You Know Judge Vic. Expert Experience. Highest Integrity. Conservative.
Judge Vic. Expert Experience. Highest Integrity. Conservative.
You Know
JudgeVicForCommissioner.com
JudgeVicForCommissioner.com
GOP Primary Tuesday, March 6 H Early Voting February 20 - March 2
GOP Primary Tuesday, March 6 H Early Voting February 20 - March 2
75% of the County’s budget deals with our courts, jail, and law enforcement. No one is better prepared to deal with these issues than Judge Vic Cunningham. Judge Vic Cunningham has the judgment, temperament, and strength of character needed as a commissioner on the Democrat-controlled Commissioners Court. Judge Vic Cunningham will keep our families safe, taxes low, and protect our conservative values.
Judge Vic Cunningham was considered one of the highest rated criminal court judges in Dallas County for over 10 years. Presided over the “Texas 7” capital murder death penalty trials. Judge Vic has put more criminals on Death Row than almost any judge in the nation.
Elected by his fellow jurists as their Dallas County Local Administrative Judge, Judge Vic managed both civil and criminal administrative matters and personnel for all Dallas County courts.
Texas Center for The Judiciary, Inc. recognized Judge Vickers Cunningham as a Lifetime Jurist for his support of Judicial Excellence through Education.
Served as Dallas County District Attorney Pro Tem from 2015 – 2016 prosecuting capital murder cases.
Former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, 1988-1994. After leaving the bench, Judge Vic became a highly successful business owner with many employees, dealing with large budgets, and long-term strategic planning.
Lifelong member of First Baptist Church, Dallas. North Texas Crime Commission member for almost 30 years, having served on the Board of Directors and as Vice-Chair.
Guest Lecturer for Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business - Entrepreneurship class for over ten years. Mentor, SMU Cox School of Business, 1999 - 2013.
Judge Vic and his wife, Donna, have two children, Susan, a licensed attorney, and Vic, Jr., a law student at South Texas School of Law. Both were graduates of Texas A&M. Vic’s Mother, Mina, has a long history of leadership and involvement in the Republican Party.
4th generation Dallasite, born and raised in East Dallas, graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, 1980. Inducted into the Woodrow Wilson High School Hall of Fame, 2004.
Member:American Bar Association, Fellow, Dallas Bar Association, American Judicature Society,American Judges Association, Judicial Section, State Bar of Texas, Sons of the American Revolution.
Southern Methodist University School of Law, J.D., 1988, Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business, BBA in Finance, 1984.
Velvet Taco stakes
out spot at Preston Forest
Spicy chicken tikka and shredded pork tacos soon will be a short car ride away. Velvet Taco is opening a location at Preston Forest Shopping Center, where Fossee’s Shoes spent 31 years. Construction on the 3,400-square-foot eatery starts in March and is slated for completion in July.
This 70-year-old neighbor has done seven million sit ups
Ted Gambordella turned 70 recently, but he isn’t letting that slow him down. To celebrate his accomplishment, he’s advocating for others to remain physically and mentally fit throughout their lives. He says he has been doing 100 to 200 sit ups a day for decades and calculates that he hit seven million in January. Gambordella, a Bluffview neighbor, is a tenth-degree black belt in various martial arts who won U.S. championships in karate and weapons five times.
Dirk Nowitzki’s 833 hours on the court
The Mavericks may have lost to the Clippers and Dirk Nowitzki’s jersey may have been misspelled, but he reached another milestone in February. The Preston Hollow resident became the sixth athlete in the NBA with 50,000 minutes of playing time. In case you were wondering, that’s equivalent to about 833 hours or 35 days on the court.
DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203
ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203
office administrator: Judy Liles
214.560.4203 / jliles@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
Frank McClendon
214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com
Greg Kinney
214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com
Nick Komisar
573.355.3013 / nkomisar@advocatemag.com
Catherine Pate
214.560.4201 / cpate@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
EDITORIAL publisher: Emily Charrier
214.560.4200 / echarrier@advocatemag.com
managing editor: Lisa Kresl
214.560.4200 / lkresl@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
Will Maddox
512.695.0357 / wmaddox@advocatemag.com
Christian Welch
214.560.4203 / cwelch@advocatemag.com
ART senior art director: Jynnette Neal
214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com
art director: Brian Smith
214.292.0493 / bsmith@advocatemag.comm
contributors: Christina Hughes, Angela Hunt
photo editor: Danny Fulgencio
214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com
contributing photographers: Rasy Ran, Kathy Tran, Kathleen Kennedy, Vonda Klimaszewski
Advocate, © 2018, 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.
THE WORLD’S LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIENCE
Eco Expo
Expert Speakers
Green Exhibitors
Film Festival
EXPERIENCES
Tiny House Village
Dive Pool
Tree Climbing
Art
Petting Zoo
Recycling Pavilion
Solar Raceway
Green Auto Show
Scavenger Hunt
Outdoor Adventure Zone
Music
APRIL 13-22
60+ Feature & Short Films
Young Filmmakers
Workshops & Competitions
Formerly Earth Day Texas
For more information, visit EarthX.org
Virtual Reality Experiences
UP FRONT
Q & A
HEART RACER
Town & Country magazine called this race-car driving ESD grad one of the world’s top 50 bachelors of 2018
UP FRONT
Nick Boulle has just returned from racing the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Last year, he finished first in his class at the same race. A graduate of the Episcopal School of Dallas and Southern Methodist University, Boulle is the 28-year-old son of Denis and Karen Boulle, owners of deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry on Preston Road. In addition to competing in three or four professional races a year, he manages digital marketing, operations and more for deBoulle. The January issue of Town & Country magazine proclaimed him one of the top 50 bachelors of 2018.
How did you get into racing?
A friend of my dad’s took us to the race track. He had a Ferrari, and we were just watching. I don’t think you could do this now, but back in the ‘90s he said, “Why don’t you get in the passenger seat, Nick.” They strapped me in and did four laps. I was like, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.” Maybe a year later, I started racing go karts. Now racing is a subset of our business. It’s one thing to go to a race and be in the stands. It’s another to go to a race and be a part of the team.
What do you drive?
The category that I’ve raced in most recently is called LMP2, which stands for Le Mans Prototype 2. In Europe, it’s the world championship specification. They’re closed cockpit, 650-horsepower sports car prototypes that are built to run endurance races. I share the car with at least one other teammate and compete in races from three to six to 24 hours in length. The car will do about 215 mph. At Daytona, we did about 195 mph.
How was this year’s Daytona race?
It was probably the most competitive running of the race in its history. I want to say there were 55 starters. We had some issues with pace. But as the race went on we were doing well. We moved into ninth. Around 4 a.m. on Sunday my teammate made a mistake and ended up in a barrier. We had to spend a lot of time repairing the car. We went back to 20-something and ended up recovering and finishing 12th. It was bittersweet.
How do you train for that?
I’ve always been an endurance athlete. In high school, I raced cross country and a lot of that was to stay lean for karting. At SMU, I started racing bicycles. I ended up on the podium for the national championship of the NCAA. That’s a great sport because the harder you work, the more you get. Now I bounce between running, cycling and weights.
Why do you need to be so fit to race a car?
They’re physical to drive. I think the number I heard recently was every two hours in the car is like 1,800 calories burned, and it’s 140 degrees
in the cockpit. You sit there for two hours or more, and you have to keep your wits about you. I relate it to a running race. If you’re running up a hill and can’t keep up, you fall away. You’re frustrated, but there’s no danger. In a car, you’re going 195 mph. It takes 75 pounds of force from your left foot to stop the car quickly. Fitness is important.
How was ESD?
I loved ESD. I was traveling a lot for karting in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. They worked with me.
