Richardson, "Wonderfully Diverse Land of Opportunity"

"Don't read the comments". Always good advice. Still...

After an otherwise too-easy takedown of Sarah Palin by Jim Schutze in Unfair Park (in which he pitches the theory that Texas is becoming the Sarah Palin of states, using the example of the newly elected representative from Belton who wants Texas Muslim visitors to her Capitol office to pledge an oath of allegiance), there was one comment that I just can't help passing along to Richardson readers.

I love Texas. Batshit crazy right-wingers are not Texas. Texas is the wonderfully diverse land of opportunity and the American dream that I see in Richardson, for example, where people have gathered from all over the globe to seek opportunity and better themselves and their families. The crazies like that lady in Belton are like mesquite -- an unfortunate legacy of past mistakes.

Source: Unfair Park.

The commenter was "JimSX," who sounds a lot like Jim Schutze himself, making the comment all the more remarkable as perhaps the first kind thing Schutze has had to say about, not only Richardson, but any Dallas suburb.

Belle (2013)

IMDB

Belle (2013): Race and class in 18th c. England. Rich costumes and sets. 2D characters. Think anti-slavery movement meets Downton Abbey. B-

Winter in Breckinridge Park (2015)

From 2015 01 28 Breckinridge

More photos after the jump.

Urban Planning in Lake Highlands

If you are like me, you think the IH635/Skillman/Audelia intersection is a mess. It's not Richardson's mess. It's Dallas's mess. It's Lake Highlands's mess. But it's a mess. People have been thinking about what do with it for years. Maybe something will finally get done.

The revitalization of our neighborhood begins with fixing the 635-Skillman intersection...

The crossroads cause confusion and congestion, resulting in snarls, accidents and dangerous pedestrian scenarios that worsen with each passing year...

The thoroughfare situation, according to experts who have studied the zone for years, makes inefficient use of our land, repels quality retailers and developers, and ultimately perpetuates proliferation of undesirable businesses, problematic apartment and condominium properties, and high-crime zones.

Source: Lake Highlands Advocate.

After the jump, what's wrong with this thinking.

Freaky Slow Development on Spring Valley

Source: City of Richardson.

Urban, mixed-use, walkable. Does that sound familiar? Does that picture look familiar? It's West Spring Valley Road. Or at least it was the vision of West Spring Valley Road that was dangled in front of Richardson residents almost five years ago. Since then, State Farm built an eleventy-seven story office tower up north in a whole new neighborhood called CityLine. Raytheon is building a big, new corporate campus next door. Whole Foods is busy stocking up gluten-free pizzas for the insurance agents and engineers who will live and work and shop up there.

Meanwhile, what's happening along Spring Valley Road? You hope I'll say something like what's in that picture, right? But you expect me to say nothin', right? Well, you're wrong... in both cases. After the jump, south Richardson's own development news.