Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Woodrow Mock Trial Team offers Friday night babysitting

Since they're heading to Boston's Harvard University for a mock trial workshop, the Woodrow Wilson High School Mock Trial Team is offering "its impeccable babysitting services," according to the flier, as a fundraiser this Friday night, so that neighborhood parents can attend the Lakewood Candlelight Home Tour and Love Boat Party, Casino and Auction.

It's a full seven hours, 5 p.m.-midnight, for $45 ($25 for the second child in a family and $20 for the third). Parents can drop off their kids (who must be at least 3 and do not require diaper-changing duties) at Northridge Presbyterian Church. Dinner will be provided, and the mock trial team invites parents to bring jammies, pillows and blankets, "in case eyelids get heavy".

Stinky spot along White Rock trails

We’ve discussed this before and I’m sure it’ll come up again but the topic of the so-called "putrid pathway” at White Rock Lake keeps coming up — probably because it’s starting to feel like winter, which is when it gets really bad ...

Many of us who use the lake have come to accept the area along its trail, past Mockingbird bridge near the West Lawther curve, that stinks — and when I say STINKS, I mean that it makes the dog park smell like roses. It is the spot where the fish-gobbling double-crested cormorants roost when they migrate here for the winter. They live on fish from the lake and they poop a bunch, at least that’s how it’s been explained to me.

Wanna hear what they sound like? Check this out.

Anyway, I received an e-mail from a reader last week urging us Advocate editors to “get some commotion stirred up about those nasty birds (a.k.a. water turkeys) on the northwest shore of the lake, right before you get to Mockingbird … their pooh all over the tree's emits a retched fishy odor and it is slowly killing the tree's because the leaves can not absorb any sunlight,” he wrote.

I don’t know that I can do anything to rid our walkways of the dirty birds. But I suppose I can do my part to raise awareness. Here’s my advice: when you come upon the area in question — oh you’ll know when you are there — step off the path and up on to the road for a few feet. It’s just a slight detour. Or just hold your breath and run real fast through the section. Whatever you do, don’t look up. 

Poker tomorrow at Times Ten Cellars

Vegas comes to Lakewood tomorrow night, and what happens in Lakewood ... well, we try to write about it here. Times Ten Cellars, 6324 Prospect, will go casino as the Lakewood Neighborhood Association hosts its annual Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament. Feel lucky? You could win a 42" High Definition TV. Even if you lose, you win, because funds raised benefit neighborhood beautification efforts. Sign up beginning at 6 p.m. Tournament starts at 7 p.m. Get there early — organizers are hoping for a full house! Details here.

Four Season Hotel slated to open at NorthPark?

The DMN reports that a Four Seasons hotel — this one a 250-room building at the northeast corner of NorthPark Center's property, presumably at Park Lane and Central Expressway — could be open as early as 2012. If built, it would join the Las Colinas Four Seasons as the second in the area. The hotel study group reporting the news said that if the hotel isn't already financed — and it probably isn't, according to the group — it might not open until 2013 or later, given the current credit situation nationwide.

Happy birthday, Marines

Seldom do I get special requests from my dad (which is odd because I'm constantly requesting stuff from him), but last weekend we were visiting and he said to me, "next week on that blog (in a tone suggesting it's not in fact a real word) don't forget to wish all the Marines a 'happy birthday'".

Indeed, today is the 233rd anniversary of the birth of the United States Marine Corps. So, happy birthday and semper fidelis to my dad, my grandpa, the running club Marines I recently wrote about, and all the marines and marine families out there celebrating the day today.

Tomorrow, of course, is Veterans Day, and the big parade will get under way at 11 a.m. at Dallas City Hall.

E-waste roundup: Saturday collection event in Lake Highlands

If you have any e-waste to get rid of — electronics, scrap metal, tires, ink cartridges, batteries, household items, clothing, and documents for shredding — stop by Lake Highlands Elementary School, 9501 Ferndale, on Saturday, Nov. 15, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The LHE people are making a day of the event, too; they're also providing a flu shot clinic, pet adoption, sale of Chick-fil-A sandwiches and other "green" and "child-friendly" activities.

La Parrillada: Delinquent taxes lead to another restaurant closing

Another one bites the dust, courtesy of the Texas comptroller's office: This time, it's La Parrillada on Gaston near the spillway, as first reported on FrontBurner. The Mexican restaurant, pretty popular for years in the building that once house a Pizza Inn, apparently failed to keep up with payments for either employee payroll or sales taxes, and the state opted to shut it down. This one follows last week's demise of Bailey's 1st & 10 sports bar at Mockingbird and Abrams. The difficult economy is forcing restaurants owners (along with the rest of us) to make some difficult choices, but it appears that skimping on payroll or sales taxes isn't the way to go if you're a business owner looking to cut corners.

Watch the Holiday Inn implosion at Royal & Central Expressway

I don't know what it is about watching implosions, but I can never get enough of them. The Morning News did a great job of showing us various views of the demise of the former Holiday Inn between Meadow and Royal on the eastside Central Expressway access road. The Holiday Inn once sat next to Troy Aikman Ford, which closed a few months ago. According to the News, Valencia Capital Management will be putting up an 83-acre mixed-use development on these two sites and others vacated by apartment demolitions; the development is slated to include high-rise condos (when the market improves, presumably), luxury townhomes, senior living complexes and medical office buildings. The News says the development will be completed by December 2009; I can guarantee you that's a mistake, because completing an 83-acre development in 13 months would be like completing the new Cowboys stadium in three months — it's not going to happen.

Recommendation made for Little Forest Hills zoning

The City Plan Commission approved the conditions of the Little Forest Hills conservation district, with a few changes to the submitted ordinance — for example, commissioners removed certain commercial and multi-family properties from the zoning boundaries. This means the conservation district request will move on to the Dallas City Council within the next few weeks. I just spoke to Dist. 9 Plan Commissioner Bob Weiss who reminded me to remind everyone that the recommendation is simply that: a recommendation, and that Dist. 9 Councilman Sheffie Kadane will essentially make the final call.

During interviews for a recent story about Little Forest Hills, Kadane said neighborhood support would weigh heavily when it came to making a decision about the new building restrictions, and that he'd need to see about 65 percent of the property owners — at the time of the City Council meeting — voting in favor of the ordinance.

There have been residential zoning cases around here in the past in which neighborhood input/opinion shifted in between the plan commission hearing and the council hearing, causing the council to vote opposite from the plan commission recommendation. Meaning, if you feel strongly either way, you need to follow the thing all the way through the city council hearing.

I'll let you know when I hear the item has been scheduled for a hearing at City Council.

DISD whittles budget deficit to $28 million

Lots of DISD news Thursday, most of it positive, as the board met to discuss budget deficit progress, extending trustee terms, reviewing academic progress and evaluating how improvements to the accounting program are going. Here's a brief summary:

• The biggest news: Last year's DISD budget deficit, originally estimated at $64 million for this year, has been lowered to about $52 million as a result of additional state and local revenues. And this year's deficit, originally estimated at $84 million, has been reduced to about $75 million, prior to the recent teacher layoffs (which are projected to reduce the deficit by about $26 million) and program cuts (which reduce the projected deficit by about $28.2 million, leaving the district still about $28 million over budget for this year.