2017 April Lake Highlands

It’s no secret that buying and selling a home can be complicated. Fortunately, an Ebby Halliday REALTOR® can help remove the fear of taking that next step. In fact, we’ve been helping lead people in East Dallas through the process for more than 70 years. Experience

difference the right agent can make.

today.

FEATURES

28 READY TO REV UP YOUR RECYCLING? What our city is doing and why it is important to residents.

42 A SCHOOL’S WORTH

Comparable homes in White Rock Elementary’s boundary are worth about 20 percent more than those zoned to Northlake Elementary, and that’s a problem for RISD.

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

“We don’t believe anything is accomplished by mandating it. It needs to be something people do willingly.”

— Kathy Carlton, with Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, on recycling at apartment communities (story page 26)

OPENING REMARKS

By RICK WAMRE

Between the lines

Fret

Without fail, every time I see my mom, she apologizes to me.

“I’m so sorry that I didn’t know to put tanning lotion on you kids when you were little,” she says. “I just didn’t know the sun could cause wrinkles and cancer back then. I was so dumb!”

Now, I haven’t had skin cancer yet, although she has faced down a couple of bouts. So I assume she’s talking about the wrinkles she sees sprouting effortlessly on my face.

I like to think I’m aging pretty well and that the wrinkles she apparently can’t avoid seeing aren’t that big of a deal. And to be honest, I doubt my many days in the sun as a kid caused the problem.

I have a feeling they’re of my own doing.

A co-worker has been telling me for years that my constant frowning risked turning my forehead into something akin to a striped crosswalk. I listened, politely of course, but it’s not as if I can control my facial expressions all that much after years of practice perfecting them just so.

But sure enough, she has been proven correct: I have a bit of a creek bed growing deeper and wider up there, and I catch myself in the mirror looking for the bottom from time to time.

I don’t think sun damage and facial expressions alone have caused my mom to be disconsolate, though. I have slackened and tightened my face enough times over the years relatively unprompted, if you consider stress and worries to be unprompted.

It seems easy to say: “Don’t worry about things. They take care of themselves.” And, of course, that is probably the truest statement of them all.

But the “getting there” part of the pro-

cess claims most of my attention and energy, and somehow my face becomes the focus for all of that needless angst.

I’ve wondered how things would be different if I simply dropped everything and everyone (except my lovely wife, of course) and headed to a Greek island, where the natives and tourists alike are as brown as coconuts and seemingly as healthy as can be.

The sun doesn’t seem to be causing alarm there, and their lives seem simple

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203

office administrator: Judy Liles

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com

display sales manager: Brian Beavers

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: Amy Durant

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: Kristy Gaconnier

214.264.5887 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

Sally Ackerman

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

Nora Jones

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

Frank McClendon

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com

Greg Kinney

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com

Michele Paulda

214.292.2053 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com

classified manager: Prio Berger

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com

marketing director: Sally Wamre

214.635.2120 / swamre@advocatemag.com

digital + social media director: Emily Williams

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL

publisher: Christina Hughes Babb

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com

managing editor: Emily Charrier

214.560.4200 / echarrier@advocatemag.com

editor-at-large: Keri Mitchell

214.292.0487 / kmitchell@advocatemag.com

EDITORS:

Rachel Stone

214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

Elissa Chudwin

214.560.4210 / echudwin@advocatemag.com

senior art director: Jynnette Neal

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com

art director: Brian Smith

214.292.0493 / bsmith@advocatemag.com

designer: Emily Williams

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

and quiet. There may not be a whole lot to do on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, but maybe that is a good problem to have, as opposed to being too involved in too much with too many?

Of course, the skin is always tanner and less wrinkled on the other side of the fence, so I’m probably just envying something not meant to be for me.

Maybe you can see where I’m going with this: Mom, I earned this face, and unless something drastic happens, I’m not done with it. And no matter how it turns out, don’t blame yourself.

I will take care of that on my own.

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by emailing rwamre@advocatemag.com.

contributing editors: Sally Wamre

contributors: Angela Hunt, Lauren Law, George Mason, Kristen Massad, Brent McDougal

photo editor: Danny Fulgencio

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com

contributing photographers: Rasy Ran, Kathy Tran

Advocate, © 2017, is published monthly by East Dallas – Lakewood People Inc. Contents of this magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising material. Opinions set forth in the Advocate are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s viewpoint. More than 200,000 people read Advocate publications each month. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.

not over facial wrinkles, (Mom), for they tell our stories

It’s not as if I can control my facial expressions all that much after years of practice perfecting them just so.

The highest level of certified stroke care.

At Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, we’re here for you and your loved ones during a stroke. As a Comprehensive Stroke Center, we can provide the full spectrum of care, from diagnosis to rehabilitation. That includes new advanced stroke imaging software that helps accelerate imaging analysis, leading to an expedited diagnosis and decreased time to treatment. So when every second counts, we have the care you need when you need it most.

L A UNCH Out & About

APRIL 1

MAGICAL MOMENT

ACME Magic brings a series of wacky stunts only seen in cartoons to life. Portable holes, giant magnets and dynamite sticks are part of Brett Roberts’ repertoire. Bookmarks at NorthPark, 8687 N. Central Expressway, 214.671.1381, dallaslibrary.org, free

HOOPS IN THE HIGHLANDS (see p. 23)

APRIL 21-MAY 7

‘BLUE’

This production written by Annie Cusick Wood aims to teach children about acceptance in lighthearted way. “Blue” follows two characters, Pale Blue and Inky Blue, who encounter a red sock. Dallas Children’s Theater, 5938 Skillman St., 214.740.0051, dct.org, $16

APRIL 22-23

WHITE ROCK HOME TOUR

The 12th annual home tour serves as a fundraiser for Hexter Elementary. Explore six of East Dallas’ and Lake Highlands’ best mid-century residences from noon-5 p.m. White Rock area, whiterockhometour.org, $15-$20

APRIL 24-30

LAKE HIGHLANDS RESTAURANT WEEK

Sample our neighborhood’s favorite restaurants while helping Feed Lake Highlands,Forerunner Mentoring, Healing Hands Ministriesand Pamper Lake Highlands. Twenty percent of the participating eateries’ profits will be donated to these four local organizations.

Various locations, helpinglakehighlands.org/ lake-highlands-restaurant-week, prices vary

APRIL 29

RUN THE HIGHLANDS

APRIL 27

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

Wear your most extravagant hat and vote for the most beautiful at the “Under the Tuscan Sun”- themed party hosted by celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe. The whimsical event raises funds for the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum and A Woman’s Garden.

Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, 214.515.6615, womenscouncildallasarboretum.org, $350-$50,000

The Lake Highlands Junior Women’s League hosts this 5k run, family trail walk and carnival. Snacks, a petting zoo and balloon houses all are part of the fun.

Lake Highlands High School, 9449 Church Road, lhjwl.org, $15-$90

APRIL 29

LAKE-A-PALOOZA

The Bath House Cultural Center partnered with the Texas Musicians Museum for an afternoon filled with live music and activities. While you’re there, grab a snack or drink and view Texas Musicians memorabilia at an art exhibition. Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive, 214.670.8749, dallasculture.org/ bathHouseCultureCenter, free

PHOTO BY DANA DRIENSKY

At C. C. Young we are Raising the Bar

Q&A CYKOCHIK’S NIKKI DUONG KOENIG

By CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

The Cykochik line showcases bold, beautiful, sleek style that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Neighborhood-rooted, it’s globally inspired, bullish as a business, compassionate in every component and boasts beaucoup collaborators and fans. The same can be said for Cykochik founder Nikki Duong Koenig, whose aerodynamic coiffure and polished, color-punctuated wardrobe speaks to fashion lovers. (“Trust me, you want every product I produce,” her personal aesthetics assure.) Behind her relaxed, inviting smile and manner, her mind blooms ideas at breakneck pace. A Vietnamese refugee at age 3, Koenig was an undergrad when she launched Cykochik Custom Handbags. It is more than a corporation, she believes. It’s part of a mission to make the world a better place. Sound idealistic? Take a moment; hear her out. She might make you a believer.

How did childhood experiences affect your level of social awareness, creativity and energy?

I was born in South Vietnam and my parents fled, as political refugees, when I was 3. We were what they called “boat people.” We were detained in Thailand, which is where we lived three years in refugee camps before we were accepted to immigrate to the United States. Since childhood, maybe it was the Buddhist influence, I have had a passion for art, animals, social justice and the environment, and that has grown into my desire to create a more sustainable and happy world for all living beings. I grew up in the Dallas area, studied advertising and art at Southern Methodist University, and in 2003, in my dorm room, I created Cykochik Custom Handbags. After graduation, I moved to Manhattan to work as a commercial art director. After four years, I moved back to Dallas [Lake Highlands] to

BY RASY RAN

be closer to my boyfriend [now husband] and my family.

Did you imagine Cykochik would grow into such an enterprise?

I had no intentions of making it the venture it is today. I was making art, expressing myself through handbags and fashion. But, still, while working fulltime at global advertising agencies, and attending the Fashion Institute of Technology part time, I kept working on it. Cykochik became a business very slowly, over a decade. I had no official business education, so I’ve had to learn on the job for the past 14 years. As an entrepreneur, I have to wear many hats at the same time. I now have help with the non-creative aspects of the business so that I can focus on design and development. For me, it officially became a fulltime business in 2013, when I successfully crowdfunded more than $10,000 to launch the Artist Series 3 collection.

What is the Artist Series?

I knew a lot of artists, and I had a vision to

turn Cykochik into a social, collaborative community of artists, artisans and art patrons from around the world. So, for example, I chose six talented artists for Series 3 and each was tasked to design a tote bag, laptop sleeve and clutch. Then our Facebook fans voted on their favorite designs, which is how we still narrow down what we produce. Artists Series 4 features all women: Jody Pham, Patricia Rodriguez from Oak Cliff, and Michelle White. I usually work directly with the artists on the design or give them a theme. All of our collaborating artists receive 10 percent royalties for their designs.

And the Causes collections?

Those are our collections that benefit charities we believe are making the world a better place for people, animals and our planet.Wecollaborate and create exclusive handbags for them and donate a portion of the sales to their mission.

One big cause for you is veganism ... Veganism is a conscientious lifestyle that’s so important right now, to com-

bat the human-caused illnesses, climate change, pollution, water scarcity, species extinctions, social conflicts and many global issues. Cykochik has been vegan, cruelty-free, sweatshop free, eco-friendly, made in America since the onset, before it was a trend. Our philosophy has always been, express individualism without harming others in the process. Every aspect of our business stems from that core value. I feel a responsibility to speak up for the environment and animals that

Pure, colorful products mark Nikki Duong Koenig’s Cykochik line.

are being abused in the fashion industry. I highly recommend the documentary “Cowspiracy” for more information regarding the environmental impact of our food choices.