What was it like to make Town & Country’s top 50 bachelors list?
I was surprised, obviously flattered. There were some big names on the list that I wouldn’t put myself in league with. My friends and family have jokingly been calling me “Number 33.”
What do you like to do in Dallas?
Simple stuff. I start every day the same. I wake up at 6. I have a Plott Hound named Waldo. I walk him the 2 miles to Royal Blue. He gets a treat inside. I get a coffee. I like exploring new restaurants. I really like to be outside, going for a bike ride or run on the Katy trail. I’m lucky because a lot of my passions support me being fit for the motorsport stuff. I like working with my mom in terms of designing jewelry.
What’s your ideal date?
Drinks and then dinner somewhere with an outdoor patio — preferably this time of year and somewhere that I can take my dog.
What qualities do you admire in a woman? Independence. She has to be smarter than I am. Certainly, she has to like animals.
Do you have a girlfriend?
Yes. We met through work. She was featured in our magazine two-and-a-half years ago.
What’s your most treasured possession?
I’ve kept all my helmets. One saved my life. Each represents a different time in my life. I have them all in a stand in my living room. I had a bad wreck karting when I was 15. It was in January 2005. I was thrown into a pole at 60 mph head-first. I spent a week in the hospital. I don’t remember much of it. I had three subdural hematomas and a fractured vertebra in my neck.
How does your mother feel about you racing?
She’s calm about it. She also likes that I have a closed cockpit car now.
Interview edited for clarity and brevity
“You’re going 195 mph. It takes 75 pounds of force from your left foot to stop the car quickly. Fitness is important.”
DISCOVER Churchill Estates
PRESTON HOLLOW’S INTERNET STAR
‘THE FRUGAL CHEF’ ADDS TEXAS TWIST TO SOUTH AMERICAN AREPAS
By ELISSA CHUDWIN / Photos by KATHLEEN KENNEDYTHOUSANDS OF SUBSCRIBERS and 40 million views isn’t enough for Mary Ann Allen to consider herself a YouTube sensation.
Allen wasn’t seeking internet fame when she branded her online personality as The Frugal Chef nine years ago. She created her blog and YouTube channel after she entered a Food Network video contest on a whim. Allen didn’t place in the competition, but it sparked her interest in creating videos.
“I thought, ‘I can show people how to cook healthy, easy, inexpensive food,’ ” she says.
The channel and its Spanish counterpart, La Cocina Frugalista, are popular in places that Allen never anticipated.
When her husband introduced himself to a man at an airport in Vanautu, the man immediately asked if he was related to The Frugal Chef.
It’s funny for Allen, whose entrepreneurial spirit guided her to running a spa in Bolivia, a deli in New Hampshire and a real estate business in California. Her latest project is Arepa TX, a Preston Hollow-based restaurant that fuses Venezuelan-style arepas — corn cakes typically filled
with meat, vegetables or cheese — with familiar flavors like barbecue brisket or chicken tinga.
Her son, Jammil Handal, and daughter-in-law, Susana Arce, pitched the idea to Allen while she was living in Guam. They wanted to be the first to introduce arepas to Dallas.
Allen packed up her belongings and moved in with her family, where they spent six months experimenting with recipes that incorporate flavors from many of the places she has lived.
“When I created the menu, because it’s such a new product, I didn’t want it to be a full education,” Allen says. “It’s Texas friendly.”
The majority of the restaurant’s offerings are gluten-free, and they serve a few American staples for picky eaters. Allen also concocts homemade custard pops for dessert and champagne cocktails for brunch.
Running the restaurant and maintaining her website hasn’t yet made her tired of cooking at home. She has a collection of 200 cookbooks, and she jokes she reads them like novels.
“I go to bed thinking about food,” she says. “I wake up thinking about food.”
DOROTHY MALONE
URSULINE ACADEMY OF DALLAS
Her legacy
Before Dorothy Maloney changed her last name to Malone, bleached her hair blonde or won an Academy Award, she was an SMU student who spent nine years at Ursuline Academy. Malone’s acting career spans four decades and dozens of credits, yet she considered Dallas — not Hollywood — home. She spent most of her life in the city and died in a Preston Hollow assisted living facility in late January. She was 93.
Three things to know
1 Malone attended Ursuline while her parents traveled in search of a cure for her sisters, who both battled polio. After graduating from Highland Park High School, she got her big break at SMU. Her performance in a university production impressed an RKO talent scout, who recommended her for a studio contract.
2 She’s most revered for her role in the 1956 film “Written in the Wind.” Malone received an Oscar for her portrayal of a spoiled nymphomaniac.
3 She believed dyeing her hair blonde in 1954 propelled her career. “I came up with a conviction that most of the winners in this business became stars overnight by playing shady dames with sex appeal,” she said in a 1967 New York Times article. “And I’ve been unfaithful or drunk or oversexed almost ever since — on the screen, of course.”
— ELISSA CHUDWINDINING SPOTLIGHT
Voted by Advocate Readers as Best Date Night in Lake Highlands
Come Enjoy Our Resort Style Big Brunch Buffet Every Sunday from 10AM-2PM.
enchiladasrestaurants.com
Like us on Facebook
For Catering Call The Fiesta Line 214.691.1390
DINING SPOTLIGHT
enchiladasrestaurants.com
Like us on Facebook
For Catering Call The Fiesta Line 214.691.1390
Voted by Advocate Readers as Best Date Night in Lake Highlands
Come Enjoy Our Resort Style Big Brunch Buffet Every Sunday from 10AM-2PM.
Sunday, March 25 – 10:55 a.m.
Procession of Palms Worship Service
Friday, March 30 – 8:00 p.m.
Good Friday Tenebrae Service featuring “The Weeping Tree’’ by Joseph Martin
Saturday, March 31 – 2:00 p.m.
Children/Family: Walk Through Holy Week Easter Egg Hunt
Sunday, April 1 – 10:55 a.m. Easter Worship Service
Children ages 3 – 1st Grade: GODLY PLAY
6707 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75230 www.royallane.org
RANDY BOWMAN: Supporting students
RANDY BOWMAN wants everyone to have an equal shot at the American dream. Bowman grew up in Pleasant Grove, but has lived in Preston Hollow for 20 years. Bowman is using his success as a lawyer and businessman to create free boarding houses where poor inner-city students can shower, eat and get homework help. His organization, At Last!, recently received a $150,000 grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation—a strong first step toward their goal of $2.5 million.
What was your childhood in Pleasant Grove like?
It was a long, impoverished, introspective childhood. It doesn’t make for a good comic book, but it was good for teaching. It was a great way to learn compassion. It also left me with some desire to have life play out differently for my mother and myself once I became an adult. The notion was always that I just wanted to make this thing a little bit better. That was sort of the neighborhood creed. You looked out for each other as best you can with your modest resources.
How did you come up with the idea for At Last!?
I see the world through the eyes of a poor person. I wanted to create upward mobility for the impoverished where they have a rational shot at making something good happen with their lives. There’s a suite of educational tools and resources available to middle class and affluent children when they’re at home that are not available to impoverished children. Not
Interview edited for clarity and brevity.
because the parents of impoverished children don’t care. Rather, it’s because they don’t have those resources to provide.
How does At Last! work?
We have two important parts of our solution: one is the residence and the other is the programming, which we sort of refer to as our optimized developmental ecosystem. The programming is designed to teach kids two important skills: executive function and learning to learn. It’s the development of those executive function skills that help you be successful when you first go on to college, when you take on civic roles, when you get your first job. Also, someone has to teach you how it is that you learn.
How did it feel to get a grant from The Hoblitzelle Foundation?
