Beginning April 10, smoking in a Dallas bar, billiard hall and most workplaces will be against city ordinance and could result in a $200 fine, after the city council voted 10-5 today to enact the ban. According to the News, councilmen debated four hours on the ordinance. Voting for the ban: Leppert, Garcia, Caraway, Medrano, Neumann, Davis, Allen, Koop, Natinsky and Hunt. Voting against the ban: Jones Hill, Salazar, Atkins, Kadane and Rasansky.

I just got back from the grand opening of Post Eastside that new mixed-use development off Central and Campbell. This is a cool little place (think mini-Mockingbird Station). I didn’t spot any retailers yet, but Panera and Bourdreaux’s are up and running–and as of tomorrow, Jersey Mike’s will officially be open.

I also spotted a few apartment patios decked out with holiday decor, which means there are already tenants. There’s also a small park with a fountain and amphitheater, which is refreshing to see in a neighborhood where green space is so scarce.

One of the biggest questions about the convention center hotel is its cost. The city has been vague about it, and those who have tried to get some sort of answer have also been frustrated. Really frustrated.

Add us to the latter list. I have spent the past week trying to find a municipal bond lawyer who can talk me through the bond selling process and how it will work for the hotel. And, apparently, no one wants to do it.

After the jump, my hunt for an expert and why I can’t find one:
The first thing to know is that there’s a price to build the hotel, but there is also a price for paying off the bonds. It’s similar to buying a house, says SMU economics professor Mike Davis. The price it costs to own the house, which includes interest, is much more than the price of the house. You wouldn’t buy the house unless you had an idea about the interest rate. But that’s missing from almost every discussion of the hotel, including the city’s voluminous hotel web site and FAQs.

In other words, if it costs $350 million to build the hotel and another $150 million for the land, how much revenue will the hotel have to take in so it can make the monthly mortgage payment?

So I wanted a lawyer to help me with a couple of things:

• How does the municipal bond market look right now? Will the city be able to sell the bonds at the beginning of next year, which appears to be the plan? In Portland, for example, city officials have all but given up on a convention center hotel because the municipal bond market is so fragile.

• If the city can sell the bonds, what will the interest rate be? Is there a way to estimate what the total cost will be?

• How much cash will the hotel have to generate to pay off the bonds?

Then, armed with those numbers, I can call hotel operators and ask them them if it’s feasible, in this economy, for a convention center hotel to do those numbers.

The catch? I can’t find a bond attorney in Dallas who will answer those questions. I’m told (and I need to be a little vague here, to protect a source) that the attorneys who would normally be able to answer those questions don’t want to. They don’t want to take a chance that their cooperation will antagonize the city and cost their firm a chance at future business. I’m trying to track down someone in Houston, but that isn’t looking good either.

What does this say about the hotel deal when lawyers, who will normally talk about anything at any time, don’t want to talk to us — and we’re hardly the New York Times? It says that Mayor Park Cities and his allies are using all their considerable muscle to keep opposition to a minimum, and to keep any possible bad news out of the news until after they cobble together their deal.

There are two reasons why I’m writing about the Alicante. One is that it’s quality wine. The other is that I get to tell my Francis Ford Coppola wine story.

This is a very fruity, almost cranberry-ish red wine, dark in color and low in alcohol. It’s quite fun to drink, which is not a way I usually describe wine. In this case, fun means you pour a little, drink it, pour a little, chat, pour a little more, eat a bite, pour a little more. The next thing you know, the bottle is empty.

At $15 (available at World Market), it’s not as inexpensive as it could be, given that the grapes are from Lodi and that alicante, an Italian grape not much known in the U.S., is not exactly cabernet sauvignon. But it’s still a value, and would pair nicely with almost any holiday meal, as well as red sauces and pasta.

After the jump, my Coppola story:
Several years ago, I did a sparking wine story for the Fort Worth newspaper and mentioned Sofia, the sparkling wine that Coppola’s company produces. It’s named after his daughter, the actress and director. I wrote that I liked the wine, and found it to be much better made than Coppola’s $10 wines, which are very inconsistent in quality (and still are). I said that Sofia was like the Godfather movies, while the $10 wines were more like One From the Heart, a very odd and not well received musical that Coppola directed in 1982. Keep two things in mind: The Sofia got a favorable review, and the bit about the movies was just one line in the story.

After the story ran, I got a phone call from the wine company’s PR person (who is well respected in the business, but had to do what the client told her to do):

PR person: The Coppola people saw your article. Why did you write that about the Sofia?

Jeff: Write what? It was a favorable review.

PR person: That it was like the Godfather, and that the $10 wines were like One from the Heart.

Jeff: You’re kidding, right? It was a favorable review. Did they notice that?

PR person: They want me to ask you if you know anything about Coppola’s wines. Do you know they make expensive wines that get big scores? (She was referring to Coppola’s high-end winery, today called Rubicon Estate. Its flagship wine is your basic $100 Napa cabernet blend.)

Jeff: Yes, I know about those wines. I’m a wine writer.

PR person: Why didn’t you mention those? Why did you write about the $10 wines? They’re very unhappy.