How vegan friendly is Dallas?

Since I returned in 2009 I see a city that’s grown physically, economically and culturally. I love how vegan friendly Dallas is becoming, with all the new vegan restaurants, like V-Eats Modern Vegan at Trinity Groves, Nature’s Plate in Lake Highlands ... Also, the vegan business community is growing with new businesses like The Harvest Hands, V Market, Kat Mendenhall, and so many others that can be found at the annual Texas Veggie Fair in the fall.

How challenging is it to make a fashion product without using animal material?

It is harder and more expensive to source quality materials that are both animal-free and eco-friendly. And a challenge for us to find manufactures and partners to work with who share our philosophy, but it’s a blessing when we do find them. On the consumer side, we try hard to educate the market about the impact that fashion manufacturing has on people, animals, the environment. I am optimistic that consumers will become more vegan and eco-friendly and demand goods that are too.

Would you say this is a tough social climate right now for those with passions such as environmentalism, veganism, compassion?

The current political and social climate is actually strengthening our company and community in our shared causes. I feel a deeper sense of responsibility to advocate and speak up louder through Cykochik, because we have to be socially and politically active to create change.

What’s next?

I recently visited an ethnic minority tribe in the south central highlands of Vietnam, near where my family is from, to source some of their beautiful handwoven textiles for Cykochik’s next collection. I wanted to help these marginalized women by supporting them, their family and their traditional craft.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Accurate pricing from the beginning –The size and scope of your home renovation or new construction project will determine your need for a detailed set of drawings. These drawings serve as the instruction manual for project. The General Contractor will use them to communicate with each professional trade prior to construction to provide accurate pricing. Once pricing is received, the Project Designers can revise budget. The drawings will also be used during construction to ensure the job is built per your agreement.

Simultaneous processes & accelerated completion –Selection decisions made prior to the start of construction allow Project Designers to make design decisions based on actual dimensions. For example, if you decided you’d rather have a single refrigerator than a double, the Project Designer can made prior to construction start. Making these decisions simultaneously with the design process also helps to reduce schedule delays and allows for production and delivery for any long lead time items. Some items that need your consideration or selection during the design process are lighting, plumbing, kitchen appliances, and

Real time collaboration –

construction, the Project Manager can walk over to the Project Designer’s desk and ask about the design intent. If your General

solved by the Project Manager who may not have all the background information to clearly understand the design intent.

save you time, money, and countless headaches!

Let us know!

Email us: info@bellavistacompany.com

Darin Breedlove, CR, CGR, CGP, CAPS, Sara Haley, & Lance Tyler

10 STORIES AT THE LAKE?

The project that, miraculously, no one protested

By EMILY CHARRIER

Building anything near White Rock Lake can be a political minefield — where opinions run hot and consensus is notoriously hard to find.

C. C. Young seemed to break that curse.

The Vista, a new 10-story assisted living complex, is currently under construction. Unlike other lake-side developments, it’s a project that no one seemed to mind too much. That’s likely because of the nature of the nonprofit’s mission;

C. C. Young has supported the elderly since the operation first opened in 1922.

“Who would be against this project? Support for seniors is really important to us, especially nonprofit care,” says Carol Walters, an East Mockingbird neighbor for 22 years. “[C. C. Young has] been here forever and they’ve always been a good neighbor to us, so it was easy to get behind this.”

C. C. Young’s mission is so varied it’s almost hard to define, but it describes itself as a “continuous care facility for people age 55 and older.” Programs

range from medical, like memory care and skilled nursing care, to more social, such as the myriad classes and activities offered to keep seniors busy every day, both those living in the facility and those who live in the neighborhood.

“About 95 percent of our programs are open to the public,” says Denise Aver-Phillips, vice president of community outreach and a bundle of energy who knows every resident by first name.

“We are always inviting people in to enjoy the campus.”

But the needs of seniors in our neigh-

An architect’s rendering of The Vista.

borhood are growing and changing, C. C. Young CEO Russell Crews says. More want to live independently and are eager to move in for the sense of community. Currently, medical care is spread across four buildings, but in 2013 the team had a vision to consolidate all of it into one space that could flex to the needs of the community. It would be easier on patients and staff to keep the high-touch services under one 10-story roof. The other buildings will be reallocated to independent living.

“This will allow us to be dynamic,” Crews says.

Flexibility makes good financial sense. Traditional units are defined as memory care or assisted living or skilled nursing, meaning facilities are limited to the number of beds they have for each. At The Vista, all beds will be approved for any level of care, so that rooms can be allocated as needed if the demand for memory care is higher than skilled nursing, for example.

“I think we’re the only ones in Texas who are doing this,” Crews says. “But I am guessing you’ll see it more in the future. It just makes sense.”

It also made sense to the neighbors, the plan commission and the city council, who all signed off on the 325,000-squarefoot project, which will be adjacent to the existing Blanton Assisted Living center. Its location, tucked into a hill with underground parking, means it won’t be too visible from the lake, although residents will have some breathtaking views. To build The Vista, C. C. Young secured a $130 million loan in the form of bond.

“It was the third largest tax-exempt bond issued in 2016 in Texas,” Crews says.

White Rock Lake neighbors Grant Warner and Josh Williams of D2 Architecture are overseeing the project with builder Hill & Wilkinson. Construction should be complete by summer 2018, at which point clients can start moving in. In all, the addition will up C. C. Young’s capacity from 474 to 730 residents, who will have added services in the form of a new gym and pool for physical therapy, a rehabilitation garden, a meditation chapel and more.

“It will allow more people to age in their own neighborhood,” Aver-Phillips says.

C. C. Young offers tons of free activities, from movie nights to art classes to Wii bowling — find them all at ccyoung.org/ lifestyle-dining/campus-activities-calendars/

Attract butterflies, hummingbirds and bees to your garden! Join us for free classes. See more at NHG.com

Designing Pollinator Gardens

Saturday, April 22, 3-4:30pm FREE

The Texas Tried and True: Proven Perennials

Saturday, April 22, 1-2:30pm FREE

Passionvines - Natives and More

Saturday, April 29, 9:30-10:30am FREE

Butterfly Gardening for North Central Texas

Saturday, April 29, 11-12:30pm FREE

ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID …

Never the bride. That’s all right with Empress , a cool canine who’s quite content with human companions Requill and Derrich Phillips , who moved to Lake Highlands last year. Empress enjoys the dog days of summer playing fetch in the wildflowers and trouncing through tall grass, Requill says. But the boxer cleans up prettily and behaves as royalty when it’s wedding photo time.

PAWS & CLAWS

WHAT GIVES?

SMALL WAYS THAT YOU CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR NONPROFITS

HOOPS IN THE HIGHLANDS

This annual three-on-three basketball tournament draws young players from 150 schools around the region and raises significant funds for the PTAs at Lake Highlands Junior High, Northlake, Wallace and White Rock Elementary schools. Registration for the tournament closes March 23, but opportunities to participate still abound. Spectators enjoy not only basketball action, but also entertainment from the likes of DJ Kurt Osterbusch, Limited Edition, Espree pop choir, Centerstage, Wranglers dancers, Highlandettes and more. Dig into fare from Chick-fil-A, Primo’s Brothers Pizza, Mariano’s and One 90 Meats. Win raffle prizes, or enter the inaugural free-throw contest — it’s $5 to try, and the best shooters win prizes. For the wee ones, there’s a mini hoop-it-up park. Hoops in the Highlands raised a stunning $25,000 in its first tournament 14 years ago. Success has increased each subsequent year, but with growth comes complexity, organizers say. They are are struggling to find volunteers to fill leadership roles for 2018. “There’s major volunteer fatigue,” says Tara Hickman, the 2017 co-chairman alongside Merilee Biancardi. “We are working with a much smaller committee, and this event is a beast to put on. People are wondering: has this run its course? But that’s hard to believe, especially since we’ve had a record number of teams register to play.”

April 1 from 8 a.m.-6p.m. at Highland Oaks Church of Christ. Visit hoopsinthehighlands.net for a full schedule.

KNOW OF WAYS that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit?

Email your suggestion to launch@ advocatemag.com

DELICIOUS

Brewing their own way

Two dads made beer they wanted to drink, and the awards came rolling in

By EMILY CHARRIER

DID YOU KNOW: Both founders credit Texas’ original craft brewery, Shiner, as the first “good” beer they ever tasted, but admit their first sips of suds was “something terrible,” Brad Mall says.

Oak Highlands Brewery’s best beers were perfected up to a decade before the two neighborhood dads opened for business. They knew they had a product that people would buy.

“We had already won a few awards,” says Brad Mall, who founded the brewery with partner Derrin Williams.

The Freaky Deaky, a triple Belgium brew with 10 percent alcohol content and a logo that sports a cross-dressing holy man, was their first homerun.

“That one we got right on the first try,” Williams says. It was the first blend to win an award, back when they were just homebrewers with corporate day jobs (Mall was a litigator, Williams a geologist). The awards kept coming, and a lifetime of beer drinking knowledge buoyed their continued success.

“There was lots of research,” Mall says, “lots of drinking.”

The pair developed seven brews they loved before considering a commercial endeavor, all of which are still on the menu. That includes the Derelict IPA, with unusual floral notes that balance the typically bitter flavor; and DFDub, a dunkelweizen with heavy hints of banana and clove. They’ve won five awards since going pro, in competitions ranging from the World Beer Cup (silver for the Chump Change) to the Best Little Brewfest in Texas (bronzes for both the Vanilla Porter and the Allgood).

“We perfected these recipes based on the beers we want to drink ourselves,” Williams says. “These are all our own recipes, just scaled up for commercial production.”

The Freaky Deaky remains the best seller on the menu, which has grown to nine regular draught offerings and four seasonal selections, like Chump Change, a spicy Imperial Black Saison. Then there’s the beers the dozen-or-so members on staff brew. Every Oak Highlands employee, from delivery drivers to marketing, has tried their hand at a blend, working with brewers Matt Pennington, Michael

DELICIOUS

OAK HIGHLANDS BREWERY

Harper and Kyle Larson.

“They love it,” Mall says of the brewers. “It gets boring to brew the same stuff over and over again.”

As the only brewery in Lake Highlands, the owners believe in giving back in the form of free beer at numerous charitable events and offering up auction prizes like the chance to brew your own beer. They also host food trucks almost every week, and have developed a cult-like Saturday following with some in the neighborhood.

“We’re dog friendly, we’re kid friendly,” Mall says, “we’re a lot of fun.”

