Who's Running the Show?

Something amazing happened at the Richardson Civic Center Tuesday evening. The City Plan Commission (CPC) denied, by unanimous vote, a rezoning request to build a chain of pad restaurants along the US 75 frontage road just north of West Spring Valley Road.

The request was non-conforming to the zoning painstakingly worked out several years ago with all stakeholders as part of a revitalization plan for the West Spring Valley Corridor. Instead, the request wanted to ditch that form-based, mixed-use zoning and put in a same-old, same-old row of pad restaurants just like you see all up and down US 75 as far as the Oklahoma line. Obviously this doesn't fit the vision for revitalization of southwest Richardson, and critically, doesn't fit the spirit or the letter of the law as far as current zoning goes. So it ought to have been, and was, denied. Nothing to see here. Move along, right?

Still I was agape at the vote. I'll tell you why, after the jump.

Richardson is Going to the Dogs

The City of Richardson continues to move towards the construction of a dog park, an amenity that residents have long advocated for (along with a skate park, which isn't going anywhere, but let's focus on the positive here). The park is slated to go under the overpass of the President George Bush Turnpike just west of US 75.

The last time I wrote about this, I said whoever came up with the location for this park was a genius. A dog park is an amenity everybody agrees would be a good idea, just not in my backyard. And unused land under a freeway overpass is a waste that isn't good for anything.

The thing is, dogs are hard wired to chase cars, remember? Dogs don't care about traffic. For them, millions of cars whizzing by just out of reach is a feature of this location, not a liability.

After the jump, what's the point of this post today?

Twenty Feet From Stardom (2013)

IMDB

Twenty Feet From Stardom (2013): Oscar-winning look at anonymous backup singers behind the hits. A+ music. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. B-

Bait and Switch in Southwest Richardson

The bait was appealing when dangled in front of stakeholders in southwest Richardson four years ago when community meetings were held on redevelopment of the West Spring Valley Corridor:

Source: City of Richardson.

The future vision for this collection of properties includes a new mixed-use environment on the full block. Building faces could be established on James Drive, Floyd Road and US 75, giving the development a distinct, unified architectural character on all visible frontages. The land use mix of the new development could include ground floor retail and office with residential uses above.

Source: City of Richardson.

That was the bait. After the jump, the switch.

Stories We Tell (2012)

IMDB

Stories We Tell (2012): Daughter interviews her siblings, father and dead mother's possible lovers. A complex but very functional family. B-

Mitt (2014)

IMDB

Mitt (2014): Behind the scenes look at candidate and family in 2008 and 2012. Public Mitt is no act. Private Mitt doesn't get it, either. B-

Review: Double Down

Amazon

From Double Down, by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann:

On election night, when Mitt called the president to concede, he had congratulated Obama for his side's turnout efforts -- specifically expressing his own team's astonishment at the numbers in Cleveland and Milwaukee, where African American participation was off the charts. When Obama related Romney's comment to Axelrod, Messina, and Plouffe, they all had the same bemused reaction. What Boston was saying, in effect, was, Holy cow, where did all these mysterious minorities come from?"

"Big Boy [Chris Christie]'s sense of where the real fault lay was crystal clear: with the clowns on Commercial Street. On the phone with Ryan two days after the election, Christie listened while Fishconsin [Ryan] talked about how he, too, had been certain that he and Mitt were headed for the White House. 'On election morning,' Ryan said, 'they told me and my wife we were going to win.' 'Well, that just shows how shitty they were,' Christie harrumphed."

After the jump, my review.