2017 August Lakewood

By RICK WAMRE

24-7 information means constant conversation

But is anybody listening?

To me, August once was one of the greatest months of the year.

It’s a hot month here in Texas. Parents and kids are restless from the summer break. And if there’s ever a time when our roads are slightly less congested, it’s this month — vacations and lack of energy seem to keep more people off the highways.

So it would seem like a good time to relax, wouldn’t it? A good time to recharge the batteries, to consider the future.

Yet one of the oddities of life today is that rest and recharging aren’t possible anymore.

Sure, we can take vacations and set aside “me” time and ensure that we’re getting our fair share of sleep.

But right there next to us every step of the way is the rest of the world, waiting to beep and chime its way into our heads.

I’ve read about people stepping back from social media, shutting off their phones and communicating the oldschool way with their voices. But I’ve never met any of them. No matter where I go these days, people remain plugged in, so much so that it’s becoming fairly standard for new restaurants to add electrical outlets and USB charger plugs to every table.

Of course, what they’re really doing is waving the white flag as a digital surrender to lunch and dinner conversation, what with the TV right above each table, too.

There’s nothing wrong with being constantly aware of every commentator’s thoughts about what’s happening in Washington, and the latest on LeBron James, and those multi-step paths to accomplish this and that.

It’s a diversion from regular life, but it’s a tiring way to live. It seems the more we think we know, the more opinionated we become. And the more opinions we have, the more some of us are emboldened to let everyone else know what we’re thinking. And the more we do that, the more obvious it becomes that a lot of us are pretty clueless about the relative importance of listening to others as opposed to shouting them down.

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

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

Will Maddox

512.695.0357 / wmaddox@advocatemag.com

It has become virtually impossible to have a discussion with anyone these days for the purposes of exploring new facts and pondering new ideas. There is so much knowledge at our fingertips every moment of the day, much of it skewed in the general direction we already prefer, that there’s little new anyone else can bring to bear on a situation.

So some of us spend a lot of time talking loudly past each other, and the rest of us follow the conversation with a mixture of fright and awe.

August used to be a good month to flush the mind, a good time to disengage and mentally start over.

Not so much anymore. The lack of anything concrete to think about just means more screen time these days to reinforce what we already think we know.

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

digital editor: Jackson Vickery

214.240.0709 / jvickery@advocatemag.com

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

photo editor: Danny Fulgencio

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com

contributing photographers: Rasy Ran, Kathy Tran

More

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.

It seems the more we think we know, the more opinionated we become.

Presenting your home to the world

2250 Forest Hollow Park | SOLD - Represented Buyer

Gia Marshello 214.616.2568 | gmarshello@briggsfreeman.com

3939 Frontier Lane | $950,000

6285 Revere Place | $810,000 Clair Storey 214.507.1388 | cestorey@briggsfreeman.com

Gia Marshello 214.616.2568 | gmarshello@briggsfreeman.com

1545 El Campo Drive | $749,900

5555 Monticello Avenue | SOLD - Represented Buyer Natalie Hatchett 469.733.6442 | nhatchett@briggsfreeman.com

Tara Durham 214.557.9992 | tdurham@briggsfreeman.com

5707 Llano Avenue | SOLD - Listed for $700,000

Kyle Baugh 214.980.3933 | kbaugh@briggsfreeman.com

4906 Alcott Street | SOLD Kyle Baugh 214.980.3933 | kbaugh@briggsfreeman.com

Gia Marshello 214.616.2568 | gmarshello@briggsfreeman.com

8457 San Benito Way | SOLD Angela Thornhill 214.769.7840 | athornhill@briggsfreeman.com

9759 Peninsula Drive | PENDING briggsfreeman.com

ADVENTURE GUIDES

Program Dates:

Registration:

Ages:

BALLET

Program Dates:

Registration:

Ages:

Oct. 4 - May 6 Now - Sept. 1

PreK through 4th grade

Sept. 13 - Dec. 14 Now - September 1 2 - 6 years old

TEEN ACTIVITIES

Teen Nights:

Teen Babysitting:

Teen CPR:

Aug. 12, Sept. 16 Aug. 12, Sept. 16 Aug. 8

Model United Nations: visit our website to find out if your school participates. Program takes place between February and April.

Youth & Government: visit our website or contact Cassie McKee at cmckee@ymcadallas.org for information about starting a program at your school.

Don’t forget to register for Youth Soccer and Flag

Football! Registration closes August 4.

WHITE ROCK YMCA

214-328-3849

www.whiterockymca.org

The mission of the Y is to put Christian values into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. Financial assistance available.

Bye bye birdie — or not

Injured birds found near White Rock Lake are regularly taken to the Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Hutchins (more about that on page 46). Usually, the animals are returned to the wild once they’ve healed. But sometimes the birds just don’t want to leave. That was the case for this stunning blue heron, whose feathers display a technicolor rainbow of hues. After restoring the animal to full health, workers released him, but he just hung around. He made friends, establishing a herony (the scientific term for a heron colony), where he can fly free if he likes, although he spends much of his time hanging out with the rescue volunteers. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

Taking Heart & Vascular Care Forward

Make your heart health a priority at Texas Health Dallas. From prevention and diagnostics to structural heart disease and cardiac rehabilitation, we offer a wide range of options using advanced technology and minimally invasive procedures. We also provide remote monitoring for heart failure patients. And we’re certified in chest pain, heart failure and stroke, as well as recognized by the American Heart Association for providing high-quality heart attack care. For comprehensive heart and vascular services, choose Texas Health Dallas.

972-885-3453

TexasHealth.org/Dallas-Heart

We cover every beat of heart care.

The better way to a better home.

Next time you remodel, renovate or build, work with Bella Vista and get a complete company that handles the complete process. We take care of everything, while you take it easy. What could be better?

FEATURED: Shoreview Road

FEATURED: Shoreview Road

THE OLDEST ‘NEW URBANIST’ IN DALLAS

By KERI MITCHELL

Photo by RASY RAN

Bill Densmore believes in the concepts of geographical and architectural determinism — that the way cities are designed and built have a direct impact on the happiness and prosperity of their residents. He uses terms such as “walkable community” and “mixed-use” to describe his hopes for Old East Dallas.

Densmore, a retired Bryan Adams High School history teacher, doesn’t identify himself as a new urbanist, but his beliefs fit squarely with the tenets of new urbanism and its approach to planning and development: “Human-scaled” urban design with housing and shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces.

Bill Densmore sees visions of his childhood on Columbia Avenue, and a new generation hopes to make them a reality

The movement found its footing in the early ’90s, when planners, architects and the like began calling for a return to the design principles that had characterized towns and cities for centuries. New urbanism has continued to gain ground since then, often appealing to millennials who may have grown up in the suburbs and now are attracted to city centers.