OAK HIGHLANDS BREWERY

Ambiance: Casual taproom

Price Range: $6-$8

Hours: 4-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 12-6 p.m. Saturday

10484 Brockwood Road 469.802.9455

oakhighlandsbrewery.com

BREAKFAST/LUNCH

Another Broken Egg Cafe

It’s our passion to create exceptional dishes for breakfast, brunch and lunch that are “craveably” delicious with an artisanal flair.

One90 Smoked Meats

Offering bbq combo plates, sandwiches, tacos, sides, desserts & a wide variety of locally smoked meats, including Brisket, Bison, Turkey, Chicken, Pork, Salmon, Duck, Lamb & Tenderloins.

Hours:

Mon. Closed , Tues.-Sat. 11am-8pm Sun. 11am-5pm

BREAKFAST/LUNCH

Treat yourself and the ones you love with the finest desserts, French Macarons, cookies, cakes & more. Award winning chefs bring premium restaurant quality treats right to our neighborhood. You’ll be amazed! Paleo & Gluten-free available.

Mon-Fri: 10:00am-7:00pm

Sat: 9:00am-6:00pm Sun: Closed

26 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com APRIL 2017

GRILL enchiladasrestaurants.com Like us on Facebook For Catering Call The Fiesta Line 214.691.1390

Enchilada’s

Voted by Advocate Readers as Best Date Night in Lake Highlands

Olive the brewery dog keeps the adult-beverage business friendly for kids and pets.

We recycle less than most major cities, and that has to change

DIRTY DALLAS

BY RACHEL STONE

PHOTOS BY DANNY FULGENCIO

Chucking recyclable materials is easier, too. It’s the status quo.

In the bigger picture, however, failure to recycle will cost the City of Dallas one of its biggest non-tax revenue sources, the McCommas Bluff Landfill. Municipalities all over Texas pay to send their trash to our landfill, which earns $22 million for the city every year. That offsets the $54 million the city spends on trash and bulk/brush disposal annually. At the rate the landfill is filling up, its life could end as soon as 2062. If that happened, the city would have to consider whether to build a new landfill or pay to have our garbage shipped at high cost to a landfill elsewhere.

There’s also the environmental concern: Plastic pollution alone kills as many as 1 million sea birds and 100,000 ocean mammals every year, for example. Take a walk out to any creek in Dallas to see our city’s own overwhelming plastic pollution firsthand.

Plastic is only one part of the picture. Dallas also lacks recycling efforts for food and yard waste, construction materials, glass and more.

Dallas is far behind the curve, even by the standards the city set for itself in 2013. But a brand-new $20-million recycling center and new efforts from city leaders show promise for the future.

FALLING BEHIND

Most homeowners recycle, but apartments and businesses typically do not. About 80 percent of single-family homes in Dallas have blue recycling bins.

And an ordinance went into effect last year that allows small apartment complexes to receive up to 10 blue bins for around $20 a month each, making it easier for tenants to recycle.

The city’s sanitation department also has reached out to small businesses to offer recycling plans.

But the recycling rate in Dallas has not improved since the city passed its “zero-waste plan” in 2013.

At that time, the city had a 20 percent

It’s cheaper to throw it in the landfill.

“diversion rate.” That is the percentage of the city’s waste that doesn’t end up in the landfill. In 2013, City Council set a goal of increasing the diversion rate to 40 percent by 2020. This “zero-waste plan” included a voluntary recycling program for high-use clients like apartments and businesses.

As of March 2017, however, the city’s diversion rate remains stagnant at 20 percent.

“It’s pretty clear that there’s been littleto-no progress,” says Murray Myers of the city’s sanitation department.

Because the rate hasn’t increased, City Council may consider making recycling

mandatory for apartment complexes later this year. About half of Dallas’ population lives in the city’s 2,300 apartment complexes. Only about 30 percent of those offer recycling.

“We’re going to be woefully short by 2019,” City Councilman Philip Kingston says.

The Apartment Association of Greater Dallas hasn’t come up with a plan to increase participation, Kingston says.

In 2013, the message to apartment owners was, “Come up with something you guys can live with, or we’re going to hammer you,” Kingston says. But nothing apparently has changed.

Rinse out containers for milk, yogurt, juice and soap.

Don’t put this in your blue bin

Food waste

Styrofoam and plastic utensils

Clothing Yard clippings

Wires and cables

Garden hoses (Hoses, tubing and electrical wiring can become entangled in machinery and cause plant shutdowns.)

Hazardous materials including aer osol cans, propane tanks and batteries (Even empty, they can explode or start fires.)

Medical waste (The FCC plant collects a 50-gallon dr um of “sharps,” hypodermic needles, every week, putting workers at potential risk of blood-borne pathogens.)

There are some larger apartment owners, such as Lincoln Property Co., Camden and Gables Residential, that do a good job with recycling, says Kathy Carlton, director of government affairs for the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas.

Those operators offer recycling dumpsters to residents, and they recycle materials such as old carpeting and padding, Carlton says.

“We don’t believe anything is accomplished by mandating it,” Carlton says. “It needs to be something that people do willingly.”

Offering recycling dumpsters to apartment and office tenants could have zero

Oils can contaminate recycling and should be kept out of blue bins.

HOW RECYCLING WORKS

The Spanish company FCC built a $20-million recycling facility adjacent to McCommas Bluff, in partnership with the City of Dallas.

The new recycling plant, which opened Jan. 2, comprises 60,000 square feet and has the capacity to process 500 tons a day. It is FCC’s first American plant and its biggest.

Currently, the plant receives about 190 tons of recycling every day from the City of Dallas, and it also has agreements with Garland, Mesquite and University Park. Altogether, the plant currently receives about 225 tons of recycling per day.

Here’s how it works:

Trucks arrive at the plant’s bays carrying 12-13 tons of recycling, which are dumped onto the concrete floor.

An earthmover shovels the materials into a drum feeder equipped with 10-inch metal teeth.

As the drum turns, it “fluffs” the material up onto a conveyor belt, where it’s fed up into the first of the facility’s climate-controlled sorting cabins, which are about 30 feet above the floor.

Inside the first cabin, with the conveyor belt moving about 200 feet per minute, four workers perform an initial sort, pulling out trash, scrap metal and large pieces of colored plastic, such as cat-litter buckets, and send them down the appropriate chutes.

The material then moves to two other cabins, where workers pull cardboard and paper.

As it moves down the line, the material is further sorted. Plastic film and glass are pulled.

Plastics are sorted by their value. The least valuable, plastics 3-7, are kept together. Cartons also are separated.

An optical sorter can recognize the molecular structure of plastic water bottles and then shoot puffs of air to separate them out.

“Natural” plastics such as milk jugs are the most valuable. Those and dyed plastics, such as laundry-detergent bottles, each are separated.

An eddy current can pick off aluminum cans, and a magnet can pull steel cans.

There is still a dizzying amount of hand sorting, with workers separating aluminum, steel and plastic coming down the line all day.

The plant is capable of sorting up to 33 tons of materials in one hour.

Recyclable materials are baled and stacked until trucks haul them off to buyers in the United States. Even though China is one of the biggest buyers of recyclables in the world, FCC is committed to selling to American companies.

cost to building owners if their tenants actually use them. It divides the same amount of waste between garbage and recycling pickups, which should keep costs flat. But requiring apartments to offer recycling without any education could result in empty recycling dumpsters that cost building owners while their trash dumpsters still fill up, Carlton says.

Education has to be a major component of any recycling plan, City Councilwoman Sandy Greyson says.

But the sanitation department’s marketing budget is only $200,000 a year, compared to its payroll budget, which is more like $45 million annually. They have radio spots and print ads, but they can’t afford TV commercials or other big media buys.

Their marketing dollars also go toward the Art for Dumpsters competition in Deep Ellum, now in its second year, in which local artists paint recycling dumpsters as a way to raise awareness. The department has demonstration gardens and other educational opportunities at its headquarters, Eco Park, in southeast Oak Cliff, where schools are invited for field trips.

ELCYCER RECYCLE TIP

The city’s new recycling facility, owned and operated by FCC Environmental Services, has an onsite classroom and recycling plant observation deck that schools will soon be able to visit.

“Kids are the ones who really need to get the message,” says Darrell Clemons, general manager of the Dallas FCC plant.

THE CADILLAC OF BULK-AND-BRUSH PICKUP

Most municipalities would not pick up, say, a refrigerator, a car engine or part of a boat in regularly scheduled bulk trash pick-up.

But Dallas does. There are some who figure that Dallas has the most permissive bulk trash pick-up of any major city in the United States. Even things that bulk trash technically is not supposed to take — parts of fences and construction materials, for example — are collected in the interest of neighborhood cleanliness.

Our bulk trash practices also contribute to our recycling woes. That’s because bulk and brush are picked up together.

“We think we have clean brush, but then there’s a TV mixed in,” Myers says.

Last year, the department picked up about 170,000 tons of bulk and brush, about half of that is brush, and virtually none of it is recycled because of contamination.

OTHER CITIES: DIVERSION RATE COMPARISON

The lid of a pizza box can be recycled, but the greasy bottom portion should go in the trash

*Based on the 2012 EPA MSW study

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: An earthmover shuffles a mound of materials that trucks have dumped on the floor of the FCC plant. Recycling materials make their way up a conveyor belt. Workers in one of the plant’s cabins perform the initial sort. Below: Marcos Estrada, left, the city’s waste diversion coordinator, and Darrell Clemons, the FCC plant’s general manager.

About half of Dallas’ population lives in about 2,300 apartment complexes. Only about 30 percent of them offer recycling.

Visit us today for North Texas’ best vegetables, annuals, perennials and more. Step in the store for fun gifts and beautiful home accessories. Also, ask how we can build your outdoor kitchen with one of our propane or charcoal grills.

If more had been recycled, the city could either sell the resulting mulch and compost or offer it free to Dallas residents, Myers says.

City Council could consider changing the bulk and brush pick-up later this year, and there are a couple of suggestions.

They could keep it virtually the same but push for residents to separate bulk and brush. Or they could pick up bulk and brush on alternative months.

If the bulk/brush problem is solved, the city could increase its diversion rate by up to 10 percent, Myers says.

Electronics: A landfill’s deadliest enemy?

Electronics take up the least amount of space in the 996-acre McCommas Bluff Landfill, yet they are the most detrimental to the environment.

These devices contain hazardous materials such as lead and mercury. When used technology is tossed in the landfill, the toxic chemicals can leak into the soil and seep into the water supply, Myers says.

The city manages four drop-off e-cy-

cling locations to deter residents from dumping electronics in the trash or on the curb. Neighbors can leave items ranging from batteries to flat screen TVs at Bachman, Fair Oaks and Oak Cliff transfer stations, as well as McCommas Bluff’s Customer Convenience Recycling Center.

