Peggy Venable Says I am an Idiot

Source: Twitter.

It's hard to argue with that logic.

Stefani Carter, Short of Money and Friends

When I wrote about the Texas House District 102 race last week, the situation was relatively straightforward. Incumbent Stefani Carter wasn't running for re-election, having decided to run for the Texas Railroad Commission instead. Former Dallas City Council member Linda Koop had announced her own campaign to replace Carter. Koop was the favorite to win the GOP nomination and the general election.

Then a strange thing happened on the way to the voting booth. Stefani Carter announced that she was dropping her bid for Railroad Commission and would seek re-election to House District 102 after all.

After the jump, assessing how badly Stefani Carter misplayed her hand.

SimCity: CityLine

That humongous development at PGBT and US75 finally has a name: CityLine. It also has ambitious plans.

At build-out, the CityLine project will include 6 million square feet of office space, two hotels, 3,925 apartments, 300,000 square feet of grocery, restaurant, entertainment and retail space, and three parks.

Source: Dallas Business Journal.

Sounds a little like a SimCity simulation. SimCity was fun for children to play, but it always handicapped future urban planners. It encouraged zoning as either residential, commercial, or industrial. You couldn't put, say, residential above ground-level commercial. That is, mixed-use wasn't really an option. CityLine, on the other hand, is zoned mixed-use. CityLine developers promise mixed-use. But are we going to get it?

After the jump, let's put all those impressive build-out numbers in perspective.

Huffhines Art Trails (2013)

From 2013 10 27 Huffhines Art Trails

Each year on the 4th weekend of October Huffhines Park hosts Huffhines Art Trails, a Richardson tradition since 1976. Over 150 artists and craftsmen exhibit the products of their talents, live entertainment is offered on stage, and food stalls provide concessions.

This year, the city held a contest to name the new scarecrow. At time of writing, the winner was unknown, but I think "Art" would be an obvious choice. Or maybe "Rain Man" to mark the fact that rain often seems to require the liberal spreading of straw to keep the grounds passable. But my personal choice would be Tod (with one "d") to symbolize the straw man arguments the city falls back on when it fails to live up to Transit-Oriented Development whenever a developer wants to build another 1980s-era gas station, apartment building, or office building in Richardson. "Art" it is then, right?

Oh, and the League of Women Voters of Richardson was there, providing information on voter registration and the upcoming election on state constitutional amendments.

More photos after the jump.

Homecoming: Berkner 49, WT White 14

From 2013 10 25 WT White vs Berkner

The Berkner Rams ensured the home fans enjoyed homecoming Friday night by beating the W.T. White Longhorns 49-14 at Wildcat-Ram stadium.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukkale, Turkey
April 13, 1977
Drove through snow. Had a swim in the hot pools. Walked through Roman ruins.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 04 08 Turkey

For thousands of years, people have been going to Pamukkale (roughly translated "cotton castle"), in southwest Turkey, to bathe in the hot springs on travertine terraces. So, who were we to do any differently?

The ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis was built there (more on that in the next installment). According to Wikipedia, "As recently as the mid-20th century, hotels were built over the ruins of Hierapolis, causing considerable damage. ... When the area was declared a World Heritage Site [in 1988], the hotels were demolished." I don't know if my hotel was one of the offending modern intrusions, but, in my defense, in 1977 I was young, dumb and happy. Good times.

More photos of Pamukkale after the jump.

DART Should Copy UPS - ctd

Regular readers might remember my "blue sky" idea (adjective: fanciful, impractical, having dubious value) from 2012 that DART should be less like USPS and more like UPS:

UPS proves that the technology exists to compute a customized route every day for every vehicle, all based on which packages need to go where. Imagine a DART system somewhat like a taxi service or a shared ride service, where passengers submit their desired starting location and time and their desired destination. A central computer would take those thousands of requests, compute the most efficient route for the hundreds of buses in the system, and report back to the passenger when and where his bus will pick him up.

Source: The Wheel.

After the jump, "Great Minds Think Alike," Helsinki edition.