Tear Down Central Expressway - cont.

All around the world, highways are being torn down and waterfronts reclaimed; decades of thinking about cars and cities reversed; new public spaces created.

Source: New York Times.

Michael Kimmerman, of The New York Times, reviews the cities around the world that are rethinking highways. Madrid is nearly finished burying a highway and restoring a river to create a six mile long park called Madrid Río. Seoul uncovered five miles of a paved-over river to create the Cheonggyecheon recreation area. San Francisco decided to take down the Embarcadero Freeway and not rebuild it after it was heavily damaged in the 1989 earthquake.

After the jump, the outlook close to home.

I'm an NFL Team Owner

Green Bay Packers.

I hope Santa was as good to everyone as he was to me. He made me an owner of an NFL team. That's right. I was given a share of Green Bay Packers, Inc. That makes me a part owner of the NFL's only non-profit, community-owned franchise.

OK, I know what the cynics are saying. The stock pays no dividends. It can't be sold. It can't even be given away (except to an immediate family member). It doesn't come with rights to buy game tickets. I'm an owner of a piece of paper. What's the big deal?

After the jump, the benefits (and drawbacks) of being an NFL team owner.

Setting the Agenda

Last week, I asked a whole bunch of nosy questions about how agendas for city council meetings are set by the City of Richardson. Bill McCalpin of Rumorcheck.org did his best to answer my questions. He doesn't work for the city; he isn't involved in setting agendas himself; he does have years of experience observing what happens around city hall. I can't say for sure he's right or wrong (if I could, I wouldn't have needed to ask my questions in the first place). But his answers sound plausible.

After the jump, my own understanding of how the process probably works.

Christmas in Richardson (2011)

From 2011 12 Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

More photos after the jump.

Ride DART to the Stars Game

We drove to the Arapaho Center DART station. We chose to drive instead of walk. Because we're lazy, not because we didn't want to get our shoes muddy. 'Cause we wouldn't have. Anyway, we got to the train platform just as a train was arriving. It was an Orange Line special event train going direct to Victory Station. Right at the American Airlines Center. Sweet. After the game, another train was pulling into the Victory Station platform just as we walked up. A Red Line train back to Arapaho Center Station. Sweet. DART -- all in all, a great service.

Oh yeah, the Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators 6-3. Sweet.