First instinct for me is vote for Hillary. I actually like her and I’m sure there are a lot of people disagreeing but I would like to see her be the president. Sad thing is, I actually don’t think she will win. I do think she lives her life to do what she does and I think she will do a good job at it. I think she will also do something about health care that would benefit more people. The latest news is that Hillary is mad at Obama for some campaign literature that said “her health care proposal would force everyone to buy health insurance, regardless of ability to pay, a charge Clinton vehemently denied.” (See the article on cnn) I just can’t imagine that she would do such a thing and force people to buy health insurance. I think she might make health care more available to people who might not be able to afford it, but to force people to buy it who can’t???

The health care issue is very close to me. My grandmother who just celebrated her 90th birthday today has to spend SO MUCH money per month on prescription drugs and some things are just not covered that well…meanwhile someone who just came to the country and/or has not worked if any can get the medicaid and get lots of coverage. She’s worked all her life and now still has to make sure she saves up just for her prescription drugs. I think it’s completely unfair. We also have a close friend with 3 kids who are trying to make ends meet since they were both laid off few years back. Now they do not even have insurance except catastrophic coverage for themselves…which is scary. The kids gets coverage from the state as long as they do not make too much but just low enough…which is like dumb since if they make just a little more they will have to pay for it themselves and they will not be able to at this time. There has to be a kind of health care available for families like them. Why should a family that does not try to work or try to earn money get the full help from the government while families that do, sometime can’t.

Whatever, I don’t even want to talk about it anymore since there isn’t much I can do. Anyhow, I think Obama might win since he’s got the young crowd. My husband said people are in a Obama high since they want something different so badly, but their high will come down…but might be too late when that happens. I don’t have too much against Obama (unless if the campaign literature is actually false…then it will be shame shame), but I think Hillary will be a better President since she knows how to nudge her way around to get things done since she’s been in the White House before and I agree where she stands on some of the issue. I do like Obama for some things and if I keep thinking too much, I will just need to toss a coin.

Still…vote for Hillary!!!

As the North Dallas suburb of Allen continues to expand and develop, so it does its need for new schools. Allen ISD is currently in the process of rezoning 4 of its elementary schools to help accommodate over crowding as plans are currently underway to build 3 new elementary schools over the next several years.

However, one such community does not intend to take the rezoning process lying down. Many parents of the planned community of Lost Creek Ranch, located between Stacy and Angel, intend to fight the current proposal that calls for the displacement of about 30% of the community’s current attendance at Marion Elementary at Lost Creek Ranch. Which located in the heart of the community also bears the name of the community and the land for the school was sold to Allen ISD for a token amount under the pretense that it would be intended for LCR residents. The displaced students would then be forced to attend the new school located in a newly developed business district surrounded by a mini-mall, several banks, and a Walmart.

Some of the key points argued by LCR residents are: safety for their children along a soon to be 20 lane intersection surrounded by businesses, increased distance from their current school, and the inability for many students who currently walk to school to be able to continue this socially healthy and physical practice to their new school. Another main component fueling their argument is that several other communities located outside of LCR, who are currently attending Marion Elementary and are receiving busing services, will remain at Marion.

However, due to safety considerations, Asst. Superintendent Dr. Vroonland has stated that if the current proposal remains the same, due to the traffic considerations to the new school, rezoned LCR residents will be receiving bus services also. Which begs the question, why would Allen ISD spend the money to bus two neighborhoods to two different schools within the same proximity to the new school, thus increasing costs to tax payers and dividing a tight-knit community in the process. Among several alternative proposals submitted by LCR residents one includes moving communities outside of LCR, that are currently being bused, to the new school. LCR residents state that these communities would be moving as a whole rather than displacing part of a community and it would not be any further for them to attend the new school than the portion of LCR that is to be rezoned.

LCR residents have certainly come together to stand against the current proposal. Even LCR residents not affected by the new proposal are involved. Under the leadership of a self-appointed committee, LCR residents have gathered a plethora of facts and statistics supporting their cause, handed out fliers, put up signs, and even created a website to support their cause. The web design was graciously donated by lifeBLUE Media, a full service Internet development firm located here in the Dallas area.

In the end LCR residents want the Allen ISD to create a proposal that is fair for all communities involved. They understand it is not fair for anyone to have to move schools, but to alienate a small part of community that will endanger the safety of children and increase tax payer costs is not a viable option for any parent.

Looks like more people were against Proposition one. Which would have prevented the building of the tollway inside the Trinity River levees. It was pretty close. So this means they WILL put the tollway through. Oh well…

So it seem that there’s some confusion as to what voting Yes and No would mean for Trinity and the Toll Road. To make it simple here is something I found that makes it more clear. Look at the signs “NO means you want a toll road in our park!” and “Keep their toll road OUT of our park VOTE YES!”

Of course, some people want a nice park without the exhaust around them, but others argue that traffic is so bad, it needs the Toll Road. Read for yourself, here are some opinions from DMN and articles as well. I’m all for nature, everything is turning into buildings and roads, it’s really rare to have a quiet place to relax without reminder of the busy hectic life. Then again, if I had to travel a lot in that direction I’m sure I may have a different take - solution: just build the Toll Road further from it.

