Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Smart meters: It's not just about the consumer

There has been a lot of buzz this week about smart meters -- electrical meters that allow each of us to parse our use in minute-by-minute increments. There was a particularly intelligent discussion about smart meters and broad band at Unfair Park, the Observer's blog.

Most of the publicity has focused on our pals at Oncor giving us the opportunity to find out just how much difference it makes to run the air conditioning at 76 degrees instead of 78 degrees (or 80 degrees, if you're cheap and from the Midwest). What a lot of the stories have overlooked is that we're not the only piece of the smart meter puzzle.

Wine review: Hey Mambo Sultry Red 2006

Simple, fruity red blends from California are not what they once were. This is upsetting, because I appreciate  simple and fruity wines quite a bit. Not every occasion requires a bottle of Chateau Le Snooty. But prices have gone up or quality has gone down, or both, in the last couple of years.

The Mambo (about $13, available at Whole Foods), though, has remained consistently satisfying. It's a six-grape blend (no cabernet sauvignon or merlot, thankfully) that offers dark fruit and medium tannins. Serve it with Italian food, hamburgers or anything else that requires a simple, fruity wine.

Report handicap fraud here — or spot offenders in your hood

Yesterday, our esteemed publisher posted an item about free indefinite handicap parking and the city’s plan to possibly change the rules. The post was met with varying commentary, but I think most of us would agree that people with actual disabilities are not the problem — fakers are the problem. (Hey, we all know they are out there).

I don’t think the council’s idea is a terrible one. I don’t think they’ll get away with it either. But here's another idea:

Stopped for a traffic violation and don't have insurance? The council says you're going to be towed.

Earlier today, the Dallas city council voted 10-5 to require — in most circumstances — police to tow vehicles stopped for traffic violations when the drivers are unable to produce proof of insurance, according to the DMN. The ordinance doesn't take effect until Jan. 1. Neighborhood council members all voted in favor of the ordinance.

Dr. Elba Garcia led the resistance to the ordinance, and she made a good point (as quoted in the story): "This is going to cost every taxpayer of the city of Dallas. It goes against a neighborhood. It goes against economic development … We'd pass something that feels good. But guess what? It has consequences we haven't looked into," including the cost of expanding the city's auto pound and the need for what she estimated will be 16 police officers would need to be transferred from patrol to traffic in order to enforce the ordinance.

On the plus side, the city intends to make accommodations to ensure that a family isn't dumped by the roadside in the middle of the night, along with other establishing other minimal waiver ability to protect against putting people at personal risk simply to tow their car. That's the way the law needs to be done, with at least a little compassion available at an officer's discretion.

And I completely agree with the goal of the ordinance: to take uninsured drivers off the road the only way they can really be hurt, but taking away their ride. This is an ordinance that impacts the less-fortunate among us disproportionately, but driving is a privilege and not a birthright — affordable mass transit is available here, too. And unfortunately, there are a number of people who could afford auto insurance but choose not to because currently there's no downside; if they are involved in an accident and they don't have any assets, they're likely to get off with a few threats from the other party's insurance company or, at worst, be forced into bankruptcy. But they'll continue to be free to offend again, and if you don't have anything to begin with, bankruptcy and collection calls aren't going to be too bothersome.

Garcia's point about the number of officers that may need to be redirected to deal with increased violations is potentially valid, though: If the police can figure out a way to get a tow truck to a scene faster than the rest of us can, that's information they need to package and sell. But if the cops wind up sitting around for an hour or two or three while waiting for the tow truck to show up, the manpower drain and the inability to deal with other concurrent crimes could be a problem. That's a risk that the council is willing to take, and in this case, I think it's a risk worth monitoring.

Plus-size modeling show "Model Maker" will make a casting stop in Dallas

If you are an 18- to 25-year-old woman who is 30 to 70 pounds overweight, MTV wants you. Its casting directors are coming to Dallas to find young women to star in a new reality show, "Model Maker".

Shannon Powers, one of the casting directors, says the show is for women who "would like to shed the pounds 'boot camp' style and walk away with a $100,000 cash prize as well as a possible modeling contract. ... These girls will be provided with the best of the best — nutritionists, dietitians, stylists, trainers and so on to help there girls be the best that they can be and potentially walk away with a new life."