I was walking around Tom Thumb in the produce section, grabbing something before I came home for dinner, and that’s when I got the news. That’s probably the most animated, constrained celebration in Tom Thumb’s produce section that has ever happened.
When did you move to Preston Hollow?
I moved to the Preston Hollow area in 1998 with the birth of our second child, when my beloved mother-in-law said, “If you want me to help with that second child, you might want to move closer to where I live.’”
Do you still visit Pleasant Grove?
I still go to The Grove to see my barber, and he’s a guy I sat next to in the seventh grade because that’s my guy. And in the barber chair next to him is another guy that I’ve known since he was a kid. So, it was never my desire to get out of The Grove. It was my desire to get out of poverty. So, what I hope will happen with this program is this is a continuation of a lift-as-you-climb journey. As you climb one rung up the socioeconomic ladder, what’s it hurting you to pull somebody up with you?
ON TOP OF A BOOKSHELF in Ursuline Academy of Dallas sit four “little travelers,” dolls handmade by an Ursuline parent with their signature red-and-navy plaid uniforms. These dolls have traveled from Peru to England to Taiwan as the unofficial mascot of Ursuline’s cultural exchange program.
Since its inception 21 years ago, students have experienced life as a teenager in another country through the exchange program. But it’s not all shopping and sunbathing; the exchanges are designed to build friendships.
“That’s where the global piece certainly comes in, because once you have a person that you care about in another country, you suddenly care about that country,” says Cecilia Nipp, director of global relations and cultural exchange. “You suddenly care about people outside of your own realm.”
Ursuline recently hosted students from their sister school Colegio Santa Ursula in Lima, Peru. Betty Maruy, chair of the school’s English department, recalled one of the most memorable experiences for her exchange students — serving dinner at the Brady Senior Center.
Ursuline Academy of Dallas
Year established: 1874
Enrollment: 850
Tuition: $20,950
“There was this man who said, ‘I want to say thank you, but I don’t know what to do.’ He began to sing and everybody was crying,” Maruy says.
Nipp equates each sister school to a marriage — some have been long-term commitments and others are in their honeymoon phase. So far Ursuline has 11 partners, and they are currently courting Thailand. The private school is celebrating a milestone with Peru by sending the school their own “little traveler.”
“Even though she’s not allowed to say anything, Betty knows a doll is coming to Peru for our 10th anniversary in March,” Nipp says.
If each sister school is a marriage, then their newest partnership with Stella Matutina in Taiwan is written in the stars. When Nipp visited the nation, she had no idea that Ursuline parent Lisa Peng graduated from Stella Matutina, much less that Peng had made her “little travelers.” Unbeknownst to Nipp, Peng sent dolls to her alma mater as well. When Nipp saw the Taiwanese dolls with the same face as her own doll, she decided it was a sign that the two schools were meant to be. — CHRISTIAN
“Once you have a person that you care about in another country, you suddenly care about that country.”
DISD THE MOVIE
The plot twists, the players, the money, the drama ...
Look past the news of the day and you’ll find a story worthy of the big screen. It’s an entertaining tragedy — unless you’re a taxpayer, parent or child in the district’s schools.
Only nine people control a $1.8 billion budget that impacts 157,000 schoolchildren — and the economic future of Dallas.
Like any good movie, the Dallas ISD story begins with a simple premise: Once upon a time, trustees of all races work together to save the district’s children from an educational nightmare.
As in any good movie, though, there is plenty of conflict and drama along the way.
As the story proceeds, DISD hires a superintendent with great ideas for reform but seemingly no personal skills. Some trustees fund election campaigns to defeat fellow trustees. Two trustees bash a third trustee on an accidentally recorded phone call. A group of seemingly powerful Dallas politicians botches a coup designed to replace the board of trustees.
The “good guys” (self-described “reformers” in this story) haven’t always been good. The “bad guys” (in this story, those not sold on “reform”) have some good reasons for being bad.
And let’s not forget the ever-present issue of race and discrimination always lurking in the background of every scene.
“We are the worst public enemy to black children in Dallas?” District 9 Dallas ISD trustee Bernadette Nutall asks rhetorically about a column written by a local journalist. “That was hurtful.
“African-American board members have always been willing to work across the table, but the problem is when we don’t do what you say [to] do, how you say [to] do it, we’re the problem,” Nutall says.
The African-American DISD trustees “are always the ones that have to do the olive branch,” she says, “and you want us to come and be like, ‘Yes, Massa, I need to think whatever you say [to] think.’ ”
So sit back, try to relax, and grab some popcorn and a bottle of Advil.
The cliffhanger: Will there be a happy ending?
SET THE SCENE: A board divided Edwin Flores is expected to sail into office this May, beginning his 11th year on the Dallas ISD school board. The tenured trustee, who represents North Dallas’ District 1, hadn’t drawn a challenger as of Feb. 15, the day before filing ended and the day this magazine went to press.
Flores is one of the school board trustees who identifies as an education reformer. It’s a staunch identity for some and nebulous for others. But five of the nine trustees, a simple voting majority, tend to aggressively push policies and funnel funds into programs that research has shown to be effective in educating children — especially those who live in poverty, as nearly 90 percent of DISD children do.
The other four trustees proceed with more caution. Even though the board votes unanimously almost 80 percent of the time, the minority cohort is more likely to question sweeping policy changes. Some center on fiscal responsibility or disagreements about best practices.
But much of it comes down to trust. As hundreds of thousands of dollars pour into campaign coffers, PACs and nonprofits, all in the name of progress, it stirs the suspicions of those who see it as wealthy white men’s attempt to take over public education.
FADE-IN: Empowered without an election
“Without a single vote cast, one-third of the board was sworn in.”
That’s how Melissa Higginbotham describes the event that birthed Dallas Kids First, a political action committee that formed in 2011. That spring, the Dallas ISD board election was canceled because only three people filed to run for the three open seats.
ESTABLISHING SHOT: What is education reform?
No one agrees on the definition, not even the people who identify as reformers (visit advocatemag. com for varying perspectives), but here in Dallas, reformers champion data-driven academic policies, such as quality pre-K for everyone, and are willing to move quickly to change the status quo. One sharp political divide is over reformers’ successful push to use student test scores and frequent evaluations to identify and reward effective teachers. Other, more risk-averse trustees value experienced teachers and community support rather than top-down mandates and standardized test results. This impasse leads to disagreements on a whole host of other issues.
Around the same time, the Dallas Chamber of Commerce was discussing how to attract big companies to the city. One of the reasons Dallas was being passed over for the suburbs was the reputation of its public schools. The chamber’s education PAC, Educate Dallas, emerged to deal with this problem by tackling school board races.
A few months prior, Mike Morath — who, within five years, would ascend to Texas’ highest education position — met businessman Todd Williams over lunch. An hour turned into four as the two conversed about their passion for public education.
They shared a lot in common. Both were products of public schools — Williams from DISD’s Bryan Adams High School in ’78 and Morath from Garland High School in ’95. Both had experienced business success — Williams as a Goldman Sachs partner and Morath as a software entrepreneur. Williams had retired, and Morath had sold his company for millions.
And both, with time and money on their hands, were considering running for the Dallas school board. They left lunch agreeing that Morath would run, and Williams would create an organization to connect the dots about what is and isn’t working in public schools.
Morath was one of the three unop -
posed DISD candidates that May, the same month that former Pizza Hut CEO Mike Rawlings was elected mayor of Dallas. Rawlings joined the chamber’s new strategy of focusing on public education and named Williams his education advisor. Out of that came the Commit! Partnership. For five years, this organization has used data and research to identify best practices that will support Dallas County students “from cradle to career.”
