Say Hello to a Call Center

I opened my (figurative) newspaper and was struck by a surprise: "Fobare starts Richardson's first spec building in a decade." The building is at 1225 Alma Rd, between Arapaho Rd and Collins Blvd. The surprise is the use the developer envisions for it. Not another data center, like what has rejuvenated much of the old Collins Radio site. Data centers are stuffed with computers, not employees. The developer says the new office building will be ideal for a call center. A call center is stuffed with people.

The building has eight parking spaces per 1,000 square feet, which is a rarity in office real estate, and makes it an ideal location for a call center or other office user with a need for a high parking ratio.

Source: Dallas Business Journal.

After the jump, what should I think of this?

Spring Creek Equinox

From 2013 09 22 Spring Creek Nature Area

The autumnal equinox this year occurred at 3:44 CDT on Sunday, September 22. In Richardson, it was a glorious, warm (not hot), sunny day. These photos were taken in the Spring Creek Nature Area on this first day of autumn.

More photos and a little bittersweet musing after the jump.

Off the Leash

It looks like Richardson may finally be getting that dog park that the city council summarily dismissed in the last term.

Some say the council supported a dog park all along. Some say that the council was only prevented from building a dog park because of neighborhood objections and because tea partiers (for lack of a better term) oppose funding it with borrowed money.

What some say is false.

After the jump, speculation on what's behind the turnaround.

Spamalot at PHS

Spamalot at PHS: Big over-the-top show with lots of scenes to ham it up. JJP cast does just that. They're having as much fun as audience.

S2L77: Persepolis, 515 BCE

From 1977 03 29 Iran

How do you summarize 2,500 years of history in one short blog post? Let's focus on three events in the long history of Persepolis.

First is the city's founding in 515 BCE as the capital of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Persepolis was the royal home of Cyrus the Great, Darius I, and Xerxes the Great. It was during their rule that the famous Greco-Persian Wars were fought, during which the Persians torched Athens.

That directly led to the second event, two hundred years later, when Alexander the Great's army came through Persepolis. Alexander considered Persepolis "the most hateful of the cities of Asia" and allowed his army to sack the city and burn it to the ground.

Jump forward 23 centuries, to 1971 and the third event. The Shah of Iran holds a giant celebration honoring 2,500 years of the Persian Empire (to which, not coincidentally, he claims his own unpopular rule to be a direct heir). He builds a giant tent city to house the festivities. Dozens of world leaders attend the gala. Eight years later, the Shah falls during the Iranian revolution, the tent city is looted and now stands in ruins next to the ruins of Cyrus the Great's ancient city.

Here I should probably quote from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias, but that poem is getting enough attention elsewhere right now (see the episode of the television series Breaking Bad), so I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine why I was reminded of Ozymandias while touring Persepolis in 1977, even though Shelley was writing of ancient Egypt, not Persia.

More photos after the jump.

Mud (2013)

IMDB

Mud (2013): Two Mississippi boys meet a drifter who lives on a boat in a tree. Yep. Adventure, suspense, coming of age. Early Oscar buzz. B-

Tom Pauken Asks, "Where's the Beef?"

Quick, who is Clara Peller? If you can answer that 1980s' trivia question, Tom Pauken just might be your candidate for governor.

Tom Pauken is running for governor. He's an underdog. Greg Abbott is the favorite. So, naturally, Pauken takes potshots at Abbott, like this one uttered in a Texas Tribune TribLive conversation: "He is good at raising money, but in terms of substantive ideas, where's the beef?"

After the jump, where's the beef?

S2L77: Isfahan is Half the World

From 1977 03 29 Iran

Pavilion of 40 Columns

From 1977 03 29 Iran

More after the jump.

One Step Closer to Restaurant Row

Source: Hermansen Land Development, Inc.

Richardson appears to be getting one step closer to building a row of 1980s-style suburban restaurants at Central Expressway and Floyd Rd where the demolished Continental Inn used to be. So much for any dream of mixed-use development between the freeway and the single family homes in the Heights Park Richardson Heights neighborhood.

Three years ago, the city held a series of meetings to gather stakeholders' inputs on the aims of redevelopment of the West Spring Valley Corridor, which includes the land in question here. What rated highest with the stakeholders were the pretty pictures of sidewalk cafes and strolling shoppers. The city had other ideas. It purchased the old Continental Inn, demolished it, and is now (presumably) in the process of acquiring the other parcels of land on the block. Once all the land is in hand, Richardson will likely sell its stake to Hermansen Land Development, Inc., for construction of, not sidewalk cafes with strolling shoppers, but a 1980s-style restaurant row.

After the jump, why that unimaginative development may be one step closer.

Plano East 34, Berkner 13

From 2013 09 13 Berkner vs Plano East

Plano East is the largest high school in Texas. Official UIL enrollment: Plano East 6,015. Berkner 2,654. I'm just saying. I'm not making excuses (yes, I am).

Back to football. The Plano East Panthers beat the Berkner Rams convincingly Friday night at Tom Kimbrough Stadium. The Rams kept it close early, tying the score at 7 early in the second quarter, but from then on, it was all Panthers. A 57-yard fumble return by Berkner gave Rams fans something to cheer late in the fourth quarter, making the final score 34-13.

More photos after the jump.