Densmore can empathize with this attraction but for a completely different reason — he actually lived in the bygone era to which these young folks long to return.

Munger Boulevard in the 1940s morphed almost daily into a football field for Densmore and his friends. They called themselves the Munger Mongrels, one of several neighborhood pick-up teams in the era of sandlots and five-and-dimes.

Automobiles hadn’t yet replaced streetcars, so Munger Boulevard’s broad median strip, which Densmore refers to

as an “esplanade,” remained unmarred by the traffic demands of later decades. It was still a two-lane road and looked much like Swiss Avenue, but unlike Swiss’ tree canopy, which cuts through the center of the boulevard, Munger’s tree canopy outlined the esplanade, giving Densmore and his friends ample space to run plays.

If they ever tired of football, they could catch the streetcar on Columbia Avenue and ride it all the way to Southern Methodist University to shoot hoops. Columbia was then the hub of neighborhood activity and commerce, says Densmore, now 84 and living in Lakewood Trails.

Everything in his universe was accessible by either foot or streetcar, and it knit together the neighborhood in ways he felt but couldn’t yet put into words.

By the 1950s, busses and automobiles had grown popular enough to render streetcars outmoded. In 1954, the Dallas City Council ordered the Dallas Transit Company to dispose of all streetcars within two years. The streetcars ran their final route in January 1956 and the system was dismantled.

“There’s a very big difference between being supportive and putting limited resources toward a project.”

“It was a horror when they did that,” Densmore says. “At the time I didn’t know. I was a teenager and all I wanted was a car.”

Two decades later, Dallas’ new thoroughfare plans called for a six-lane road that would snake through Old East Dallas’ historic but dilapidated neighborhoods, connecting Abrams Road to Columbia Avenue and curving down to Main Street. The goal was to move cars Downtown as efficiently as possible.

In Densmore’s view, it was the nail in the coffin of Columbia’s heyday as “the Agora of Munger Place,” when pedestrians easily traversed the street to catch a flick at the Rita Theater, enjoy a malt at one of the soda fountains or jump on the streetcar to head Downtown for work or Uptown for fun.

He’s not alone in this view. A movement is afoot to give Columbia Avenue a “road diet,” shrinking it from six lanes to four and repurposing the space for pedestrians and cyclists.

“Because of its six oversized lanes and the large distances between pedestrian crossings, this road has been a source of division in the neighborhood ever since it was constructed,” the Change.org petition states. “The people on either side of this road were once close neighbors but can no longer reach the friends, services or parks on the other side without significant difficulty.”

The petition gained enough steam that the roughly $8 million Columbia Avenue project was included in city staff recommendations for the proposed $1 billion-plus bond, slated for November’s election. City councilmembers have since been given more purview over their own districts’ projects, however, so “it’s kind of in their hands now,” says Nathaniel Barrett, the Munger Place resident who wrote the petition.

Both District 2 and District 14 councilmen Adam Medrano and Philip Kingston have indicated their support of the Columbia Avenue project, but “there’s a very big difference between being supportive and putting limited resources toward a project,” Barrett says.

Still, he’s optimistic that Columbia Avenue will make it through the grinder once Council finalizes the bond later this month. First of all, Barrett says, “it’s cheap,” requiring merely “plastic, paint and planters to go from a big nasty seven-lane road [with turn lane] to one a lot smaller.”

Patient Quote of the Month:

“As always, you and your staff provided the greatest of care. You help me each time I visit your office. I can say I actually don’t mind going to the dentist regardless of what I have done.”

Sandy Sims

Traffic projections indicate that just three lanes could accommodate the vehicles traveling between Lakewood and Downtown, he says. Outside lanes could be converted to bicycle lanes with wide sidewalks and on-street parking, or even bus-only lanes, utilized in other cities but not yet in Dallas. Such a “road diet” would force cars to travel at “more reasonable speeds,” Barrett says, and pave the way for more Main Street-type development along Columbia.

“Main Street connects directly into Columbia,” Barrett notes of the thoroughfare’s design. “It’s an opportunity waiting to happen.”

News of the petition and potential changes on the avenue gave Densmore renewed hope for the neighborhood he knew and loved.

“It can’t be what it was. Nothing ever comes back,” Densmore says, but he adds that such redevelopment “would likely cause Munger Place to again find Columbia to be a vibrant retail area for the neighborhood. This would certainly

help to bring back something of a walkable community.”

Densmore’s family moved to Munger Place in 1938, nearly three decades after the neighborhood was developed. After the Great Depression, it wasn’t the upscale haven it had been in the early days but was still a nice place to live, he says.

The death of the streetcar, hastened by technological advances that made automobiles and busses less expensive and more readily available, wasn’t the only turning point for the neighborhood.

Before and during World War II, movie theaters were cool bastions of respite where people gathered to watch the latest flick or, during the war, newsreels of the fight overseas. By the late ’40s, Densmore recalls, television sets began to dominate neighborhood living rooms, making the communal experience of theaters obsolete.

Almost simultaneously, soldiers who had returned home from the war were ready to settle down, but not necessarily in urban areas.

“They wanted to have fun. They wanted to marry the girl next door and live on Main Street in a little town.”

RICK BEADLE D.D.S. | REID SLAUGHTER D.D.S.

6333 E. Mockingbird @ Abrams Tom Thumb Shopping Center Ste. #275

Call and Schedule your complimentary orthodontic examination today.

“Those poor guys had lived through the Depression and the war,” Densmore says. “They wanted to have fun. They wanted to marry the girl next door and live on Main Street in a little town, so they moved to Garland and to Richardson and those little towns all around.”

The smaller towns had smaller homes, which were more affordable to the young war veterans and easier to clean and cool. So streetcar lines were replaced by parking lots, movie theaters by TVs and urban proximity by suburban amenities, “and that left the big homes there falling apart,” Densmore says of Munger Place and the surrounding historic neighborhoods.

The Munger Mongrels were too young to fight in WWII, but several of them, including Densmore, fought in the Korean War. When he returned home in the mid-’50s, Densmore didn’t recognize what he saw.

“I thought, ‘Something’s wrong with this country,’ ” he recalls. “I just didn’t know what was wrong. It took me a while to find it.”

What was wrong, he much later realized, was the loss of community. The ample boulevards built in the early 20th century gave him and his friends space to gather and play, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired prairie-style homes with their wraparound porches offered a cool place nearby to sit and talk afterward.

They walked everywhere. Two grocery stores and an icehouse were within walking distance, which was crucial since refrigerators weren’t yet common. Buckner Park was within four blocks for occasional football games with opposing neighborhood sandlot teams, the Tremont Kids, the Alley Cats and the Owls. If something was too far to walk, they jumped on the streetcar at Columbia and Collett, which was the hub of neighborhood activity.

