Tag: Economy

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Trust Missing Still From South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund

Some things don’t change. Trust missing from South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund it seems.

As the Mayor and City Council debate today the Defund DPD or pay cuts to top level employees the economic development staff issued a Notice of Funding Availability that side stepped normal city procurement policy despite a long history of South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund being poor accountants of the public’s tax dollars.

Trust Missing Still From South Dallas Fair Park Opportunity Fund

Staff for the South Dallas-Fair Park Opportunity Fund also extended the deadline for applications. An anonymous city staff member noted the advisory board mostly applauded, but who and what is being funded is still up in the air. Previously the fund has mostly been a cash cow for certain connected individuals who use the fund as a low cost loan provider at taxpayer expense.

The advisory board has previously avoided a majore reform proposed by City Manager TC Broadnax – axing the ongoing social-services grants and focusing on loans.

It isn’t clear what actions the advisory board is taking to improve the outlook for the Fair Park area, but to date, it appears they are only providing acquiesence and not advice.

Trust Missing…Still and Forever?

Decades’ of city audits reveal the fund is broken and almost broke, after dispensing some $7 million of taxpayer money. The results? There is little to show for it except unpaid-loan lawsuits and just a handful of success stories fueled with forgivable loans.

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Night Shift Survey

24 Hour Dallas has a night shift survey. The link for shift workers who are employed overnight is here.

The survey is supposed to take three minutes and is designed so that 24 hour Dallas can better understand the needs of those who work overnight in and around Dallas.

Night Shift Survey

24 hour Dallas’ Night Shift Survey and More

The group aslo invites everyone who lives, works, or visits Dallas to also offer their thoughts via the survey also.

24 Hour Dallas has been working to identify multiple issues with service workers in Dallas. They recently also held a discussion on race and the economy.

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Dallas ISD Jobs No One Wants Or Can Get

Want a Dallas ISD Jobs offer? One Dallas ISD teacher posted about the district’s need for substitute teachers.

Out of work? Behind on rent? Dallas ISD needs subs…

Edit to add: I thought this would helpful for out of work service industry people – people who would risk exposure to work in bars (but now can’t) could work in classrooms instead. If you are passionate about social distancing OR making lots of money – this is not the job for you.

Dallas ISD Jobs Issues

The reaction has been overwhelmingly negative per a second post.

Dallas ISD Jobs Issues

Comments in the thread include people complaining that they had applied, but could not make it through Dallas ISD’s Human Capital Management maze. This elicited a response that insinuated the poster should consider just sending invoices to Dallas ISD – a reference to the audit scandal that has yet to be answered.

Another set of comments seemed to indicate subs do not make enough money or are scabs because teachers are striking. (Note: In Texas teachers do not have the right to strike.) These comments frequently came from persons parroting statements from GOP politicians that because they do not make enough substitute teaching they should collect unemployment instead.

The final group of posters indicated teaching was mostly babysitting and they weren’t interested in being around dirty children.

“Risk my life for 85 dollars a day in a closed enviroment with children, well known for their cleanliness? I’ll pass.” The interesting part about this comment was the poster states in their Facebook profile they are a journeyman electrician, i.e. why would they be able to substitute teach?

Dallas ISD Jobs

The arguments for or against substituting not withstanding, interested parties can find the substitute information here from Dallas ISD.

As previously reported, the Dallas ISD Calendar is set in stone, but it is unclear if Dallas ISD is regular for the first day of school.

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Carpe Noctem: Sieze The Night (For Everyone)

Carpe Noctem is the ethos of 24 Hour Dallas. For too many it comes with strings attached. On Monday, August 3rd, 24 Hour Dallas will be hosting a Zoom conversation about racism and its effects on the Dallas night time economy.

Interested participants can register for the Zoom meeting thru the 24 Hour Dallas website or via this link.

Carpe Noctem - Sieze The Night For All Races

Night Time Dallas Impacted By COVID19

The first U.S. case of coronavirus originating from China was reported in the United States on January 16, 2020. The first COVID19 case in North Texas was March 9th and by March 12, 2020, Dallas County officials declared a local disaster in response to the COVID-19 pandemic after 13 people were infected in North Texas.

Within a week, the City of Dallas and Dallas County ordered all bars, lounges, taverns, gyms, and theaters to close. Restaurants were required to shutter their dining rooms and only provide takeout or drive-thru service. And Dallas County saw its first death due to the highly contagious virus.