It was a “constellation of forces that ended up being at the right place at the right time,” one reformer recalls. At that point, the Dallas business community had disengaged from public schools because their children no longer attended them.
Williams regularly walks into rooms full of Dallas executives to give Commit presentations and asks how many people attended public school. Hands shoot up. When he asks how many send their children to public school, hands are sparse.
“My fear is in 20 years, my replacement goes into a room and nobody can raise their hand. God help our city,” Williams says. “I knew that I had to talk to them in a language that they spoke, and that was data.”
He joined the board of Uplift Education, the largest charter network in Texas and even opened his own charter school, Williams Prep, in 2007. After years on the board, he concluded that “we can grow Uplift 25 percent a year, and it will take us 25 years to have the impact Dallas ISD could make.”
“The solution is traditional public schools, and that’s how I spend my time,” he says. But to people who distrust him, he says, “I think they just look at me and see the surface. They see a rich white North Dallas guy who worked at Goldman Sachs.”
CUT TO: The voicemail incident
Dallas Kids First started endorsing candidates in 2012. Their biggest state-
ment was supporting newcomer Dan Micciche in his challenge of incumbent Bruce Parrot for the Far East Dallas seat. Micciche raised more money than any other board candidate in history that spring with nearly $90,000, much of it coming from the two new education PACs.
The seemingly sleepy race was in southern Dallas, where incumbent Bernadette Nutall was defending her seat against then 20-year-old Damarcus Offord. Nutall, in her first term, had voted months before the election to close 11 Dallas ISD schools. The decision earned her praise from the Dallas Morning News editorial board, who noted that “Nutall, in particular, showed courage” because “five [schools] were in South Dallas, an area she represents.”
Both of Dallas’ new education PACs endorsed Nutall. Another Morning News editorial that January named her alongside trustees Flores and Morath as “a bloc that appreciates the value of education reforms.”
Nutall traveled with Todd Williams to L.A., Indianapolis and Cincinnati to study nonprofits after which Commit would be modeled. When Dallas Kids First discovered that only three of every 100 black boys who started in Dallas ISD graduated high school college-ready, Nutall and Morath toured southern Dallas churches to preach the urgency of the problem.
Then came the “voicemail incident.” Two months after Nutall was re-elected in 2012, Morath failed to hang up after leaving her a voicemail. The ensuing, recorded conversation between him and former trustee Nancy Bingham “dealt with [Nutall] as a board member and questioned whether she reads board documents,” according to a Dallas Morning News story.
The two trustees discussed the situation, worked it out and were moving on, the story said. But that story was the last time Morath and Nutall were described as having “a good relationship.”
ZOOM IN: The vote to reject free money
Superintendent Mike Miles came from Colorado in April 2012 with the reputation of being “a reformer, an innovator and someone not afraid to shake the status quo.” His vision was to pay teachers according to their performance, demand higher graduation rates and college entrance exam scores, and form a leadership academy to create a pool of
principals to replace those who couldn’t cut it.
Less than two months after she voted to hire him, Nutall told Miles she would vote against his plan. In an article headlining their “testy exchange,” Miles told Nutall she should “resign yourself to the fact that there’s a new superintendent … You asked me to put together a plan to move the district forward. I’ve done that.”
Miles gave the southern sector trustees a force to galvanize against. A year after Miles arrived, Observer columnist Jim Schutze accused Nutall and Trustee Lew Blackburn of being “at war with Superintendent Mike Miles over school reform.” Schutze had obtained letters and emails from DISD executives complaining about Nutall’s threats that if they removed certain southern Dallas principals, “the community will come after you.”
She later rejected a plan to infuse schools in southern Dallas with $20 million. More than half of the money would come from SMU and nonprofits to pay for things like more teachers and better preschool programs. Nutall was upset that the community wasn’t consulted.
“What this board is doing is dumping something on South Dallas. You continue
FLASHBACK: White people have left the (public school) building
The percentage of white, black and Hispanic students attending Dallas ISD has changed drastically over the last five decades.
54% 36%10%
in 1971, the year court-ordered desegregation began.
6% 31% 61%
in 2003, the year court-ordered desegregation ended, after white families left DISD for private school or the suburbs.
5% 22% 70%
in 2018.
“I think they just look at me and see the surface. They see a rich white North Dallas guy who worked at Goldman Sachs.”
—Todd Williams, founder of the Commit! Partnership
to disrespect and be dismissive of the southern sector of Dallas,” Nutall said before the vote. “What I’m asking you to do is not to come into South Dallas and just experiment with our children.”
The plan passed, and other board members expressed surprise that Nutall opposed free money that would improve schools in her district. Micciche conceded that it was an experiment, but said “we’re experimenting by bringing extra resources to the table. We’re not experimenting by doing something bad to somebody. We’re trying to address the needs that have long gone unaddressed.”
Why would a trustee who “represents high schools that send thousands of young people straight to prison unable to read or write and without a prayer for decent life” decline such an offer, Schutze asked in a subsequent column. Now an opinion writer, Schutze spent decades reporting on Dallas and wrote a book, “The Accommodation,” which describes the handshake deals between Dallas’ black pastors and white business leaders as schools were desegregated.
“The elected leadership of southern Dallas is a remnant of the old ghetto over-class of segregation days,” Schutze wrote. “Because the civil rights movement never shook this town very hard, that leadership class, dominated by separatist clergy, still holds sway.”
ACTION: Board member is tossed out of school
Back in 2013, Schutze wrote, “The real enemies of these children are not white. They are black.” He reiterated this in a column last August following a vote in which Nutall, Blackburn and Trustee Joyce Foreman voted against a proposal that could have funneled up to $55 million into southern Dallas schools, mostly from taxes paid by northern Dallas residents.
Nutall, still reeling over Schutze’s accusations, agrees with him on at least one thing: “The civil rights movement never shook this town very hard.”
“Dallas never had a movement,” Nutall says. “Sometimes in movements, it creates cleansing. It creates people coming together. It creates the uncomfortable time to talk about the issues under the table, to understand, and then out of that can come great solutions.”
Because it never happened in Dallas, she says, “that history is still played out in the board table today. At the end of the day, all of what’s going on in history ends up to one word: control.”
The 2014 “home rule” effort epitomized the business community’s attempt to control Dallas, Nutall believes. She’s not alone in this belief. The proposal was Morath’s idea to circumvent what he saw as school board dysfunction. Instead of less than 10 percent of voters electing representatives, he envisioned a system where some trustees would be appointed and any could be ejected if students were failing. Home rule was backed by many of the same people involved in education reform PACs.
“There is a group of people who feel they know what’s best versus it being a collaborative effort,” Nutall says.
One of her opponents in the upcoming May election, Ed Turner, calls home rule the moment he was “baptized in politics.” A graduate of the “great James Madison High School,” Turner had returned to his neighborhood as a community organizer and worked against home rule.
“The way it came about was kind-of rushed, and people in our community
REFORM-MINDED PACS have funneled $500,000 into trustee campaigns since 2012. They supported these five trustees in their most recent bid for office.
do not appreciate anything that seems top-down. Things have to be grassroots,” Turner says.
Another of Nutall’s opponents this May, Justin Henry, was among the first reformers who block-walked for Micciche during the 2012 election. Henry considered Morath a friend. But the first time he heard about home rule was when he read the newspaper.
“The ripples it put out through our community, that one part of Dallas was trying to dictate what was best for us ... The trustee of District 2 still does not talk to the trustee of District 9,” Henry says of Morath and Nutall. “And the only thing that separates them is the Santa Fe Trail.”
Home rule was the turning point in the reform effort. Even supporters who believed in the merits of what it could do for schoolchildren regard it as a disaster and a reversal of progress.
