Culture clash at Flagpole Hill

Well, I can see everything is pretty much as I left it back in June. There's plenty on my mind and I have lots of opinions on the presidential campaign, but nothing that I'll share right now.

An interesting thing happened this evening. While picnicking (can you verb picnic?) with friends at Flagpole Hill, near the end of our time there, I saw something that at once piqued my interest and then my own reaction surprised me.

It was a beautiful evening, still a little warm even with the cooling we received courtesy of the edge of hurricane Ike that passed by yesterday. Some older kids were flying a big kite and we talked about how they pitted kites against one another in Afghanistan, like in The Kite Runner.

Our kids played on the playground with the other kids, most of whom were primarily Spanish speaking. This doesn't bother me too much to be in the minority and I consider it good for the kids to be around people who are different from them. I expect it at the public parks because for whatever reason the Latino population makes much better use of the parks system than the white families do.

We had dinner and then played some more. When we were almost ready to leave a family made their way to the park with two women in full burka, only their eyes peeking out. Another reminder of Afghanistan in the days after the 7th anniversary of 9/11/2001. I pointed them out to my wife but reserved any comment until we were driving home when all I could muster was "that freaked me out a little." She seemed to agree and we said later that it seems so oppressive.

The giant American flag overhead seems to stand in stark contrast to these women's attire. As we try to teach our kids to respect other cultures, I'm realizing that some cultures seem completely incompatible and at odds with ours. I think there's room for all of us here, but this multicultural society of ours isn't always the beautiful melting pot or salad bowl we like to imagine.

Bubble to study congestion pricing

Bubble City, a.k.a. Highland Park, Texas, is planning to study tolling Mockingbird Lane for through traffic.

This is a great idea. I think the Dallas City Council should immediately move to study tolls for those residents of the Park Cities who would like to leave the comfort of the Bubble to drive on Dallas city streets.

The Bridge opens in Dallas

Dallas' new homeless assistance center, The Bridge (what an unfortunate name, BID), opened yesterday.

How about this for some anecdotal evidence of initial success: I normally pass 3 Street 'Zine vendors (homeless folks selling newspapers) on my walk from the train each morning. I can see each of their faces but I don't know their names. This morning none of them were out there. I am assuming they each got a good night's sleep courtesy of the City of Dallas.

Apparently one difference between The Bridge and our privately run shelters is that The Bridge is not kicking people out the door in the morning. And they will be set up to treat some of the underlying causes of homelessness. I wish them all the success in the world.

I'm scheduled to volunteer at Austin Street Shelter this evening. I will be curious to see if they have less of a crowd than normal due to the opening of The Bridge.

Update: There were about 350 people staying at Austin Street Wednesday night, fairly close to capacity for a mild dry evening. It seems Austin Street has a very good reputation among the homeless population and Dallas can use the additional shelter.

LH Town Center to seek LEED certification

The Lake Highlands Town Center will be pursusing sustainable development practices, including LEED certification for the whole development. This is awesome news, courtesy of the Advocate blog. Props to Prescott Realty!

Going Green: Sustainable Development
Underscoring a commitment to environmental conservation, Prescott Realty Group President Vance Detwiler announced several “green” initiatives that are being implemented with development of the Lake Highlands Town Center, including:

Creation of tree farms to preserve current trees for future use in the development
Rainwater collection system for irrigation
Building planning and orientation to reduce solar effects
Recycling of bricks, appliances and grinding of materials from demolished apartments
Crushing and recycling of concrete slabs for fill material and road base on off-site projects
Prescott plans to seek a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Neighborhood Development certification, currently being piloted by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“The very nature of the transit-oriented and pedestrian-friendly Town Center will encourage conservation and allow the entire community to take part in preserving and promoting a healthy, walkable environment,” explained Detwiler. “The Town Center’s unique integration of outdoor amenities and urban conveniences will really set it apart from other urban mixed-use developments.”

$500 million convention center hotel: economic engine or boondoggle?

The Dallas City Council is set to vote today on the purchase of land adjacent to the convention center for the purposes of developing a connected hotel, which apparently the convention folks have long told us we desperately need. Price tag for the land: $42 million. The tax appraisal was recently raised from around $7 million to closer to the purchase price to reflect the fact that it won’t be used as a parking lot any more.

