Irving exemplifies the troubles faced by inner-ring suburbs

Dallas Morning News
Brandon Formby // December 27, 2009

In many ways, Irving is the poster child for the issues typical to inner-ring suburbs over the past decade. Its growing pains come not from population booms, but from shifting demographics and attempts at reinvention.

Irving has served as the backdrop for the national debate on illegal immigration. And it has decided the balance of political power in the Texas House. The Dallas Cowboys are gone, a convention center's going up and a light-rail line is being laid.

"In the last decade, we've actually become a world-class city," said longtime City Council member Lewis Patrick.

Representation

Hispanics remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the city. Their ranks between 2000 and 2008 grew at five times the rate of the city's overall population. Still, Hispanics often criticize the all-white City Council for not representing their needs or dealing with claims that police racially profile residents.

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Cliche that Downtown Dallas is Dead Needs to Die

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // December 23, 2009

Back in the 90s, when I was in college here, it was just a fact that downtown was shutdown after dark.

Passing Central from Deep Ellum was like coming into another world.

As plan commissioner Michael Davis points out on his blog today, some people are still holding on to that idea of downtown.

But it really doesn't reflect the changes in downtown that you can almost watch week to week, particularly along Main Street.

As Davis writes today: Even on a Tuesday night, several places were popping. I went to PM Lounge in the basement of the Joule for a party. At 9pm, it was already full. People were lounging on the patio of Charlie Palmer. A few student-aged kids were walking around taking pictures and surveying the scene.

Lake Dallas mulls TIF zone

LakeCitiesSun.com
Anthony Scott // December 17, 2009

Lake Dallas City Council is considering implementing a Tax Increment Finance Zone to help boost development dollars and secure money for a Denton County Transportation Authority membership.

City Attorney David Berman presented an explanation of what Tax Increment Finance districts are to Lake Dallas City Council last Thursday night. The city is looking at the possibility of creating a TIF district about 60-square aces near the intersection of Swisher Road and Interstate Highway 35E.

"The TIF will help with the funding of public projects and perhaps grants for private development," said City Manager Earl Berner. "The TIF promise, that is increased tax revenues can be used to borrow funds for capital expenditures up front just like we do with other large capital projects in the City although the annual debt service will be paid from TIF funds."

Council talked about getting an A-train rail station along Interstate Highway 35E and possibly using the money for grants to developers to bring the city transit-oriented development.

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Area transportation needs face financial hurdle

Fort Worth Business Press
Leslie Wimmer // December 21, 2009

Funding will be the major hurdle for North Texas to begin a regionwide transportation overhaul.
Officials from area businesses, governments and community organizations gathered at the Fort Worth Sheraton on Dec. 11 to listen to speakers discuss economic development, transportation plans and funding challenges during the “Tracks to the Future: Rail and Economic Development in North Texas” event.

About 300 people attended the day-long event which was hosted by a number of area organizations. Speakers included State Sen. Wendy Davis; members of Fort Worth’s City Council; Mayor Mike Moncrief; representatives from the Fort Worth Transportation Authority; Dallas Area Rapid Transit; the Denton County Transportation Authority; the Texas Department of Transportation; the cities of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Portland; and other area business and government leaders.

Vision North Texas Project Manager Karen Walz told the event’s crowd that the Dallas-Fort Worth region is expected to hit a population of 12 million by 2050.

“Think about what that means if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing and taking care of growth the way we have been,” she said.

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Texas (!) becomes first state to adopt new smart street rules

NRDC Switchboard
Kaid Benfield // December 10, 2009

Texans are going to get more walkable, transit- and bike-friendly streets in their cities, towns and neighborhoods, thanks to an important new decision by the state’s Department of Transportation.

In particular, Texas has become the first state officially to adopt a new, comprehensive set of progressive street design guidelines written by the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Institute of Transportation Engineers. The new manual,Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares for Walkable Communities, which has been years in the making, advances the successful use of appropriate and thoughtful solutions in the planning and design of urban roadways for walkable communities.

In a story published in New Urban News and reported by David Crossley on theHouston Tomorrow website, Fort Worth planner Scott Polikov writes that the state DOT has revised its project development process to require that context sensitive design be considered in all project evaluations. This is a pretty big deal: traditional street planning and design has focused almost exclusively on the function of the roadway in transporting vehicles efficiently from one place to another, even in the midst of neighborhoods whose character and hospitality to walkers, cyclists and transit users can be profoundly compromised in the process.