“We got together, and the whole group stayed together, because of geographical and architectural determinism,” Densmore says.

Dallas has disregarded its own urban fabric for decades, he believes, but he sees the tide beginning to turn. At one point, he thought the house he grew up in on Tremont was destined to be demolished for apartments, until the urban pioneers of Swiss Avenue successfully campaigned for residential historic districts in the 1970s.

“I heard a guy was fixing it up, and I went over and helped him work,” he

We Get Lakewood.

In Lakewood, you need a proven professional to help you find just what you’re looking for. And as Dallas’ experts on our city’s close-in neighborhoods, no one gets Lakewood quite like we do. Buying? Selling? Call The Professionals at 214.526.5626 or visit davidgriffin.com.

We’re at home anywhere in the world.

David Griffin & Company Realtors is a member of both Mayfair International Realty and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, so whether you’re looking to move across the street or across the globe, we can help. Learn more at davidgriffin.com or call 214.526.5626.

David Collier 214.536.8517

Jennifer Riley Rice 214.392.6934

9822 Galway Dr. $479,000 Collier-Rice Team

10731 Clearbrook Ln. COMING SOON Collier-Rice Team

554 Northlake Dr. SOLD Collier-Rice Team

A VIRGINIA COOK, REALTORS COMPANY 9019 Bretshire Dr. $299,000 Brandon Stewart 214.450.8285

says of his family home, then laughs, “I’m sure I got in his way.”

At the time, he thought Munger Place might evolve into an artist community. The fact that the front porch neighborhoods that brought together him and his friends in the ’40s are sought-after places to live today is nothing short of astounding to Densmore.

It was music to his ears to hear Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings recently call for “efficient and flexible public transportation” and for correcting “some of the injustices” of the past caused by the construction of highways and demolitions of neighborhoods, as noted in a June 16, 2017 Dallas Morning News story. News of the petition for a Columbia Avenue makeover sent Densmore over the moon.

“They need this. They need a good street. They don’t have it,” Densmore says. “When I was a kid, Columbia Avenue was the place you went for everything.”

Barrett agrees wholeheartedly. The Main Street-style structures that once fronted Columbia mostly have disappeared, with the avenue now fronted by

more parking lots than shops.

“It’s not that it’s boarded up shop fronts and hotels,” Barrett says, but Columbia no longer has the elements of connectedness that unite neighborhoods. What it does have, he believes, is good bones — “qualities that are timeless and will withstand the test of time, with a little bit of love.”

A streetcar is not currently part of

these tools it already has,” Barrett says.

If it happens, Densmore may not be around to see it. Most of his fellow Mongrels already have passed on. But that doesn’t quell Densmore’s passion for people in his former neighborhood to experience the same connection and quality of life that he did.

Barrett’s vision, for one glaringly obvious reason — cost. But “what I would love is for this project to get underway and the city would take another look at Columbia Avenue,” he says. The city, in prior planning efforts, came up with code for “complete streets” and “form-based zoning” that could translate into exactly the type of Columbia Avenue that he and Densmore envision.

“I would like the city to use some of

His ideal is the left bank in Paris, a place he visited several times during the 37 years he taught European history at Bryan Adams. Densmore fell in love with Paris’ small shops and cafés with tables that often spilled out onto the wide sidewalks with trees. People resided in apartments on top of the businesses they frequented and parking lots were tucked away from view — a walkable community that reminded him of Munger Place.

“I’d love to see Columbia be like that,” he says. “Dallas will never be Paris, but if we had a little more of that, it would be helpful.”

“It would be tough to do it, and it would cost a lot, and it may be too much to do,” Densmore reasons. “But it’s worth it to be that type of people, I think.”

“They need this. They need a good street. They don’t have it.”

Dr. Beth Dolan · Dr. Christy Riddle

By WILL MADDOX

Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

C.J. WILSON’s childhood home didn’t have running

water. To take a shower, he walked down to a truck stop along Interstate 20. He showered among the truckers. The nearly mile-long walk back home made him as sweaty and dirty as he was when he left.

His single mother’s ailing health meant she couldn’t work. Food was scarce, but Wilson calls her his superhero. “I tear up because I think about the days she would go to sell whatever she had at the flea market, just for us,” he says, his voice choked with emotion.

It was football that provided a path forward. First at Baylor, then all the way to the Dallas Cowboys. These days, he tries to be the strong male role model and father figure he never had as a football coach and teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School.

During Wilson’s own high school years, he was a third-string cornerback on the freshman football team. After another cornerback made a gaffe, Wilson boldly approached the coach to say, “If I was in, that wouldn’t happen.”

While he doesn’t recommend that strategy to his players, it worked, and he was called into the game to show his undeniable talents.

Wilson’s early success went to his head. His poor attitude got him thrown off the team, meaning he missed the

to help the Waco institution.

“God was sending me as a light into a dark place,” he says, “and I thought, ‘Am I losing my mind?’ ”

It proved to be a painful few years up until his final season, in 2006.

“The team was terrible,” Wilson says.

Everyone knew it, from the other teams they faced, to the guys in his own locker room. The negativity stung Wilson, who, like most freshmen, saw little time on the field his first year.

crucial sophomore and junior playing seasons when colleges begin to track talent. By senior year, he swallowed his pride and begged to be let back on the field.

“I love sweets, but there was nothing sweet about humble pie,” he says

He didn’t let his coach down, earning defensive district MVP and scholarship offers from Texas, OU, Baylor and Georgia Tech. Bob Stoops of OU, Mack Brown of Texas and former Cowboys coach Chan Gailey (who coached Georgia Tech at the time) all paid Wilson a visit.

“It was the best worst thing ever,” he says of his recruitment.

Despite Baylor’s poor athletic reputation at the time, he saw the potentila

The next year, walking pneumonia left him near death with a lung full of fluid. By junior year, he was ready to shine as a team starter. He was named one of the best defensive backs in the country.

But the success wasn’t always sweet. Black students were rare on campus, while racism was not.

Hatred found its way to the front door of his apartment. “I used to get ‘I hate you nigger,’ handwritten and typed notes, outside my door,” he says of being harassed at his apartment. “Before games, other notes would say, ‘Go back to coon county.’ And I would have to perform for those same people who said that.”

While he never lacked confidence, he avoided a lot of the social scene that troubles many athletes in college.

C.J. Wilson works through the summer keeping Woodrow athletes fit.

3619 Sperry Street $899,000 lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2017 27

5502 Ridgedale Ave $999,000

OFF MARKET

“I don’t think I went to one party in college,” he says. “People thought I just came to play football and then went home to a different town.”

