Back Talk Preston Hollow

January sales tax hits budget

Jeff Siegel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:09:19 GMT

That's pretty good news, all things considered. The city expected to take in $15.2 million in sales tax revenue in January, and it did. Still, it's only the second time in the past two years that the budget forecasts have been correct. And, for the year, we're off budget projections by 7.5 percent.

Does this mean that sales tax collections have turned the corner? Your guess is as good as mine. Next month's numbers should help answer that.

Here is our handy clip and save sales tax chart for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The basics: The sales tax accounts for abut 22 percent of the city general budget; another 43 percent comes from property tax receipts. The official figures are on the state comptroller Web site. The months listed on that site are, for accounting purposes, about two months ahead, so the March result listed is for January.

Video: Drum roll for respect

Can Turkyilmaz — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:01:46 GMT

It certainly is a guilty pleasure watching grown up man in suits go bunkers and dance around like five year olds. This is exactly what Council members Dwaine Caraway, Jerry Allen and Tennell Atkins did while hosting a drum line face-off in front of City Hall. Bands from Lake Highlands, Skyline, Adamson and Townview put on quite a show to bring attention to the March for Respect, a walk through the West End on March 27 to show support for Texans with developmental disabilities.

Click here for the slide show

Will wet-dry election actually turn all of Dallas wet?

Jeff Siegel — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:38:38 GMT

What happens if the city schedules a wet-dry election, but state law makes the result moot for part of the city? That's what we may find out if the group gathering signatures for a November vote gets on the ballot.

That's because a section of Texas' Alcoholic Beverage Code doesn't allow a city-wide election to change the wet-dry status of an area if that area has already voted on the issue and if the area is "wholly contained" within the city. And Oak Cliff seems to fit that definition, even if the dry parts of Preston Hollow, Lake Highlands, and Far North Dallas don't.

Sound confusing? That's because it is; so confusing, in fact, that several attorneys told me that the city could be sued for even scheduling an election, let alone over what the results mean. More, after the jump:

Pack your Advocate for spring break travels

Keri Mitchell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:30:56 GMT

If you're heading somewhere exotic or picturesque for spring break, make sure to take an Advocate with you, and snap a pic of you and your family or friends with the magazine at a scenic locale. If you send us the photo, along with a description of who and what is in the picture, you may find yourself in an upcoming edition of the Advocate.

If you don't have an Advocate lying around at home, you may be able to pick up a copy of March's issue at one of our neighborhood rack locations. And if you're not traveling during spring break (like the many of us who no longer get a "spring break"), no worries — just pack your Advocate the next time you go on a trip, and send us whatever you come up with.

This weekend: $5 pants, wacky science, and exceptional artwork

Tyler Terrell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:03:21 GMT

Huge Haggar Pants Sale: On March 14, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., you can pick up a brand new pair of dressy or casual men’s pants for only $5 at the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center. Accessories for women are also available for purchase and all proceeds benefit the J Senior Adult Programs.

Northpark Entertainment: On Saturday at 2, Professor Brainius will be presenting “Wild and Wacky Science by Team Family,” a show that is sure to mystify all audiences with its amazing science tricks. On Sunday at 1, a show choir from Garden City High School in Garden City, Kansas, will be performing in the mall for about half an hour. Both shows are in NorthCourt, which is located between Nordstrom and Macy’s, near AMC NorthPark 15 theatres.

Royal Splendor: From now until July 18, the magnificent art collection of King Charles IV of Spain will be on display at the Meadows Museum. More than 80 works of art will be featured, most of which have never traveled to the U.S. The collection will showcase the art styles from the end of the Enlightenment period, when Charles IV was forced into exile.

Wine review: Villa Maria Riesling Private Bin 2008

Jeff Siegel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:41:12 GMT

New Zealand is best known for it sauvignon blanc, and deservedly so, for they are among the best in the world. What the Kiwis get much less attention for is riesling -- which is too bad, since they make some very, very nice ones.

The Villa Maria riesling (about $14, purchased, widely available) is a lovely wine, with riesling oiliness (which is a very good thing), some lime zest citrus, stone fruit, and a long finish. Also, it's not especially sweet considering how much residual sugar is in the wine. In this, it's a finely crafted effort, in which the winmaker aimed at balance between the various components -- fruit, sweetness, and acid. Would that more winemakers tried to do this. And, of course, it has a screwcap.

The only drawback to this wine is that it's kind of picky with food. In this, it's a good example of why some wine is better with some food -- though everyone is free to drink whatever wine with whatever food they like, of course. If you're not going to drink the Villa Maria on its own, it really does need to be paired with a dish that complements it. Think salads or a lighter style seafood. I drank it with potato pancakes and braised red cabbage, and that didn't do much for the wine.

Friends of Northaven Trail board members selected

Marlena Chavira Medford — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:57:12 GMT

Board members have been selected to serve on the Friends of the Northhaven Trail, and they are: Warren Parham, Lee Kleinman, Larry Jones, Ben Johnston, Krisann Peters, Gwen Holmes, David Clark, Len Auman, Jeff Genecov, Martha Parks, and Terry O’Connor. The group is still looking for neighbors to serve on the fundraising committee and someone to serve as the event coordinator.