By June 3, Dallas County would have 11,000 diagnosed cases of COVID19 and 250 deaths.

The pandemic fired a direct hit into Dallas’ sociable economic drivers — restaurants, hotels, cultural organizations, special events, and tourism. As these industries recover, 24HourDallas will help restore and advance those aspects of urban life that have been most damaged.

Downtown Dallas and Dallas night life has been impacted both by COVID19’s spread and multiple issues with Dallas Police.

Birth of Carpe Noctem

In 2015, a coalition of bars in Dallas’ Uptown social district contacted the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) in Austin, Texas.

The Uptown commercial corridor had, in recent years, seen rapid residential growth in and next to what had long been a bar and restaurant destination.

Some bars were beginning to face pushback about parking, noise, increased crime and other neighbor complaints. In the absence of a representative association of their own, bar owners inquired with the TRA about any assistance they might be able to provide.

The TRA referred the bar owners to the Dallas-area chapter of the state association, the Greater Dallas Restaurant Association. Bar owners met with the GDRA’s executive director and its recently contracted public affairs consultant.

The GDRA representatives recommended that the bars create “good neighbor agreements” as used in other U.S. markets and take steps to manage noise concerns. Instead, the bar owners decided to organize a business association and help pay for additional security in the district.

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The Chef Behind The Chef

The chef behind the chef has died of COVID19. Luis Dominguez, a career chef who lived in Dallas the past two decades, died from COVID19 last week after spending nearly three weeks in the hospital and almost a week on a ventilator. He is the latest victim of Dallas COVID19 casualties.

He was from Veracruz, Mexico and is a sad example of both the disproportionate effects of COVID9 on the Hispanic community and the foundational nature of immigrant labor and entrepreneurship on our local economy.

The chef, described as hard-working and reliable in his roles at more than a half-dozen kitchens in Dallas, had been working most recently as executive sous chef at HG Sply Co. in Dallas. Dominguez was 38.

The Chef Behind The Chef

The Chef Behind The Chef…At Smoke, HG Sply Co., More…

Luis Dominguez came to Dallas with his cousin Eric Dominguez. They started as dishwashers at the Wyndham Hotel. He went on to work at Cosmo Rouge, Hattie’s, as a line cook at Tillman’s Bishop Arts.

He was also recruited into the kitchen at the NYLO, and from there, Smoke, and HG Sply Co.

Dominguez is survived by his wife; his parents, Jesus Dominguez Mata and Josefa Garrido Andrade; and siblings Jesus Dominguez and Jessica Dominguez.

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Disgusting American Airlines Staff: Is NAACP Travel Advisory Returning

A Black social worker is suing American Airlines, alleging airline employees suspected her of kidnapping a white toddler whom she was accompanying during a flight last fall.

Shannon Murphy, a social worker with Riverside County, California, said her civil rights were violated when she was pulled off a plane in October and airline employees took the baby she was caring for. The suit alleges violations of Murphy’s civil rights, false imprisonment, and negligence. It seeks unspecified punitive and exemplary damages, as well as compensation for past and future medical expenses. Murphy said she had been seeing a therapist since the incident and has suffered from insomnia and nightmares.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in late June and first reported by The Mercury News, Murphy was escorting the toddler back from a court-mandated two-week visit with his father in Arkansas. While a passenger was waiting for the second leg of a flight to depart from Dallas-Fort Worth for Ontario International Airport near Los Angeles, they told a flight attendant that they suspected Murphy of holding a kidnap victim, the lawsuit alleges. 

Disgusting American Airlines Staff Wrongfully Detains Social Worker

Per reports American Airline employees asked Murphy for her boarding pass, told her she needed to leave the plane with them, and took the child from her, she said.

Murphy said she had paperwork with her, including her work ID, the child’s birth certificate, and a signed copy of the court order for the trip. She tried to show it to the airline employees on the plane, but they insisted she come with them, she said. They eventually checked the paperwork and said there had been a mistake, according to Murphy. 

In 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory against American Airlines based on other similar behavior.

American Airlines: More Bad News

This is the second recent issue for the Dallas based airline. Last week, American was hit by complaints by a sitting US Senator that they were not protecting passengers appropriaely from COVID19. They then seemed to violate their own standards allowing Sen. Ted Cruz to fly without a mask.

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Labor Day Class Open

Dallas ISD Schools are closed until Labor Day for in person instruction per an order by Dallas County Health Department Medical Director Philip Huang.