His talents on the field buoyed him into the professional spotlight when he was drafted to the Carolina Panthers in 2006. “I will be the water boy if you need me to be,” he told his coach, John Fox, at the time.

Wilson says life in the NFL isn’t as glamorous as what is portrayed on TV.

“You have no ‘you’ time,” he says. “Every minute was scheduled, from the moment you wake up until the moment you sleep. It is planned out. You couldn’t go to the store or go out to have a nice dinner, without being bothered.”

An NFL career, while lucrative, proved to have its own set of challenges. Wilson was asked to sign napkins and even breasts, and once was given a lock of a fan’s hair. Despite the pressure of the team, coaches and fan base, Wilson remained a role model.

“I knew I couldn’t mess up,” he says. “All these little kids — what happens when they see me doing something stupid?”

The child who grew up dirt poor with a single parent was now in the position to take care of his own mother. He found relief in ”Seeing the light in my mom’s

champion and future Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre. When he was traded to the Cowboys in 2011, the pressure was immediate when he was given the locker once held by All-Star and Hall-Of-Famer Deion Sanders

When his wife became pregnant, Wilson changed. He didn’t want his daughter to see him as a football player but rather as her father. Following his NFL career, Wilson went back to Baylor to finish his degree, where he was on the dean’s list and majored in history. He was the first Baylor Football Legend named in the new stadium at Waco.

thrived under Wilson’s coaching style. “Coach Wilson has taught me that true greatness is inside me. He has taught me how to be the best me when I play,” West says.

“Coach Wilson has taught me how to approach all my issues in life differently.”

While Wilson expects this season to be “epic” with his sights firmly set on the state championship, he isn’t just about football. Faith has always been a guiding force.

eyes, knowing she didn’t have to worry about anything at that point.”

Unlike many professional athletes, he used his money wisely and only on his family. He put three cousins through college and threw many a graduation party.

With the larger bank account came added pressure from relatives. He even had money stolen directly from his account by a family member who worked in finance. “I met brothers and cousins I never knew existed, all with new business opportunities,” he says. “I asked one man, ‘Where were you when we couldn’t eat? When our house had no water and our house was 98 degrees?’ ”

It wasn’t much easier on the field. His first game was against Super Bowl

After graduation, he returned to Dallas to fulfill his lifelong dream of coaching youth football. When word got out, he was recruited once again, fielding more than 40 phone calls from schools interested in locking him down. It was Kyle Richardson, the former Woodrow principal, who wooed Wilson into picking the Wildcats.

“Coaching is always what I wanted to do,” he says.

He loves his job, made clear when he turned down a coaching position with the Chicago Bears to stay at Woodrow. “I feel like I have 200 sons and daughters. They come to you and they share stuff they are afraid to tell their parents,” he says.

Travis West, a rising senior receiver and defensive back at Woodrow, has

He recently penned the book “Biblical Black History,” highlighting the unsung roles of black men and women throughout time from a Biblical perspective. He spends much of his off-time traveling to different churches to speak.

Wilson also has reveled in the chance to be the father he never had. He and his college sweetheart, Caryn, welcomed daughter Cara two years ago.

“My daughter is terrible and I love it,” he says of her frequent shenanigans. “She can always come home to daddy. The first time I heard ‘daddy,’ I cried.”

While football has defined much of his professional life, he hopes it never defines him.

“The game changed my life, it didn’t become it,” he says.

“I never wanted to be seen as a good football player. I want to be seen as a good man.”

“I knew I couldn’t mess up. All these little kids — what happens when they see me doing something stupid?”

C.J. Wilson thrives when he has a chance to work with young people.

BOO THE DEAF KITTY

Boo was the third cat brought to the Lakewood house of Carol and Frank Rowland, when big sisters Dot and Sophia needed a furry friend. The Rowlands have a soft spot for misfit felines, and when they learned Boo was deaf, they knew they were the family for him.

“Our goal is to build awareness for cats with disabilities in shelters and let people know that they still make great pets, sometimes better than average,” Carol says. “Sure, we keep a bell on him so that he doesn’t sneak past us, and instead of calling him, we use flashlights to get his attention. But it is well worth it. I would love to have Boo invited to schools for the deaf and help children to accept themselves as they see how loved a deaf little kitty can be.” Boo has proven so popular, his Facebook page has almost 1,000 followers. Keep up with him at facebook.com/boothedeafkitty.

PAWS

DELICIOUS Modern Mot

By JACKSON VICKERY

Dishes at Mot Hai Ba are a feast

the eyes and tastebuds. (Photo by Kathy Tran)

DELICIOUS

MOT HAI BA

DID YOU KNOW: Mot Hai Ba’s restaurant space used to house York Street before it closed.

Tucked away on Lewis Street, across from a gas station, is one of Lakewood’s hidden gems: Mot Hai Ba.

Serving Vietnamese food with a modern twist, Peja Krstic, who took over as owner about a year ago, has set his sights on modernizing the cuisine.

“We’re not a noodle and ground pork place. We’re putting more effort into these dishes and flavors from Vietnam,” he says. “We try and take original, classic dishes and put them in different form on the plate. It can be more interesting and eye appealing than what you’re used to.”

After opening in 2013, some things have stayed the same, like the small, yet cozy dining area and favorite dishes, including the shaking beef and the pho (which is now served daily). With the new ownership, be on the lookout for change — food and décor-wise.

“We’re turning to plates that are more

sharable. We want to give people a better value and a chance to really try the diversity of the flavors we offer,” Krstic says.

Flavor is something he continues to emphasize. Born in Serbia, he was classically trained in French cuisine, knows Mediterranean and has cooked in Italy, all of which influences his cooking. There’s one major difference, though, when you leave Mot Hai Ba after a full dinner.

“You enjoy the flavors without getting stuffed. It’s nice on the palate as well as the stomach,” he says.

The new ownership has not changed the clientele.

MOT HAI BA

Hours: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30am-2:30 pm Sunday

Ambiance: Cozy with communal seating 6047 Lewis St. 214.826.0968

mothaibadallas.com

DINING SPOTLIGHT

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.

Mon-Sun 7:00 -2:00 pm

“We have so many people from the neighborhood who are regulars and come in daily. But also, people who drive, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from Frisco and McKinney,” Krstic says. “They’re coming in big numbers and then the next time they’ll bring more of their friends.”

While its petite size keeps it “hidden” to some, you can expect a full house on a weeknight and a wait on the weekend, so it’s best to book ahead for one of the 40 coveted seats.

SEAFOOD Palapas Seafood Bar

Come see why we were voted one of the best patios in Dallas for 2016.

Experience our special flavorings & recipes from Mexico’s seafood capital Sinaloa.

Enjoy our Happy Hour from 4-7pm.

