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More From the Museum of Nature & Science’s Groundbreaking

Glenn brought us some details yesterday from the groundbreaking. Ryan Jones from our web team was there, too, and offers more reportage after the jump:

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Trinity Audubon Center Plans Anniversary Fest

I was at the dedication of the Trinity River Audubon Center last year. But I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to get back since, so I can’t speak about anything other than the fact that they’ve got a pretty cool building out there. But it sounds like there will be some fun this weekend at Nature Fest (sponsored in part by People Newspapers):

The Trinity River Audubon Center, which features 120 acres of urban forest and an ecofriendly education building, is getting set to celebrate its one-year anniversary on October 10 and 11 with its inaugural Nature Fest. Opened in October 2008, the center contains interactive exhibits set at different levels to allow children to experience nature up close. Nature Fest 2009 will include workshops on topics such as Nature Deficit Disorder, introduction to kayaking, composting, water conservation and energy conservation. Children will learn how to make nature arts-and-crafts projects, meet Texas wildlife and enjoy face painting and storytelling. Yoga, Tai Chi, guided trail hikes and architecture tours, picnics and a juried art show and sale are some of the activities on the schedule. (more…)

Cowboys Fans Celebrate Win With a Bang (NSFW)

… in the “Hall of Fame Level” bathrooms at the brand new broken in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. No joke. Two fans clad in Michael Irvin throwback jerseys decided that all the excitement of a thoroughly lackluster win by Romo and the Boys could only be sated by a quickie in one of Jerry’s marble-tiled handicap bathroom stalls.

This definitely NSFW link will take you to the Deadspin post that includes video of the pair drunkenly going at it. The video is very short, but in IMHO the dude was over served and lacking in the imagination department. Is it wrong that I hear Brad Sham’s voice saying, “Irvin loves Irving Irvin,” every time I watch it?

Also, check out photographer Eliot Boney’s website. He’s the guy with the apropos name taking credit for the masterful camera work. No word yet on who the two Irvin wannabees are. My question: Where was security while this was going on?

Comments are on like Donkey Kong. Who’s got the best Chris Berman play-by-play?

Party Over the Trinity on Friday

This Friday evening, the Trinity Trust Foundation is throwing what it’s calling a “bridge fair” on the Continental Bridge to celebrate the progress being made on the Marget Hunt Hill Bridge (full release after the jump). Santiago Calatrava will be in attendance. The band Boys Named Sue will play, and the foundation promises other “delectable delights.” Tickets cost $150, a price point established, I believe, to keep Jim Schutze from attending. D Magazine is a media sponsor, so I’ll be there. Look for me wherever the delectable delights are located.

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Arts Center Holds Some Surprises

At least, according to the LA Times, which did a travel report about the center and its opening in October. Most of the information I already know. However, this sentence provided some insight I had yet to hear.

The new venues will be woven together by a 10-acre pubic park.

So many jokes. So little time.

Jessica Simpson Has Lost Her Dog, Wants It Back

People.com has a story up about Jessica Simpson’s dog, Daisy. The maltipoo was snatched by a coyote right in front of her, according to Simpson’s Twitter feed. She wrote: “My heart is broken because a coyote took my precious Daisy right in front of our eyes. HORROR! We are searching. Hoping. Please help!” Here’s a pic of the cute dog, along with a poster offering an unspecified reward. I wonder how many coyotes follow Simpson on Twitter. (Aside: I had a few marmot tweeps for a while, but then I made an off-color rodent joke, and they all un-followed me. And don’t ever follow water buffalo. IJS.)

Woodall Rodgers Park: Where Will Children Play?

Over on Renegade Bus, Peter Simek compares the Woodall Rodgers Park with Millennium Park in Chicago (a comparison the Woodall boosters themselves have made) and asks some good questions. Worth a read.

The Attack of the Crazy Ants

Crazy ants — “so named because they move in all directions rather than in a straight line” — were first seen in Houston seven years ago. They’ve remained in Southeast Texas counties — UNTIL NOW. Delightfully named Pearland exterminator Tom Rasberry thinks they’ll make it at least to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, if not beyond. Why should you care? Oh, I don’t know, maybe because:

“They can so overwhelm a yard that your dog won’t even want to go outside to pee,” said Texas Parks and Wildlife entomologist Mike Quinn. “If a pet or even a person steps outside, they can be covered in ants within a minute.”

I’ll be picturing this when I go to sleep tonight, I can promise you that.

Greenway Parks Residents Question Men in Trees, Ctd.