Watch out, though: The show's producer is the same one behind "Surreal Life", "Flavor of Love", "Rock of Love" and "I Love New York".

Task force formed to curb convenience store crime in Dallas

When it comes to dangerous jobs most of us think of fire fighters, cops and those guys on “Deadliest Catch”. But the folks who man convenience stores — especially at night — are in a pretty scary position.

We see reports of convenience store crime every day on the news, in the paper, in our neighborhood crime watch reports — and tragically scattered throughout the robbery reports are shootings and murders such as this White Rock Lake-area incident late last year. According to a Dallas Morning News brief, Mayor Leppert and the police chief have formed a task force to address convenience store crime — The Mayor’s Convenience Store Crime Task Force will hammer out ideas for making Dallas convenience stores and the area surrounding them safer. The panel includes council members, police officials, convenience store operators, and members of community groups. According to the report, Leppert asked the group to return a plan of action by June 20.

What's your neighborhood's Walk Score?

If you're like me and tired of paying upward of $50 every time you hit the pump, you might be considering biking and walking more often when it's feasible. So when is it feasible? Well, there's a website that will help you figure that out based on your home address. It's called Walk Score, and it calculates your neighborhood's walkability rating on a 1-100 scale.

For instance, I live in Dixon Branch, and here we have a walkability rating of around 34, which isn't great. But I work in the heart of Lakewood, and not surprisingly, the walkability rating there is 88.

Along with the rating, site users can get a list of their closest restaurants, bars, parks, fitness options, etc. With my Lakewood results, however, my closest grocery store was listed as 7-11 (that's using the term a bit loosely, I think), and the nearest hardware store as Splendor in the Grass. Why not ACE, I wonder?

Anyway, clearly the site isn't perfect, but interesting nonetheless.

Dallas budget crunch: What comes next?

Although city officials say they expect property values to rise five percent for next year's budget, it won't fix much. That was the news on Friday, when the city got word from the Dallas Central Appraisal District about what numbers it can plug in when it figures revenue for the 2008-09 spending plan.

The five percent increase doesn't look like it will do much more than prevent the big cuts similar to those we had at the beginning of the decade. However, the "small" cuts -- fewer road repairs, library closings, less code enforcement -- that the city manager forecast don't sound like much fun, either. And it looks like the property value boost won't be enough to pay for those 200 cops that Mayor Park Cities promised we'd get without a tax increase. Just in time, of course, for the slowing economy related hike in crime.

Dallas wants your used cooking oil

I remember getting in big trouble as a kid/teenager for pouring cooking oil down the sink. As adults most of us know that’s a no-no but some of us don’t know what to do with fats, oil and grease that can’t go down the drain. Dallas Water Utilities aims to raise awareness and offer alternative uses for our grease with “Cease the Grease”, a cooking oil drive June 2-7. It seems that dirty oil can actually be useful — bring your leftover oil to any of the following locations:

Fiesta, 5334 Ross Ave, 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
Tom Thumb, 5809 E. Lovers, 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

If you can’t make it next week, the city will still accept used cooking oil in rigid plastic containers and secured with a screw top at the Fair Oaks Transfer Station, 7677 Fair Oaks, McCommas Bluff Landfill, 5100 Youngblood, or Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center, 11234 Plano.

Urban legend or not? Do carjackers and a piece of paper equal a new scam?

With all of the talk about the increasing Dallas crime rate, our neighborhood crime watch circulated reports about a couple of ongoing scams that can have dangerous implications (a few of you have pointed out the "urban legend" aspect of this deal, but if I received it from my neighborhood crime watch, it could be true, right?):

1) You hop in your car in a parking lot, start the engine and begin backing out of your space. Then you notice a piece of paper taped to the middle of the rear window. You put the car in park, leave it running, and hop out to remove the paper. Carjackers jump you, snag the running car and its contents (maybe your purse, briefcase, etc.) and take off. Moral: If this happens to you, leave the paper on the window and keep going. Quickly.