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Dallas Design District's second redo takes shape

Dallas Urban Core
December 11, 2009

ustin Tamayo did a double take as he was driving through the Dallas Design District a few months ago."I was amazed to see the all apartments they had built," Tamayo said. "I didn't know all of that was there."

Tamayo was so taken with the neighborhood that he moved there. "I bring my friends down there, and they're surprised at what's here," he said.

Indeed, if you haven't taken a recent spin down Hi Line Drive – or don't even know where it is – the trip will be eye-popping.

Developers have built three big apartment communities just west of Stemmons Freeway, and hundreds of residents have moved in.

Restaurants and shops are on the way.

"Obviously having 1,000 apartment units with a lot of people makes it more of a 24-hour environment," said Mike Ablon of Pegasus Ablon Properties, which is marketing the redevelopment. "There's a lot of excitement about the overall Design District."

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Realizing the dream in Rowlett

Dallas Morning News
Ron Miller of Rowlett // December 13, 2009

During the settlement years of mid-America, after the Civil War and before 1890, two things almost assured the future of any new town for the first 150 years after its establishment. The first thing needed for a secure future was a railhead. The railroad must come to town. The second thing needed was a cattle trail, which subsequently would become a numbered highway.

Today, development of a prime suburban city takes a little more work.

Rowlett was a sleepy little wide spot in the road 34 years ago. It had 1,500 people. Now it has a population of 55,000. It had no railroad or cattle trail, and any roads were only two lanes without shoulders. There were no stoplights.

Rowlett grew simply because Dallas spilled out over its lip. Mesquite, Garland, Richardson and Plano all grew into major cities. Each of these cities had one feature in common. All had major highways to accommodate them. Rowlett probably should have been gobbled up, since it had few of the required resources. But it wasn't. Somehow, the little town survived and grew modestly.

Then it seemed to grow faster than contemporary civic planning could keep up. Some nice things were missing: nice parks, bike paths, hiking trails, upscale commercial development – and the jobs resulting from commercial development.

Rowlett is only now receiving a railhead and a major highway. A cattle trail was dismissed as unnecessary. DART is busy planning for the construction of the DART Blue Line, and the North Texas Tollway Authority is busy building the extension of the President George BushTurnpike through Rowlett and connecting with Interstate 30.

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UNT Area plan approved by Dallas council

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // December 9, 2009

With little discussion, theDallas City Council has approved a development plan for a large swath of southern Dallas around the University of North Texas campus.

The plan is exciting to advocates of walkable and transit-oriented urban design.

It focuses on developing the area in human-scaled neighborhoods linked by rail and constructed with respect for the natural setting.

Mayor's 'coffee, deals and development'

Dallas Morning News
Sharon Grigsby // December 10, 2009

In case you missed this, check out Rudy Bush's report on the Dallas City Hall blog concerning the mayor's impressive outline for southern Dallas development, which he and others spoke about this morning.

Leppert's key points:

-- We all know there are challenges in southern Dallas, but what many people don't know are the many good things going on. We want to talk about that today.

-- Cited example of economic progress, including:

-- Tax base in southern Dallas has increased 75 percent, compared to citywide average of 50 percent.
-- A 586 percent increase in construction permits in southern Dallas since 2000.
-- Eleven TIF projects investing $135 million in southern Dallas.
-- Violent crime is down more than 20 percent; 80 new police officers in southern Dallas.
-- Code compliance complaints are down 20-30 percent.
-- DART to Pleasant Grove: "the largest investment in the nation in light rail."

-- Praised Methodist for investing $100 million in its facility, Allison at Baylor for partnering on diabetes with the city, Dallas Zoo for new management structure pointing it toward First Tier status, La Reunion tower expansion and improvements, etc.

-- Cited Allen's work on Dallas Logistical Hub.

-- UNT-Dallas, Paul Quinn - progress on both counts.

-- Pinnacle Park, Mountain Creek, Capella Park, renovation of Cliff Club at top of BofA, Lake June Plaza, El Rio Grande grocery, etc.

-- Seven million feet of new industrial space. "You'll see soon another big real estate development go public."

-- We're working on getting new, small banks to locate in southern Dallas; meanwhile Comerica and Wachovia have really stepped up....

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Southern Dallas ripe for private investors, mayor says

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // December 11, 2009

Southern Dallas is poised to grow, and the time has come for private investors to jump in, Mayor Tom Leppert told a crowd gathered at Gilley's on Thursday morning.

The tax base there has grown at a faster clip than the rest of the city, crime is down and public money is streaming in, he said.

