Garland's Answer To "Tree The Town"

Richardson might have its "Tree the Town" initiative to plant 50,000 trees in Richardson over the next ten years. Now, Garland ISD is thinking of going one step farther -- growing its own trees. School board member Larry Glick's idea is to to give students training in horticulture and, as a byproduct, provide shade on school playgrounds as well. Garland ISD would start a tree farm, run by students who would both grow the trees and transplant them to playgrounds. Win-win.

After the jump, a look back at an Richardson effort to shade those playgrounds.

Museum Tower vs Richardson's PGBT Station

Museum Tower site

Museum Tower, the long-envisioned condo tower in the Arts District in downtown Dallas, is on again. You might think that adding living spaces to downtown Dallas would be welcomed by all. Not so. WalkableDFW's Patrick Kennedy pans the planned tower, calling it a "cul-de-sac in the sky" due to the lack of walkability in the neighborhood. He has a point. Once you get past the glossy marketing brochures that show the downtown skyline and the nearby art museum, symphony hall and deck park, what will residents who actually move in be faced with on the ground? Look at the aerial view of the planned location -- it's the parking lot inside that strangling cloverleaf exit to Woodall Rodgers freeway. Just try to walk anywhere from your new condo and see how far you get. Big mistake?

After the jump, why I like it anyway and why I'm glad it's in Dallas, not Richardson.

Barack Obama Wannabe Stefani Carter

Barack Obama / Stefani Carter

Young, bright, Harvard-educated, African-American candidate for the state legislature. What once described Barack Obama in Illinois is now being appropriated by none other than a north Texas Republican candidate for the Texas legislature. And if the biography isn't enough to get voters to see a little Barack Obama in you, how about lifting lines and ideas right from Barack Obama's keynote address to the 2004 Democratic Convention, the speech that launched his national career?

After the jump, look who's riding Obama's coattails?

116th Caltech Commencement

There has been no news from Richardson since last week because Ellen and I were in Pasadena, California, to attend Caltech's 116th commencement ceremony. Scott received his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. The weather was ideal (the 75 degree days and cool nights were a welcome break from the Texas heat). The commencement ceremony struck just the right balance between seriousness and levity (and sometimes both rolled up together. For example, read Caltech professor Sean Carroll's take on the lyrics to the song Gaudeamus Igitur sung by the Caltech Glee Club). And the post-commencement luncheon in the Athenaeum was awe-inspiring (this private club on the Caltech campus hosted Nobel Prize winners Albert Einstein, Robert Millikan and A. A. Milchelson at its first formal dinner in 1931).

Besides glowing with pride during commencement, we also visited the outstanding Norton Simon art museum in Pasadena. Saturday turned out to be a full day at Universal Studios Hollywood after we discovered that you can't take just the studio tour without buying a ticket for the whole theme park experience, too. (For a more authentic studio tour, check out Warner Brothers instead.) Each evening was spent dining and strolling in Old Pasadena, the kind of livable city that Dallas and Richardson ought to study.

For more photos, look here:

• Caltech
  
• Norton Simon Museum and Pasadena
  
• Universal Studios Hollywood

2010 World Cup - South Africa

The whole world is watching. Even Americans. From June 11 through July 11, the world will pause to watch the World Cup. Find a location in the Dallas area to join in. Ideally, a location where Brazilians gather to watch Brazil play, or where Slovenians, Slovakians or Serbians gather -- the more exotic the country, the better, if they have a critical mass of fans in the north Texas area. The enthusiasm is infectious. Catch it. Even if you never watched a soccer match before in your life.

RICHARDSON

Fox and Hound*
112 W. Campbell Road
972-437-4225
www.foxandhound.com
*All locations will open early

Humperdink's Sports Bar and Restaurant
1601 N. Central Expressway
972-690-4867
www.humperdinks.com