No In Person Classes Until After Labor Day

An early September return to school still seems optimistic per many teachers and parents who have begun a #NotMyKid campaign to keep their children home.

This move by the Dallas County Health Department seems to preempt next week’s Dallas ISD Board of Trustees meeting.

Labor Day Option

The Dallas ISD Calendar has been up in the air since the Texas Education Agency stipulated students must return to class despite parent and educator objections. This would seem to be one more nail in the coffin of a Fall 2020 football season making its way onto the Dallas ISD Calendar as children’s COVID19 cases continue to spread.

Reprinted with permission of Townview Magnet Foundation.

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Free Tito’s

Free Titos hand santitizer is being given away at Fair Park Gate 2 this morning, Thursday July 16, 2020, starting at 9:00AM.

More than 44,000 bottles of hand sanitizer have been made by Texas’ Tito’s Handmade Vodka.

Free Titos Hand Sanitizer

Adults over 18 can pick three free bottles at 921 S. Haskell Ave. in South Dallas.

More Free Titos

Tito’s has been producing hand sanitizer since late March, donating bottles to frontline workers at more than 500 organizations in Central Texas and to 30 other states as part of the response to COVID19. As COVID19 cases continue to be more than 1000 new cases per day in the Dallas area health officials continue to encourage thorough and regular hand washing.

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Dallas Rich Get Richer

The Dallas rich keep getting richer. The City of Dallas Eviction Moratorium is over and worse – the Coronavirus Dallas Rental Assistance Program is pushing money into districts with higher socioeconomic status.

The Coronavirus Dallas Rental Assistance Program was put into action to try and help citizens in need. It was expected the program would be up for at least a month with applications being processed daily. The system was overwhelmed by applicants by the second day both the hotline and website were shut down, not accepting any more applications.

COVID19 brought many fears to the City of Dallas. One of them was how to work with Shelter in Place orders. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Dallas tripled from 4.6 in March to 12.3 in May 2020 similar to the spiking COVID19 numbers.

Mayor Eric Johnson took to Twitter to announce that only 9,996 applicants were eligible for the second phase of the program. After the website shut down it was reported at least another 15,000 applicants were not able to finish. This is without taking into account the many people had no idea of this rental assistance program or the many immigrant communities who don’t qualify for the program.

The Eviction Lab at Princeton University estimated that 1.5 million people are evicted in the United States annually.

10 million people were evicted in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. Some have suggested we may see an eviction rate as high as 8% or 28 million people being evicted in the just the next few months.

The Dallas Rich Are Not Stopped by The Eviction Process

Dallas Rich District Landlords Receive Most Rental Assistance Income

Some districts most affected by the coronavirus were left with little to no help from the programs set up by the city. An example, District 5 accounted for only 3% of applications and several residents said they heard nothing about the program from City Council Member Jaime Resendez. While accounting for only 3% of program applications, none were approved for District 5 and local residents are bewildered by Resendez’s attitude towards their needs.

Dallas Rich Council Districts Get Richer

The South Dallas sector ended up receiving less than 20% of the funds. This is a bad look for city leadership and management that talks about equity, but usually fails to deliver.

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American Airlines Continues COVID19 Cattle Class Carelessness

American Airlines was hit by articles in the New York Times and a tweet by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley recently over their lack of social distancing on flights. American Airlines, based in the Dallas-Fort Worth region was highlighted as refusing to allow an elderly couple to move to an empty emergency exit.

American Airlines Hit With Complaints by US Senator Jeff Merkley

Per the article, a June 30 flight on American from Dallas to Newark included Joy Gonzalez, an aviation engineer based in Seattle. She found herself seated at a window with two older passengers beside her in the middle and aisle seats. In order to gain more social distance, she and the aisle passenger both moved to seats behind them where two rows were empty. But before takeoff, a flight attendant ordered them back to the ticketed seats, telling them they had not paid for those exit row seats, which are more expensive.

A second flight attendant listened to Ms. Gonzalez’s request, consulted with the other attendants and gave her two options: Take your assigned seat or return to the gate and pay for the exit row. As the flight was on the verge of departing, she sat down.

American Airlines and COVID19 Response

The airline did receive more than $5B in federal aid for COVID19 per their own newsroom. The federal aid package included $4.1 billion in direct support and another $1.7 billion as a 1% loan which 75% of could be converted into a grant.

Other Side Dallas will continue to report on other local employers and their actions in light of COVID19.

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