In 2016, the city collected 527,118 pounds of used devices.

Some residents aren’t aware of Dallas’ e-cycling program, Myers says, so the city plans to launch a media campaign this summer. It also is installing secure storage pods at each location to quell residents’ fears about dropping off cellphones and laptops with personal information.

But unpredictable changes in cost may be detrimental to Dallas’ efforts.

Electronic recycling companies struggle to earn a profit because the value of the materials they collect have decreased.

“When a recycler can’t sell materials, then they start to charge whoever is dropping it off money,” Myers says.

It’s a conundrum for many municipalities, including Dallas, which could pay anywhere between $31,000 to $148,000 a year for e-cycling companies to collect

“The slogan on Shelby’s website reads: When you list with me, Consider it SOLD. He did one better for us - he sold our home before we even listed it! After a brief initial meeting with Shelby, he was able to work his network, find us a buyer, and take us to closing quickly. We had a great experience working with Shelby. He is a skilled negotiator, highly responsive, and most importantly got us a great result in the sale of our home. If you are selling in Lake Highlands, call Shelby and consider it SOLD!”

—Bridget and Joseph T.

Recyclable materials are commodities, so their market values fluctuate, and listed here as the March 2017 rates.

THE STORE IN LAKE HIGHLANDS

VERA BRADLEY! Spring Colors are here! Find your new look with beautiful new designs and great selections.

Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30 10233 E. NW Hwy@Ferndale (next to Rooster’s) 214.553.8850

and recycle items. Four months ago, the city contracted with the company URT Solutions after ECS Recycling estimated its services would exceed $100,000.

“It is utilized, but if the cost of the program goes up, we may have to look at transitioning to another program,” Myers says.

There are other options, but they’re not as convenient as a drop-off location. The State of Texas now requires manufacturers to take back TVs and computers, so many businesses like Best Buy have their own trade-in programs.

—ELISSA CHUDWIN

A wasteful problem

In a world where one out of every nine people is starving, according to The Hunger Project, it’s distressing to think that here in America 40 percent of our food ends up in the garbage. The City of Dallas estimates that 30 percent of all materials in its landfill are compostable material, and it’s working to do something about that.

“Last month, we attended a U.S. Composting Council conference and have returned with a few new ideas that we’ll be working on,” Myers says.

He would love to offer citywide compositing, but it is cost prohibitive and, unlike recycling, doesn’t have much potential to make money, allowing the program to cover its own expenses.

“We’ve evaluated organics recycling at Dallas ISD, sending food waste to the water department’s anaerobic digester and other programs, but we haven’t found a path forward,” Myers says.

The department does encourage residents to compost on their own. The Sanitation Services’ website offers stepby-step instructions for how to build a smell-free compost bucket at home, and the department has planned a series of free daylong workshops to teach residents everything they need to know to start composting (get upcoming workshop dates at dallascityhall.com/departments/ sanitation).

For those who don’t want to get their

CIT Y V I E W

CITY VIEW ANTIQUE MALL

SAVE THE DATE! Spring Sale Starts April 26. FLEA MARKET SAT, APRIL 29, 9-5, One day only! Tented, Rain or Shine! Sales 20%-50% Off. 6830 Walling Ln. (Skillman/Abrams) 214.752.3071 cityviewantiques.com Follow us on Facebook/Instagram

Call 214.560.4203

*Glass is not biodegradable and should be kept out of the landfill, if possible. FCC does sell the glass it collects, but its market value is so low, and glass weighs so much, that the cost to transport it are about equal to its price, resulting in no profit.

**Plastic film, such as grocery sacks and bread bags, comes through the facility by the ton and is baled. But it has a market value of zero. FCC has not yet found a viable buyer for plastic bags, but the ones that make it into bales are being kept out of the landfill.

hands dirty but want to help reduce waste, the North Texas company Recycle Revolution offers composting bins and coordinates pick-ups every week or month, depending on the need. They specifically target apartment complexes and restaurants, where large quantities of organic material end up in the landfill.

—EMILY CHARRIER

Cool to compost:

Kitchen waste (e.g. egg shells, vegetable and fruit scraps)

Leaves

Straw

Wood chips or sawdust (untreated wood only)

Yard trimmings

Shredded paper, cardboard or newspaper

Coffee grounds

Never compost:

Meat, including fish and poultry

Dairy products

Grease or oils

Pet feces

Treated wood

Ashes

Glossy paper

In schools: RISD and Richland College aim for A+ in recycling

In facilities wherein minds are molded daily, environmentally responsible practices tend to influence the behaviors of students as they grow into self-regulating adults. That is one among several reasons educators give for advancing recycling initiatives.

Richardson ISD, with several Lake Highlands schools, began its single-stream recycling program in 2007. (The effort started even before then, with paper recycling initiatives.)

“The district feels it’s the right thing to do from an environmental perspective,” RISD spokesperson Tim Clark says.

“As a large entity, having a program can have a significant impact in reducing the amount of material populating landfills. From a financial standpoint, much of the waste material generated from schools is recyclable, and doing so saves the district money through reduced sanitation fees.”

He continues, “From a teaching standpoint, students who learn about

the benefits of recycling and develop those habits at a younger age will make a positive environmental impact throughout their lives.”

Now-familiar blue recycling bins are made available for all RISD classrooms, which generate recyclable material for single stream dumpsters on each campus, Clark explains. Also at a campus level, students might be appointed to “green teams” to promote environmentally responsible behaviors, which include more than just recycling (think reduction in water and electricity usage, too).

Lake Highlands Elementary, in particular, hosts a spring recycling event for difficult-to-dispose-of items such as electronics, open to the entire neighborhood.

Richland Community College, which spans 155 acres in northern Lake Highlands and serves about 20,000 students, is borderline legendary in the recycling world.

In 2016, Richland boasted an 82 percent recycling rate, earning the school the grand champion prize in RecycleMania, a nationwide competition for college and university recycling programs. (To offer some perspective, Richland topped 350 entrants including the likes of University of San Diego, University of Oregon and Cornell University.) But winning isn’t everything. In true recycling tournaments, participation really does count for something. Schools that participated in a three-month green competition last year collectively “recycled or composted 79.3 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials. This prevented the release of 122,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, or the equivalent of the annual emissions from 24,000 cars,” according to the RecycleMania team. Since 2012, Richland has placed in RecycleMania’s top 10 and won the Texas championship multiple times. Last year was its first national grand prize victory.

Richland’s recycling program “closely aligns with Richland College’s vision to build sustainable local and world community,” Jerry Owens, Richland College assistant director of facilities services said following the triumph. “A lot of effort has gone into recycle awareness and sustainability on our campus, and we are thrilled that it really paid off.”

Richland also holds annual recycling events for neighborhood residents, usually in April and another in the fall.

—CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

Who Wins the Bidding War? The Answer May

Surprise You

The last couple of years have seen aggressive bidding wars with home buyers in Dallas. Bidding wars can be nerve racking and in many cases the highest offer doesn’t always win. When a seller looks at an offer there are more things involved than just the price. The Seller wants the most they can get for their house and they also want to know the Buyer can close. So how do you compete?

DOWN PAYMENT

If there are competing offers with the same price, a higher down payment might make one buyer look more likely to close than the other. A higher down payment might also tell the seller that you have the cash to make up the difference and be more likely to close.

EARNEST MONEY

A larger earnest money deposit might indicate to a seller that you are more serious about the property. If you have contingencies terminate the contract using one of them, your earnest money will be refunded.

CONTINGENCIES

Remove any contingencies you can.

contingency. If you need to inspect the property, do it quickly and give the seller a higher option fee for the right to terminate. Now is not the time to place other contingencies on the seller or ask for things like the refrigerator unless it is already offered with the property.

CONSIDER THE SELLER

Find out what the seller’s goals are before writing the offer. How quickly do they need to move? Consider leasing back so they location and times and anything else that might be important to the seller.

PERSONALITY COUNTS

Many times when offers are similar all it takes is a heart felt letter from the buyer to warm a seller’s heart. A seller who has loved their home often wants to picture the new owner loving it the way they did. Let the seller know how much you appreciate how well they have taken care of the home.

There are a number of ways you can make your offer stand out from the rest... Even if it isn’t the highest price. Call or email me for more advice about how to win the bidding war.

TRUE CRIME

BAD BUS STOP?

Dallas Area Rapid Transit removed a bus stop at the southwest intersection of Forest Lane and Audelia, where drug peddling is a persistent problem. The removal is part of a larger effort to quell crime at the corner, Northeast Dallas Police interim commander Maj. Avery Moore has said. Lake Highlands homeowners have complained that as long as a certain bus stop adjacent to EZ Trip convenience store, considered a “nuisance” property, remained in place, loitering leading to frequent drug activity will continue. Because you cannot prevent people “loitering” at a bus stop, they have said. Former Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association president and Woodbridge resident, Steve Wakefield, who worked in the past to eliminate this DART stop, recently expressed doubt that much could improve in the area. Fighting hard for 17 years has made him skeptical that enough change will ever happen, he told a crime watch group in March.

But District 10 Councilman Adam McGough a few weeks later thanked Wakefield and “many other members of the community who have led the charge to move this bus stop.”

“We have begged, fought and pleaded, and some almost lost hope,” McGough noted in a public social media post. “Until Dallas Police Department, Northeast Division interim Chief Maj. Avery Moore, took the challenge and found a way.”

We still have a lot of work to do, McGough says. But “the stop at Forest and Audelia that provided an excuse for so many pretending to wait on a bus while transacting other less legal business is finally gone — may seem like a small thing, but it took several years to finally make this happen.”

For commuters, a DART bus stop is located directly across Forest Lane and another is just a couple hundred feet away at Audelia and Springtree.

EASTFIELD COLLEGE CAMP HARVEY

3737 Motley Dr., Mesquite, 75150 / 972.860.7114

4SummerCamp@dcccd.edu / Ignite your kids imagination by keeping them connected to big ideas through critical-thinking and creative play. Camp Harvey is a series of STEAM-based youth camps where kids experience meaningful learning while also having fun. Camp classes include: Math and reading practice, Improvisation, CSI/Forensics Academy, Debate, Swimming Clinics, Girl Gamers, Star Wars Stop Animation, Minecraft, Nature Appreciation, and more! Registration fee waived through April 15. Discounted registration through May 15. For youth ranging in age from 5-17.

HIGHLANDER SCHOOL

9120 Plano Rd. Dallas / 214.348.3220 / www.highlanderschool.com Founded in 1966, Highlander offers an enriched curriculum in a positive, Christian-based environment. By limiting class size, teachers are able to build a strong educational foundation to ensure confidence in academics, athletics, and the creative and performing arts. Highlander offers a “classic” education which cannot be equaled. Monthly tours offered; call for a reservation.

LAKEHILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931 / lakehillprep.org

Kindergarten through Grade 12 - Lakehill Preparatory School takes the word preparatory in its name very seriously. Throughout a student’s academic career, Lakehill builds an educational program that achieves its goal of enabling graduates to attend the finest, most rigorous universities of choice. Lakehill combines a robust, college-preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community involvement. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.

SPANISH HOUSE

Four East Dallas Locations / 214.826.4410/ DallasSpanishHouse.com Spanish Immersion Program in East Dallas! Nursery, Preschool, Elementary and Adult Programs available. Our new dual-language elementary campus is now open at 7159 E. Grand Ave. Please visit our website at DallasSpanishHouse. com for more information.

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org Founded in 1953, St. John’s is an independent, co-educational day school for Pre-K through Grade 8. With a tradition for academic excellence, St. John’s programs include a challenging curriculum in a Christian environment along with instruction in the visual and performing arts, Spanish, German, French, and opportunities for athletics and community service.St. John’s goal for its students is to develop a love for

learning, service to others, and leadership grounded in love, humility, and wisdom. Accredited by ISAS, SAES, and the Texas Education Agency.

UT DALLAS CHESS CAMP

800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson 75080 / (972) 883-4899 / utdallas.edu/chess ) 2016 Summer Chess Camp Campers learn while they PLAY. Chess develops reading, math, critical and analytical skills, and builds character and self-esteem. Just don’t tell the kids…they think chess is fun! Join beginner, intermediate or advanced chess classes for ages 7 to 14 on the UT Dallas campus. Morning (9am-noon) or afternoon (1-4pm) sessions are available June 13-17, June 20-24, July 18-22, July 25-29 and extended playing classes. Camp includes t-shirt, chess board and pieces, trophy, certificate, score book, group photo, snacks and drinks. Instructors are from among UT Dallas Chess Team Pan-Am Intercollegiate Champions for 2010-2012!

WHITE ROCK NORTH SCHOOL

9727 White Rock Trail Dallas/ 214.348.7410 / WhiteRockNorthSchool.com 6 Weeks through 6th Grade. Our accelerated curriculum provides opportunity for intellectual and physical development in a loving and nurturing environment. Character-building and civic responsibility are stressed. Facilities include indoor swimming pool, skating rink, updated playground, and state-of-the-art technology lab. Kids Club on the Corner provides meaningful after-school experiences. Summer Camp offers field trips, swimming, and a balance of indoor and outdoor activities designed around fun-filled themes. Accredited by SACS. Call for a tour of the campus.

ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL

6121 E. Lovers Ln. Dallas / 214.363.1630 / ziondallas. org Toddler care thru 8th Grade. Serving Dallas for over 65 years offering a quality education in a Christ-centered learning environment. Degreed educators minister to the academic, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of students and their families. Before and after school programs, Extended Care, Parents Day Out, athletics, fine arts, integrated technology, Spanish, outdoor education, Accelerated Reader, advanced math placement, and student government. Accredited by National Lutheran School & Texas District Accreditation Commissions and TANS. Contact Principal Jeff Thorman.

WHITE ROCK ELEMENTARY VS. THE WORLD

The untold story behind RISD’s decision to forgo boundary changes and expand the district’s fastest-growing elementary

Story by KERI MITCHELL

Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

egeneration in full swing,” states a slide from Templeton Demographics’ January 2012 report, trying to answer the question of why Richardson ISD had experienced such substantial enrollment growth in a single year.

Regeneration is the term demographers and planners use to describe an area “turning over,” so to speak. For a neighborhood full of single-family homes, it’s when longtime residents move out and new, generally younger residents move in.

Most of Lake Highlands’ residential neighborhoods were built in the ’60s and ’70s. By the 2000s, RISD had the highest rate of over-65 tax exemptions in the state. So demographers watched the area, wondering when the families who originally established the neighborhood would move out.

It happened almost all at once between 2010 and 2011. Maps

showing the lots of residents who had an over-65 tax exemption were colored in one year and nearly wiped clean the next. What the demographers had been projecting for years was finally occurring, says Tony Harkleroad, RISD’s recently retired CFO.

“It’s like predicting it’s going to rain,” he says. “If you predict it long enough, it’s going to be right.”

Instead of the 500 students Templeton had predicted would enter RISD between fall 2010 and fall 2011, the number was 1,000. The most significant jump was at White Rock Elementary, which had 589 students in 2010 and 926 today — and is projected to have more than 1,000 by fall 2018.

“It happened a little sooner than they thought it would and to a greater degree than they initially thought it would, and then it just snowballed,” Harkleroad says.

Voters had just given RISD $170 million in the May 2011

Lake Highlands elementary schools have experienced substantial enrollment growth since 2010, nowhere more so than White Rock Elementary.

at Lake Highlands Junior High, and 10 at Forest Meadow Junior High.

Even with these classroom additions, three Lake Highlands elementary schools are nearing capacity again — Aikin, Skyview and Wallace — and White Rock is over capacity. In terms of rapid growth, however, “the only one that jumps out at you is White Rock Elementary,” says Bob Templeton, RISD’s demographer.

He shows this in household “yield,” meaning how many students per single-family home attend the neighborhood elementary school. At White Rock, the yield went from 0.28 in 2010 to 0.46 in 2017.

“That may not seem like a lot, but it literally almost doubled in six years,” Templeton says. “The six-year change

bond election, the third since 2001, when RISD launched a 20-year plan to systematically upgrade aging facilities and technology. The prior two had focused on renovating schools built in the 1950s and 1960s; this one would target the 1970s.

None of the money, however, had been allocated for new schools or classrooms.

The district, however, had an ace in its back pocket: Officials had been setting aside surplus funds since 2007 in anticipation of further cuts in state funding. This money now had an explicit purpose. Between 2012 and 2016, RISD added 78 classrooms at 13 schools “to accommodate enrollment growth and allow as many students as possible to enroll at their attendance area school,” the 2016 bond website states.

Regeneration took place throughout Lake Highlands. Enrollment was on the rise at several campuses, and they were feeling the pinch. Of the 78 new classrooms in RISD, 52 were constructed at nine Lake Highlands schools — four at Aikin, five at Skyview, six at Stults Road, six at Forest Lane, six at Merriman Park, six at Wallace, six at White Rock, three

in most elementary zones is pretty flat.”

Determining a cause for this is somewhat like “Monday morning quarterbacking,” Templeton says. One reason could be the affordability of housing, he says, even though “they’re not cheap, but for that area, it’s a great value.”

More likely, though, it has to do with White Rock’s similarity to Tanglewood Elementary in Fort Worth, another school district that hires Templeton to make demographic projections. Tanglewood is an older school in a historic area of Fort Worth that is beloved to its community, and it, too, has higher-than-normal yields, he says.

“It’s a sacred school, and it’s very difficult to either peel off the boundaries or change things,” Templeton says of Tanglewood.

White Rock, too, is a sacred school, he says, describing it as having the “Field of Dreams” factor.

“For schools like this, it may be the awesome culture, the parents or PTA, the staff or principal. It can be the student body as well. It can be formed in many ways,” Templeton says. “The building is not the factor; it’s the nostalgia of the area” that makes a school sacred.

As enrollment rose at White Rock and throughout Lake Highlands, RISD “overflowed” some students away from their home schools as classrooms were

“The building is not the factor; it’s the nostalgia of the area” that makes a school sacred.

maxed out, but the district’s classroom construction and commitment to not change attendance boundaries kept most students in their neighborhood school.

“Keeping those historic boundaries the same was a priority” for both the board and the community, Harkleroad says. “By adding onto those schools, we accomplished both of those objectives.”

For the most part, the boundaries were formed when the neighborhoods formed. RISD officials say the only time in the district’s history that a school’s attendance boundary has changed was when a school opened or closed.

The last three elementary schools built on the outer edges of Lake Highlands primarily affected families living in apartments. Neither Forest Lane Academy, which opened in 1999, nor Thurgood Marshall, built in 2005, have any single-family homes within their boundaries. Both schools serve northern Lake Highlands’ copious multi-family complexes. Constructed along Forest Lane and Audelia Road for young, predominately childless, professionals during the ’80s tech boom, things changed after the Walker Consent Decree in 1985 required apartment owners to make 20-40 percent of each property affordable to low-income Dallas residents. Around the same time, new housing laws made it illegal to restrict rentals to adults. Coupled with the tech bubble burst of the early ’90s, these northern Lake Highlands apartments became low-income housing for families with young children. Audelia Creek, which opened in 2003, mostly serves this demographic, too.

RISD hoped the classroom additions

THE JOB FINDS

The number of elementary-age students coming from each White Rock Elementary home has “almost doubled” since 2010, says Richardson ISD’s demographer.

would contain the growth. They have, and are expected to, almost everywhere. But White Rock continued to exceed the demographer’s calculated predictions, and parents warned the district that a crisis was looming. In March 2016, the board formed the Lake Highlands Reflector Committee to address the growing problem.

Regeneration was no doubt the culprit for enrollment growth throughout Lake Highlands. White Rock Valley in particular, a neighborhood somewhat “hidden” behind Flag Pole Hill with vogue mid-century architecture, had the “it” factor that made it a desirable place to live.

The teardown trend rampant across Dallas also took hold in White Rock Valley. The 1,500- to 2,500-square-foot homes built in the neighborhood’s infancy began giving way to houses upward of 3,000 and 4,000 square feet. Price tags shot up, not just for the houses but for each square foot, making the White Rock Elementary area more expensive and exclusive than its Lake Highlands counterparts.

It didn’t hurt that White Rock was the only Lake Highlands elementary that had experienced significant demographic changes since the 2008 recession. The still unrealized Lake Highlands Town Center at Walnut Hill and Skillman broke ground in 2007, tearing down several low-income apartment complexes to make way for retail and residential construction.

In 2006, before the apartments disappeared from the landscape, White Rock had 585 students — 47 percent white, 30 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic, with 42 percent of students at an “economic disadvantage,” according to RISD records. Enrollment dipped when students from those apartments, zoned to White Rock, moved to other neighborhoods, but by 2010 the school had repopulated with 589 students. Four years later, however, the demographics were starkly different — 70 percent white, 11 percent black and 15 percent Hispanic, with only 19 percent of students economically disadvantaged.

By fall 2015, enrollment had grown to 877 — 75 percent white, 8 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic, with only 10 percent of students at an economic disadvantage.

