Data released today from the Dallas Housing Authority, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and the city note Dist. 3 as having nearly 18 percent of Dallas’ subsidized housing — the largest figure for any local council district. Prompted by the controversial relocation of Bridge shelter occupants to DHA high-rise Cliff Manor, the study is circulating as a PDF and contains additional scoop about tax credits, need, and other factors related to permanent supportive housing.

MDHA president Mike Faenza tells me the higher percentage for Dist. 3 relates in large part to projects that don’t actually cater to low-income people, and in some cases indicate city-subsidized developments “that the councilperson [in office at the time] likely approved of.” I’m interested in corroborating this and picking at it historically, so we may have more details in an upcoming story.

In any case, the big move for 17 chronically homeless to Cliff Manor starts Monday — not all at once, but in a staggered process that will play out over the course of the week. The group is mostly female, plus a few senior-citizen men. All have battled addiction and/or mental illness, Faenza said, though the latter can equate at times to common ailments like depression and anxiety, and in all cases the condition is managed.

Cliff Manor Task Force/city official/DHA/MDHA meetings like the one that rocked last Monday night’s clock are likely to continue next week, but at last word a time and date had yet to be set. So stay tuned.

*Another quick note, per the Faenza conversation: in related stories, I’ve written that move-in priority will be given, in part, to single parents — but that children won’t be able to live on the premises (thus begging the question of what happens to ‘em). I’ve seen several other news outlets do the same thing, and think we reporters got that non-factoid from a flier that noted as much incorrectly (or distractingly, anyway) back in June. Some of the homeless applicants may have had kids at one point or another, but they aren’t raising any now.

For more about Cliff Manor and the folks who are still squaring off, pick up the current issue of Oak Cliff People.

Some very sad news just in from MK Semos and Hugo Garcia Urrutia over at Decorazon Gallery: Hugo’s brother, Fernando, was shot and killed the day before yesterday in Juarez (Hugo’s hometown).

Garcia Urrutia is with family at the moment, but he and Semos are still trying to pack up the gallery and clear out — Silver Hogue wrote about their closing party in today’s issue of Oak Cliff People — and going through the motions is “pretty hard now,” says Semos.

Hang in there, you two.

Today’s edition of Oak Cliff People includes our quarterly real estate section, the creatively named “Real Estate Quarterly.” And that section includes rankings of the area’s top real estate agents. The woman at the top of the rankings had a whopping 11 North Oak Cliff listings close in the second quarter, including the house pictured here. Want her name? You’ll have to pick up a paper.

Tara Tonini’s Sky Girls swimsuit trunk show was held at the Belmont Hotel on July 21.

Photos: Marco Antonio Medina

A fundraiser for the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts was held at Turner House on July 24.

Staff Photos: Chris McGathey

Oak Cliff People reported July 23 a person made an unusual discovery while fixing a water leak in the wall of a house in the 900 block of North Madison Avenue on July 15.

“[The witness] removed part of the wall and found several unk[nown] type of bones and a pair of white underwear inside the wall,” the police report stated.

Well, the good news is the bones aren’t human, according to staff at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office. The staff member said she didn’t know what kind of bones they were.

OK, I admit that seeing Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope at the Texas Theatre wasn’t everything I dreamed it would be last night.

I thought the movie would actually be a film. It was a DVD. I thought the screen would be a full movie screen. Height wise, it was. Width wise, not so much.

Having said all of that, it was still extremely cool to be sitting in the historic venue watching a film by my all-time favorite director. I had never seen a Hitchcock movie on anything but a television, so I was pretty giddy about that. When I worked at the Denton Record-Chronicle, we even made Hitchcock the theme for our football sections one year, which turned out awesome, I must say.

Anyway, I would definitely go back for another Hitchcock movie at the Texas Theater. And even though it might not have been exactly what I wanted, it was pretty tough to beat for $5.

Gina and Henry Lara of Casa Blanca in 2009. The restaurant closed recently. (Staff Photo)

The Tex-Mex restaurant Casa Blanca at 400 W. Davis St. has closed, property owner Amanda Cross said Wednesday (July 28).

The Go Oak Cliff blog stated a moving van packed up the restaurant’s furniture on Sunday. Cross said the restaurant’s owner, Gina Lara, was seeking a smaller space. Cross said she believed the economy was a factor in the closing.

“The restaurant business is one of the hardest businesses is there is,” Cross said. “I hope she finds a smaller place;  if there is anything I can do to help her, I will.”

Cross said she has several interested parties in that location, declining to say more except it won’t be a Mexican restaurant. For more details, see the Aug. 7 edition of the Oak Cliff People.

Yesterday, the impending move of 17 chronically homeless people from the Bridge shelter downtown to Cliff Manor sparked another late-night discussion — but unlike a packed town-hall meeting last month, this one was private.

Its outcome: Despite heavy community protest, all 17 will relocate to the Fort Worth Avenue high-rise next week, said Fort Worth Avenue TIF Board chairman Randall White, who blogged live from the four-and-a-half hour meeting at Dallas City Hall.

Until about 10:30 p.m., a few city officials, a “Cliff Manor task force” including White that was appointed by Councilman Dave Neumann, representatives of the Dallas Housing Authority and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, and a handful of other attendees debated the merits and legality of the project, which DHA president MaryAnn Russ counters is required under the Fair Housing Act. Once they’ve been screened and approved, 100 homeless could move to Cliff Manor, where programs will be managed by an on-site caseworker.

Pick up this week’s issue of Oak Cliff People for the full story.

UPDATE: Now I’m hearing the number of potential Cliff Manor residents (via the Bridge) has been knocked down to 50. Developing.

Filmmaker Kirby Warnock poses with a movie poster – and his ride – outside Norma’s Cafe.

West Kessler resident Kirby Warnock’s documentary about Marfa and a troupe of Hollywood visitors has been lauded by the New York Times, earned its share of awards, and made at least one reporter laugh at loud (OK, and tear up at one point, too).

You can’t buy the full version of Return to Giant anywhere, but Warnock will screen it for the first time in years on Thursday at a special benefit for the Texas Theatre. We said as much in Friday’s issue of Oak Cliff People, with one g-i-a-n-t blunder: the wrong show time was noted in an info box. Argh! Sorry, Kirby.

The real deal:

What: Screening of Return to Giant, followed by a Q-&-A with filmmaker Kirby Warnock

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd.

Cost: $5

To learn more,  click here. The link will take you through the Big Bend Quarterly website (Warnock is publisher) and to an info page about the film.