Council Recap: A Lone Vote for Good Urban Design

Source: h/t DALL-E.

April 28, 2025, was the night that the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Bob Dubey, officially abandoned our century-old downtown compact street grid in favor of a 580-ft superblock on which to build a 279-unit apartment building on property controlled by Manasseh Durkin, who just so happens to be a repeat donor to Mayor Dubey's election campaign. Also the same Manasseh Durkin whose limited partnership is being sued by the City of Richardson for breach of contract on another downtown project. These guys are getting brazen.

2073 (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

2073 (2025): Mostly clips of various kinds of catastrophes strung together for 90 minutes with brief breaks to see a woman living in apocalyptic end times of 2073. No plot. No characters. Mind-numbing and pessimistic. D-

Max

Dubey Gets Cash. Durkin Gets EDA. City Gets Screwed.

Source: Happy Hippie Brewing Co..

We've been getting down in the muck examining the hypocrisy hidden in plain sight in Mayor Bob Dubey's campaign finance reports. Manasseh Durkin, a big property owner in Richardson, gave money to Dubey's campaign for mayor, then sent out a mailer to voters smearing Dubey's opponent for having some lawsuits in his past, with neither mentioning the serious lawsuit Durkin himself is facing.

Diving into Dubey's Campaign Finance Report

Source: Adobe Firefly.

You know how, when you turn the light on in the kitchen, cockroaches scatter? Well, maybe not in my kitchen or yours, but let's say in the break room at City Hall. And let's say it's not cockroaches feeding in the public pantry, it's developers...and the Mayor is opening the food packages for the roaches, er, developers. Enough with the strained metaphor, let's get to the story.

Dubey Faces Ethics and Transparency Questions

Mayor Bob Dubey has close ties with a major developer with questionable ethics. Their cozy relationship raises ethical questions about Dubey himself. You won't find this developer listed among Dubey's endorsements. That raises transparency questions about Dubey as well. The supporter I'm referring to is Manasseh Durkin, whose self-named Durkin Properties says they are the "largest land holder in CORE District" in Richardson, according to The Dallas Morning News.