Mayor Leppert is leading the charge for this convention center hotel. He had the council in executive session (read behind closed doors) a week or two ago and it was then decided that Dallas not only needed this hotel now, but Dallas needed to own it outright rather than just subsidize it. And it might cost $400-$500 million to build. And we don’t even know if it will make money, so add years of potential operating losses to that number and all of a sudden we’re talking real money.

And of course the voters shall have nothing to say about it. This hotel is to be financed with revenue bonds that do not require a vote of the citizenry.

Leppert has almost the entire council behind him on this, as he did with the Trinity River referendum, with the exception of council members Mitchell Rasansky and Angela Hunt. You’ve got to admit, the man can build a coalition. They’ve managed to keep Rasansky quiet with a ruling that he could not engage in vote or debate on this issue due to some Citigroup stock he held (the company that will underwrite bonds issued by the city for this deal). I thought this was a flimsy excuse to silence Rasansky when the city attorney announced it, but there it is. It’s not like this is going to really affect his Citigroup stock value, a company with a $122B market cap. I’ll just note that anyone with a mutual fund indirectly owns shares of Citigroup, but I digress.

At any rate, Rasansky is silent no more. He has spoken in an Op-Ed piece in this morning’s DMN, ethics be damned. And it’s a good piece.

Here’s the thing. Neither Rasansky nor Hunt has come out against the hotel! They have both just stated that they would like to look at it further before putting taxpayers on the hook for half a billion dollars. And that is a very prudent position, especially in a city with a low hotel occupancy rate (Rasansky states it is less than 65 percent) and in a location that no private hotel developer has yet said this is where we want to put 1,200 rooms. Add to that a convention business that may be about to change radically with the advent of $120/bbl oil and the fact that Dallas is not a destination city like Miami or Las Vegas.

I haven’t read Leppert’s response yet, but I’ll bet he plays the old “world class city” tune, the one that lulls Dallasites into believing that we are just one signature bridge, one road in our drainage ditch, and one fancy publicly owned hotel away from being Los Angeles.

Leppert and his cronies on the council want to rush this through. And they might yet get away with it. Astonishing, really, that something this big could get slipped in under the public’s apathetic nose. Even the Morning News editorial board, Leppert’s lead cheerleader on the Trinity vote, is saying to slow down.

Slow down, Council. You still answer to the voters.

Update: Unfair Park is reporting that the council voted (with 2 dissents) to "get into the hotel business." I don't know yet if that means they voted to purchase the land or to actually go ahead with development of a hotel. If it's the latter... wow, that was fast!

Update 2: It appears from the resolution language that the council has authorized the sale of bonds for the land purchase and directed the city manager to enter into negotiations with developers and operators to build and operate the hotel. Funding for the actual hotel would have to be at a later meeting. Again... wow!

Getcha faux hawks ready

Here’s an article from the Pop-Up Morning News that ran in the Saturday GuideLive section: “Bottle service a convenience and bragging right for big spenders.” Apparently there are places called “ultra lounges” where one can go to get one’s party on. Music, dancing, lights, drinks, the whole nightlife milieu. But if one would like a seat with a table next to it - one might say if one wants to “lounge” - one must purchase something called “bottle service” starting at about $300. One imagines it could be much more than that.

(This is all conjecture and second hand reporting as FV has not patronized one of these fine establishments. A fool and his money, etc.)

So what does one get for $300+? According to the article, you not only get a table, but bottles of liquor, mixers, and a cocktail waitress. And “sometimes a guard.” Seriously. Sounds like fun. Reminds me of this fine piece of field research about that enigmatic specimen of Dallas wildlife.

Cold wet quick hits/misses

Hits

Whole Foods does away with the plastic bag. We've been using the reusable bags for a few months now and they're great (when you can remember to bring them in the store). We've really cut down on the number of 1-use bags we throw in the recycling bin.

Businesses are moving from the 'burbs back into downtown. The thing about North Texas suburbs: there's no there there. Downtown is still gaining momentum. Hope it can continue through an economic downturn.

Barack Obama's MLK speech in Atlanta. Just wow.

Baylor 116, Texas A&M 110 5OT. Could the Bears be for real this year? It's looking good so far.


Misses

The Great Ice Storm of 2008. Looks a lot like rain to me.

