific to the victims of family violence, and I’m not sure that we can ever fully apologize for any of the cases that don’t move forward because of these errors.”
Erin Nealy Cox – No Stranger To Dallas Police
Nealy Cox, resigned from North Texas’ U.S. Attorney’s Office in December estimated the review and report would take three months to complete and cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars.
Dallas Police Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez said an investigation continues alongside the Dallas FBI Field Office.
Adam McGough acted immediately this morning on Dealey fear of the planned protest by the Davis family.
Minutes after being texted by OSD, he responded “I have brought this concern to top DPD leadership.”
So far he is the only person to respond.
As reported earlier this morning, the Davis’ business tweeted earlier this week a message about choosing between an AK47 and M16 on a business account unrelated to hair salon services for men.
It is unclear why this guest post happened two days prior to their planned protest.
In am email, Dallas Police Deputy Chief Rick Watson states “This is the first I have heard about this information.” This counters a claim by DISD‘s Chief of School Leadership Tiffany Huitt that police would be on scene to maintain order.
Dealey Fear By Students
Since we published this morning an eighth grade parent emailed a screenshot from a cellphone parent monitoring app.
In the cellular text conversation – reported to be three Dealey students – one states “people are talking about them coming with weapons that wont happen right?”
The conversation’s participants are redacted for privacy per the parent source’s condition for publishing.
We will update if Dallas ISD or Dallas Police respond to us.