SMOKED MEATS 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

1418 Greenville Avenue 214.824.3000 palapasseafoodbar.com

Icy drinks to beat the heat

ADULT-STYLE

Frozen Moscow mule

HG SPLY CO.

$10

2008 Greenville Ave.

Instead of the common ginger beer, this one comes with ginger kombucha.

YooHoo Yehaw

SINGLE WIDE

$6

2110 Greenville Ave.

Your childhood taste buds will be wax nostalgic over this mixture of frozen YooHoo, coffee liqueur and vanilla vodka.

Avocado margarita

MESO MAYA

$12

4123 Abrams Road

Avocados are all the rage, but there are eight other frozen margs on the menu if it’s not your thing.

Long Island Iced Coffee

HALCYON

$10

2900 Greenville Ave.

With vodka, rum, Kahlua, Frangelico, Baileys and toddy, if this doesn’t do the trick, nothing will. That’s why you’re limited to two.

Dirty Kitchen Sink

GRUB BURGER BAR

$7

4925 Greenville Ave.

In case you want dessert and drinks in one, this has got chocolate vodka, pretzels, peanut butter, salt, butterscotch sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate chips, coffee grounds and potato chips.

FOR THE KIDS

Aguas de frutas

FRUTERIA CANO

Under $10

Currently, 723 Beacon St.

You might have a bit of a language barrier, but these creative concoctions come in every icy flavor you can imagine, inside the taqueria.

S’mores shake

HYPNOTIC EMPORIUM

$6

9005 Garland Road

You’ll feel like a kid a camp complete with a toasted marshmallow on top.

Mangonadas

JOSIE’S GROCERY’S

$5

Soon to be 2325 N. Fitzhugh

It’s like a cross between a smoothie and an Icee, topped with fresh chunks of mangos.

THE PRIVATIZATION PERCEPTION

The funds are in place, and many lake advocates support this boathouse. SO WHY HASN’T IT BEEN BUILT?

STORY BY EMILY CHARRIER PHOTOS BY DANNY FULGENCIO

A handful of private facilities around the lake, and even upon its waters, are off-limits except to those who pay a rental fee or join a club. These private havens on public land came into existence over the course of decades, most of them before the prevailing sentiment in the neighborhoods circling the lake’s shores evolved into its current state — that public land (and water) should remain open to all.

So it’s nothing short of miraculous that the lake’s most vocal advocates, who lambasted Dallas United Crew five years ago for trying to build a watery party palace for its private rowing club, are now singing the praises of DUC’s latest White Rock Lake proposal and the inclusive way it was conceived.

The result: A kinder, gentler boathouse open to the public, floating on the northeast side of the lake, and half the size and a fraction of the original version’s cost.

The new idea seems to have won over all of the original naysayers — except one.

Councilman Mark Clayton finds himself at odds with his own political appointees and concerned about “selling off” a part of the lake.

This month, the project heads back to the White Rock Lake Task Force for another review and chance for public input. The future of the DUC boathouse and perhaps all future development on and around the lake — hangs on the question of who and what defines “private” and whether building anything on the lake sets a precedent that can’t easily be undone.

The other rowing team

This story has been told before, when another crew team on the other side of the lake faced the same problem.

Boats have long been a staple on White Rock Lake; the boathouse at T&P Hill was built on the southwest side in 1930, where crew teams launched in the 1980s. That was about the time John Mullen got into the sport. As the co-founder of

DUC rowers Anders Ekstrom, Richard Zhang, Kristof Csaky, Robert Dunne, Evan Delagi and John Donahue.

The Container Store and an architect by trade, he knew how to build big things. Working with partners Sam Leake, David Payne, Chip Northrup and Keith Young, Mullen wanted to bring rowing back to White Rock Lake in 2003.

They set their sights on the Art Deco boathouse at T&P Hill, which was used by SMU’s rowing team in the ’90s but then left to crumble. After obtaining nonprofit status, White Rock Rowing secured an agreement to rehab the building at no cost to the city.

“There were problems with drugs and crime there,” Mullen says. “We wanted to secure it and make it useful. The city respected that there was a group that wanted to take care of that building.”

Now known as “the Boomerang” because of its shape, the site quickly filled up as the sport grew in popularity. By 2008, the club was looking to expand. Eager to keep its footprint small, the group’s leaders asked the city if they could

White Rock Lake is 1,015 acres of water and surrounding parkland open for public enjoyment.

Except for the spots that aren’t.

In 2007, WRR raised the $2.7 million in donations needed to both build their boathouse and enhance the Filter Building. Everything they did met original design standards, earning a Historic Restoration Award from Preservation Texas in 2010. The Sam S. Leakes Boathouse (a.k.a. “the Big Boathouse”) opened in 2008, right around the time the Filter Building began hosting weddings, fundraisers and business events. By 2012, the club had raised more than $50,000 for the Park Department, money earmarked for lake-based projects.

Today, Filter Building rental rates range from $500-$3,500 and are set to rise annually, meaning it should be a financial juggernaut for years to come. The funds support WRR’s operations,

which includes a slew of successful youth teams, SMU Crew and adaptive rowing for injured veterans.

This successful public-private partnership could set the stage for Dallas United Crew’s boathouse, but one major difference exists between the WRR and DUC projects: existing infrastructure. It has always been more politically palatable to repurpose something built long ago than to construct anything new at the lake.

A floating Shangri-La

If you want to rile up the neighborhood, try building something in White Rock Lake Park without sufficient public input.

This was the case in 2012 when, after what many considered to be minimal scrutiny, the Park Board approved a contract with DUC to build a $4 million, two-story boathouse and special-event space.

Many neighbors cringed.

“The city suggested public meetings that were announced to a private email list. … The incredulous explanation was that the whole world was informed of the project and everyone was happy,” says Hal Barker, one of the most vocal critics of the original DUC project.

On the surface, it looked like DUC was following in the footsteps of White Rock

Rowing at the Filter Building in 2012, but with a new structure for special events instead of a historic space.

“After an open records request, we found that the plan was for a city-sponsored adult party facility with children added, including an alcohol permit and specific use by the city for events several times a year,” Barker says.

Willis Winters, the current director of the Park Department, says the city wasn’t trying to encourage construction of a floating celebration center that would drive revenue.

“We always are looking for supplemental budget streams, but that’s not a motivator,” Winters says. “We certainly were not trying to supersize any project, especially anything on the lake.”

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. After three contentious years, the club failed to raise the $4 million needed in the time allotted. In 2015, the Park Board quietly canceled DUC’s contract, and hope for the crew team’s own space on the lake began to dwindle.

“It’s a private facility on public land. That’s old Dallas, and it’s a new day,” Councilman Mark Clayton said in 2015, soon after he became the first person living east of the lake elected to represent its neighborhoods.