This was the reality as teachers, principals, parents and community members from all of Lake Highlands’ schools were

Patrick Henry McDonough, MD

URBAN THRIFT

Thrift store

9850 Walnut Hill Ln. 214.341.1151 Facebook.com/UrbanThriftStore

ROB WATKINS

Residential Mortgage Lender

BancorpSouth Mortgage Cell 214.926.5836

Rob.Watkins@bxs.com

WhiteRockMortgageGuy.com NMLS 1403412

appointed to the Reflector Committee, whose charge was to settle on “a long-term solution to address enrollment growth in Lake Highlands.” Options included everything from adding on to existing campuses to a new elementary campus to new fifth- and sixth-grade campuses.

The conversation always included redrawing attendance boundaries but never as a solution. Lake Highlands was experiencing enough growth that simply redistributing students wouldn’t solve the long-term problem, committee members believed. White Rock Elementary’s overcrowded state similarly was a focus, but not the main focus.

No obvious direction emerged from the committee, and strong consensus was absent, but in the end, the two solutions members liked most were building a new elementary school or constructing a fifth- and sixth-grade campus adjacent to Forest Meadow and Lake Highlands Junior High.

Before these were recommended to the board, RISD purchased a 4.5-acre piece of land at Walnut Hill and White Rock Trail. Harkleroad told the com-

“They’re so passionate about their schools, and I want them to know there are more important things to be stressed about than going from one great elementary school to another ... it’s the parents that have a tough time, not the kids.”

mittee at one of its final meetings, “How that property is utilized does not need to be decided now, but [a kindergarten through sixth-grade school] is an option. RISD has evaluated other sites in Lake Highlands and there are very few pieces of suitable land available.”

After RISD closed on the property, the board announced in June that it would open a new elementary on the site in fall 2018. Boundary changes were inevitable. The proposed school was situated within the attendance zone of White Rock Elementary, the school that was most in need of relief and no doubt would be most impacted by the boundary changes.

The board planned to present new boundaries in mid-September, but before it could, a group calling itself “We Have a Voice” formed to oppose the new

New stuff & sales everyday! We accept ALL donations! You’re welcome to come drop them off or schedule a FREE pick up! We give back to our community!

Medical Residents, Fellows, and established Medical Physicians may be eligible for the BancorpSouth Mortgage Physician’s Loan. Up to 100% financing, with no PMI, on loans up to $650,000 is available for the purchase or refinance of the Physician’s primary residence. Mortgages are subject to approval. Call Rob for more details!

homes sold for more than $600,000 within White Rock Elementary’s boundaries over the past year.

homes sold for more than $600,000 within Merriman Park’s boundaries over the past year, 11 of them in the new Bordeaux development.

24

homes sold for more than $600,000 in all other Lake Highlands elementary zones combined.

$205.98

was the median sale price per square foot for White Rock Elementary homes.

$170.17

was the median sale price per square foot for homes within neighboring Northlake Elementary’s boundaries. Which means a $600,000 house zoned to White Rock Elementary is worth $495,000 if it’s zoned to Northlake.

*We asked a Lake Highlands residential real estate appraiser to evaluate home sales in the Lake Highlands, Merriman Park, Moss Haven, Northlake, Skyview, Stults Road, White Rock and Wallace elementary school zones. The results are from February 2016 through January 2017. Median sale prices were limited to homes built between 1900-1975 and ranging between 1,500-2,500 square feet, without a pool, in order to capture similar neighborhood housing stock.

school. White Rock Elementary homes found a letter taped to their front doors with reasons for opposition, the first and foremost being:

“The attendance boundaries for elementary schools will be redrawn. How they are redrawn will be entirely up to the RISD board members.”

Though supporters also emerged in the form of a group calling itself “We Need a School,” opposition from the White Rock community continued to mount, and by November, the board had abandoned plans for the new school and hired a consulting firm, Stantec, to “work with RISD and the White Rock community to re-evaluate options to address WRE’s extensive enrollment growth,” Superintendent Jeannie Stone wrote in a letter to White Rock families.

This time around, the district surveyed

WHITE ROCK HOME TOUR

only families within White Rock’s attendance boundaries.

Once again, there was no consensus, but the most popular option among White Rock families was to expand White Rock Elementary’s existing campus. This is the recommendation Stantec gave the board in February, based not only on support from roughly one-third of survey respondents but also on “guiding principles” given by RISD.

Rebalancing the boundaries of Lake Highlands schools was a close second, but when Stantec gave its recommendation, Stone suggested the district follow the consultant’s lead, and the board seized the opportunity to put the issue to bed.

Boundaries won’t budge, a new school won’t be built, the kindergarten to sixthgrade model won’t change. Construction on a larger White Rock Elementary will begin immediately, in time to open for the 2018-19 school year when the school is expected to cross the 1,000-student threshold.

In the end, RISD decided to give White Rock parents what most had wanted all along — static boundaries moreso than an enlarged elementary school. Parents at “sacred schools,” Templeton says, are difficult to sway.

“They’re so passionate about their schools, and I want them to know there are more important things to be stressed about than going from one great elementary school to another,” he says. “The reality is that the kids are adaptable — it’s the parents that have a tough time, not the kids. I don’t know how to help them to get to, ‘It’s not the end of the world.’

“The school district is trying to do what’s best for the entire district. It may inconvenience you or disrupt your schedule, but it’s needed for the greater whole.”

Photography by MetroplexHD

By GEORGE MASON

Won’t you be my neighbor?

A call to cross streets and other lines that divide us

How well do you know your neighbors?

I don’t know mine well enough. But neighbors are more than just the people who live on your block. They are people you work with, whose kids go to school with your kids, who share your humanity yet maybe not your ethnic origin or skin color or buying power.

The elections last fall were just more evidence of our isolation from each other. In my own church, a vote last fall on a matter that proved controversial also proved we didn’t know one another as well as we assumed.

What is happening to us and what is the remedy?

When sociologist Robert Putnam wrote the book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” he pointed out the loss of social subgroups in the rhythm of our week that once provided sympathy for our neighbor and satisfied our need for belonging. We used to bowl in leagues; now we bowl alone (or only with friends and family). We used to have strong civic organizations like Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, Exchange Club, Masons, Shriners, etc. These still exist, but they find it harder to attract new members these days, especially younger ones.

When participation declines in groups that bound us together across demographic lines (yes, I know they once were bastions of segregation but credit efforts over time to change that), the tendency is to fulfill our need for community virtually instead. We spend more time on Facebook than we do face to face.

Facebook knows this and wants to be part of the cure, even as it acknowledges it has contributed to the disease. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has issued a lengthy manifesto laying out the ways it will seek to promote physical social

encounters. “[L]arge percentages of our population lack a sense of hope for the future. It is possible many of our challenges are at least as much social as they are economic — related to a lack of community and connection to something greater than ourselves. As one pastor told me: ‘People feel unsettled. A lot of what was settling in the past doesn’t exist anymore.’

“Online communities are a bright spot, and we can strengthen existing physical communities by helping people come together online as well as offline. In the same way connecting with friends online strengthens real relationships, develop-

WORSHIP

ANGLICAN

ALL SAINTS EAST DALLAS / allsaintseastdallas.org

Sunday worship 5:00 pm / Live in God’s Presence. Live Out His Love. Meeting at Central Lutheran Church / 1000 Easton Road

BAPTIST

PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org

Worship & Bible Study 9:15 & 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500

WILSHIRE BAPTIST / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Pastor George A. Mason Ph.D. / Worship 8:30 & 11:00 am

Bible Study 9:40 am / www.wilshirebc.org

BIBLE CHURCHES

NORTH HIGHLANDS BIBLE CHURCH / nhbc.net / 9626 Church Rd.

Sun: LifeQuest 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am / 214.348.9697

Wed: AWANA and Kids Choir 6:00 pm / Student Ministry 6:30 pm

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

LUTHERAN

CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

Sunday School for all ages 9:00 am / Worship Service 10:30 am

Pastor Rich Pounds / CentralLutheran.org / 214.327.2222

FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH / 6202 E Mockingbird Ln.

Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule. 214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

METHODIST

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH RICHARDSON 503 N Central Exwy / fumcr.com / 972.235.8385 / Dr. Clayton Oliphint 8:45, 9:45, 11:00 am sanctuary / access modern worship 11:00am

ing this infrastructure will strengthen these communities, as well as enable completely new ones to form.”

I was not the pastor he mentioned, but I might have been. The church sees this unsettling and feels its effects, too. But religious communities continue to be places of belonging that can be a laboratory for community as unity-in-diversity. That is, if we don’t all hunker down only with “people like us.”

Genuine faith leads us toward others, not away from them. If we are moving away from people, it follows that our faith itself is weakening. If you want a vital faith, get engaged in a spiritual community that challenges you to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

George Mason is pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com

Sunday Morning: 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am Coffee Worship: 8:30 am & 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Contemporary

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

LAKE POINTE CHURCH – WHITE ROCK CAMPUS

Classic Service at 9:30 & Contemporary Service at 11:00 am lakepointe.org / 9150 Garland Road

PRESBYTERIAN

LAKE HIGHLANDS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 214.348.2133 8525 Audelia Road at NW Hwy. / www.lhpres.org

9:00 am Contemporary, 9:55 am Christian Ed., 11:00 am Traditional

NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. 214.827.5521 / www.northridgepc.org / Welcomes you to Worship

8:30 & 11:00 am / Church School 9:35 am / Childcare provided.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Genuine faith leads us toward others, not away from them.

NMLS#257835

BIZ BUZZ

WHAT’S UP WITH NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESSES

LANDLORD BLAMED FOR ‘NUISANCE’

One corner convenience store, EZ Trip at Forest Lane and Audelia, is rife with drug activity and other crime, and our city wants to hold property owners and tenants responsible.

The City of Dallas, on March 3, filed for a temporary and permanent injunction against Bent Creek Shopping Center and owner Rooha Realty, Inc. and its registered agent Mohammed Hanif Khanani, citing that since he purchased the property in 2015, there have been 66 drug-related arrests, seven aggravated assaults, seven arrests for unlawfully carrying a weapon, two for the reckless discharge of a firearm and two robberies. Note: the area was crime infested long before that.

After a drive-by shooting of a teenager in July 2015, the Dallas Police Department placed the property in its S.A.F.E. program a police initiative that, officially, “forges vested partnerships with cooperative property owners to combat common and public nuisances.”

But it did not have a satisfactory impact.

If the court finds for the City in its temporary injunction request, the property owner would be required to pay a bond of between $5,000 and $10,000 ensuring that it would not “knowingly maintain a common nuisance on the property,” according to the lawsuit.

