Complaint No. 1: The Nasher was closed, and its windows were dark. Okay, so you’re going to close Flora Street and have hundreds thousands of people milling about till around 9 or 10 o’clock. On a Friday night. Might be a good idea to keep your doors open past 5. Standing on a packed Flora Street, waiting for the kung fu show to begin, I stared at the darkened windows of the Nasher and wondered if the people there ever check out the calendar of events of their across-the-street neighbor.

Complaint No. 2: Drinking was permitted only where you couldn’t see the show. This isn’t the Crow’s fault. I’m sure it was a city code issue. The Crow had four bars set up outside in the plaza upstairs, above that fountain that faces Flora. But you couldn’t bring a beer down to the street level, where you could actually see the kung fu and then, later, the dragon. So it was a real problem when I bought five beers for our group and was stopped at the top of the stairs by a security guard who informed informed me, “No alcohol beyond this point.” Never mind that many people had already crossed that point with drinks. I solved this problem by having a friend go get a diaper bag out of his stroller. When the security guard was distracted, I stuffed the beer bottles into the diaper bag, slipped into the Crow, traversed the catwalk, slinked down a flight of stairs, and exited from the front door, downstairs. It just should be that hard. If you’re going to have a street festival and serve drinks, then people should be able to drink those drinks on the street.

Complaint No. 3: I couldn’t see the kung fu. Like I said, I think more people turned out than the Crow expected. The crowd was six and seven people deep at the barricades that created the performance space on Flora. I’m 6 feet tall. I couldn’t see. People who attempted to get a better vantage point by standing on planters were shouted at by Crow staffers and security guards. I get it. You don’t want anyone falling and getting hurt. Which is why you need to either a) have a stage set up, or b) provide some sort of bleacher system. Yes, I know that costs money. But it’s necessary.

Complaint No. 4: When the performance ended, the street life died. The food trucks were completely overwhelmed. The lines were long before the performance. Afterward, they were sold out of food. There was still some stuff to do inside the Crow, but for the huge crowd on the street, the night ended when the dragon stopped dancing. It was still early. There were still plenty of people who wanted to hang out downtown and do something. My family and I, along with a few friends, strolled down to the Winspear and let our kids run around in the reflecting pool. But that was about it.

Listen, overall, it was a good night. My back is still killing me from having my 13-year-old son sit my shoulders so that he could see the kung fu and the dragon. But we had a good time. I’ll go back next year. And I recommend that you give it a shot, too. The roof deck Woodall park will be open by then. Maybe there will be something to do after the show ends. Maybe the Nasher will get onboard and stay open for the party. Maybe the Crow will bring in some bleachers. Maybe.

Baby steps, baby steps.

Several months, countless hours, and $1,200 later, Jeppson has 10,000 maps to hand out. He just dropped a few off by our office. I plan on using mine to get home tonight.

Jeppson has lived downtown for 6 years. He currently lives in the beautifully renovated 400 N. Ervay (which I immediately fell in love with and wrote about here). I told him my feelings about the tunnels, and he said he’s neutral. “They’re an asset that already exists, so why close them down?” he says. “Don’t expand them, but don’t close them down.” He’s on a task force that is evaluating the tunnels. He said the group is close to releasing some recommendations. I hope one of those recommendations is to open the tunnels around lunch on Saturdays. I know it won’t happen, but I would really love to be able to get a Salata salad or a Chick-fil-A sandwich without getting in my car.

If you want one of Jeppson’s maps, check out his site here or stop by our office. I’ll have a few at the front desk.

The policy is understandable considering how the Nasher is configured. To get to the restaurant, one has to walk through the museum, so you see a lot of what people pay admission to see. That design flaw hurts the Nasher and the Arts District, which lacks the sort of drop-by, buy-a-sandwich-and-a-beer, and check-your-IPad places that attract strollers. It also is a revenue-loser for the museum itself.

Memo to Nasher Trustees: Bite the bullet, move your restaurant to the main gallery facing the street, open it up and put tables outside, and invite people to come into your space. It will drive up food and drink revenues, increase paid attendance, and add some life to Flora Street. If you’re worried about architect Renzo Piano, just don’t tell him. He never comes to Dallas. He’ll never know.