"We all know there are challenges in the southern part of our city," he said. "But people understand this is the key to our success in this city, this region, this state," he said.

A who's who of southern Dallas showed up to hear Leppert, along with City Manager Mary Suhm, DART chief executive Gary Thomas, and University of North Texas vice chancellor John Ellis Price, among others.

They echoed a message of momentum for parts of the city that have stagnated so long that many Dallas residents have given up on seeing improvement.

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Dallas council committee approves development deal for Belo Garden

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // December 7, 2009

Without discussion, the City Council's Economic Development Committee has approved a plan for development of downtown's second major park, Belo Garden.

The park's development will be funded with city bond money and through Belo Corp., the Belo Foundation and Robert and Maureen Decherd.

The company and the foundation donated a combined $5.5 million for the park's construction. In addition, Robert Decherd, chairman of Belo Corp., and his wife Maureen, have provided $1 million as an endowment for the park's upkeep and improvements. Total funding amounts to $14.5 million.

Decherd is also chairman and chief executive of A.H. Belo Corporation, parent company of the The Dallas Morning News.

The 1.6 acre park at Main Street and Griffin Avenue is scheduled to open in early 2012. It is intended to complement Main Street Garden at the other end of downtown.

Where Main Street Garden is a heavily programmed park with features like a dog run, a kid's playground and a restaurant, Belo Garden is intended to be a more serene space, although current designs do include fountains that visitors can stroll through.

Austin Considers Density Bonus

The Austin-American Statesman
Shonda Novak // November 29, 2009

Seattle has a plan. So do Tampa, San Diego, Portland, Denver, Nashville and Calgary. Vancouver is the exemplar, a city that has used a developer bonus system to encourage density downtown while assuring that the city core doesn't become a forest of bulky high-rises with a scarcity of parks, public amenities or places for moderate-income people to live.

Now it's Austin's turn.

On Dec. 17, the Austin City Council is scheduled to vote on proposals for a voluntary program under which downtown developers would be rewarded with extra space or height for their projects if they provide certain community benefits, such as affordable housing, child care services or cultural spaces.

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Why passing the UNT Dallas master plan this week is important

Dallas Morning News
December 4, 2009

On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council will consider the University of North Texas Dallas Area Plan, a 3,500-acre economic revitalization project for the city's southern portion. Passage is critical to supporting the nascent "town-gown" relationship developing between Dallas and its first public university.

The importance of this type of symbiotic relationship has been amply displayed in other urban centers around the country, such as Boston, Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle.

Universities are among these cities' largest employers, and they are long-term, place-bound investors in economic growth. When development around universities is planned appropriately, local economies benefit from steady streams of students and university workers who patronize area businesses. Universities also are typically partners in addressing problems such as crime and traffic.

If the UNT Dallas Area Plan is approved, these are the kind of benefits the city will experience. The plan calls for sustainable economic development around the campus. Mixed-use residential areas, retail zones and entertainment venues will infuse much-needed capital into the city. As the university grows, businesses around it will grow. This will produce tax revenue and, most importantly, long-term job growth.

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Houston one of five cities that will rise in the new economy

Houston Strategies
November 30, 2009

The Christian Science Monitor recently named Houston one of five cities that will rise in the new economy, along with Boston, Seattle, Huntsville-AL, and Fort Collins-CO. Not bad company. In fact, they open the main article with us:

In Houston, the Texas Medical Center is expanding so quickly that it will soon become the seventh largest downtown in the US. By itself. The hospital complex brims with restaurants, shops, and hotels, and employs 100,000 people – the population of Billings, Mont.

Later they mention the power of affordable housing to attract young talent. They also have detailed profile article on Houston with some good excerpts:

...Many say the city is poised to do well because of its ties to the global marketplace. Houston is home to NASA, as well as the largest medical complex in the world, the second-busiest port in the nation, and a strong international business sector.

...“To me, Houston is the perfect intersection of old industry stepping up to advance leading-edge industries,” says Vivante’s founder and president, J. David Enloe Jr.

But Houston has much more than energy experience powering its future. It is the largest US port in foreign tonnage and the second largest in total tonnage. (including strong exports)

...

Then there is the Texas Medical Center, which may be Houston’s version of the Great Pyramids, only with windows and an antiseptic smell. More than $3 billion is going into expanding the Med Center’s footprint from 30 million to 40 million square feet – making it larger than the size of the area inside Chicago’s Loop. The complex currently serves up to 65,000 patients a day, says Richard Wainerdi, the CEO.