The effort also had political consequences for reformers. While signatures were being collected for the home-rule
petition, reformers were trying to flip a seat in southern Dallas. But the $105,000 in campaign funds to Nutall’s opponent — which came mostly from northern Dallas zip codes, including $15,000 from Morath — couldn’t secure their candidate’s win.
Things got worse a few months later when, on Miles’ orders, security guards wrangled Nutall out of Billy Dade Middle School in her district. The superintendent was at the school for a staff meeting after a personnel shake-up. When Nutall showed up uninvited, he accused her of trespassing and interfering.
“You can’t throw an African-American woman out of an African-American school in South Dallas,” Henry says. “There’s nothing you’re going to get out of that that’s going to further our goals of getting opportunities for the schools, for the kids.”
Nutall doesn’t see her role on the board as a creator of policy. DISD has stacks of policies that aren’t followed or
TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS tend to endorse and fund candidates who distance themselves from reformers. The exception is Dan Micciche, supported by both sides in 2015.
funded, she says, and she questions the point of adding to it. She believes her job is to advocate for schools in her district by ensuring that they have the resources policy calls for.
This is a common criticism of Nutall — that her heavy-handed tactics in schools overstep her bounds as a board member. In the Dade situation, however, even her critics believed Miles had gone too far.
In 2015, Nutall ran for re-election and again faced Offord. This time, reformers endorsed and financed Offord, hoping to unseat their friend-turned-foe.
It didn’t work.
AERIAL SHOT: The trustee whose kids go to private school
“We are working against monolithic efforts to dismantle DISD under the guise of ‘reform,’ and those leading these efforts have power and money and are doing so for their personal gain. … Their work on a special interest agenda is hurting our children, particularly children who are
the most vulnerable in our community.”
Thus read an email from Lori Kirkpatrick to her supporters on June 10, 2017, the day she faced Trustee Dustin Marshall in a runoff election. DISD District 2, which they were competing to represent, forms a doughnut around the Park Cities, looping through pockets of wealth in East Dallas, Preston Hollow, Oak Lawn and Uptown.
East Dallas is a neighborhood where many people with the means to give their children a private education still choose public schools. It might seem like fertile soil for a movement that espouses using funding and research to provide the best outcomes for students. But it is also a hotbed of progressives, question-askers and city-hall barnstormers who don’t like to fall in line with the powers-that-be.
District 2 was Morath’s territory before Gov. Greg Abbott called him to Austin in late 2015 to serve as the Texas Education Agency Commissioner. Miles had thrown in the towel a few months earlier, and reformers’ hopes were dashed.
Desperate to hold onto Morath’s trustee seat, reformers mobilized behind Marshall and filled his coffers with $56,000 to finish the final year of Morath’s term.
If the strategy was to ward off contenders, it failed. Marshall ultimately raised five times as much as his fiercest competitor, Stonewall Jackson Elementary and Travis TAG parent Mita Havlick. She came up only 42 votes short in the runoff.
The close vote underscored voters’ suspicions of Marshall — why did his children attend private school at Greenhill, his alma mater, rather than Preston Hollow Elementary, the DISD school two blocks from his house? Why did he tout his experience on the board of Uplift Education, a charter school operator that draws from the same pool of tax money as DISD schools? And why were his campaign coffers allegedly full of “dark money” from real estate moguls, Park Cities zip codes and wealthy people who didn’t send their children to public schools?
Some wondered, what did this guy want with DISD?
Seven months later, Kirkpatrick attended a January DISD board meeting where trustees approved a resolution supporting more funds for public schools and opposing school vouchers or “any program that diverts public tax dollars to private entities.” The resolution also included a stance against Texas’ proposed A-F accountability system, created by Morath.
Marshall and Flores were the only two trustees to vote against the resolution, citing their hesitation to oust the grading system before it rolled out. Kirkpatrick left the meeting determined to run for office. Later in the campaign, she cited Marshall’s vote that day as proof of his support for vouchers.
Marshall bristled at this accusation during an interview before the 2017 election, countering that he had been involved in efforts to stop voucher legislation.
“I don’t know how I possibly could have been more clear about it,” he said. “To debate with me on an issue we agree about is disingenuous.”
Marshall insists that he’s a public education advocate, not attacker. He says he grew up with a single mother struggling to make ends meet and “was fortunate enough to get into Greenhill.”
“To be honest, I’m trying to create the same kind of educational outcomes that I enjoyed in Greenhill at DISD,” he says. “Every kid deserves that same kind of lift up and potential that I got and my kids get.”
But “change is hard,” Marshall says, and education is “a system that has resisted change for a long time” and has “fierce defenders of the status quo.”
“Most reformers I talk to prioritize student outcomes above any other motivation,” Marshall says. “The folks that prioritize evidence and results and data, we’re on the right path, and if we continue down that path, we’ll change a lot of lives, so we want to stay the course.”
Kirkpatrick, a Lakewood Elementary mom who says she’ll run again for the board in 2020, doesn’t buy it. Her campaign website continues to host the blog she launched when she decided to run. Each post questions and casts doubt on “the corporate education reform movement” that “promotes underfunding public education, A-F, vouchers [and] ultimately leads to the privatization of public education.”
Enough people agreed with Kirkpatrick or were given pause to cast more votes for her than for Marshall in the general election. If it weren’t for a disgruntled former DISD employee who filed to run — and who received 3 percent of votes despite no campaigning or fundraising — Marshall and the reform community might have lost outright.
Kirkpatrick and members of her campaign team recently launched a nonprofit,
the Coalition for Equity in Public Education, to “stand up to privatizers currently threatening education as we know it.”
The problem isn’t a lack of knowing how schools and teachers are performing, Kirkpatrick argues. “Your outcomes for children are predicated on whether they’re wealthy or poor,” she says. The problem for urban schools, she believes, is poverty compounded by the underfunding of public education. The state spent $2.5 billion last year on charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, she says.
“What could we be doing with that money in failing schools?” she asks.
The people who need to be driving policy decisions are experienced educators, she says, not data wonks, business executives and Teach for America alumni with little classroom exposure.
MONTAGE: Young recruits get out the vote
The big money donors don’t bother John Hill. He’s one of the TFA alumni distrusted by people who distrust education reformers. He left DISD’s Pinkston High School after his two-year TFA contract and went to teach at Jesuit College Preparatory, his alma mater.
But Hill, like many TFA alumni, never left DISD.
During his tenure at Pinkston, he launched a blog and podcast, Turn and Talks. The content has segued from teacher musings to political activism as Hill heads up the Dallas Kids First “C.A.M.P.,” an eight-month fellowship for 20 or so young recruits who commit to spending 100 hours campaigning for the PAC’s endorsed candidates.
This, even more than money spent on mailers, polling and advertising, makes the reform effort a force.
Hill, who lives in Oak Cliff behind the Tyler-Vernon DART station, says his parents attended DISD high schools in the ’70s, during the early years of desegregation. His father graduated from South Oak Cliff, and his mother was among the first black students bussed to Carter. Hill would have attended Roosevelt, but “my parents, when they were making the decision to send me to school, didn’t have faith that DISD would be the right fit for me, which for me, as an adult, is super sad.”
His grandmother spent her career teaching at Marsalis Elementary School, and her retirement savings paid for Hill’s Harvard education, so “I still have a lot I owe to the district,” he says.
Hill says he saw firsthand in 2016 that money doesn’t win elections. Only two of the four reform-funded candidates won their races, and one of those was Marshall’s runoff. He also felt deflated by the traditional model of campaigning — “show up six weeks out from an election and tell people you don’t know what’s good for them,” he says. Keeping voters engaged requires more, he believes, and C.A.M.P. is his solution to that problem.
