Charles Grand

City Hall Roundup: Consolidation, Litigation, and Frustration

By Charles Grand / August 24, 2025 /

Lots of things are cooking at Dallas City Hall, not least of which is the coming fiscal year’s budget. Sick of hearing about it yet? Well, there’s only another five weeks or so to go. Speaking of the budget, a touchstone of the city manager’s fiscal plan is efficiency in the delivery of services. We’ll…

Dallas Mayor Hints at Need for Local DOGE

By Charles Grand / August 22, 2025 /

Mayor Eric Johnson appears to be taking a page out of President Donald Trump’s playbook in an attempt to get Dallas’ fiscal house in order. On Friday, Johnson requested an item be placed on the city council’s agenda for August 27 that proposes to rename two of the city’s eight established committees and limit when…

How Bad and Frequent Are Power Outages in Texas Really?

By Charles Grand / August 22, 2025 /

When it comes to keeping the lights on, not all states are created equal. Some are powerhouses of reliability, while others always seem to be making headlines over the frequency or duration of their power outages. Press coverage is one thing, though. Underlying data is another. Now, I don’t want to name any names, and…

Pepper Square Opponents Drop Zoning Lawsuit, but New State Law May Make Their Fight Moot

By Charles Grand / August 21, 2025 /

The years-long Pepper Square saga appears to have come to an end this week after Far North Dallas neighborhood activists dropped their lawsuit to stop the controversial development. But the new Senate Bill 840 may have rendered the residents’ legal battle for less housing density irrelevant by giving developers broader rights to build more housing.…

Dallas City Council Will Tee Up Zoning Reform on Wednesday

By Charles Grand / August 19, 2025 /

Zoning is one of the most powerful tools a city can wield. It not only determines where buildings can go but also how neighborhoods grow and function — or don’t. No wonder folks in Dallas are engaging with the issue as the city embarks on a historic overhaul of its land use policies. The Dallas…