Arapaho Redevelopment Put in Storage

From December, 2011:

The other request is for rezoning for a self-service warehouse with outside vehicle storage (boats, motor homes, etc.) on Arapaho Rd west of Custer Rd. That's right in a shopping center, across the street from a shopping center, just down the street from the Civic Center. A few years ago, the city thought parked boats and motor homes were such an eyesore that the city council passed an ordinance restricting home owners from parking their recreational vehicles at their houses. The city also spent years buying up aging homes across Arapaho Rd from the Civic Center and tearing them down. Why in the world would the city now agree to zoning that would allow a self-service warehouse, with boats and motor homes parked outdoors, to be built in a shopping center, near a residential neighborhood, and just down the street from the Civic Center? Here's another use destined to destroy any hope that this aging retail neighborhood can be revived.

Source: The Wheel.

That's what I wrote three years ago. The city council rejected that particular rezoning request in December, 2011, but the owner returned in March, 2012, with a modified request (he dropped plans for outside vehicle storage) and the council approved that. So now we have a self-service warehouse smack dab in the middle of the West Arapaho enhancement/redevelopment area.

It's time for an update on this three-year-old decision.

Still Alice (2014)

IMDB

Still Alice (2014): No cure for Alzheimer's. No surprise movie happy ending. Sad but still positive. Oscar for Julianne Moore. Deserved. B-

Highway Planner Sees Handwriting on Wall

Some in Richardson see projects like CityLine and Palisades as conspiracies between government and developers to rip off the little guy -- usually homeowners who already own a house in Richardson. Conspiracy theorists predict housing prices will drop as new apartments go up nearby. Simultaneously, housing prices (and property taxes) will go up as an influx of new jobs increases demand for nearby housing. (Cognitive dissonance doesn't afflict conspiracy theorists.) If they wanted to live in a high-density urban environment, they say, they'd have bought a condo in downtown Dallas. If Richardson keeps trying to increase density and force people to ride trains and bikes, they'll have to move to somewhere like Frisco or McKinney that's still in love with cars and sprawl.

You just know there's a "but" coming, don't you? The "but" here is that the trend towards mixed-use, high-density development is indeed happening, but it's not because of a conspiracy, either local (Richardson's mayor's recent behavior) or global (Agenda 21).

POTD: Pretty as a Picture

From 2015 03 16 Bangkok

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Bangkok, Thailand. It shows an unknown woman framed by doorways in the Wat Pho temple complex. There are more temples, towers, halls, shrines, classrooms, walls, gates, and courtyards than you can take in. All gilded, tiled or chiseled. A Buddhist Disneyland. Only without the thrill rides. Except for religious thrills, if you're into that. Sensory overload, in any case. Good times.

OTBR: Gus Grissom Road

Latitude: N 29° 30.726
Longitude: W 095° 08.682

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".