Still, even with the port, the medical center, and NASA, the petrochemical industry remains the flywheel of the economy – accounting for about half the area’s total output. Eager to be in the vanguard of the New Economy, city officials are trying to redefine Houston as more than just an oil and gas capital. They want it to be an energy capital – including renewables.

Last summer, for example, Houston became the No. 1 municipal purchaser of green power in the nation, with 25 percent of the city’s total electricity load coming from wind energy. (Texas leads the US in wind-energy production.)

The article also includes a couple of nice Houston pictures here and here.

TEXAS BOUND FOR FAST RECOVERY?

Forbes.com & Dallas Urban Core
November 24, 2009

Texas’ four major metros are in the top ten fastest-recovering cities nationwide, according to Forbes magazine.
Forbes ranked San Antonio the second fastest recovering city in the country, Austin the third, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington the sixth and Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown the eighth.

The magazine attributed their relatively quick recovery to San Antonio’s and Austin’s high number of municipal jobs, Dallas’ thriving technology industry and Houston’s energy sector, as well as the state housing market’s ability to remain stable while other states’ markets crashed.

“Texas didn’t have as big of a boom,” said Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “So we’re not having anywhere near the kind of bust.”

El Paso and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission were also placed within the 100 fastest-growing MSAs, ranking 43rd and 48th, respectively.

Forbes ranked the country’s 100 largest MSAs according to each area’s September unemployment rate and foreclosures, gross metropolitan product, home prices and sales rates. Forbes.com

Streetcar struggle between downtown and Oak Cliff won't go away anytime soon

Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // November 27, 2009

Today, Michael Lindenberger and Roy Appleton report today on the ongoing effort to build a a starter streetcar system in Dallas (sorry McKinney Avenue trolley, we're not counting you in this).

They write: The initial focus has been on a downtown loop that planners want as a complement to a second downtown light-rail line that is expected to open in 2016. But Oak Cliff leaders are urging City Hall to explore beginning with a loop that would connect downtown Dallas and Oak Cliff, where they say a trolley line would have a bigger impact on economic development.

As I understand it, the only way the council will consider shifting an initial line to include Oak Cliff is if Dallas gets approval of federal funding grants that include an Oak Cliff line.

If the city isn't lucky enough to win those grants (and they are very competitive), then City Hall will move forward on a plan to build the downtown line with a variety of local funds, including tax increment and public improvement dollars from properties along the planned downtown streetcar loop.

Promise Takes Root in Dallas' Newest Park

Planetizen
ALek Miller // November 21, 2009

A new multiuse park in Dallas, the first of four of its kind, is giving the downtown community a reason to celebrate.

"Tom Baker, chairman of the city's Park and Recreation Board, said that, ironically enough, it was economic interests that committed people to building new downtown parks.

He recalled the city's loss of Boeing's headquarters to Chicago in 2001 as a major turning point.

It was a wake-up call for a lot of things,' he said.

The quality of life, particularly cultural life, in downtown Dallas couldn't compare to Chicago. And the city's business benefits in terms of lower cost of living and cheaper workforce didn't close the gap.

Since the loss of Boeing, Dallas has made a lot of progress, most notably in the arts district.

Now, with the opening of the Main Street Garden, the parks piece is falling into place. Main Street Garden's opening will be followed with Belo Garden in 2011, the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park in 2012, and the still unfunded Pacific Plaza at a date uncertain."

It's Possible to Live Without a Car

DFW CBS 11
Ginger Allen // November 20, 2009

If someone took your car away today, how would your life change? You're about to meet a woman who gave up her car, moved to Downtown Dallas, and completely changed her daily routine. She proves that it may not be as hard as you think.

Wendy Loven's boots are getting a lot of use these days. That's because two years ago, the Euless resident decided to give up her suburban lifestyle to fulfill a life-long dream.

"It's always been a dream of mine to live downtown ever since I was a little girl," she said.

Now that she's living downtown, she decided to take the life-changing decision a step further by giving up her car.

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"No road we built in Texas paid for itself."

StreetsBlog Capital Hill
November 11, 2009

Over the past two days at the Congress for the New Urbanism Project for Transportation Reform conference, attendees have called for reform at local, regional, and national levels. In a panel debate about the future of transportation funding and the role of regional planning through MPOs, several speakers argued that the foundation of transportation and development funding had to be systematically overhauled.

Mike Krusee, [AC: former] chairman of the Texas House of Representatives Transportation Committee, said that financial problems were more significant than environmental, though they should be tied together in the same discussion.

