Jason Roberts

Before Jason Roberts and Amy Wallace Cowan ever officially announced the creation of their community relations firm, I would get emails from her that ended with “cowanroberts.com” and assume that the domain name was reserved for a future presidential run by some combination of Jason, Amy, or their respective spouses, Andrea and Eric.

Since then, Eric has thrown his hat in the political arena, winning a seat on the DISD Board of Trustees. Later, their buddy Scott Griggs ousted Dave Neumann from the City Council.

Well, this afternoon, Jason tweeted that he is exploring a run for Congress. “With redistricting up in the air, it’s going to be an incredibly short campaign for the primary,” he wrote. As the current districts stand, the Robertses live in Pete Sessions territory.

Your Dallas Mavericks with President Barack Obama. (Photo: Rep. Rafael Anchia via Facebook)

Yes, it’s grainy, but how cool is it that your neighborhood state representative, Rafael Anchia, is at the White House along with the Dallas Mavericks?

Very cool, if you ask me!

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-East Kessler, announced today that he is officially seeking a fifth term in the Texas House. Anchia was first elected to represent District 103 in 2004.

The primary election is scheduled for March 6, with the general election to follow Nov. 6.

The Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for its annual awards ceremony, which is scheduled for Dec. 9. The deadline to submit a nominee is 5 p.m. today. The categories are:

• Business of the Year
• Event of the Year
• Public Servant of the Year
• Community Advocate of the Year
• New Business/Development of the Year

Know a worthy person/business/event? Don’t be shy; throw their hat in the ring.

Mayor Mike Rawlings

The good ole’ OC Chamber of Commerce has arranged a lunch fete with mayor Mike Rawlings tomorrow, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mayor Rawlings will give a “State of the City” update and discuss pressing issues affecting Oak Cliff and the rest of Dallas.

The luncheon will be held at Cedar Crest Golf Club (1800 Southerland Ave.). Tickets are $25 for club members and $35 for perspective members. You can purchase tickets here or by calling 214-943-4567.

The public will have its final chance to speak up about the city’s proposed redistricting map (before the final vote) tomorrow from 3 to 6 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.

The above map is the version amended by council members Delia Jasso, Scott Griggs, Ann Margolis, and Monica Alonzo. Griggs and Jasso’s amendments keep Sunset Hills together and bring Beckleywood and Beckley Club Estates into District 1.

“It is very important to show up Saturday and support councilmembers Griggs and Jasso’s amendments to the map,” said Michael Amonett, president of the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League. “These boundaries will be with us for 10 years.”

To say the least, last night’s neighborhood meeting on the city’s proposed fire station changes drew a hefty — and heated — crowd. Neighbors throughout Oak Cliff, especially those in the vicinity of Fire Station 26, were out in full force, along with a handful of firefighters from Station 26. Although, the firefighters were asked to leave the meeting.

One audience member said, “It’s a slap in the face that they [firefighters] were asked to leave, because we invited them here.” A.C. Gonzalez, assistant city manager, explained that they were asked to leave because they were working and there are specific rules about having personnel on duty. The audience was skeptical.

Gonzalez gave a presentation about what exactly the city manager has proposed, as far as relocating ladder trucks and their four-firefighter teams. Councilwoman Delia Jasso and acting fire chief Louie Bright were on hand to answer questions after Gonzalez’s presentation. Councilman Scott Griggs was also in attendance and spoke briefly at the end of the meeting.

During his presentation, Gonzalez said the decisions to move the ladder trucks and four firefighters from Station 26 to 52 and from 15 to 33 came down to response time…to minimize the damage caused by fires and the lives lost. He further said that the placement of the equipment must be optimized for the best response time. Dallas Fire Rescue has not done an analysis of response time for 25 years. Utilizing a computer program, used by 90 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, the changes were determined.

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Carla Ranger

DISD Trustee Carla Ranger posted on her blog that she is resigning from the school board, “effective on the earliest date of Board acceptance.”

Ranger further said in her post, “It is my hope that the board will appoint a replacement until the next regularly scheduled election date. Immediate acceptance and appointment of a new trustee prior to the September board briefing would be appreciated.”

On Thursday night, Ranger lost a decision on redistricting. The board approved to move four precincts out of her district into board president Lew Blackburn’s district, in an 8 – 1 vote. Ranger abstained from voting.

The precincts are in the Wilmer-Hutchins area, and one is home to Wilmer-Hutchins High School and Elementary School.

If you missed the city-budget proposal meeting Tuesday, August 23, and/or the one that took place this past Wednesday, you have another opportunity to speak your mind about the 2011-12 city budget proposal.

This Monday, August 29, Scott Griggs will host another town-hall style budget meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Hitt Auditorium (off of Colorado) at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

For those of you not familiar with the proposed budget, there will be a brief presentation covering the major issues, or you can read my blog post from last week, in which I highlighted the critical components.

If you want your voice to be heard about issues affecting Oak Cliff or those facing all of Dallas, be sure to attend and speak your mind — before the budget goes back to the City Council for approval.

Scott Griggs and Eric Cowan welcome students at Quintanilla Middle School.

Councilman Scott Griggs and DISD Trustee Eric Cowan got up bright and early this morning to help Oak Cliff kids kick off the new school year. I caught up with Griggs and Cowan at Stevens Park Elementary School at 7:45 a.m. (and I am undoubtedly the worst morning person — ever) where they welcomed new and returning students, and chatted it up with new Stevens Park principal Susan Walker.

By 8:15 a.m., the guys made their way over to Quintanilla Middle School to welcome seventh and eighth graders on their first day — and helped remind students to tuck their shirts in before heading to class.