A tree-loving FBvian who had five live oaks “butchered” here by Oncor last spring–and later moved to the Northeast–has a few observations about the company:

1.) Oncor would not have notified us in advance if I had not been home when they knocked on my door. I told them that my husband needed to be home to supervise the work and they left. They sent another crew several weeks later and had their “arborists” on site. The trees they “pruned” looked horrible and they damaged $2000 worth of other landscaping which they did reimburse us for.
2.) The crew that did the work was from IOWA!!! Do they know the growth patterns etc. of TEXAS live oaks????
3.) Since the last time we were butchered a few years ago the rules had changed from trimming to a 5 yr growth to a 10 year growth. When asked if that meant they would not be back for 10 years, I could not get an answer. Is trimming for 10 yrs of growth healthy to the tree or even safe in the case of lopsided trees???
4.) One of the first things that I noticed after our move was the beautiful trees alongside the roads–apparently coexisting with the power lines. While some are trimmed a short distance away from the power lines, I have yet to see one tree cut in the severe V pattern or the half-tree pattern that is common in Oncor’s wake. This is an area that gets actual snow and ice.
5.) I do not understand Oncor’s motives since by their own statistics most power outages are not caused by unruly limbs. My favorite was a couple of years ago when virtually all of N. Dallas was blacked out due to a squirrel. I never saw Oncor trying to rid my property of squirrels (I would have paid them extra for that).
There really has to some way to stop Oncor from ruining the trees of Dallas.

Greenway Parks Residents Question Men in Trees

People around here sure take their trees seriously. The latest uproar over Oncor efforts to keep its power lines branch-free came this week in Dallas’ Greenway Parks area (pictured). Homeowners there say contract trimmers showed up suddenly and proceeded to butcher everything in sight. So, some residents are asking, how come they can’t be notified of such pruning in advance–and then be given the option of hiring their own trimmers to do the work more “sensitively”? Oncor spokeswoman Jeamy Molina says everybody gets five days’ advance warning, including a full explanation of the process to come. And it’s not safe for anyone but Oncor’s experts, she adds, to prune trees within 10 feet of power lines.

Charity Beaver Still in the Hunt

Lest you forget, the “10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas” contest — or, as we affectionately refer to it, the “10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas” contest — is chugging along. Three more women were eliminated. But Charity Beaver wasn’t one of them. I know I speak for semi-aquatic rodents everywhere when I say, “You go, Ms. Beaver!”

City Finally Allows North Haven Gardens to Sell Chickens

A couple of months ago, just as North Haven Gardens was getting its urban henkeeping program up and running, the city stepped in and cried “fowl.” (Sorry — we’re deep into shipping the October ish, and I’m getting a bit punchy.) North Haven was allowed to continue selling supplies for backyard coops and hold basic henkeeping classes. But the heart of the garden center’s efforts — actually selling hens — was cut out. Today, North Haven got good news: “The city is changing the certificate of occupancy. Right now we are zoned to sell plants and related garden center products. The city has now said that chickens are garden related.” Full disclosure: that quote comes from my wife, Nikki, who works there. Anyway, on September 19, North Haven will have pullets (juvenile hens) for sale at the store. And Nikki now owes me one. So everyone wins.

Behind the Scenes at D Magazine (With Apologies to Sam Wyly)

Just had a quick meeting with my boss, the great Glenn Hunter, and something in the corner of his office caught my eye. Atop the pile of business bios was Sam Wyly’s 1,000 Dollars and an Idea, and atop Wyly’s bio was our office mascot (pictured). I shrieked, Hunter shrugged (I think he said “It’s been there a couple of days. Sorry.”).

Now, maybe I was naïve when I decided to leave newspapers for the glamorous world of magazine publishing, but I never thought roaches would be commonplace. Hopefully the roaches won’t follow us to our new digs downtown. That reminds me: Want to intern at D Magazine this fall? Click my name below and send your resume. Previous experience with roaches is not required.

Plano-based Frito-Lay Names Park After Tasty Salty Snack

At least, that’s the plan in Galveston, where county commissioners are trying to change the name of Fort Crockett Park to SunChips Seawall Park at Fort Crockett. Frito-Lay wants to do this because it plans to donate $1 million to enhance the park. A link-sending FBvian says:

Seriously, change a historic name to commemorate a snack chip? I mean, if you’re going to do that, just make it the Cheetos Seawall Park. At last some onomatopoeia.

I don’t see a problem with it. In fact, a suggestion: The DORITOS® COLLISIONS® Cheesy Enchilada and Sour Cream Flavored Tortilla Chips Trinity River Project. Makes me want some, like, right now.

Woodall Rodgers Deck Park Finally On The Verge Of Probably Happening Sometime In the Near-ish Future

Things I learned from this City Hall Blog post:

• Atlanta’s Archer Western won the $44.5 million contract to build the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park.

• Henceforth, and until someone steps up with sponsorship money, it will unofficially be known simply as “the Park.”

Things I didn’t:

• When I should expect to be able take a picnic basket to said “Park,” even though I probably never will actually do that, and am really referring to a stereotypical park activity that will theoretically be undertaken by someone who is not me. (Actually, I’m kidding. That is exactly what I plan to do. Along with Frisbee® and/or Frisbee® golf.)

Dallas Dogged in Wall Street Journal, Ctd.

Rod Davis wrote in to remind me that he’d reported in his story for us that Dallas, in fact, is not a water hog. From the story:

Nobody quarrels with the need to conserve. And nobody honest would dispute that North Texans have little sense of the worth of their water. But to be fair, Dallas is wrongly tagged as a water hog. The city’s use of 198 gallons per capita daily (gpcd) is down from 260 gpcd in 1998. If residential is separated from commercial use, it’s only about 100 gcpd, according to DWU estimates. Dallas thus compares increasingly favorably to San Antonio’s 132 gcpd and El Paso’s 140—both dramatically lowered in recent years, too. El Paso most dramatically lowered its usage after major public education initiatives from the city water utility and giveaways such as low-flow shower heads and toilets.