Board members have decided to formally organize the group as a 501(c) (3) organization by the beginning of April. They will meet on April 6 to formally adopt the FoNHT’s organizational documents and discuss the formation of committees for fundraising, landscape design, landscape maintenance, marketing and communications, safety, volunteers and community awareness. No word yet on exactly where or what time that meeting will be, but I’ll keep you posted.

The group also met with representatives from La Terra Studios, which is the principal project architect on contract with the Dallas Park & Recreation Department for this project. The board’s role will be to make sure that as this trail is developed, the communities that run along it are taken into consideration. They’ll also be working to raise funds for trail upgrades, like landscaping, benches, and water fountains.

Approximately $2.6 million bond dollars have been set aside to complete phase one of the trail, a 12-foot concrete pathway from Preston Road to St. Michaels. Funding to connect from St. Michael’s to the White Rock Creek Trail will be part of Phase II, and Dallas County is expected to help pick up the tab on that portion. Ultimately, the plan is to connect the trail from Preston Road west to Denton Drive, then on to the Irving’s Campion Trail.

Free yogurt at Pinkberry

Marlena Chavira Medford — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:22:50 GMT

Pinkberry is unveiling its new mango-flavored frozen yogurt, which means free samples for you. Swing by for a free tasting this Friday afternoon from 5 to 9. There will also be trivia games with Pinkberry gift cards up for grabs.

DallasCityHall.com: A missed opportunity

Jeff Siegel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:47:59 GMT

I owe every resident of Dallas an apology. I could have solved the city's budget woes and fixed the long-term problems facing the city, but I choked. I did not display grace under pressure. What didn't I do? I didn't buy Dallas' Internet domain name when it expired yesterday morning -- because then I would have held it hostage until the city met my demands (non-negotiable, of course) to reform how Dallas is run.

More, after the jump:

Donate canned food, take capoeira classes

Marlena Chavira Medford — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:08:41 GMT

Here’s a deal worth keeping on your radar this month: In an effort to collect food for North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Capoeira is accepting canned food in place of tuition. Bring in three cans of food and you get one free class. The limit is eight classes.

"Capoeira was developed by slaves in Brazil who were oppressed and hungry. It's amazing how the art-form has progressed where now it can give back to the oppressed," says instructor Chad R. Adams. "Three cans of food is the minimum, but we'll take more."

That promotion is happening now through Wednesday, March 31.

City wants to hire fewer cops this year

Rick Wamre — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:29:47 GMT

As the DMN points out, no matter what other priorities have come and gone these past few years, the city council and city manager have found the money to hire 200 more police officers per year. It was Mayor Tom Leppert's election battle cry, as I recall, and the initiative to hire more officers each year appears to have been effective in helping reduce crime. Now that the city budget is bleeding red ink, though, city manager Mary Suhm told the DMN she's recommending that about 120 officers be hired this year instead of the budgeted-for 191. She cites the budget woes, but she also offers up the excuse that cutting back on the hiring is a good thing because the police department needs more time to integrate the rookies on the force hired the past couple of years during the 200-cops-per-year push.

I don't have a problem with cutting back the hiring for a year; almost everything else is being cut downtown, so it only makes sense to dial back hiring cops for a bit. But to say that we need more time to integrate rookies seems suspect; after all, weren't the number of rookies on the force taken into account when the budget was put together in the first place?

There are going to be plenty of tough budget decisions made downtown in the upcoming six months. Why not just play it straight — say that we simply don't have enough money for this or that — rather than look for excuses to try and save face?

Dallascityhall.com where are you?

Christina Hughes Babb — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:54:22 GMT

As you can imagine, us Advocate reporters rely quite a bit on the city's official website, Dallascityhall.com for phone numbers, e-mailing city council members, reading meeting agendas, etc. But when I logged on this morning in hopes of locating a number for someone in the Water Utilities department, I found, well, see for yourself. According to Robert Wilonsky at the Observer, who apparently tried to connect earlier than me, the domain registration expired over the weekend. Doh! The site has reportedly been up and down all morning, so by the time you read this, it might be back. But, as Wilonsky notes, it forces the question, "are budget problems that bad?" — a question we addressed here last week (spoiler alert: the answer is "yes").

Shooting at office building leaves two injured, one dead

Marlena Chavira Medford — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:30:16 GMT

A gunman attacked a father and son Monday morning inside an office building near Medical City.

The attack happened just after 11 a.m. on the third floor of the United Texas Bank building at 12222 Merit Drive. NBC 5 is reporting that when police arrive at the building, they encountered the gunman in the hallway, and gunfire was exchanged between him and police. The gunman then retreated back into one of the offices, and then shot himself in the head, police believe.

The father and son, 63 and 39 respectively, are both in stable condition at Parkland Hospital. They both worked for a financial services company in the building and knew the gunman, police said. The motive for the shooting has not yet been established, and the names of the gunman or the victims have not been released.