"The reason there's not a new transportation bill is because there is no money. We've hit the wall of unsustainability on how we finance the transportation system," he said.

Krusee asserted it was urgent and necessary to understand the nature of this broken financial apparatus and to develop solutions to fix it. In Texas, he said that, on average, it cost the state 20-30 cents per person per mile to build and maintain a road to the suburbs, yet drivers only pay on average 2-3 cents per mile through the gas tax, vehicles fees, etc.

"What we found was that no road that we built in Texas paid for itself," said Krusee. "None."

The expense to build roads and utilities further and further from the urban cores not only drove costs to unsustainable levels, it created an imbalance in who paid for growth. Over the past 50 years, Krusee argued, the federal government used tax money that came by and large from cities to subsidize roads to areas without access otherwise.

"City dwellers have subsidized the land purchases and the development costs out in the suburbs," said Krusee. What's more, the gas tax, which city dwellers pay when driving on city roads, but which goes to freeways largely outside of urban cores, is "a huge transfer of wealth from the cities to the suburbs to build these rings."

Krusee said building the interstate system was initially a good thing, because if facilitated interstate commerce and increased the productivity of cities. Now however, because of congestion caused by ever longer commute patterns, system productivity is in peril. "What's happened is the federal government has basically reneged on the deal. By subsidizing highways out to the suburbs, it's no longer efficient for truck traffic, for goods and services and people to move between cities in the United States because those roads have been hijacked by all the commuters."

Krusee, by the way, represented suburban Williamson County.

Krusee's assessment matches TxDOT's own internal assessment. (This actually should be no surprise since Krusee's committee relied on TxDOT for data.) TxDOT, for example, concluded that the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes -- just 16% of the total cost.

Some of us get swept up in the rhetoric sometimes, but roads aren't unmitigated evils. Obviously, we need roads. Just as obviously, I think, we will continue to need new roads. But new roads should be built only where drivers are willing to pay for the new capacity. And the only way to gauge that demand is to price existing roads properly; the revenue they generate will tell us when it is time to add to add that capacity

First Baptist Dallas Details $130M Building Plan

Dallas Urban Core
November 2, 2009

First Baptist Dallas announced plans Sunday for a $130 million capital campaign that would pay for what it claims will be the largest church construction project in U.S. history. Plans call for a state-of-the-art campus in the heart of downtown.

Sketches of the planned facility were revealed to members of First Baptist Dallas for the first time during Sunday services.

Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, told church members that prior to the Sunday launch of the capital campaign the church already had secured $62 million in pledges from donors—nearly half of what is needed to complete the project.

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Main Street Park

Dallas Morning News
October 28, 2009

Another piece of jigsaw in downtown Dallas' redevelopment puzzle is about to be put into place: Main Street Garden.

This 1.7-acre respite is tiny compared to the Arts District and much more modest given that its key elements are a lawn, a kiddie park, an urban dog run, a fountain, a concert stage, unusual people shelters, trees and a cafe.

But to business leaders Mark Noble and Kent Eastman, it's a critical component to New Dallas.

"We've been sneaking up with redevelopment on the core of downtown," says Noble, managing partner of Colliers International's Dallas office. "The Arts District, Victory, Woodall Rodgers Park, West End, the new Convention Center hotel are all on the periphery. With Main Street Garden, we've got the opportunity to add a piece of progress in the heart of the city."

The $17.4 million park, primarily funded through city bond programs, is smack in the middle of Main, Harwood, Commerce and St. Paul streets. It is surrounded by Mercantile Place, a high-end apartment tower; the historic Titche-Goettinger Building, which houses the Universities Center at Dallas, and the old Dallas Municipal Building, where the University of North Texas will build its law school.

Noble and Eastman, state president of Capital One Bank Texas, have formed a loose business organization, which, for now, is being called Friends of Main Street Garden. It'll act as a protective group similar to the Friends of the Katy Trail and Lee Park Conservancy to ensure this block of downtown doesn't succumb to safety and upkeep issues that have plagued other public spaces.

The first goal is to raise $75,000 for a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 13, and a weekend of concerts and festivities beginning Nov. 20.

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Who goes car-less in Dallas?

Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog
Rodger Jones // October 26, 2009

To be more specific: Who is car-less by choice in this town?

No doubt a minuscule number, by choice, (and I sometimes count myself in that number). And I would like to hear about these people.

Streetsblog has a link up to a site highlighting an artist's project in Los Angeles about car-less Angelinos, some -- but not all -- by choice.

