Monday, May 7, 2012

Dallas Arboretum vs Winfrey Point

From 2012 04 Dallas Blooms

Dallas Arboretum Garden Etiquette
  • No picking flowers, foliage, seeds or leaves
  • No climbing on trees, walls, fountains or sculptures
  • No standing or walking in flower beds
  • No balls, Frisbees, bikes, scooters, roller blades, kites, balloons, or other items potentially damaging to the grounds are permitted in the Garden.
  • But feel free to drive your cars, vans, SUVs, pickup trucks, whatever, all over the grasses on that patch of Texas blackland prairie at Winfrey Point. What do we care? It's not ours.
I have no business commenting on Dallas's business, but I can't resist this spat of nature lovers. It's tree huggers vs flower power. What it boils down to is that the Dallas Arboretum has outgrown its parking. It wants to use White Rock Lake's Winfrey Point for special event overflow parking (and maybe later for more permanent parking).

After the jump, my perspective.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Swing Away ... in May

From 2012 00 Miscellaneous

The Lake Highlands HS Wildcat baseball team extended their season with a wild win over McKinney Boyd in the second game of their three game series Friday night. Just how wild was it? I dunno. I left in the second inning when rain started to fall. Lake Highlands was trailing 2-0. Apparently, the serious rain missed the ball field, allowing the teams to get the game in. Judging from these tweets, it sounds like it was a game to stick around for:

RT @GreggCalvin: "Yes please! That's how you do it! #Game3 at McKinney Boyd tomorrow at 12 o'clock"

RT @rthomas422: "Ahh crazy game! Game 3 at Boyd tomorrow at 12. #lhbaseball"

Update: From The Dallas Morning News: "Lake Highlands 4, McKinney Boyd 3: Lake Highlands scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh [high schools play seven innings], capped by an RBI single by Colton Bradley, to even the best-of-3 series at one win apiece. Game 3 is set for noon Saturday at McKinney Boyd."

Keep Richardson Weird

Teresa Gubbons and Pegasus News have the big news:

The City of Richardson's planning commission gave the go-ahead to a plan from Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse to open its first branch in Dallas-Fort Worth in the Richardson Heights Shopping Center.
Source: Pegasus News.
This announcement of a movie theater coming to Richardson, and not just any movie theatre, is exactly the kind of catalyst that could spark a renaissance for Richardson's old downtown ... if Richardson seizes the opportunity.

After the jump, imagining what this might mean.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

SBOE Faceoff in District 12

Recently, I offered my opinions on the four candidates for the GOP nomination for the State Board of Education (SBOE) District 12 seat.
George Clayton, the incumbent, received my (reluctant) nod.

Tuesday night, all four candidates, plus Lois Parrott, who is uncontested in seeking the Democrat-ic nomination, had a chance to impress me in person at a forum jointly sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters of Plano/Collin County, Dallas and Richardson, the Greater Dallas Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Women's Council of Dallas County.

After the jump, how the candidates fared in changing my mind.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Repeat Tweets: A Slack Month, Only One Amazing Thing

Repeat tweets from April, 2012:

  • 2012 04 06 - Headline: "Texas Voter ID: State Tries To Keep Info Secret." State leg doesn't want open mtgs law to apply to them. http://t.co/DfDZ7Aqx
  • 2012 04 06 - 50/50 (2011): Comedy about cancer. Not funny ha ha; not weepy either. Succeeds in walking a fine line on a touchy subject. B-
  • 2012 04 10 - One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni: Nine melodramatic stories. Platitudinous. Interchangeable. Pick one. Flesh it out. C+
  • 2012 04 13 - Headline: "RISD’s Bob Dubey named Athletics Director of the Year." Congratulations! http://t.co/aHk2mMm5
  • 2012 04 13 - Headline: "Treasury predicts all federal bailouts likely will turn profit." Reason to not trust conventional wisdom. http://t.co/EbTVB7Fn

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Slicing and Dicing Richardson

This is the most passionate I've seen people. My email is blowing up, my phone is blowing up.
What could be causing such a commotion? It was a public hearing of Richardson's Council District Boundary Commission (aka the City Planning Commission, or CPC). Every ten years, with the new census, Richardson redraws its council district boundaries to ensure balance in the population of each district. This public hearing was for receiving comments related to the three district boundary options under consideration by the CPC.

After the jump, what the passion is all about.