Jeb Hensarling, my fearless congressman, was quoted in the New York Times (very end of the article). Apparently poor Jeb is too ideologically pure to get on board with the bipartisan stimulus package. He wants tax cuts for businesses rather than money in the hands of people who will spend it. I'd like to let Jeb in on a little secret, if there's no demand for your goods and services you will lay people off whether you get a tax cut or not. If there is demand for your goods and services you will invest capital whether you get a tax cut or not. End of lesson.

Kucinich exits Democratic primary. Dennis, we never really knew you. Keep up the good fight!

Evil developers knocked down the 100 year old McKinney Ave Baptist Church, also known affectionately as the Hard Rock Cafe Dallas, demonstrating once again the value Dallas places on its past. Can't wait for the WaMu to open on the site. Or if we're really lucky maybe it will be a CVS. Dare to dream.

Ticketmaster doesn't want me to have good seats for Springsteen (and I logged on the minute those suckers went on sale) so I ain't goin'.

Dallas is smokin'

I'm trying to figure out what to make of this story from the Pop-Up Morning News about a push for a regional smoking ban. It seems to me this just gives city councils political cover to do nothing and say they're working towards it. There is no regional authority that can pass a smoking ordinance. It has to be done at the city or state level. And the state's not going to touch this for a very long time.

The restaurant and bar industry say they would love a regional solution because with different regulations in each municipality they see it as giving restaurants/bars in smoke free areas a disadvantage versus places like Addison. This argument no longer really holds any water, as restaurants in cities with smoking bans have continued to fare well.

Here's a regional solution for you: Plano and Fort Worth have already passed comprehensive public smoking bans. Dallas banned smoking in restaurants but allowed it to continue in bars and restaurant patios. If Dallas has the political will to extend its smoking ban (which I think we do), then we're a leader in the region and other cities will follow.

So Mayor Tom, take a few meetings with some other mayors if you must, then let's do this thing and act like the big dog that we are. The other cities will follow (except Addison). I'm not sure why it's so important for all the city smoking ordinances to line up neatly. It would be nice for uniformity's sake, but true uniformity would really require an action of the state.

And in a regional quick hit, we have a favorable comparison of downtown Dallas versus downtown Fort Worth in the letters section today:

Downtown living

After almost a year of living in downtown Fort Worth, I've made the decision to move to downtown Dallas.

My experience has been a mixed one. Downtown Fort Worth has no grocery store, no liquor store, no post office branch, no department store – all necessary components of a satisfying life as a Townie.

Yes, there are good restaurants and bars, cultural attractions and the city does an excellent job of keeping itself clean and safe.

There is no comparison with downtown Dallas, where the residential units have increased from 200 to 10,000 in just 10 years.

In downtown Dallas, no more than a few blocks' walk will get you to a supermarket, a post office, a pharmacy, a convenience store, a department store, a liquor store, world-class restaurants and cultural attractions.

Dallas has achieved what most cities outside the northeastern USA want, but do not yet have: an exciting, convenient, safe and satisfying downtown life.

Ron Sivo, Fort Worth

I must say I've been very impressed with downtown Fort Worth as an entertainment district. I never considered that it wasn't really a neighborhood like Dallas is trying to build downtown. People ask why Dallas can't do what Fort Worth is doing downtown, and that's a fair question, but you can see from this that Dallas is taking a different approach, hopefully one that will build a self-sustaining neighborhood of residences, shops, offices, art and entertainment venues, restaurants and bars. Without smoking.

Streetcars for downtown?

I was telling a buddy the other day about some comments I'd seen on da blogs during the whole Trinity toll road imbroglio suggesting we bring streetcars back to the streets of Dallas. Well, apparently Angela Hunt is onboard and very psyched about doing this to link the various parts of downtown with a free streetcar system. Here is her blog entry from Jan. 8.

I think this is a very cool idea, especially as we get more residents downtown. Part of the idea is to have bus service where the lines will eventually go to get it up and running more quickly.

I was wondering what happened to the DART operated trolley-buses that used to operate downtown in the late '90s. I believe those were free or very cheap. But they didn't seem to get much use. Perhaps we could drag those things back out and publicize the routes, and see if they are more popular with all of the new activity downtown.