Hill mobilized the C.A.M.P.ers, as he calls them, in the month between the District 2 general election and runoff between Marshall and Kirkpatrick last year. They spent 4,000 hours knocking
THE PRICE OF ADMISSION
A single Dallas ISD board candidate raised $246,722 last year — the highest amount for a race in DISD history. Yet only 12 percent of registered voters headed to the polls. With 11,302 ballots cast for the winning candidate, that translates to $21.83 per vote.
By comparison, all three trustee candidates ran unopposed in 2011. After that, two education PACs formed, collectively spending nearly $500,000 on board races over the next five years.
“My parents, when they were making the decision to send me to school, didn’t have faith that DISD would be the right fit for me, which for me, as an adult, is super sad.”
— John Hill, director of Dallas Kids First’s C.A.M.P. fellowship
on doors and talking to voters. According to Hill’s calculations, C.A.M.P.ers were responsible for 3,200 votes, including 900 people who hadn’t voted in any of the three prior elections with Marshall on the ballot.
The result: Marshall went from nearly 300 votes shy of Kirkpatrick in the general election to more than 3,000 votes ahead of her in the runoff.
CLOSE-UP: ‘The gray-haired one over here’
A trendy bar just south of Downtown seemed an unlikely setting for a political action committee to host its kick-off for the 2018 DISD board election cycle. The crowd of diverse young professionals who gathered at Mac’s Southside seemed even more unlikely.
Melissa Higginbotham, describing herself as “the gray-haired one over here,” stood out. She started working for the Dallas Kids First PAC when it formed in 2011 after her children graduated from Booker T. Washington and W.T. White.
“I was pleased with my children’s education in Dallas ISD, but I also read the Dallas Morning News and thought, ‘Wait, there are some areas where it might not be so good,’ ” she recalls. Though the PAC’s membership is broader than the crowd at Mac’s would suggest, she says, “it’s exciting for me to have folks who don’t have kids yet who are investing in our city and our school system, so that when they do, they feel comfortable putting their kids in DISD.”
Higginbotham chafes at Dallas Kids First being identified as a PAC. It carries “somewhat of a negative perception,” she says. “But we did want to be able to endorse candidates and come up with a system that shared more information about candidates and why they were endorsed. That just wasn’t happening [in 2011].”
They look for trustees who “are really seeking solutions,” Higginbotham says, and who support “things that have national research and national data behind them.”
Both Henry and Turner were at Mac’s Southside for the kick-off. Given the money the PAC has and the C.A.M.P.ers ready for action, an endorsement could be crucial.
Nutall didn’t attend the kick-off. No one, not even her, believes she will get the endorsement. At one point she found favor with reformers, but now she’s “in the outhouse,” she says, because she
argued and didn’t always vote the way they wanted.
Without naming Nutall, Higginbotham notes that when Dallas Kids First interviews incumbents, “we ask them, ‘What policy initiative are you most proud of?’
“If they cannot answer that question right off the tip of their tongue, that’s hard for us.”
FLASH CUT: Race dominates a district race
As of press time, only one DISD trustee race was contested. Neither Flores nor diplomatic board president Micciche of Far East Dallas’ District 3 had drawn opposition.
In District 9, however, the race began last summer.
Henry, who filed to run against Nutall three years ago then withdrew, posted initial campaign donations last July, signaling that this time, he was serious. In September, Marshall introduced Turner to the invitation-only Dallas Breakfast Group, which functions as the incubator of northern Dallas politics. Then he and Flores endorsed Turner for the District 9 seat — despite the fact that the race was eight months away and Henry was sitting in the room.
The endorsement caught the attention of southern Dallas Trustee Joyce Foreman, who, in a Facebook post blasting Marshall for being “hateful” toward the three African-American trustees, also noted that “he has a hand-picked Negro that he is supporting” in the race against Nutall.
Foreman’s rant against Marshall was the result of Marshall’s repost of Schutze’s column, the headline claiming that “The Worst Enemies Poor Black Kids Have Are Black Dallas School Board Members.”
“How do people think black folks are going to even embrace you when you have a writer saying the three African-American trustees are Public Enemy No. 1 to black children?” Nutall asks.
“You don’t get the right to tell me how to respond when you mistreat me ... when you say whatever about me, and you say it in the newspaper, and you say it on Facebook,” she says. “It’s been some pretty ugly stuff. And then you want me to say, ‘Oh, can’t we all just get along?’ ”
Nutall believes her role is to fight for her community. The problem, both Henry and Turner believe, is that she no longer represents the community or its best interests.
They might not have entered the race if it weren’t for last August’s board vote on a tax-ratification election, which was the focus of Schutze’s instigating column. The election would have asked voters for a property tax increase with most of the money coming from north Dallas property owners and going to southern Dallas schools. Nutall, Foreman and Blackburn supported a small increase but rejected the larger tax hike reformers wanted.
“This was literally about ego, power and control,” Turner said after the vote, this time pointing the finger at the southern Dallas trustees rather than the north Dallas agenda he fought against during the home-rule effort. He’s moved past that debacle but others haven’t, he says.
“We have to decide to heal,” he says. “I think right now with the current board, it’s not going to happen. That’s why you have to have change. There’s too much divisiveness on the board, and you have to have someone that’s willing to work with everybody.”
Henry, too, saw the distrust rear its ugly head again. “To think that black trustees are sabotaging kids that they serve … I find that offensive in my most tolerant state. You’re substantiating those concerns and justifying their distrust,” Henry says.
Yet he’s frustrated that “they can’t see a good thing when it’s in front of them because they distrust each other. This gate keeping system is hurting District 9. It’s hurting the whole city.
“I think we have to use the past to inform every decision we make, but we shouldn’t let the past dictate the future.”
For the uncut version of “Dallas ISD: The Movie,” along with extras and behind-the-scenes action, visit prestonhollow.advocatemag.com.
“Without a single vote cast, one-third of the board was sworn in.”
— Melissa Higginbotham, Dallas Kids First director of operations
FIVE KIDS, ZERO CLUTTER
The Yurich family home combines comfort and high design
JOANNE YURICH is the busiest of busy moms. Mother of two sets of twins and “a single,” the owner of her own public relations firm is prepping for a trip to Mexico with husband, Joe, contemplating another five-basketball-game weekend with the children and working out the logistics of getting a client on the TV show “Harry.”
What’s a working mother to do? It helps that Yurich has a passionate commitment for conquering clutter and a mother who is known for interior architectural design.
The family, whose children attend Greenhill School, bought the Preston Hollow house in January 2012 after it had been on the market for a year. Yurich’s mother, designer Robyn Menter, had a plan for the renovation and the family moved in two weeks before Alex, 5, was born.
“No joke, in two days my mom had the entire house done,” Yurich says. “You would have thought we had been living there forever — art on the walls. It was ready to go.”
Yurich describes the 4,200-square-foot house as having a clean look with “pops of color.”
“The house feels a lot bigger than it is,” she says. “One of the perks of living in this neighborhood is that the lots are bigger. There’s a trampoline, a swimming pool and a playhouse, plenty of room to play soccer.”
Yurich and Menter renovated the house in two phases. First, they gutted the kitchen, redid the master bathroom and expanded the laundry room to include two washers and two dryers. In March 2017, they tackled the kids’ bathrooms and converted the playroom into a workroom for the
JOANNE YURICH’S SECRETS FOR CONQUERING CLUTTER:
Create a mudroom. Five cubbies store backpacks and shoes. “The kids know when they come home that everything goes there.”
Opt for custom closets and bins.
Invest in built-ins for the garage. A ping pong table folds up; a rack holds the bikes. Tackle a room once a month with your child. What are you donating? What are you keeping? What are you trashing?