There's a New York Times featureon the same subject, and a blogger in my hometown of Cleveland addresses it from the view of a young person who may want an occasional car.

A dedicated transit user, I like to tell people I'm not a car owner. A series of columns featuring my alter ego, DART man, centered on the notion that he was car-less by choice.

Truth be known, there is one car in my household -- my wife's. She takes it to work; I ride the trains to work, and usually the train and a bus home.

That means I don't fit into the Census category of zero cars available in the household (which is about 5 percent of the households in Richardson, where I live, and 10 percent in Dallas.

I'd say the vast majority of these people are elderly, disabled or poor -- not the types who fit into any kind new urbanist car-less-by-choice category. In other words, not the kind that the media get excited doing profiles about.

In writing columns and blogging about about walking and public transit, I've never come across someone who's car-less by choice. Are there any such people out there?

Development planned for Lewisville commuter-train station

Dallas Morning News
Wendy Hundley // October 23, 2009

The A-train commuter railway is more than a year away from rolling into Lewisville, but plans are already in the works for the city's first transit-oriented development.

Hebron 121 Station will be part of a 427-acre city reinvestment zone on the northeast corner of Interstate 35E and the State Highway 121 bypass. The developer is describing it as the largest transit-oriented development in Texas. Huffines Communities Inc. is the primary developer of the project.

"Most [transit-oriented developments] are in more urbanized areas and are on smaller properties," said Elizabeth Trosper, economic development specialist for Lewisville. The city will pay for infrastructure improvements on the vacant land through a 30-year tax-increment financing plan.

"We don't know of any other projects of this size and scope," said Phillip Huffines, co-owner of the Dallas company that is also developing a mixed-use community in Arlington.

Hebron 121 Station is expected to break ground next spring on a 90-acre tract that will eventually include more than 1,700 apartments and 20,000 square feet of commercial space. Huffines said the project will take five to eight years to complete.

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Consultant argues for density near Austin's center to offset sprawl

From: The Austin-American Statesman
By: Asher Price // October 22, 2009

Recommendations by a consultant for the redevelopment of the Brackenridge tract, the 350-acre University of Texas-owned land west of downtown, call for denser construction than City of Austin rules would generally allow.

The difference draws a line of control between the city and the university over the land and reopens a broader discussion of how to encourage growth in West Austin.

The two plans by the New York-based consulting firm, hired by the UT SystemBoard of Regents, imagine the Brackenridge tract — now home to a municipal golf course, a university field lab, stores, offices, restaurantsand two-story apartment complexes along Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake — redeveloped as a densely built, walkable, close-in alternative to suburban sprawl.

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Woodall Rogers Deck Park

Will be an awesome addition to Downtown/Uptown and the Arts Discrict. Check of the Deck Park Website.

Downtown Trolleys Are a Good Idea. So You Know It’ll Never Work.

From: Dallas Observer
By: Jim Schutze // October 14, 2009

Clang went the trolley: We've been following the plan to put streetcars downtown closely (see our story at left) because, being hippies, we think streetcars are a really cool idea. Being the Dallas Observer and aware of what happens to good ideas at City Hall, we're also watching closely to see how City Hall screws up this one.

Grudgingly, Buzz has to say that the two Dallas City Council members who asked the best questions at Tuesday's council briefing on downtown trolleys were Ron Natinsky and Dave Neumann. Both of them wanted to know why the proposed governing body for a downtown trolley system would put the city of Dallas in a minority role, since the system will be in downtown Dallas and Dallas will be paying for it.

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Some stress patience as arts center raises hopes for Dallas' downtown

From: Dallas Morning News
By: David Flick // October 11, 2009

The new AT&T Performing Arts Center, sprawling across 10 acres of lawn, is big by any standard. The Arts District to which it will be officially joined Monday is the largest in the country.

Yet the entire 68-acre district represents only about 8 percent of Dallas' downtown.
Therein lies the city's biggest challenge in the long march toward revitalizing the center city.
Local urban planners note that the AT&T center is just one of several significant developments happening – or about to happen downtown.

Blocks away from the Arts District, another urban park is nearing completion, several new restaurants are preparing to open and a new hotel just came online. And many more projects are in the works.

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Dallas Streetcars Could Become Reality

From: NBCDFW.com
By: Ken Kal Thoff and Elvira Shakmari // October 12, 2009

Dallas City Leaders says it's time to find a way to help people to get from points of interest easily, and street cars may be the answer.

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