I have to say, I really like how excited Ms. Hunt gets over this issue. She really has a vision for this city, and it involves making Dallas accessible and vibrant, and not just handing out tax breaks to developers. I'm looking forward to seeing how hard she pushes and what kind of consensus she can build on the council.

City: put your cash in our box rather than in a homeless person's hand

The city of Dallas is actually launching a campaign requesting people to not give money to panhandlers downtown, and to put money in "lend a hand" drop boxes instead. I guess it's a supply-side approach to panhandling. This is in the effort to "make people feel safer downtown." I know the city is really trying to address the problem of chronic homelessness with the new downtown assistance center, but sometimes they do some wacky stuff like this. It reminds me of Laura Miller's suggestion of making it illegal to give money to panhandlers. I swear I think if the city council could outlaw the presence of homeless people they would.

Many City Council members further argue that giving money to homeless panhandlers doesn't usually help them solve the underlying problems causing their homelessness.

FYI city council - on occassions when I give money to homeless people, I have no illusions that it is helping them solve any underlying problem. I am hopefully helping them to get some food. Granted they could use this money for booze or drugs or some other means of easing their pain which only adds to their problem. That is a risk I take. That is the reason I support the efforts of Austin Street Shelter, the Stewpot, and the city's new Homeless Assistance Center which can help to address underlying problems of homelessness.

I doubt the city's new measure will have much impact. There will still be homeless downtown and they will still ask for money. And we'll have these "drop boxes" downtown that will remind us to blow off the invisible people around us. The best thing the city and downtown businesses can do to make people feel safer is to continue the increased Downtown Patrol efforts (at least it seems stepped up to me), increase DART police presence at train stations, and keep attracting more people downtown.

The homeless downtown

I'll admit it doesn't take much, but Jim Schutze's column this week had me a little misty-eyed on the train Wednesday evening. He explores the complex problem of homelessness in downtown Dallas. I see some of these folks every day, and sometimes I say hello and sometimes I buy a Street Zine, but mostly they are the forgotten of our city. Just go read it.

Rev. Clifford at First Presbyterian, whose church stepped in the breach to provide sanctuary at night to the homeless population, is truly doing God's work.

Clifford is clear why he believes the church must take that step: "They have to have someplace to go," he said. "They have been our congregation for 32 years at the Stewpot," the church's soup kitchen mission.

"We are called to serve them. They are the least of these in our community, and Jesus has taken up residence with them, according to the gospel, and he is to be found in their midst. We exist to serve Christ, and according to Matthew 25, that's where Christ is, so we serve them."

Thanks for reminding us, Dr. Clifford.

Mmmm... muffaletta

Looks like Jason's deli is coming downtown. They're getting all set up in the Gulf States building right next to CVS and Chase Bank. Sign on the door says grand opening is December 17. Judging by the crowd at the downtown Campisi's every day, I'd say another casual chain will do very well there.

Main and Akard is quite the happening place these days.

Where have all the hippies gone?

Answer: Uncle Calvin's Coffee House

I spent a very enjoyable evening taking in the big 25th anniversary show at the folk music venue at Northpark Presbyterian last Friday. One thing my group noticed early on: the crowd for folk music skews decidedly older. One older woman enjoyed herself so much she just had to blow bubbles. I guess she brings them along just in case the mood hits.

We suspended our objections to Calvinism, got all caffeinated up, and got ready for some mellow tunes and a few anti-war sing alongs. We were not disappointed. I really appreciated the traditional fiddle/mandolin/guitar style of opener Tracy Grammer and her accompanist Jim Henry. I could have listened to her all night. And that Jim Henry has some chops (guitar/mandolin). She sang a song about a soldier who died in Iraq that she has vowed to sing at every performance until the war ends. She also made the lyrics and chords available to anyone who wanted to join in that effort.

I guess Sara Hickman was the headliner, because she was last. Hickman did not disappoint. I had heard her before on the late great Glenn Mitchell's talk show. Her back-up singer was more in the front than the back. Hickman had some funny anecdotes to share between most of her songs, and you got the sense that she wanted to play for longer than her allotted 45 minutes. She was especially funny discussing the artwork on her current album which features a couple making love and a quote from Pope Benny on the back (she claims she's not a Catholic bad girl). It was fun to see her turn it up and "rock out" with just her guitar and accompanying vocalist near the end of the set.