Use a label maker. When in doubt, create a “random box” for loose items.
“Everything is in its place, and it helps me sleep at night.”
children. The room features desks for the 7-yearold boys, magnet and dry erase boards and stools made of aluminum and lawn chair strappings from the 1950s. A dresser is outfitted to hold magnets, Dominoes and toys. “I’m a little bit anal, and I don’t really like stuff everywhere,” she says.
The art in the workroom is color photography on canvas by local photographer Dave Shafer.
“I think art makes a house,” Yurich says.
Yurich’s favorite room is the couple’s bedroom, which is bright and looks out onto the backyard. A painting by Dallas artist Ruben Nieto is one of her most-loved pieces in the house. She credits her mother for creating the soothing environment.
“I was thinking about this when I was home by myself 30 minutes last weekend,” she says. “We are lucky that we have such an awesome home. It’s such a happy place to be. I told the kids that at dinner that night.”
Yurich says the family spends the most time together in the living room, watching movies and playing Rummikub while sitting on the floor. How does she declutter? The kids know that when they’re done playing something, they have to pick it up, she says. Nothing is allowed on the counter or floor.
“Everything has a place, and I pick up a lot,” she says. “I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t. On the weekends, Joe will say, ‘That’s OK, honey. The house doesn’t have to be totally picked up.’ But I feel better when the house is in order. I was hard-wired this way. I’m sure that’s why I was meant to have this many children. I’m super-organized, and I always have been.”
WHERE CAN I FIND LOCAL ...?
AC & HEAT
CLEANING SERVICES
CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133
FATHER, SON, GRANDSON Window Cleaning. Free Est. Derek. 682-716-9892
Family Owned & Operated
Serving the Dallas area for over 30 years
We raise our kids here, too!
214-330-5500
ClassicAirandHeat.com
TACLB29169ETACLA29042C
APPLIANCE REPAIR
JESSE’S A/C & APPLIANCE SERVICE
TACLB13304C All Makes/Models. 214-660-8898
BUY/SELL/TRADE
CARS/TRUCKS WANTED!!! All Makes/Models. 2000-2016. Any Condition. Running Or Not. Top $$$ Paid. Free Towing. We’re Nationwide. Call Now 1-888-985-1806
GOT AN OLDER CAR, RV, BOAT? Do The Humane Thing. Donate It To The Humane Society. 1-855-558-3509
RANGERS, STARS & MAVS
Share front-row Texas Rangers, Stars & Mavs seats. Tickets are available in sets of 10 games (sets of 2 or 4 tickets per game available). Participants randomly draw numbers prior to season to determine a draft order fair to everyone. Call 214-560-4212 or rwamre@advocatemag.com
CABINETRY & FURNITURE
CABINETMAKER Design/Build Custom Furniture. Repair, Refinish. 40 yrs. exp. Jim 214-457-3830
SQUARE NAIL WOODWORKING
Cabinet Refacing, Built-ins, Entertainment/ Computer Centers. Jim. 214-324-7398 www.squarenailwoodworking.com
CLASSES/TUTORING/LESSONS
ART: Draw/Paint. Adults All Levels. Lake Highlands N. Rec. Ctr. Days: Mon & Wed. Students bring supplies. Nights: 1xt month workshop, supplies furnished. Jane Cross. 214-534-6829
CLEANING SERVICES
A MAID FOR YOU Bonded/Insured.Park Cities/ M Streets Refs. Call Us First. Joyce 214-232-9629
AFFORDABLE CLEANING Insd./Bonded. Move In/Out. Routine Cleaning. Reliable. Dependable. Residential/ Commercial. References. 28+yrs. Delta Cleaning. 972-943-9280.
ALTOGETHER CLEAN
Relax ...We’ll Clean Your House, It Will Be Your Favorite Day! Bonded & Insurance. Free Estimates. 214-929-8413. www. altogetherclean.net
LAKEWOODWINDOWCLEANING.COM Veteran owned. Serving neighbors 15 years. 214-317-2325
WANTED: HOUSES TO CLEAN: WINDOWS to Wash: Wkly & Bi Monthly. Great Prices $$. Honest & Reliable. Family owned 15 years. Excellent references. Call Sunny @ 214-724-2555
WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134
COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS
ALL COMPUTER PROBLEMS SOLVED MAC/PC Great Rates. Keith. 214-295-6367
AT ODDS WITH YOUR COMPUTER? Easily Learn Essential Skills. Services include Digital Photo Help. Sharon 214-679-9688
BILL’S COMPUTER REPAIR Virus Removal, Data Recovery. Home/Biz Network Install. All Upgrades & Repairs. PC Instruction. No Trip Fee. 214-348-2566
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 972-639-6413 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net
CONCRETE/MASONRY/PAVING
BRICK & STONE REPAIR
Tuck Pointing / Crack Repair. Mortar Color Matching. Don 214-704-1722
BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319
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
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
LAKEWOOD ELECTRICAL Local. Insured. Lic. #227509 Call Rylan 214-434-8735
ELECTRICAL SERVICES
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
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
AVON AGENTS WANTED StartAvon.com. Reference Code; CHASKIN
PET SITTERS, DOG WALKERS reply to http://www.pcpsi.com/join
ESTATE/GARAGE SALES
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
EXTERIOR CLEANING
G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925
FENCING & DECKS
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
All Wood Decks, Arbors & Patio Covers
WOODMASTER CARPENTRY 214-507-9322
Quality Wood Fences & Decks. New or Repair.
Northlake Fence and Deck
Locally owned and operated by the Mccaffrey family since1980
214-349-9132
www northlakefence.com
FLOORING & CARPETING
DALLAS HARDWOODS 214-724-0936
Installation, Repair, Refinish, Wax, Hand Scrape. Residential, Commercial. Sports Floors. 30 Yrs.
FENN CONSTRUCTION Manufactored hardwoods. Stone and Tile. Back-splash Specials. 214-343-4645
FLOORING & CARPETING
HASTINGS STAINED CONCRETE
New/Remodel. Stain/Wax Int/Ext. Nick. 214-341-5993. www.hastingsfloors.com
WILLEFORD HARDWOOD FLOORS 214-824-1166 • WillefordHardwoodFloors.com
FOUNDATION REPAIR
• Slabs • Pier & Beam
• Mud Jacking • Drainage
• Free Estimates
• Over 20 Years Exp.
972-288-3797
We Answer Our Phones
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
LAKE HIGHLANDS GLASS & MIRROR frameless shower enclosures • store fronts replacement windows • mirrors 214-349-8160
PRO WINDOW CLEANING prompt, dependable. Matt 214-766-2183
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
HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635
HOME REPAIR HANDYMAN Small/Big Jobs + Construction. 30 Yrs. Exp. Steve. 214-875-1127
HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606
HONEST, SKILLED SERVICE With a Smile. General Repairs/ Maintenance. 214-215-2582
ONE CALL WEEKEND SERVICES
Handyman Services Offered.469-658-9163
Handyman, Contractor, Engineer
WANTED: ODD JOBS & TO DO LISTS
Allen’s Handyman & Home Repair 214-288-4232
HANDYMAN SERVICES
Your Home Repair Specialists
Drywall Doors
Senior Safety
Carpentry
Small & Odd Jobs
And More!
KITCHEN/BATH/TILE/GROUT
LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES
972-308-6035
HandymanMatters.com/dallas
Bonded & Insured. Locally owned & operated.
HOME SECURITY
SAFES For Guns, Home or Business. We Offer a Large Selection Plus Consultation & In-Home Delivery. Visit Our Showroom. 972-272-9788 thesafecompany.com
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
• Tubs, Tiles or Sinks
• Cultured Marble
• Kitchen Countertops
214-631-8719
WE REFINISH! www.allsurfacerefinishing.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
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
Call Mark Wittlich
Top ways to transition your mind from winter to spring. Spring is ready to break through with its beautiful blooms. Spruce up your body and life with these tips for spring.