Jeff: Let me get this straight. I write a favorable review about one of their wines, and they’re unhappy? Doesn’t that strike you as a bit odd?

PR person: [Silence].

Jeff: Well, you can tell them that if they get upset when I write a favorable review, they don’t have to worry about what I write any more. I just won’t write about Coppola’s wines. No sense in making them unhappy.

And I haven’t, until now. I hope this review was favorable enough for them.

If you’ve been following the city council’s initiative to ban smoking in bars and billiard halls, along with the existing ban in restaurants and office/retail buildings, you might be interested in following today’s debate on the topic (expected to begin around 10:30 a.m.) by clicking here to read the Morning News’ Dave Levinthal’s live blogging report from the council chambers.

I can’t say that I’m a big fan of the "live blogging" idea, though; when I’ve seen it in action, there are too many things going on. If this one follows form, Levinthal will be reporting on the council’s debate, making comments about the debate himself, taking comments from readers, and commenting on their comments even as they’re commenting on his comments and other commenters’ comments. See what I mean?

Maybe it’s just easier to wait until this afternoon and see what happens after it happens…

I had lunch at the Dream Cafe in our neighborhood today. On my way out, a blackboard near the door caught my eye. There among the daily soups was a noteworthy little deal: You can get free coffee weeknights 6:30-9:30 when you use their free WiFi. That’s not a bad deal since most places actually make you buy something if you’re going to be sitting around taking up space. Besides, free caffeine is always a good thing.

Let’s face it, things are tight for most of us–which makes a good bargain all the more appreciated.  I checked out the going-out-of business sale at Harold’s today–you know, the one we told you about on this very blog. Turns out there are some big discounts going on there…like 75 percent to 88 percent big.

Need a holiday gift for dad? Ties that were originally $70 are now $30–plus you get that second one half-off. I grabbed two sweaters, both originally $98, for $25 each. I also eyed the $120 handbags going for $30, but decided to pass. Everything in the store is on sale, and I mean everything (display furniture and decor included).

As I checked out, employees were marking down merchandise even lower. The manager on duty told me there’s also a lot more inventory in the back, and the store is still full. She also said they intend to continue the sale until everything is gone, which from the looks of it is going to take at least a few more months. If you’re doing your gift shopping on a budget this year, it’s worth checking out.

A regular roundup of stuff that wouldn’t necessarily make it on the blog, but is worth noting:

• Hearing scuffling noises in your attic? Seeing chewed bits of fabric around the house? You may well have rats, says Jake McDaniel of McDaniel Pest Control, who stopped by the house yesterday to lay bait. Yes, even being a cranky ex-newspaperman is not enough to keep the rodents out. McDaniel says this has been an especially bad year for rats, thanks to the last couple of mild winters and a very dry summer. Rats started infesting homes in June and July instead of waiting until fall, when the y usually show up.
• Call it suburban paranoia. Parents in Rowlett don’t want the high school to perform Rent, fearing that the play about "bohemians" in Greenwich Village will corrupt their children. Rent, of course, is based on an opera called La Boheme, well known for its corrupting influences. Or, to look at it another way: Do these parents want to stop doing The Sound of Music because their children could become Nazis or The Crucible because they could turn into witches?

• Rodeo Ford, whose spokescowboy is the great Burton Gilliam, friend of the Advocate, has been running a promotion in which it gives away shares of Ford stock. You can make your own comments about this, given Ford’s financial woes, but it does give us a chance to post Burton doing a Rodeo commercial.

• I mention this since so many of our readers live in dry areas. Did you know that during Prohibition that there was bootlegging going on in Dallas, and people drank liquor illegally? Last week marked the 75th anniversary of repeal, and this article from Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper gives a good idea of how wide open the town was.

Mike Simonton of Fitch Ratings is one-for-one. Which is not a good thing for Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper.

Simonton has written a report for Fitch, a bond rating company, that is both blunt and terrifying: "Fitch believes more newspapers and newspaper groups will default, be shut down and be liquidated in 2009 and several cities could go without a daily print newspaper by 2010." One of the companies that Fitch tracks is Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, WGN, and Chicago Cubs. Simonton told me last week that there was a real possibility that Tribune would default on $13 billion worth of bonds. On Sunday, Tribune said it was considering bankruptcy protection to forestall an imminent default.

Does Simonton think The Morning News is in similar trouble?
Simonton said the report does not address specific newspaper companies, since he has not seen their books. But he said the current newspaper environment is punishing even companies like News parent A.H. Belo, which has tens of millions, and not tens of billions, in debt. That’s because revenue is declining so quickly –18 percent for the industry in the third quarter this year – that newspapers can’t cut costs enough to keep up with the decline. “There are newspapers operating below their break even EBIDTA [cash flow] even before you take debt into account,” he said. In addition, Fitch sees newspaper revenues decreasing 10 to 15 percent each of the next two years

This explains the stunning drop in newspaper stock prices last week when the third quarter ad figures came out. Belo fell to $1.64 a share, Star-Telegram owner McClatchy fell to $1.85 and even the New York Times slumped to $6.97 a share – its lowest price in 25 years.