Still, the DUC team grew. Even though

“To be honest, I don’t like anything that involves selling the lake.”

DUC has had three iterations of its boathouse design, but now favors the most scaled-back option because it’s popular with neighbors.

Park Cities parents started the team, its members are decidedly more diverse today, with rowers from 54 schools, seven of which are in Dallas ISD, including a full-scholarship team from Bryan Adams High School. At this point, they’re maxed out — the trailer used to store boats is full, and the men’s and women’s teams must practice on different days to accommodate the 300-plus rowers associated with the club. There’s no shortage of interest from athletes, but at this point, the youth are waitlisted.

This bothers East Dallas neighbor Tammy Adams, whose son, a Science and Engineering Magnet student, is on the varsity team. Adams became DUC

DUC president Tammy Adams is passionate about what rowing can do for local youth, especially in terms of college scholarships.

president two years ago, and has seen the benefit of crew first hand. Statistics show 55 percent of female and 18 percent of male rowers go on to receive college scholarships, often to Ivy League schools where the sport is a strong tradition. DUC rowers have been accepted to Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Purdue in recent years.

“This is a sport that changes lives,” she says. “It opens doors.”

Melody Hamilton echoes that sentiment. She saw a major change after her son Frank, a Bryan Adams student, joined the team: He became focused and driven, finding a place where he thrived.

“My kid has never been more dedicated. As long as he has people behind him, he gives 100 percent,” she says, adding that team spirit makes the sport unique.

“In baseball or football, there’s always a superstar who gets singled out and treated special. The other kids get ignored. With crew, they live and die by the team.”

The jambalaya of peace Adams hates the term “boathouse.” She sees it as a dirty word after the scuttlebutt that surrounded the former failed project. It’s an “equipment facility,” she says.

Currently, the team’s pricey boats sit stacked on a trailer in a parking lot on the northeast side of the lake, where they are exposed to the elements and frequently vandalized. Adams says the team needs a safe space to store the boats used by rowers six days a week.

It’s understandable she wants to sell the facility as small, considering the concerns over the size and scope of the last DUC project. It’s also understandable that neighbors would question any DUC effort after feeling left out of the last design process. Adams knew she had a tall mountain to climb to sell the new plan, but she’s a true Southerner who believes common ground can be found over a hot meal and homemade cornbread.

Adams says the speed with which DUC reached its fundraising goal is proof the project has community support.

“We raised $350,000 in four months because people believe in our mission,” she says.

It seems the only thing DUC hasn’t done is win over Councilman Clayton, whose District 9 includes the neighborhoods that circle White Rock Lake.

What is ‘private’?

“To be honest, I don’t like anything that involves selling the lake,” Clayton says. “It’s not a public asset if the public doesn’t own it.”

He looks to the Corinthian Club and White Rock Boat Club, both of which charge members a fee to dock boats on water out of reach of the public. Then there’s White Rock Rowing’s properties, which are also only accessible to members.

“I shouldn’t be put in this position when we have another boathouse that’s supposed to be public but isn’t really public,” he says.

But Clayton gives Adams credit for doing “the impossible” and finding common ground between lake advocates and securing the funding needed. He agrees

BUILDING UP THE LAKE

the team needs a place to safely store boats, and he’s impressed with the team and the doors crew can open.

“Where I see the public benefit of this project is the capacity for local kids to have a fast-track to scholarships,” Clayton says.

But is that enough of a public benefit to fork over a piece of something so precious?

Clayton says he hasn’t decided yet.

To get behind the project, Claytons says he wants a contract that would hold the team to certain yetto-be-defined standards and allow the city to take the property back if DUC doesn’t hold up its end of the deal.

“Let’s say the key is community service. How do we lock that into a contract?” he says.

“The question I have to answer is, ‘Is the community better served in having this project?’ I’m not sure, but [DUC] has done a good job of getting community support, so I know I need to make a decision.”

Despite the consensus built on the water-based

DUC currently launches its boats from a dock, which floods regularly in the winter, on the southwest side of the lake.

Dallas United Crew Boathouse

project at the former Snipe Club spot, Clayton says he wants to see more options before he’ll consider approving anything. Most recently, he has asked DUC to consider building on land, something Adams says would not be popular with neighbors.

“Honestly, it would save us about $70,000 to build it on land, but that’s not the right thing to do,” Adams says. “That’s not what the community wants.”

While the land options have not yet been vetted, Adams says the proposed locations would mean taking down trees or building in one of the lake’s few parking lots or somewhere teens would have to navigate the 60-foot boats across the crowded pedestrian path to reach the dock. Beyond that, Jung says the White Rock Lake Task Force has concerns about building anything on land around the lake.

“There have not been new buildings added to the lake in decades. If we allow this, then when the restaurants come …,”

THE GOODS

Jung’s voice trails off. “It sets a precedent.”

It’s why Jung says he’s against any land-based option, a point he has made clear to Clayton.

Clayton bristles a bit when asked why he is pushing for more options when there’s already a project that got the blessing of his Park Board and Plan Commission appointees, Rader and Jung, respectively, along with the White Rock Lake Task Force.

“With all due respect, I am the council member,” he says. “I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t consider every option on land.”

Like Jung, he’s concerned about setting a precedent. But more so, he’s concerned about any perception that the lake is for sale.

“At the end of the day, it’s a private club that wants a piece of a public asset,” Clayton says.

Jung disagrees with that assessment.

“The only thing that will be private is the locked equipment center,” he says. “I don’t see that as privatization of the lake.”

VERA BRADLEY! Come see our wonderful selection of backpacks, lunch bags, crossbody bags, duffels, eyeglass cases, totes and more. Something for everyone.

Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30

10233 E. NW Hwy@Ferndale (next to Rooster’s) 214.553.8850

2SHEA BOUTIQUE & MED SPA

#1 dermatologist recommended anti-aging topical Vitamin C serum and wrinkle reducing triple lipid restore moisturizer. Mention this ad to receive 20% off all SkinCeuticals.

6342 La Vista Dr. 214.272.3652 2sheaboutique.com

FLEECE

Calling all knitters, crocheters and yarn enthusiasts. Save the dates: August 18-27. Fleece will be offering promos, demos and specials all week long. Don’t miss the 6th annual DFW Yarn Crawl!

Located in Medallion Center 6464 E Northwest Hwy., Ste 330 214.238.3820 fleeceboutique.com

CITY VIEW ANTIQUE MALL

Student desks are here just in time for Back to School! Very reasonably priced! Get inspired to update or reinvent your home w/ antiques & accessories from our 65 dealers! Open daily.