1) Look out for your liver — The liver is one of the most important organs for renewing, cleansing and energizing the body. The liver is related to your ability to plan ahead.
2) Cleanse the body — In winter time we focus on over indulgence and hearty meals. Spring time should balance that with a focus on digestion and detoxification.
3) Spring clean — It is as important to spring clean your house as it is your body. Donate unwanted clutter, move out big furniture and deep clean forgotten corners.
4) Come out of hibernation — In winter we tend to retreat to our warm homes. Spring is the time to open the windows and get some fresh air. Here’s to a healthy, prosperous spring.
classifieds.advocatemag.com
LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES
A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925
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
DALLAS K.D.R.SERVICES • 214-349-0914
Lawn Service & Landscape Installation
HOLMAN IRRIGATION
Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061
MAYA TREE SERVICE Tree Trim/Remove. Lawn Maintenance. Resd/ Commcl.Insd. CC’s Accptd. mayatreeservice.com 214-924-7058 214-770-2435
PAT TORRES 214-388-1850 Lawn Service & Tree Care 28 Yrs. Complete Landscape Renovation.
APRIL DEADLINE MARCH 7 214.560.4203 TO ADVERTISE
MOVING
AM MOVING 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
PET SERVICES
DOGGIE DEN DALLAS Daycare, Boarding, Grooming, Training. 6444 E. Mockingbird Ln. 214-823-1441 • DoggieDenDallas.com
THE PET DIVAS Pet Sitting, Daily Dog Walks, In Home/Overnight Stays.Basic Obedience Training. thepetdivas.com 817-793-2885. Insured
WHERE CAN I FIND LOCAL ...?
PLUMBING
AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943
ANDREWS PLUMBING • 214-354-8521
# M37740 Insured. Any plumbing issues.
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
POOLS
CERULEAN POOL SERVICES Family Owned/ Operated. Weekly maintenance, Chemicals, parts & repairs. CeruleanPro.com 214-557-6996
LEAFCHASERS POOL SERVICE Parts/Service. Chemicals/Repairs. Jonathan. 214-729-3311
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
ACCOUNTING/TAXES Small Business/Individual
Chris King, CPA 214-824-5313 chriskingcpa.com
BOOKKEEPING NEEDS? Need Help Organizing Finances? No Job Too Small or Big. Call C.A.S. Bookkeeping Services. Cindy 214-577-7450
REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE & INT. DESIGN SERVICES contact John Cramer, Realtor w/ FireHouse Real Estate Services 214-212-6865
APRIL DEADLINE MARCH 7
REMODELING
BAD MOTHER SHUTTERS 214-909-8879 jwilliams@badmothershutters.com Custom Made
BLAKE CONSTRUCTION CONCEPTS, LLC Complete Remodeling, Kitchens, Baths, Additions. Hardie Siding & Replacement Windows. 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
MP ARCHITECTURAL Design & Construction. mattandpaul.com 214-226-1186
O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 17 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com 214-341-1448
RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247 214-341-1155 bobmcdonaldco.net
Bob McDonald Company, Inc. BUILDERS/REMODELERS
30+ Yrs. in Business • Major Additions Complete Renovations • Kitchens/Baths
• Turnkey Renovations
• Kitchens
• Baths
• Floors
• Windows FREE ESTIMATES greenlovehomes.com 214.864.2444
ROOFING & GUTTERS
BERT ROOFING INC.
Family owned and operated for over 40 years
• Residential/Commercial • Over 30,000 roofs completed • Seven NTRCA “Golden Hammer” Awards • Free Estimates www.bertroofing.com 214.321.9341
Residential • Commercial (214) 503-7663 www.scottexteriors.com
SERVICES FOR YOU
A PLACE FOR MOM The Nation’s Largest Senior Living Referral Service. Contact Our Trusted Local Experts Today. Our Service is Free/No Obligation. 1-844-722-7993
DISH NETWORK. 190+ Channels. Free Install. Free Hopper HD-DVR $49.99/month.(24 months) Add High Speed Internet. $14.95 (where avail.) Call Today & save 25%. 1-855-837-9146
ENJOY 100% Guaranteed Delivered To -TheDoor Omaha Steaks.Save 75% Plus Get Four More Burgers & 4 More Kielbasa Free! Order The Family Gourmet Buffet-Only $49.99. 1-855-895-0358 mention code 51689LCX Or Visit omahasteaks. com/cook03
LIFELOCK Identity Theft Protection. Do Not Wait. Start Guarding Your Identity Today. 3 Layers Of Protection. Detect, Alert, Restore. Receive 10% Off. 1-855-399-2089
MY OFFICE Offers Mailing, Copying, Shipping, Office & School Supplies. 9660 Audelia Rd. myofficelh.com 214-221-0011
75075
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 214-560-4203. 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.
WORSHIP
BAPTIST
PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org
Worship & Bible Study 9:15 & 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500
ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809
Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m.
Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org
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
PRESBYTERIAN
PRESTON HOLLOW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 9800 Preston Road 8:15 am Chapel, 9:30 & 11:00 am Sanctuary, 5:00 pm Founder’s Hall
Senior Pastor Matthew E. Ruffner / www.phpc.org / 214.368.6348
Art for Nature
North Haven Gardens is known for its expansive and exotic nursery, but in 2014, it launched The Gallery at NHG, which showcases works of art, like these by John Hinkle, in addition to hosting regular painting classes — complete with wine. The next exhibit, “Petals and Patterns,” will celebrate spring when it opens on Friday, March 16, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
If your iconic neighborhood business would like an opportunity to collaborate with us on our cover photo package, please contact editor Elissa Chudwin at echudwin@advocatemag.com.
You’ve chosen the right neighborhood, now choose the right Realtor.
PrestonHollowhasalwayshadaspecialplaceintheheartofDallas.Ours,too.We’vebeen etiuq
likewedo.Ifyou’relookingforsomethingexceptionalhereinPrestonHollow,startwithan exceptionalteamofRealtors.Visit virginiacook.com.
4618 Crooked Lane
New construction! Ready for move-in Spring, 2018.
6,571 Square Feet,
5 bedroom, 5.1 bath home on .50 acres. Maureen Gehan Frieze 214.929.1166
Doolin Court
$1,799,000 Freshly renovated chef’s kitchen! Two separate studies! Beautiful master bedroom! Remote iron gate! Customized garage! Kim Cocotos/Kristen Scott 214.682.5754
6122 Tulip Lane
$1,199,000 Tick all the boxes in Preston Hollow!
4 BR + Study + 3 Living Areas! Open kitchen/den, screened porch, 3-car garage & huge yard! Lori Sparks 214.680.6432
7525 Royal Place
4036 Lively Lane
SOLD SOLD SOLD
3764 Northaven Road
$675,000 Updated, spacious 4 bedroom home backing to the Northaven Trail! Flexible floor plan!Pool!
Arden Fitzgerald 214.392.4585
Meadow Crest Drive
$575,000 Spacious 4/3.1 with 2 living areas & study! Open kitchen/den! Lovely lot with towering trees, pool, and yard! 2017 roof!
Lori Sparks 214.680.6432
Lauren Savariego 214.682.5088 Lori Sparks 214.680.6432 Kristen Scott 214.202.2660 Maureen Frieze 214.929.1166 Don Thomas 214.641.7001 Arden Fitzgerald 214.392.4585 Julie Haymann 214.625.9504 Kimberly Cocotos 214.682.5754