But the shining star of the evening was sandwiched between these two. Ruthie Foster absolutely stole the show and had the audience eating out of her hands. Music lovers of any stripe would do well to go see her live. Apparently Foster has folk roots, but you wouldn't have known it. Her set was blues/R&B/gospel-tinged country and captivating. Her voice is strong but she does not oversing. Her command of the guitar was readily apparent; it was as if she were playing with her favorite toy. But the most memorable song was the a capella "People Grinnin' In Your Face" complete with audience-provided beat. We have downloaded her latest album The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster to our iPods and ordered two more copies for Christmas gifts.

All the artists came back together at the end for an audience sing-along. Good times, noodle salad.

I'm not sure this would accommodate the crowd for this particular show, but Uncle Calvins would benefit from some old couches and armchairs rather than the straight back chairs we were seated in. As befits our station in life as parents of the very young, we were dog tired by the time we got out of there at 11:30.

Thanks for a good time Uncle Calvin's, and Happy Anniversary!

Kudos to DART

The trains weren't running on time this morning. But this time it was different. In the past when there have been problems with the rail system in morning rush hour, there are typically dozens of confused passengers standing around wondering what's going on, wondering why the message board doesn't work and why they can't understand the guy on the loudspeaker.

At White Rock Station this morning there was virtually no one waiting at the station, and there was a DART employee in bright yellow reflective vest who approached me and let me know about the problem at Cityplace and that there was bus service between Mockingbird and downtown for affected passengers. I drove in, but I didn't have to wait around and wonder what was going on and see a packed train pass by before I headed for my car.

Good job DART. Between this and the increased security at the park and rides and the commitment to order more bike lockers, I'd say this transit agency is trying to be customer service oriented. Now if they can keep the power lines from going down in the first place...

Memo from my D-Spot (blush)

A couple of notes from downtown Dallas:

The downtown Chase Bank retail branch reads Now Open this morning! This is the only retail bank branch downtown per the DMN story, with the exception of a couple of credit unions. Up through yesterday the signs were taunting me with "coming soon." Yes it is silly to get excited about a bank branch in Dallas. They are on every corner in other parts of town. But downtown is becoming more residential and needs services like this and the adjacent new (and large) CVS.

The Christmas tree went up this week in Pegasus Plaza. I guess they have to get it up before they light it, and I assume the lighting will either be over the Thanksgiving weekend or at the December 1 Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade. But it still seems too early for Christmas trees. I plan on lamenting the early signs of Christmas every year until I'm too senile to care. By that time Frosty will be marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Neimans is working on their window displays for Christmas. I would try to be a man's man and pretend I don't notice these things, but they come up with some pretty creative window displays there, so I'm curious as to what they will do this year.

The downtown safety patrol has been much more visible in the past couple of months, which is great for the neighborhood. This visible police presence helps make downtown feel like a safe place to be, which is important especially for residents and new businesses. These guys and gals are much more help to the area than the officer in the patrol car who gave me a traffic ticket for walking across the street on red back in February. (Seriously, that is a way to make downtown unwelcoming to pedestrians.)

The strange "where's your D-spot" campaign is in full swing, with brightly colored polka dots adorning empty store fronts. I'm not sure if the idea is to highlight that downtown has lots of empty store fronts or to attract trendy tenants who will think that odd question is cheeky and hip. But they are noticable. I guess we should hope the D-spot question is interpreted correctly by prospective tenants. Did Austin Powers work on this ad campaign? Just curious.

That is all for now. TGIF.

I'm a Schutze fan and a Fat Tire man

OK, you all know by now that I'm a Jim Schutze disciple. I haven't stalked him though, swear. (Yet.)

Here is another winning column from the award winning columnist. And it's pure Schutze. It's funny, asks good questions, and it makes me feel good to be part of Cool Dallas, even if my neighborhood is just in close proximity to Cool Dallas.

This week in the continuing post-vote saga of the Trinity toll road, we learn that the Dallas Morning News suppressed information about the city possibly having to kick in more money for the road, per the chairman of the NTTA. The road that Mayor Leppert says will be paid for entirely with outside funding, save for a measly $84M from the original 1998 bond package. The DMN saved this info for the day after the vote, after sitting on it for a month.