Violations could then mean the City of Dallas would be allowed to cut off utility services at the property. A permanent injunction could force the entire shopping center to close for one year from the date of said judgment. Several other businesses including a dry cleaners, a nail salon, a dollar store and a shoe store occupy the property.

The city attorneys’ actions are small pieces of an entire “toolbox” of items northeast leaders are throwing at crime issues at the intersection as well as the surrounding area, city officials have said.

Those efforts include a proposed northern Lake Highlands Public Improvement District, which needs buy-in from owners of 60 percent of the commercial property within the PID boundaries; they would pay a set

assessment to a nonprofit associated with the North Lake Highlands PID. You can read more about that and other efforts on advocatemag.com (search “PID” and/or “Forest-Audelia”).

KAZY’S, IS THAT YOU?

Kazy’s off I-635 just east of Greenville underwent a makeover, complete with a new navy blue and white façade and an updated interior, sushi bar and sitdown areas. The Japanese grocery store prepares fresh sushi and sells wholesale to the area’s best restaurants.

HAPPY 15TH TO A TRUE LOCAL BIZ

The Store in Lake Highlands celebrated its 15th anniversary this March. Charismatic owner Cheryl Calvin founded the E. Northwest Highway boutique in 2002.

TELL YOUR VISITING

RELATIVES...

Hampton Inn & Suites opened at 10370 N. Central Expressway at the edge of our neighborhood.

NONPROFIT PROFITS

Pamper Lake Highlands received $33,500 in donations from the members of 100 Women of Lake Highlands. Founded in 2014, Pamper Lake Highlands provides diapers to young mothers, as well as parenting classes, bible studies, financial training, medical needs and other services. “This is the answer to many prayers,” founder Caren Bright said. “We now have 335 more women and families who are believing in [our organization], and we will continue to try to make you proud.”

REPLACE THE MEMORIES

Hoodlums, possibly for the scrap metal, in March stole some 33 memorial plates from the Celebration Tree Grove at White Rock Lake, a project of For The Love Of The Lake, which uses money from plaque sales to reforest the park. The cost of the theft equals about $6,500 worth of reforestation funds, members say. They have set up a fundraiser to replace the lost plaques without dipping into the existing budget.

Donors can mail a check to FTLOTL, PMB 281 – 381 Casa Linda Plaza, Dallas, Texas, 75218.

Realtors

Recognizing the real estate professionals who promote our neighborhood with the Advocate’s annual Top Realtors in Lake Highlands.

JENNIFER FRIEDMAN ACKERMAN

Virginia Cook Realtors

BETH ARNOLD

Nathan Grace Real Estate

The Pickaperch Team

BEN CABALLERO

HomesUSA.com

KEVIN CASKEY

Nathan Grace Real Estate

Kevin Caskey Real Estate Group

GLEN CHRISTY

Nathan Grace Real Estate

C+N+T Real Estate Group

MAX DUNHAM

Ebby Halliday Realtors

The Dunham Brothers

RONDA HARDT

Ebby Halliday Realtors

The Hardt Group

PEGGY HILL

Nathan Grace Real Estate

The Hill Group

SCOTT JACKSON

Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate

The Jackson Team

SHELBY JAMES

Allie Beth Allman & Associates

WENDY LUCAS

Nathan Grace Real Estate

The Hill Group

KELLEY THERIOT MCMAHON

Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty

Farris McMahon Group

ED MURCHISON

Virginia Cook Realtors

ROBIN NORCROSS

Nathan Grace Real Estate

C+N+T Real Estate Group

JIMMY RADO

David Weekley

NATALIE RAMBO

Nathan Grace Real Estate

Sibley Rambo Realty

ELIZABETH SELZER

Ebby Halliday Realtors

Selzer & Stell Group

WARREN SIBLEY

Nathan Grace Real Estate

Sibley Rambo Realty

ROSS SPENCER

Gilchrist & Company

The WrightHouse Realty Group

JAN STELL

Ebby Halliday Realtors

Selzer & Stell Group

JASON THOMAS

Nathan Grace Real Estate

C+N+T Real Estate Group

NICOLE THOMAS

Nathan Grace Real Estate

C+N+T Real Estate Group

PHILLIP TILGER

Nathan Grace Real Estate

Tilger Real Estate Group

AMY TIMMERMAN

Nathan Grace Real Estate

The Pickaperch Team

DONALD WRIGHT

Gilchrist & Company

The WrightHouse Realty Group

CLASSES/TUTORING/ LESSONS

ART: Draw/Paint. Adults All Levels. Lake Highlands N. Rec. Ctr. Days: Mon & Wed. Students bring supplies. Nights: 1xt month workshop, supplies furnished. Jane Cross. 214-534-6829,

CREATIVE ARTS CENTER More than 500 adult art classes/ workshops from metal to mosaic! www.creativeartscenter.org

VOICE TEACHER with 40+ years experience. M.M. LSU www.PatriciaIvey.com • trilletta@msn.com • 214-769-8560

EMPLOYMENT

AIRLINE MECHANIC TRAINING Get FAA certified. Approved for military benefits. Financial aid if qualified. Job placement assistance. Aviation Institute of Maintenance 866-453-6204

PET SITTERS, DOG WALKERS reply to http://www.pcpsi.com/join

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

FINANCIAL CONSULTANT Five Rings Financial has part-time opportunities! JR@FiveRingsFinancial.com 214-702-0033 x502

SERVICES FOR YOU

AT ODDS WITH YOUR COMPUTER? Easily Learn Essential Skills. Services include Digital Photo Help. Sharon 214-679-9688

COMPUTER HELP! Viruses, Data Recovery, Upgrades, WiFi Problems, Onsite Tech. 214-533-6216 WebersComputers.com

CONFUSED? FRUSTRATED? Let A Seasoned Pro Be The Interface Between You & That Pesky Windows Computer. Hardware & Software Installation, Troubleshooting, Training. $60/hr. 1 hr min. Dan 214-660-3733 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net

SEEKING CIVIL DISCUSSION

Many Richardson ISD students and trustees

Kim Caston, Katie Patterson and Jean Bono attended Austin’s Rally Day for public schools; students and parents prearranged a chat with their elected officials. Some queries put to Sen. Don Huffines, supporter of vouchers for private schools, were met with harsh responses. Video captured by Lake Highlands parent Meredyth Childress show a miffed Huffines, whose spokesperson later called the students’ questions an “ambush-style attack.” The senator later apologized to the participants.

SERVICES FOR YOU

MY OFFICE Offers Mailing, Copying, Shipping, Office & School Supplies. 9660 Audelia Rd. myofficelh.com 214-221-0011

NEIGHBORHOOD ENERGY EXPERT Helps you earn rewards for free energy, travel points & more. Call Elaine today for a free electric bill review. 214-500-3667 Make the Switch & Save!

LEGAL SERVICES

A WILL? THERE IS A WAY! Estate/Probate matters. maryglennattorney.com 214-802-6768

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

ACCOUNTING, TAXES Small Businesses & Individuals. Chris King, CPA 214-824-5313 www.chriskingcpa.com

BOOKKEEPING NEEDS? Need help preparing books for CPA? No job too big or small. 22 Yrs. Exp. C.A.S. Bookkeeping Services. Cindy. 214-577-7450 cascastle@sbcglobal.net

LICENSED PHYCHOLOGIST Academic, behavioral, ADHD, emotional testing. Children, adolescents, adults. Therapy. Dr. Katherine Pang 214-531-7624 lighthousepsychtesting.com

PARADIGMFAMILYHEALTH.COM Affordable Family Medicine. Healthcare you deserve! 214-810-3553 Mobile. SEO Friendly. Maintainable.

NEED A NEW WEBSITE? AdvocateWebDesign.com 214.292.2053

PET SERVICES

DOGGIE DEN DALLAS Daycare, Boarding, Grooming, Training. 6444 E. Mockingbird Ln. 214-823-1441 DoggieDenDallas.com

HOUSE CALLS OF DALLAS Personalized Care For Your Pet Or Home. Everything from traveling or away for the day. Insured/ Bonded.214-505-2525.housecallsofdallas.com

BUY/SELL/TRADE

CARS/TRUCKS WANTED!!! All Makes/Models. 2000-2016. Any Condition. Running Or Not. Top $$$ Paid. Free Towing. We’re Nationwide. Call Now. 1-888-985-1806

RANGERS, STARS & MAVS

Share front-row Texas Rangers, Stars & Mavs seats. Tickets are available in sets of 10 games (sets of 2 or 4 tickets per game available). Participants randomly draw numbers prior to season to determine a draft order fair to everyone. Call 214-560-4212 or rwamre@advocatemag.com

ESTATE/GARAGE SALES

ALL POINTS ESTATE SALES and Property Services. Call Pat 214-802-2781 - AllPointsEstateServices.com

WANT TO MAKE MONEY? Richardson Mercantile is looking for dealers who want to join one of the best antique malls in DFW. Need details? Go to richardsonmercantile@gmail.com

REAL ESTATE

NEED A PURCHASE, REFIANCE Or Renovation Home Loan? Call Pat Nagler, PrimeLending Sr. Loan Officer (NMLS: 184376) 214-402-4019 for all your mortgage needs.

AC & HEAT

CONCRETE/ MASONRY/PAVING

BRICK & STONE REPAIR

Tuck Pointing / Crack Repair. Mortar Color Matching. Don 214-704-1722

Family Owned & Operated

Serving the Dallas area for over 30 years

We raise our kids here, too!

972-274-2157

www.CrestAirAndHeat.com

TACLB29169E

APPLIANCE REPAIR

JESSE’S A/C & APPLIANCE SERVICE

TACLB13304C All Makes/Models. 214-660-8898

USED APPLIANCES FOR SALE Washer $125. Dryer $89.1 yr. Warranty. Repair. 972-329-2202

BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319

BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS Mortar Repair. Straighten Brick Mailboxes & Columns. Call Cirilo 214-298-7174

CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001

EDMONDSPAVING.COM Asphalt & Concrete Driveway-Sidewalk-Patio-Repair 214-957-3216

FLAGSTONE PATIOS, Retaining Walls, BBQ’s, Veneer, Flower Bed Edging, All Stone work. Chris 214-770-5001

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

Serving your Neighborhood Since 1993

Repairing: Refrigerators •Washer/Dryers

• Ice Makers •Stoves • Cooktops • Ovens 214✯823✯2629

CABINETRY & FURNITURE

SQUARE NAIL WOODWORKING

Cabinet Refacing, Built-ins, Entertainment/ Computer Centers. Jim. 214-324-7398 www.squarenailwoodworking.com

CLEANING SERVICES

A MAID FOR YOU Bonded/Insured.Park Cities/ M Streets Refs. Call Us First. Joyce 214-232-9629

A WORLD CLASS CLEANING SERVICE

You deserve High Standards and Quality Cleaning. You’ve tried the rest... Now try the Best! WindsorMaidServices.com 214-381-MAID (6243)

AFFORDABLE CLEANING Insd./Bonded. Move

In/Out. Routine Cleaning. Reliable. Dependable. Residential/ Commercial. References. 28+yrs. Delta Cleaning. 972-943-9280.