Just because there’s no sign saying you can’t walk down a sidewalk where someone’s using a jackhammer doesn’t mean you should walk down said sidewalk.

‘Dallas’ Looks To Capitalize on Recessionary Escapism: A flurry of news stories about the revival of the television show “Dallas” hit the inter-webs this weekend. This is all you need to know, via Larry Hagman: “Remember when ‘Dallas’ was really big, we were in a major recession,” he said. “People couldn’t afford to hire a babysitter and go out to dinner. So they had to stay in and watch something on TV, and that was us.”

Rick Perry Continues To Self-Destruct Presidential Hopes: Rick Perry believes that calling for the prosecution of legal adults serving in the marines who made a video of themselves urinating on Taliban corpses shows “disdain for the military.” Cue Zac.

Anna Freitag, the marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard Brazil, said her company had never considered how inefficient billboards and the like were until they were illegal. “A billboard is media on the road,” she told the FT. “In rational purchases it means less effectiveness… as people are involved in so many things that it makes it difficult to execute the call to action.”

“This Space Available“, a documentary about Sao Paulo and other movements to rid cities of billboards, will be shown at the Dallas Film Festival, which runs April 12-22.

The crew prepares the River Birch trees for planting.

The Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation planted the first of 322 trees for the upcoming Park this morning at 10:30.

TurningPoint Foundation donated the first 25 River Birch trees. With the new trees came a new tree trust, which will allow donors who provide $25,000 or more to the Foundation to pick which trees they want to plant and select an area to place them in the Park.

One of the donors, Kristin Schor of the Gaedeke Group, says while her company already sponsors plant life around the United States, the people in her company are excited to see what they can do in their own backyard.

“We want to make a difference,” Schor says. “Even if it is one tree at a time.”

The trees are being planted in organic dirt placed on top of lightweight filler, because dirt alone would be too much weight for the bridge to handle, says Joanna Singleton of Jackson Spalding Communications.

Planting will be going on all day today and Thursday, but there’s not much else to see on top of Woodall Rodgers Freeway right now except a lot of organic dirt.

If you’re interested in what the Park will look like when it’s finished, the Foundation’s website has a bird’s eye view of what they’re planning for it. —Jessica Melton

After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the city of San Francisco faced the tremendous task of rebuilding the structurally-damaged Embarcadero Freeway. Instead, they tore it down, replaced it with a people-friendly boulevard that encouraged development. The surrounding area has since rebounded, Lind said, with higher property values, more tourism and more housing for city residents.

The same phenomenon occurred in New York City when it rebuilt the elevated West Side Highway in 1989 as a surface roadway, giving New Yorkers access to parks, piers and picturesque views on the West Side of Manhattan.

Our opportunity lies with the elevated portion of I30 that runs from downtown through East Dallas. I argue here that tearing down that 2.5-mile portion and creating a boulevard in its place would unleash millions of dollars in development (and new taxes).

Photo taken by Noah Jeppson from the fourth floor of his apartment building.

Starting sometime last week, the folks behind City Lights (Downtown Dallas Inc., Neiman Marcus, the City of Dallas, Downtown Residents Council, Planet Productions, and Excitement Technologies Group) started making downtown a bit brighter. They shut off streets, pulled out cherry pickers, and strung 3,882 lights (3,800 C9 bulbs, 32 LED pars, and 50 12-inch LED strips–I know you wanted to know specifics). I ran into Jaime Clintsman, events coordinator at Downtown Dallas Inc., last night and we watched as this orb/ball/sphere was hung into place. For someone who has been working nonstop for the past week (as has the entire staff), she sure seemed happy. She promised DDI has a lot of tricks up its sleeves, and that we’re all in for a good show on Saturday. This photo was taken by neighbor Noah Jeppson. I don’t think I’m ruining any of the surprises, because unless you’re Jeppson or one of his neighbors, I doubt you’ll get to view the show from above.

Of course, the tree in Main Street Garden will be lit as well. I’ve made it known how I feel about that thing. Regardless, I’m pretty excited for Saturday night.