So where does The News fit into this scenario? Again, keep in mind that Simonton did not talk about Belo. He described a situation where newspapers might be forced to close when revenue collapsed, the company couldn’t pay its debt, and there were few costs left to cut. And I’m certainly not saying that Belo is in danger of closing. But here are Belo’s particulars:

• In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Belo lost $17 million. That compares a $3 million loss in the previous quarter. Figuring cash flow is more problematical, since the company only has three quarters of history.

• It had to borrow $10 million to pay its bills, mostly related to employee buyouts.

• Perhaps most importantly, the company cut operating expenses in the third quarter by 1.2 percent from the same period a year ago. However, revenue declined 5.8 percent from the second quarter — which means cost cutting is not keeping up with revenue decline.

Finally, Simonton noted that most newspapers are limited in what they can do to cut costs, other than layoffs. And, at some point, you can’t lay anyone else off. That’s why The News and the Star-Telegram have agreed to share some stories and to deliver each others’ paper in areas where they don’t compete. It won’t save much, but every bit helps. Simonton also said that it’s possible that some struggling papers could eliminate home delivery a couple of days a week and try to move readers to their Internet site, which would cut costs.

Frankly, this is mind-boggling. How can Belo, which has traditionally been one of the most financially sound media companies in the country, be in these straits? Some of it is the complete collapse in newspaper revenue nationally, which no one could have expected. Some of it is complacency. As recently as the beginning of the decade, Simonton said, a typical newspaper had margins of 25 to 30 percent; that is, its revenue exceeded its operating costs like rent and salaries by 25 to 30 percent annually. With numbers like those, it probably seemed like the gravy train will never end.

But it looks like it has.

Looks like the city council will vote at Wednesday’s meeting on a proposed ordinance further restricting smoking in Dallas bars and billiard halls, and also within 15 feet of building entrances. Interesting details about what happens if there’s a violation: Both the smoker and the operator can be fined if an offense occurs in a bar or billiard hall, while only the smoker will be called on the carpet for a by-the-office-door offense. Councilman Angela Hunt’s blog has details about what she expects the ordinance wording to be, as well as her thoughts on the proposed ordinance, which she favors. At this point, it seems to be a toss-up as to whether the ordinance will be approved by the full council. If you have any last-minute words of wisdom, feel free to post your comment at here Back Talk or click here to email a council member.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a great movie. And it’s been an even longer while since I’ve seen a great movie that was totally uplifting, happy and perfectly pulled together. That just doesn’t happen much anymore. Last year’s best — the likes of “There Will Be Blood” and “No Country for Old Men” — were masterful works, in fact I’ve watched both again over the last couple months. But are they flicks I’d recommend to Mom or a casual acquaintance? Nope — not everybody can handle that type of art. Plus, directors Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen brothers, respectively, would rather leave you with a bloody mess that lingers in your mind days after you’ve left the theater rather than neatly tying up the loose ends for you. My mom hates that.

In contrast, Slumdog Millionaire — about a teenage boy who grew up in the slums and is now under arrest on suspicion of cheating on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Mumbai" —  is an all-around crowd pleaser. (He tells his life’s story in hopes of proving his innocence , and it’s a doozy) Sure, there are a few violent, gut wrenching, baffling and intense scenes, but the horrendous events are balanced and painted beautiful by a whole lot of dazzlingly colorful visuals and more than a few laughs. The story unfolds simply and methodically, it’s not long before you are sitting back in your seat satisfied that you are in for an enthralling cross-cultural ride.

It’s showing in Dallas at the Magnolia,

Dog owners in our neighborhood have two options when it comes to letting our pups roam free: make the long trek to the dog park all the way over in East Dallas–or sheepishly let your dog off the leash in an open field, right around twilight when you think nobody else will be around (you know who you are).

Well, soon those days will be a thing of the past. We have not one, but two great dog parks slated for our neighborhood. I recently met with councilman Ron Natinsky who gave me the scoop on the new parks (both of which are thanks to 2006 bond money and will be bigger than the one by White Rock Lake).

First up is Wagging Tail Park. This 12 acre park will be near Addison off Preston and Keller Springs backing up to that large winding creek. Developer Hawkins-Wellwood is building new zero lot line homes adjacent to this land, so they’ll be footing part of the bill because they suspect the park will be a strong selling point. You can expect Wagging Tail to be ready by this time next year.
The next park is NorthBark (like the mall, get it?). This will be in in what I refer to as Far-Far North Dallas, right there at the border of the George Bush Tollway near Carrollton. This park will be on Pear Ridge, that side street off Frankford with a series of apartment complexes along it. If you’ve ever driven down that street, you can picture that huge empty lot where the street dead ends.This 30 acre park (yes, 30 acres) will have…get this: a lake with a doggie beach. Yup, we finally will have a neighborhood watering hole for our dogs to go swimming in. Developer Billingsley will be building Somserset Waters, a luxury apartment complex nearby–so they too will help cover the cost of that park. You can expect to let your pups take a dip in the lake here by the end of 2010.