AMAZON CLEANING

Top To Bottom Clean. Fabiana.469-951-2948

CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133

WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM

Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134

COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS

BILL’S COMPUTER REPAIR

Virus Removal, Data Recovery. Home/Biz Network Install. All Upgrades & Repairs. PC Instruction. No Trip Fee. 214-348-2566

FENCING & DECKS

#1 COWBOY FENCE & IRON CO. Est. ‘91. 214-692-1991 www.cowboyfenceandiron.com

4 QUALITY FENCING Call Mike 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood, New or Repair.

AMBASSADOR FENCE INC. EST. 96 Automatic Gates, Fences/Decks, ambassadorfenceco.com 214-621-3217

FENCING & WOODWORK oldgatefence.com . 214-766-6422

HANNAWOODWORKS.COM

Decks, Pergolas, Patio Covers. 214-435-9574

KIRKWOOD FENCE & DECK

New & Repair. Free Estimates. Nathan Kirkwood. 214-341-0699

LONESTARDECKS.COM 214-357-3975

Trex Decking & Fencing, trex.com

GARAGE SERVICES

IDEAL GARAGE DOORS • 972-757-5016 Install & Repair. 10% off to military/1st responders.

ROCKET GARAGE DOOR SERVICE - 24/7. Repairs/Installs. 214-533-8670. Coupon On Web. www.RocketDoor.com

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned.214-826-8096

GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

JIM HOWELL 214-357-8984 Frameless Shower Enclosures/Custom Mirrors. Free Estimates

LAKE HIGHLANDS GLASS & MIRROR frameless shower enclosures • store fronts replacement windows • mirrors 214-349-8160

PRO WINDOW CLEANING prompt, dependable. Matt 214-766-2183

ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricofdallas.com 50 Yrs. Electrical Exp. Insd. 214-328-1333

BRIGHT LIGHT ELECTRIC • 214-553-5333 TECL 31347 Brightening Homes and Businesses

EXPERIENCED LICENSED ELECTRICIAN Insd. Steve. TECL#27297 214-718-9648

LAKEWOOD ELECTRICAL Local. Insured. Lic. #227509 Call Rylan 214-434-8735

TEXAS ELECTRICAL • 214-289-0639

Prompt, Honest, Quality Service. TECL 24668

TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658

WHITE ROCK ELECTRIC All Electrical Services. Lic/Insd. E795. 214-850-4891

CONSUMERS CHOICE AWARDS 2007-2016

Making

TECL20502

EXTERIOR CLEANING

G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

EST.

All Wood Decks, Arbors & Patio Covers 214.692.1991

CARPETING

Installation, Repair, Refinish, Wax, Hand Scrape. Residential, Commercial. Sports Floors. 30 Yrs.

HASTINGS STAINED CONCRETE New/Remodel. Stain/Wax Int/Ext. Nick. 214-341-5993. www.hastingsfloors.com

Restoration Flooring

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

ALL STAR HOME CARE Carpentry, Glass, Tile, Paint, Doors, Sheetrock Repair, and more. 25 yrs. exp. References. Derry 214-505-4830

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

HANDY DAN The Handyman. ToDo’s Done Right. handy-dan.com 214-252-1628

HANDY MANNY PAINTING/HOME REPAIR Int./Ext. Manny 214-334-2160

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HOME REPAIR HANDYMAN Small/Big Jobs + Construction. 30 Yrs. Exp. 214-875-1127

HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606

Years Experience

469.774.3147

Hardwood Installation · Hand Scraping Sand & Finish · Dustless restorationflooring.net Willeford hardwood floors Superior Quality: Installation • Refinishing Repair • Cleaning & Waxing Old World Hand Scrape 214-824-1166 FOUNDATION REPAIR • Slabs • Pier & Beam • Mud Jacking • Drainage • Free Estimates • Over 20 Years Exp. 972-288-3797 We Answer Our Phones

HONEST, SKILLED SERVICE With a Smile. General Repairs/ Maintenance. 214-215-2582

WANTED: ODD JOBS & TO DO LISTS Allen’s Handyman & Home Repair 214-288-4232

Your Home Repair Specialists

Drywall Doors Senior Safety Carpentry

972-308-6035

HOUSE PAINTING

1 AFFORDABLE HOUSE PAINTING and Home Repair. Quality work.

Inside and Out. Free Ests. Local Refs. Ron 972-816-5634

A+ INT/EXT PAINT & DRYWALL

Since 1977. Kirk Evans. 972-672-4681

BENJAMIN’S PAINTING SERVICE Professional Work At Reasonable Prices. 214-725-6768

RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513

TONY’S PAINTING SERVICE Quality Work

Since 1984. Int./Ext. 214-755-2700

TOP COAT 30 yrs. exp. Reliable, Quality Repair/Remodel Phil @ 214-770-2863

VIP PAINTING & DRYWALL Int/Ext. Sheetrock Repair, Resurfacing Tubs, Counters, Tile Repairs. 469-774-7111

KITCHEN/BATH/ TILE/GROUT

BLAKE CONSTRUCTION CONCEPTS LLC

Complete Kitchen And Bath Remodels. Tile, Granite, Marble, Travertine, Slate. Insured. 214-563-5035 www.blake-construction.com

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. dallastileman.com 214-343-4645

MELROSE TILE James Sr., Installer, Repairs. 40 Yrs. Exp. MelroseTile.com 214-384-6746

STONE AGE COUNTER TOPS Granite, Quartz, Marble For Kitchen/Bath-Free Est.. stoneage.brandee@gmail.com 940-465-6980

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

Complete Full Service Repairs, Remodeling, Restoration. Name It — We do it. Tommy. Insured. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

#1 WHITE ROCK TREE WIZARDS

Professionals, Experts, Artists. Trim, Remove, Cabling, Bracing/Bolting. Cavity-Fill Stump Grind. Emergencies, Hazards. Insd. Free Est. 972-803-6313. arborwizard.com

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

TAYLOR MADE IRRIGATION Repairs, service, drains. 30+ years exp. Ll 6295 469-853-2326. John

TRACY’S LAWN CARE • 972-329-4190 Lawn Mowing & Leaf Cleaning

U R LAWN CARE Maintenance. Landscaping. Your Personal Yard Service by Uwe Reisch uwereisch@yahoo.com 214-886-9202

YOUR TREES could look like a WORK OF ART, I Guarantee It.

APRIL SPECIAL $200 OFF 4 man crew/4 hours

Call Mark Wittlich 214-332-3444

The sun is out and spring is here. Time to get your grass that luscious green — the color of envy, or rather, lawn envy.

Make your yard stand out this season:

1. Rake your lawn to wake it up.

2. Re-seed any bare patches — use plenty of water.

3. Apply a layer of mulch around your plants, trees and shrubs — 2-3 inches is plenty.

4. Fertilize growing plants with compost, including those in containers.

5. Get things growing by thoroughly watering new plants. Remember to stay cool and drink plenty of water yourself while out in the sun.

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

IRISH RAIN SPRINKLER SYSTEMS

Facebook.com/TomHoltTile

LocalWorks.advocatemag.com

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925

BURRIS TREE SERVICE | 469-939-3344

Expert tree service. | Prune. Stump grind. Plant.

CHUPIK TREE SERVICE

Trim, Remove, Stump Grind. Free Est. Insured. 214-823-6463

DALLAS GROUNDSKEEPER Organic Lawn Maintenance designed to meet your needs. 214-471-5723 dallasgroundskeeper.com

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

LSI LAWN SPRINKLERS “Making Water Work” Irrigation system Service & Repair. Specializing In Older Copper Systems. LI #13715. 214-283-4673

MAYA TREE SERVICE Tree Trim/Remove. Insd. CC’s Accepted. 214-924-7058 214-770-2435

AM

COMPANY Specialty Moving & Delivery.469-278-2304 ammovingcompany.com

PEST CONTROL

A BETTER EARTH PEST CONTROL Keeping the environment, kids, pets in mind. Organic products avail. 972-564-2495

MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL

Prices Start at $85 + Tax For General Treatment.

Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident

PLUMBING

A2Z PLUMBING 214-727-4040

All Plumbing Repairs. Slab Leak Specialists. Licensed & Insured. ML# M36843.

AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943

ANDREWS PLUMBING • 214-354-8521 # M37740 Insured. Any plumbing issues. plumberiffic69@gmail.com

Sewers • Drains • Bonded 24 Hours/7 Days *Joe Faz 469-346-1814 - Se Habla Español*

HAYES PLUMBING INC. Repairs. Insured, 214-343-1427 License M13238

M&S PLUMBING Quality Work & Prompt Service. Jerry. 214-235-2172. lic.#M-11523

NTX PLUMBING SPEC. LLLP 214-226-0913

Lic. M-40581 Res/Com. Repairs & Leak Location

THE PLUMBING MANN LLC

All Plumbing! Since 1978. Family Owned. RMP/Master-14240 Insured. 214-FAST-FIX/ 214-327-8349

ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with any Advertiser. Please ask each Advertiser that you contact to show you the necessary licenses and/or permits required to perform the work you are requesting. Advocate Publishing takes comments and/or complaints about Advertisers seriously, and we do not publish advertisements that we know are inaccurate, misleading and/or do not live up to the standards set by our publications. If you have a legitimate complaint or positive comment about an Advertiser, please contact us at 214-5604203. Advocate Publishing recommends that you ask for and check references from each Advertiser that you contact, and we recommend that you obtain a written statement of work to be completed, and the price to be charged, prior to approving any work or providing an Advertiser with any deposit for work to be completed.

Build On Your Own Lot. Insured. www.blake-construction.com 214-563-5035

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. dallastileman.com 214-343-4645

REMODELING

O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 17 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com 214-341-1448

RENOVATE

ROOFING

"Pickaperch has perfected taking the guess work out of what needs to be done to prepare a client's home for market. By partneri ng with us as their staging company, Max & Lou Home, we are able to provide complete, end-to-end service that begins with a personal consultation, followed by a detailed list of suggested improvements, and concludes with us coming in and doing final market preparations for each client's home. We have loved working with pickaperch because they truly go above and beyond for their clients, which is something we love to do as well. In the end, the outcome is consistently clients receiving top dollar for their home...and even better, they usually call us to style their next home!” - Lynsey Purl, Max & Lou Home