6830 Walling Ln. (off Skillman/Abrams) 214.752.3071

THE GOODS

ADVOCATE ORNAMENT

Call 214.560.4203

ADVOCATE GOODS

ADV

More than 200,000 sets of eyes are checking out these items right now. Get your specialty items or featured products in front of your neighbors that love to shop local for unique items.

214.560.4203

2017 BEST OF lakewood.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2017 43

“This was done the right way. They listened and came up with a project that we could get behind.”

WHERE WILL THIS TRANSGENDER TEEN ‘GO’ AT WOODROW?

By

Photo by DANNY FULGENCIO

HIGH SCHOOL YEARS are a time when the average student wants to blend in, but this year transgender teens found themselves under an unsolicited political spotlight. The controversial “bathroom bill” still hangs in limbo in the Texas legislature as students prepare to return to school. If passed, transgender students across Texas will have to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at birth, not the one with which they identify. Ezra, a rising senior at Woodrow Wilson High School, is someone who has bounced around the school’s bathrooms as administrators struggle to find a solution for something they once said wasn’t a problem. All that shuffling brought unwanted attention to such an intimate act. Ezra’s story has been echoed by other transgender teens, but the comments and experiences here are theirs alone. Ezra’s identity has been withheld for their protection.

Can you give us a little background into who you are?

I’m an International Baccalaureate student at Woodrow. My favorite classes are biology and film. I consider myself to be an artist — I like to write and draw. I play a lot of video games with friends. A lot of things teens do.

What are your plans after high school?

I’m really interested in forensics. Since I was a kid I’ve been watching “CSI.” Looking into it, it’s not the same as the stuff on TV but I still find it interesting. I’m hoping to make my way through medical school and then go into forensics.

When did you understand and start to feel that you were different?

Around 11 or 12 years old, I realized I was gay. And 12 or 13 years old when I started to understand what transgender was. I was never taught about being gay

The bathroom bill causes ‘fear and apprehension’

JACKSON VICKERY

or transgender so I didn’t know anything about that, but I always felt different. When a teacher was like, “Girls stand on one side of the room and, boys, you stand on the other side,” I felt like I didn’t belong on either side.

Where did you come about your information about being transgender?

I started Googling things and reading things about gender conformity. After talking to friends, who were probably going through something similar, I started to understand I was transgender.

Can you describe the transition?

It was really gradual from going to a cis [cisgender, or matching your birth-assigned gender] girl into a non-binary person. I was never really feminine as a kid, but I wore feminine clothing that corresponded to the gender I was supposed to be. It started with being a

“tomboy” and then it went to cutting my hair short and then wearing two or three sports bras to try and flatten my chest.

How has the school responded to the transition?

Either freshman or sophomore year I went to talk to counselors about asking teachers whether I could use my preferred name instead of using my birth name and using the bathroom I want to. They seemed uncomfortable with it, like they had never dealt with it before. They said I was allowed to use the faculty bathroom, which is off-limits to students, but they never bothered to tell anyone about it because I got in trouble a lot of times for going in there. Towards the end of my sophomore year, I stopped using that bathroom and started using the girls’ bathroom because of the pushback and my safety, but the faculty bathroom was where I was most comfortable being because it was like a unisex bathroom.

Who’s the pushback coming from?

It was mostly ROTC guys, because they were on the first floor where the bathroom is, and almost any teacher that came in there, especially the male ones.

What did that pushback look like?

Mostly, if I was seen in the restroom, faculty members would stop me or tell me to leave. A lot of times they’d threaten me with a referral or take me to an administrator or principal’s office.

What are your thoughts on the bathroom bill?

Mostly fear and apprehension. I had started to recently use the men’s restrooms when it isn’t crowded or it’s after school so there aren’t many people to try and become more comfortable with the prospect of using a restroom closer to my gender, but I’ve stopped doing that and gone back to only using women’s restrooms. The bill speaks to ignorance and hatred of trans people and I hope it is repealed soon.

How have your friends responded?

They were pretty alright with it. A lot of them have turned out to be trans or non-binary themselves, so I guess we made that discovery together in a lot of aspects. We’ve been able to support each other during the transition process.

What about your family?

My mom’s been pretty alright with it. She has trouble with the pronouns — I prefer they/them. I understand that’s difficult for some people to understand. My dad took it pretty negatively at the beginning. I stopped talking about it and I guess he’s become a little okay with it.

Have there been any moments of hesitation in your transition?

Yes. There have been a lot of times I feel like it would have been easier or better or safer to remain as people seeing me as a girl. The discomfort of being misgendered or using the wrong name is easier to deal with than having to explain about my identity, my preferred pronouns and my preferred name.

It depends on how important the person is to me. If it’s a work colleague, I’ll let it go. If it’s a close friend that I intend to talk to a lot, I usually take the time to explain it because it’s worth the trouble.

Most of the time I present myself as more masculine if I’m out with people or if I’m comfortable with people. But if it’s with people I don’t know, I present myself as more feminine.

What do you want people to know about the transgender community?

We’re people just like anyone else. Just because we identify differently doesn’t mean we’re freaks or unnatural, it’s something that’s been present throughout history. I want people to understand transgender identity better just so that it’s easier for people to come out and be more comfortable with themselves. I’d like to prevent the difficult transition for other trans people, I’d like to make it easier.

Interview edited for brevity and clarity.

When a teacher was like, “Girls stand on one side of the room and, boys, you stand on the other side,” I felt like I didn’t belong on either side.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

By PATTI VINSON

Fowl problems

Liesl McQuillan is the damsel to call when ducklings are in distress

Scroll through the Lakewood Facebook page, the gossipy but addictive social media site, and you’ll see the usual posts: Neighbors seeking a reliable plumber or the best tacos in East Dallas; complaints about crazy drivers on Abrams or unruly children on restaurant patios; photos of ducks in the backseat of a Prius.

That last post would come from Liesl McQuillan, former philosophy professor, current graduate student, and always the one to call when ducks and geese are in peril.

The Duck Life began for McQuillan about five years ago when she saw a mother duck and her brood of six ducklings unwisely wandering back and forth across Abrams.

“I got involved,” she says, “because the ducks were almost hit several times as people fly down that street. I couldn’t stand the thought of those ducks being splattered all over Abrams.” She managed to herd them into a nearby neighbor’s backyard pool, but the neighbor didn’t take kindly to permanent ducks, so McQuillan got creative and enlisted the help of her Richland College philosophy students. She offered a few extra credit points to all those willing to assist in catching the little guys.

Long story short, the students left with boosted averages and the ducklings spent the night in McQuillan’s bathtub. Besides the extra credit, the students benefited in other ways. “My students had a fantastic time that day. I found that students who engaged in some sort of giving back activity did much better in my class than the ones who did not,” she says. “They got to know each other and they learned to work as a group, something essential for

discussion-based classes.”