But my favorite part of this column is in Schutze's life affirming "reverse snobbery" description of "cool Dallas:"

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For one thing, Dallas has something in common with my native Detroit. It's not a destination destination. At least among those of us who have come here from elsewhere, it was never because we had always dreamed of living near the Trinity River. We came here for work, business, opportunity. This is a making-it city, not a scenic city.

So we got here, and then we collided with this odd and charming local culture–sort of Old South, kind of Midwest, tiny bit cowboy but always with one eye on New York. We met all these locals who have deep-rooted culture and good manners. And somewhere out of our collision, from the sparks and smoke a Dallas emerged that is cool.
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Cheers to that, Jim!

Green building standards coming to Big D

We need some good news, folks. And I read some yesterday in the Dallas Business Journal. The first snippet of the article is here (the rest is only for print subscribers so la-di-da).

But you get the gist from the first bit. The city is going to implement green building standards city wide for new commercial and residential building. There is a task force that is studying the issue and will be reporting back to the city council in March. Let's hope we get some standards that will really make a difference and not something watered down.

Of course there is concern that regulations like these will make Dallas less competitive with our neighbors for new construction. That may be the case short term, but in the long run we will have a leg up on everyone else as this becomes standard. And believe it or not, lots of companies actually want to be officed in sustainable development. There is one architect quoted in the article who has been promoting sustainable design who believes that this would be an immediate advantage for Dallas.

And when we get some type of carbon tax - and that's more likely a when not if - Dallas will be poised to take advantage of the system with new energy efficient building already in place.

It pains me greatly to say this - Good leadership on this issue, Mr. Mayor.

Tear in my beer

Doesn't. Look. Good.

In my prediction yesterday, I forgot to account for a very important election truism. Old people vote. I dropped by the polls with my wife this afternoon. Lots of olds. I hate to sound ageist - this is probably in no way fair or politically correct. But if all those 20 and 30 somethings who signed those petitions had bothered to actually vote we'd have a different story tonight.

Not sure if that's the only factor I left out. Maybe more people are swayed by threats and lies than I thought. Apparently we're not quite ready to shift our thinking from more roads and sprawl to more density, mass transit, and protecting green space.

At any rate the Corps of Engineers still has not signed off on this road. Looks like we probably failed to kill it today at the polls. But maybe we can keep the pressure on the Corps to do the right thing and stand by their own rules: No new dirt inside the levees and no excavation allowed. That would make it awfully difficult to build an earth bench for our new highway to sit on.

Failing that, welcome to Big D's version of The Big Dig. $1.3 billion and counting for 9 miles of road in our floodway.

Election Day

Why is this vote such a big deal? Why over 20 editorials from the Dallas Morning News on this one issue? Why is everyone picking sides? (And despite all this why is there still an expected 10% turnout?)

Here's my take. This vote will tell us something about the future of this city. Will we continue to pave our way to becoming another sprawled out smog congested Texas version of LA? Or will we maybe start to lean a little more towards some place like Portland, OR? Make no mistake, we'll still have congestion and smog and gridlock and sprawl tomorrow. But what will we be saying is important to Dallas and Dallasites? Will we continue to disregard our natural resources, bird habitats and wetlands, or will we embrace a more pedestrian friendly city with more bike paths, green space, and smarter mass transit to draw the "creative class" to the city core?

Even if Vote No wins, I think the success of the grass roots campaign of TrinityVote tells us something exciting about the future of Dallas. Just go read the comments on this Frontburner post and you will feel good about this city's future. Hopefully our future leaders won't be saddled with tearing a highway out of our levees in 25 years. Vote For Prop 1.

And while you're waiting for the election returns to come in, read these two (long) columns from Sam Merton.
Vote No Starts Making Sense
Park and Tollroad Can't Coexist

Alright already - I give!

They wore me down. It is time to renew our KERA membership, which I have been reminded of every morning for the past week and a half. OK I did it. Give me back my radio station! (And send me that clever This American Life coffee mug.)

Friend who works for the station said that only 10% of listeners pledge. That is astonishing to me. I might more readily believe 40%-50% but only 10%! That's bad people. Step up and give in and get the drive done! (I think that's a good slogan for the drive - "step up and give in!") Sam Baker wills you to do it.