Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

White Rock Marathon still needs a title sponsor

The Dallas Business Journal reported today that NexBank signed on as presenting sponsor for the White Rock Marathon. Back Talk reported this a month ago, by the way. When we did, I spoke with race chairman Chuck Dannis who reminded me they are still actively seeking a title sponsor. Securing a title sponsor makes a big difference when it comes to presenting that post-event check to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, he says.

Last year's sponsor was Wellstone Communities, backed out of sponsoring this year's event (which we also wrote about here.)

Hotslings: An update

You may remember last fall's story about neighbor Kristen DeRocha, creator of Hotslings. The story mentioned that her next line would be Milk Daze, a line of hip nursing tops.

They aren't for sale on the Hotslings website, but I found them online at la stella blu and Due Maternity. The Hotslings website also includes a list of stores where its products are sold — quite a few of them locally. Though I'm not sure if the stores listed sell Hotslings only or Milk Daze tops, too.

Though it's not listed on the store search, Target is selling DeRocha's Hotslings, but both the Medallion Center Target and SuperTarget have been out of stock when I've looked for them. However, you can buy them on Target's website — free shipping, too.

Starbucks: Our neighborhood's share of the company's closures

Two Starbucks stores along Greenville will soon be gone — the one in Old Town and the one adjacent to Gloria's. They are two of 600 company-owned stores across the United States and nine in Dallas slated to close. The closures will start next month and continue through the first half of 2009.

The other 16 in our neighborhood were spared, and the next closest closure is "NorthPark Mall II", which I'm assuming refers to the much roomier Starbucks tucked behind the AMC theater that receives much less foot traffic.

You can view the full list of closures in the PDF below, or see the soon-to-come metro area closures in the recent DMN story.

Download USStoreClosureInfo.pdf

Dinner and a movie at the Magnolia and Social House

When you think "dinner and a movie", you tend to imagine them separately. More like, "dinner followed by a movie, with a long drive in between."

But starting July 18, Magnolia Theatre will be collaborating with Social House to create a dinner and a movie experience for its customers. The Social House, which is right across from the Magnolia, will be offering a $50 package that includes two entrees and desserts with two movie tickets for any film of your choice. (This dinner for two doesn't include alcoholic beverages or appetizers, but any entree or dessert can be chosen from the restaurant's usual menu.)

No end date is in sight, so you should be able to take advantage for a while. Of course, if you're looking for a dinner and dining experience, you could always hit Studio Movie Grill and even skip the walk from one venue to the next, but the Magnolia and Social House combo seems a little more appropriate if you're looking for a nice night on the town.

Tolbert's chili resurfaces at Whole Foods and in Grapevine

I'm showing my age here, but a brief in the DMN about X2 Chili being sold at Whole Foods Market made me recall the one-and-only, original Dallas chili-man: Frank X. Tolbert. Tolbert (who died in 1984) was a true bear of a man, tall and lanky and loud and funny and everything I imagined a Texan would be when I was growing up in Minnesota. And in case you didn't know, X2 is Frank's son, as well as an accomplished but eclectic artist, and X2 Chili is a frozen version of what the son cooked up for the father at the downtown Tolbert's Chili Parlor on Main across from El Centro, where those of us who worked at the Morning News back then spent many a lunch and, sometimes, dinner hour.

In fact, the first restaurant I remember eating at when I arrived in Dallas in 1978 was the Tolbert's across from the Melrose Hotel on Cedar Springs at Oak Lawn (there's a Walgreen's there now, and it was a Luby's before). Tolbert's super-serious chili was way too hot for my Yankee tastebuds back then, and that was before I met Frank X. his-own-self at the Morning News, where the guy pretty much had the run of the place. He occasionally wrote a history column, but he seemed to spend most of his time telling stories to youngsters like me when he wasn't holed up with Blackie Sherrod and/or John Anders (also rather elusive but personality-laden columnists at the News back then). Tolbert had a hand in starting up the Original Terlingua International Frank X. Tolbert - Wick Fowler Championship Chili Cookoff, and if you don't want to try the frozen variety, you can get a fresh batch of Tolbert's chili at the remaining Tolbert's in Grapevine, operated by Frank's daughter (and X2's sister) Kathleen.

And I guarantee you that if you click on all of the links in this blog post, you'll have added a mini-history of Dallas and Texas to your party repertoire.

Commerical property in Dallas: Let's end the 'secret' valuation process

If commercial property owners paid more taxes, residential property owners would pay less — as much as $90 million less annually: That's pretty much the bottom line in the ongoing debate over whether commercial property sales prices in Dallas County need to be publicly disclosed. The DMN offers a lengthy and informative story about the issue, which is expected to be acted upon during the state legislature's session next year. And the whole issue gained momentum as a result of Dallas' taxpayer-owned downtown convention center hotel land purchase — the city offered to pay about $40 million for eight acres of property that was being assessed at about $8 million (five times less than what the city is paying to buy the property).

Just imagine if your home tax appraisal increased by five times next year because the appraisal district figured out it had undervalued the house for awhile: I suspect we'd all have something to say if that happened to us. And it won't happen, either, and not only because the appraisal district can't raise taxes on a homestead that much in one year. It won't happen because sales prices for residential property are virtually always publicly available, allowing the appraisal district to come pretty close year after year to proper home valuations.

Junk phone calls: We can do something about them

The other night, I got a recorded phone call from a window cleaning service in Irving. I hung up on the call as soon as I realized what it was. I’m on the no call list, so I thought that it was obviously an illegal call, and was appropriately irritated. Plus, this company apparently has a reputation for this sort of thing.

But it turns out, according to the New York Times, that these kinds of calls fall into a gray area under the do not call law. Under the current rules, automated calls are allowed when the callers have what are known as established business relationships with those they dial. But a Federal Trade Commission official says that “established business relationship” is broadly defined and that plenty of companies  flout the rules.

Phantom 'fuel surcharges': They're here, and they're high

Have you been victimized by a phantom "fuel surcharge" yet? And by "phantom" I mean you didn't know you were going to be paying a surcharge until the pizza delivery guy or the plumber or whoever showed up and slapped the fee on you?

Apparently, according to a DMN story, it's a growing trend for service industries faced with rising fuel costs to slap the "fuel surcharge" on bills. Certainly, a business is entitled to charge what it needs to charge to stay in business — just as customers have the tools to decide whether to pay the charge or not — but is it fair if the pizza is priced the same as a competitor's but the surprise surcharge boosts the price by 10-15 percent? If you're going to charge someone a fee, it seems only fair to acknowledge it up-front.

Neighbor plugs his deal-finding web site on Channel 8 news

Last week I wrote about the Lakewood residents behind Dealoco.com. Looks like Channel 8 WFAA thought their site was a good find too, here's Dealloco founder Steve Cospolich on the evening news.

Want to save Lower Greenville Starbucks? Sign here

"Please don't take OUR Starbucks," say some patrons of the Lower Greenville store. Never mind the fact that it's about half a mile to another Starbucks. These folks have grown attached to store #6262 and they are signing this petition in an effort to keep it. This post on Unfair Park goes into a bit of detail regarding why patrons think the store will go even though the corporate mouthpieces have yet to confirm any specific closings.