This just in from City Hall: Council members’ adopted — though hardly unanimous — redistricting map got the go-ahead today from the Department of Justice.

City attorney Tom Perkins said the DOJ’s pre-clearance indicates the plan doesn’t create a retrogression of minority voters’ rights to elect candidates of their choice, per the Voting Rights Act. The map, which has prompted legal action from civil rights groups such as MALDEF, shows four Hispanic voting-majority districts (including District 3), four black districts, and six white ones. Hispanic leaders have pushed for five, four, and five, respectively, in a city where 42 percent of residents are Hispanic, one-fourth are black, and 29 percent are white.

“I am pleased with the outcome,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said in today’s press release. “It is my belief in the future we will see a majority of minority council members sitting around the horseshoe.”

We’ll have more about the map, and how it affects North Oak Cliff, in Friday’s paper.

Brent Jackson’s Oaxaca Interests has brought in Wood Partners to develop Sylvan Thirty.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Wood Partners is also the firm behind the Alta West Davis apartments. That development, if you don’t recall, has a tiny sliver of its footprint inside the Winnetka Heights Historic District and needed the thumbs up from the Landmark Commission to move forward.

Now that Sylvan Thirty’s rezoning was unanimously approved by the City Council, site surveys and grading can begin, with plans for walls to go up in Spring.

Graham Dodds, the urban beekeeping former chef of Bolsa, will take the helm of Central 214. (Photo: File 2010)

After Blythe Beck vacated the executive chef post at Central 214 inside the Hotel Palomar last September, the restaurant has been running without a captain at the helm.

No longer, though, as just yesterday Graham Dodds, one of the geniuses behind the wildly successful West Davis Street restaurant Bolsa, has taken the wheel. There’s no telling what the urban beekeeping Cordon Bleu grad will do with the menu at Central 214, but we’re excited to see.

The same man who was cut short by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings during last Wednesday’s City Council meeting is making darn sure he’s never silenced again.

Monte Anderson, owner of the Belmont Hotel, has forged his own niche in the intertubes with his blog, which appears to be a personal sounding board for issues such as complete streets and sustainable development. Anderson is a vocal opponent to the Sylvan Thirty development that received the unanimous support of the City Council last week.

While there are and cross-postings from the Bike Friendly Oak Cliff blog,  Roy Appleton’s blog, and Rudolph Bush’s news stories, there’s nary a post from Anderson himself.

I’m sure that won’t last long, though.

A reader found one this morning — with collar, tags, and everything — at Zang Boulevard and Pratt Street.

Just a quick heads-up.

This comes from the Winnetka North Neighborhood Association.

If you are missing your black/brown, male rottweiler, please call Lyn Duerson (606 Mayrant Drive) at 972-743-2413.

Says Lyn:

While I was on my way to work this morning I spotted a rottweiler with a collar and tag in the field at the corner of Zang Boulevard and Pratt Street.  He was about 20 yards from two stray, light brown pit bulls.  I was able to get him to come to me, but because I did not have my glasses on I could not call the number on the tag.  The dog and I hung out on the curb until a nice woman stopped and read the number off so I could call the vet and report the rabies number. The vet is Dr. Knowles in Arlington, but the tag does not include the name of the dog.

I have been calling the number on the tag all morning long and no one is picking up. I have left two messages.

Thanks.

Elliot Malphurs, 2, plays a quick game of giant chess during the burger cookoff and homebrew competition in the Bishop Arts District on May 22. (Staff Photo: Chris McGathey)

It’s making the rounds through various Facebook and Twitter posts, so I’ll go ahead and take the bait.

AOL Travel Canada says the Bishop Arts District is our fair city’s “hippest new hood.” (Just a quick point before we dive in: There’s nothing “new” about the Bishop Arts District. In fact, most of it is very, very old, which we like. In fact, they could have mentioned that it’s a historic district, but I digress.)

Better Block and Complete Streets folks will love the author’s description of the district as “a respite from the steering wheel. It packs enough shopping, eating and sipping choices within a few blocks. It’s perfect for travellers who don’t have cars or are nervous about navigating unchartered [sic] areas.”

On Oddfellows: “looks like a modern cabin, but inhabited by a cast of campus radio jockeys.”

On Dude, Sweet Chocolate: “a cozy kitchen headed by a uniformed foul-mouthed chocolatier, Katherine Clapner, who kind of looks like a general in her laced boots and full-body khaki.”

If you can get past the Queen’s English, it’s an interesting little post from someone visiting from the frozen north.

What did you think?

I just returned to the office from City Hall, where the Fort Worth Avenue TIF District Board of Directors unanimously recommended that up to $7.5 million of TIF revenues be dedicated to infrastructure and green space related to The Collective, a planned multi-use development straddling Fort Worth Avenue, just west of Colorado Boulevard.

The funding, which is still subject to approval by the City Council, represents 15.5 percent of the project’s budget. The TIF money would be offered as a reimbursement, only after The Collective is completed.

David Krukiel — who represents developer The Park at Kessler, a limited partnership managed by Bobby Dillard and Rob Gandy of Austin-based Cielo Realty Partners — told the TIF board that he hopes to break ground by April. Read more in this week’s edition of Oak Cliff People.

Don't wait to secure your Christmas dinner, with pie of course!

You have until Wednesday to get your order in. Dinners typically serve eight to 10 hungry folks and includes one of the restaurant’s legendary pies.

MMMMMmmmm … pie …