Sharing our stuff (instead of buying more)

Keri Mitchell — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:27:28 GMT

I was intrigued by the featured opinion piece in Sunday morning's DMN, which asks the question: "Why own anything?" The premise of the piece is the possibility of shifting from a consumption-based society to "product service systems" — as in,opting to lease instead of own a wheelbarrow, ladder, chainsaw, etc. The piece gives examples of companies beginning to embrace this model with items like cars and bicycles, but talks about how it would require a mindset shift on the part of companies to switch from selling us stuff to selling us services.

"The essential insight is that in many purchases, we don't want the thing per se — we want what it can do for us. You don't crave a lawn mower, you want shorter grass; the desire is not for a refrigerator but for cold, unspoiled milk. And according to an emerging line of thinking, there are great benefits in meeting the customer's needs in creative ways that don't necessarily entail ownership."

Of course, many factors could lead to this shift — the recession, the desire to be "green", the fact that we do, indeed, have too much stuff, and as we realize this, our purchases are starting to slow down. (If you don't think we have too much stuff, read this New York Times story on our obsession with storage. It's long, but incredibly interesting.) As a result, companies are trying to think of new ways to make money, and perhaps this method will be an answer.

I also wondered if any neighbors still do it the old-fashioned way — a neighborhood pool of stuff, or just lending out and borrowing to and from each other on a regular basis. The piece opened with a man who had borrowed his neighbor's wheelbarrow the previous weekend, and wanted to use it again, but felt bad asking. He thought about offering a small fee to borrow it, and then thought it would be great to have an entire network of lending and borrowing between neighbors, so created Rentalic. No Dallas residents have posted their "for rent" items on the site yet, but you can rent a wet/dry vac from Richardson and a chipper/mulcher from Carrollton. Other sites along these lines mentioned in the story are: GoGoVerde, Neighborrow, Bright Neighbor, WeCommune and NeighborGoods. It's a great idea, and one that I hope takes off here.

Advocate radio: parade talk

Christina Hughes Babb — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:16:01 GMT

Everybody loves a parade ... right? Or maybe, they are more trouble than they are worth. With the city's biggest parade event fast approaching, the Advocate editors sit down to discuss this oh-so vital topic. LISTEN HERE .

Another stake in the Trinity toll road

Jeff Siegel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:51:51 GMT

More bad news for the Trinity toll road, and this time it comes from two of the highway's biggest supporters: Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper and the mayor.

This story details the woes (which, of course, have been detailed many times elsewhere and long before this, and most recently here): There's no money. And it's not safe. And there's no money. Shock and surprise -- Mayor Park Cities finally acknowledges there's a good chance the toll road will never be built.

Now, perhaps, given the city's budget problems, we can stop spending $1.25 million for the Trinity River Corridor project.

Productivity Killer: make yourself a Na’vi Avatar

Marlena Chavira Medford — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:25:57 GMT

James Cameron’s Avatar is up for a whopping nine Academy Awards, though I’m predicting Best Picture will go to The Hurt Locker. If you’ve seen the 3D film, then you can appreciate the technology behind it. And if you’ve ever wondered how you’d look as one of the blue Na’vi creatures, you can find out here. Just upload your photo and get ready for the wonderfully creepy results. Oh, and you can see what some celebrities would look like here, too.

Restaurant Talk: Which Which

Marlena Chavira Medford — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:05:47 GMT

There aren’t many establishments where you can order a SPAM and Cheez Whiz sandwich — but should you have the hankering, Which Wich? has you covered. This sandwich shop has more than 50 varities, everything from meatloaf to peanut butter and banana.

What I like about this place most is how you order: Just grab one of the paper sacks and use the checklist printed on it to customize your order. On a recent visit there I kept it simple with turkey and avocado on wheat. The service was quick, and the sandwich was delightful — no skimping on the meat, and the hoagie was perfectly toasted. And in fact, all sandwiches come toasted unless you request otherwise.

If you’re in a hurry, you can order online for pickup. And there’s also a handful of shakes, cookies, and breakfast sandwiches, too.

Ken’s Man’s Shop suit drive for Austin Street Shelter

Marlena Chavira Medford — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:57:44 GMT

The good folks at Ken’s Man’s Shop are collecting suits for Austin Street Shelter. If you contribute a suit to that effort now through March 31, you can get $200 off a new one. Not a bad bargain for finally cleaning out that closet.

A new look for la Madeleine: First prototype at Preston Forest

Marlena Chavira Medford — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:54:40 GMT

Based on customer feedback, la Madeleine execs have decided to change up the look and feel of all the cafes, and the location at Preston and Forest is the first new prototype.

Changes include a new theatre-style pastry studio, updated décor and staff uniforms, more seating, and a beefed up retail space with more artisan breads. They’re also doing away with the cafeteria-style serving — everything will be delivered to your table now.

In celebration of their new prototype, la Madeleine is offering a promotion called Passionately Pink For The Cure on March 16 from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Any customers who wear pink or make a donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation gets a 10 percent discount on purchases.