I can see how the confusion started. The website votenosavethetrinity.com and all the signs that says “vote no, save the trinity”. Some people will think it’s to save the trinity river and not have the Toll Road, but really it’s saying save the Trinity River Project which include the building of the Toll Road. Will it mean that the project will go ka-put if this doesn’t go through? I do think they should create a nice place there, but anyway - you can see videos of what’s plan for the Trinity River Project on the website and there’s also this 3d rendering. Here is the typical scare tactic from the website: “You realize that, if the toll road is pulled out of the park, Dallas taxpayers will be saddled with millions of dollars in new taxes to pay for and build a different reliever route … a process that will take decades (all while gridlock fills our air with pollutants and Dallas grows by hundreds of thousands more residents).”

More Taxes? Dallas property tax is already insanely high, what other tax wil we need to pay (not having income tax for Texas is a bit of a joke since we are being taxed left and right) - let’s drop the whole thing and lower property tax first.

Anyhow, voting (Proposition 1) is on November 6th, 2007, but early voting is underway for registerd voters in the City of Dallas.

I say call Andres Duany and see what he thinks.

UPDATE: Trinity River Result. Majority of Dallas wants a tollway through it. Looks like it’s all about the concrete and car culture.

So there’s an article on the neighborhood Little Forest Hills on the Front page of the Dallas Morning News. It was title ‘We got discovered’. I knew the article was coming out, but didn’t know when. The mention of Subdivided by local documentary film maker Dean Terry was in there. It was made as an artistic and personal piece but really turned into something that is powerful and gets you to think.

The film had been broadcast on PBS’ KERA for the Dallas Metro area the beginning of this year and has garnered awards including the World Fest Award for Creative Excellence (and another one that has not been announced, so I can’t mention yet). It was also selected in the Utopia Film Festival which runs October 26-October 28 in Maryland. The film has been quoted as “absolutely beautiful” by Rober Wilonsky of The Dallas Observer. The film has touched many and brought out feelings they were not able to pin point before. It features interviews from Andres Duany (Suburban Nation), Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone, Better Together), and others who had studied the effects of sprawls and suburbia. The DVD has extra interviews that were left out of the final cut.

I personal know the story and I lived it just as the film was made. I lived in Little Forest Hills a month or so prior to finding our first home in North Dallas. The mistake we made was looking for a kind of house (contemporary) and didn’t spend as much time with researching about the neighborhood. At Little Forest Hills, we took afternoon walks and people waved and says hi (yes even if you don’t know them). Far different in far North Dallas. People don’t wave hi or say hi, they sometimes walk across the street to the other side of the sidewalk to avoid any eye contact (yeah, amazing but true). This is of course my experience and I can’t say the same for others, but it really was a “cold” feeling living in North Dallas. Luckily, we found another neighborhood that had the friendly vibe of Little Forest Hills, but I’m not going to say where since I don’t exactly want it to be “discovered”…at least by the developers (although you can tell they are sneaking in).

Majority of the people at Little Forest Hills have been trying to get the neighborhood to be a conservation neighborhood and they’ve been using the tagline of “Keep Little Forest Hills Funky”. Which is a perfect fit. It is indeed “funky” and you just can’t create neighborhoods like this and developers are coming in and building the McMansions. This does ruin the neighborhood’s feel of funkiness and uniqueness. Alot of people want the conservation to go through just to provide guidelines for rebuilts (a lot of houses are on the small side, but rebuilding does not mean it has to be huge and look like every other house), but because of some that don’t, it makes it hard to get it done. The City of Dallas should just make the call and save this neighborhood and maintain it’s funky charm. I mean, does Dallas really want all the houses to turn into McMansions?

*Subdivided DVD is also available at some libraries: Harvard, UT Dallas, Dallas Libary, and more. But of course, you should support independent art and buy the DVD!

So I was checking the stats and the thing that people click on the most in terms of external sites is the Dallas Metropolis Forum. Which make me think of a couple of reasons for this.

One is that we are living more an more in a virtual way, most things we do is online. For me, almost everything is online. This is a advantage and disadvantage with technology. Being online more mean less face to face interaction with people. At times my husband and I joke around since we email or instant message each other for something even if we are in the same house. Anyway, because of this decrease in interaction, more and more people are looking for some kind of interaction online. Forums offer this constant feedback and ways to be connected with others and it can make you feel like you are involved or somehow in a “community”. It’s great that they exists, but it’s sad that we have to look to virtual friends instead of the interaction we use to have with friends back in the days. It’s better than nothing of course and some regional forums are useful since you “might” actually find real face to face interaction with people you meet in these forums.

The other reason for the popularity of forums, at least for Dallas Forums, is that more and more people are interested in knowing more about Dallas. After visiting one of the Dallas related forums, I realized how many people are asking about Dallas because they are relocating here or are thinking or moving here. To my surprise (or maybe not too surprising) is the amount of people from California in these forums. So my hope is that more and more people will move here from California and bring all the good food, culture and weather (or lack of). Then I can convince my family and friends to move here and I’ll be all set and happy.