It’s an important clarification.

Dallas Dogged in Wall Street Journal by “Water Hog” Label

I’m reading this story about how North Texas needs more water. About how we’ve got about 6 million residents right now, but come 2060, we’ll have more than 13 million. About how we’re looking around to dam up some rivers to accommodate all those new residents (and their lawns). About how the people on those rivers don’t particularly cotton to our scheming. And I’m thinking: gee, this sounds familiar.

Here’s looking at you, Rod Davis.

Smith & Hawken, Ctd.

A green-thumbed FrontBurnervian has a theory about the failed chain:

They were headed down the road to ruin when they decided to move out of selling excellent garden tools and equipment and instead sell furniture. They sold some of the best garden tools in the world

Smith & Hawken Going Belly Up

Smith & Hawken, the garden/outdoor furniture store, is having a big sale before going out of business. The chain with 56 locations–including this one in Dallas’ Knox-Henderson area, site of the first-ever On The Border store, by the way–for years has been the place for green-minded yuppies to buy chic upscale gardening stuff.

Ironic Picture of the Day

A FrontBurnervian sends along the below photo taken near Coit and Campbell. (Note the bumpersticker on the dumpster.)

D Magazine Moves Downtown: Update

As has been noted, we are moving our offices downtown, across from the DMA, in the St. Paul Place tower. We’re shooting for September. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this change of venue. Okay, I can tell you. Yes, working in the Arts District will be cool. Yes, working downtown will be a thrill (right?). But here’s why I’m most looking forward to the move: the roaches. Our current space has too many of them. Very much off-brand.

I’ve got a few golf clubs in my office. A Wilson 9-iron, a Spalding 6-iron, and a Northwestern-brand putter. Old, lousy clubs. They found their way to my office via some PR effort or the other. (”This new product is a hit!” Something like that.) So this morning, when I was talking with Wick and Eric about the July issue (on newsstands this weekend), and when a cockroach scurried out from under my couch, I leaped up and grabbed the 6-iron. Manfully yelling “hii-YAH,” I hacked at the roach like I was chopping wood, but I kept missing. At which point Zac wandered in, sized up the situation, and said, “You’re using too much club! Go with the putter!” I can only assume that the new space will feature less fauna.

All of which I offer by way of a setup for these images, taken by Gustav Schmiege. Here’s what our new space high atop St. Paul Place looks like right now. Because we know you care, we’ll keep you up to date on construction progress.

Lonely Coyotes Near White Rock, Ctd.

A nature-loving FrontBurnervian tells us more about the wild things around White Rock:

I live near the spillway, and I spot more coyotes near the lake than I ever have before. If I’m up early enough, I’m almost guaranteed to either see or hear them rustling through the brush of the trails of the old Fish Hatchery. I also see them about 25 percent of the time if I run around the lake at dusk. At night, they sometimes howl so loudly that I can’t fall asleep. They’ve become a part of my life in Dallas.

A few weeks ago, my dog and I saw three coyotes. I started to clap my hands to scare them off, and they kind of — figuratively speaking — shrugged their shoulders. We started to hurry away, and they followed us. The coyotes didn’t chase us off, but they made it clear that we had encroached on their turf (approximately 100 meters from the well-traveled Winsted Rd.), and they wanted us to leave the premises. We complied with their demands.

The city says that there are no more coyotes than ever, but this is what I know. I’ve lived at the Winsted Apartments two separate times: February 2007 through December 2007 and August 2008 to present day. During my first stint, I think I saw a coyote once. During my second stint, I don’t go a week without seeing them.

Happy Birthday to Glenn Hunter

Today our own beloved Glenn Hunter, editor of D CEO, turns 60. As a special gift to him, I am turning on comments so that you, dear FrontBurnervian, may wish him a happy birthday.

Leading Off (6/16/09)

1. The judge has issued a gag order in the Dallas City Hall public corruption case scheduled to go to trial next week. Which is fine with me: I’m never comfortable with speculation about criminal proceedings. Let the case against former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, developer Brian Potashnik, and others play out first. Then we speculate, and we speculate hard.

2. The good news: recently there have been fewer battles between developers wanting to tear down historic buildings and preservationists wanting to save them. The bad news: that’s because developers are holding onto their effing hats.

3. A White Rock Lake lighting plan has been approved to bring to the Park Board. It calls for more lighting in parking lots and piers, and increased lighting along the parts of the trail that run near roads. Nearby residents didn’t want full lighting along the trial, because they feared more people would use the park at night. Me, I wouldn’t feel any safer with keeping part of the trail in the dark, as it just encourages Trey and his “infrared naked night jogging” workout plan.

The Story of How Spider Monkey Saved Me From Drowning in the Trinity

I have just returned to my desk after piloting the Spider Monkey around town to take photos of the soggy destruction. After the jump, I bring you her work — plus the story of how she saved my life.

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