It was McQuillan’s first duck rescue, and the learning curve was steep.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she admits, “so I didn’t catch the mama. We chased her all over the neighborhood, trying to catch her. I was devastated that we couldn’t.”

Wanting the best possible outcome for the babies, McQuillan took to the internet and found Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Hutchins, a facility for injured, sick and orphaned birds. She was advised by center director Kathy Rogers not to take the ducklings to White Rock Lake because turtles, abundant at the lake, tend to eat baby ducks and geese.

any knowledge of them, and put in a call to Rogers Wildlife Rehab. She was told the duck and goose were likely newly released pets who wouldn’t survive in the wild.

The feathered buddies were relatively easy to catch and took a little ride in McQuillan’s Prius, hanging out in her bathroom until a trip the next day to Hutchins.

Thanks to social media, word soon spread that she was the one to call for ducks and geese in a jam, and she has been rescuing ever since.

She safely transported the babies to Hutchins the next day, where they received the care they needed.

Her next rescue was at White Rock Lake, a goose and duck pair who were close friends and waddled everywhere together. McQuillan was coming in from sailing when she encountered the two following folks around, trying to climb into vehicles. She did a bit of detective work, found no one in the vicinity with

But just how does she catch these birds? The secret is towels. Or blankets. Using a trick she learned from Rogers Wildlife, McQuillan calmly approaches birds, then quickly but carefully tosses a towel over them.

“They immediately stop moving. But you need to be very careful to not hurt their necks,” she cautions, then adds, “After that, it’s vitally important that when you pick them up, you pin their wings down so they don’t flap frantically and break one.”

Because so many of her rescues have

“I found that students who engaged in some sort of giving back activity did much better in my class than the ones who did not.”

that ran El Fenix. Le Caveau Vinoteque, a boutique wine shop, will join the Tex-Mex restaurant in the shopping center, and will cater to well-informed oenophiles as an antidote for the big box spirits stores.

SWEET THINGS

East Dallas is in store for some new refreshments. Botolino, an artisan gelato eatery, is slated to open in late August in the space formerly occupied by The Bottle Shop on Lower Greenville, next to Mudsmith. The frozen treats will be made from scratch and fresh ingredients, and come from Carlo Gattani, whose family has run Momo Italian Kitchen for years.

Soon, Lakewood will have a Taiwanese shaved ice location in the neighborhood. This unique treat from Snowbaby is feathery shaved ice, natural flavoring and condensed milk. The busness has hosted only a series of pop-ups but hope to add a permanent location in the neighborhood soon.

CLOSING TIME

After just five months in business on Henderson Avenue, Mellow Mushroom has closed. The trendy restaurant strip has a glut of pizza places, with Pie Tap, Fireside Pies and Louie’s all competing for pizza-bound customers. The location formerly housed Hacienda on Henderson, but it sat vacant for almost three years before Mellow Mushroom’s brief stint.

In another blow for lower-priced dinner options in Lakewood, Zuzu Handmade Mexican Food is moving from Mockingbird and Abrams after 25 years in business at that location. Rent has gone up at the location, and when the grocery store closed, business took a hit. Zuzu hopes to stay close, but will probably have to move in August.

Ellsworth Ave. $455,000

E.Grand

Garland

Rd.

Gaston Ave.

Winstead Dr. Tucker

St.

VillageArboretum

White Rock Lake

Spillway

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 & 11:00am

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

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 Lane

Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule.

214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

METHODIST

GRACE UMC / Diverse, Inclusive, Missional

Sunday School for all ages, 9:30 am / Worship, 10:50 am 4105 Junius St. / 214.824.2533 / graceumcdallas.org

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

MUNGER PLACE CHURCH

Come and See mungerplace.org

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

NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr.

214.827.5521 / www.northridgepc.org / Summer Worship 10:00 am

Church that feels like church and welcomes like family..

PRESTON HOLLOW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 9800 Preston Road

Refreshing Faith Summer Sundays: Grow 9:00 am, Worship 10:00 am

Senior Pastor Matthew E. Ruffner / www.phpc.org / 214.368.6348

ST. ANDREW’S PRESBYTERIAN / Skillman & Monticello

Rev. Rob Leischner / www.standrewsdallas.org

214.821.9989 / Sunday School 9:30 am, Worship 10:45 am

UNITY

UNITY ON GREENVILLE / Your soul is welcome here!

3425 Greenville Ave. / 214.826.5683 / www.dallasunity.org

Sunday Service 11:00 am and Book Study 9:30 am

The supermoms among

We all need moms, and we all need all the moms we can get.

I have lived in two of our most close-knit and vibrant communities across the past 28 years, both of which this column reaches monthly: Lake Highlands and Lakewood. They are good “hoods” for many reasons, but one we seldom talk about is on my mind right now:

Each of them has neighborhood moms who stand out by turning out time and again.

In my generation, I have witnessed friends, like Paula Davis and Carol Toler in Lake Highlands, and Candy Post and Vickie Thompson in Lakewood, whose hearts didn’t close when they left their own houses; they opened wider. They were our neighborhood moms, women always ready to do whatever the community needed. Wherever there was need for a volunteer or someone to run to as a trusted adult, they were there. The front door of their home was always open, as was their heart. I trusted my kids with any of them any time.

There are others, I know, but I know these best. And they have been the best.

Gratefully, we can still use the present tense to talk about Lake Highlands Moms like Paula and Carol. Sadly, the past tense is now proper when speaking of the late Lakewood Moms, Candy and Vickie.

Candy died a few years ago, and yet she continues to hallow our hearts and hearths. Vickie left us on the Fourth of July this year. She was at her usual post at the Lakewood parade, selling T-shirts at a booth at Tokalon Park. That afternoon, she succumbed to a heart attack that took her life.

I can only imagine that her heart had stretched so wide for so long, it couldn’t contain her mortal frame any longer.

The memorial service for Vickie was a tribute to a bigger-than-life life. Wheth-

By GEORGE MASON

er playing the organ or singing in the choir at her church, helping with the Wilkinson Center or Woodrow Wilson events, supporting our city councilmen, or simply being a welcoming soul, Vickie made everyone and everything better by her presence.

The same is true of the others. What’s the key to understanding them? Big personalities, partly. There is something magnetic about them. Service, partly. No task is too great or small. They know what needs to be done and how to do it. Yes is the most common word in their vocabulary, and it’s therefore impossible to say no to them. Love, mostly. Love for friends and kids and church and organizations. Love for their neighborhoods. What would our communities be without them? What our communities are is because of their being with us.

What would our communities be without them? What our communities are is because of their being with us.

Candy and Vickie were my immediate neighbors — one across the creek, the other next door. Paula and Carol live down the road. But geography isn’t the point of their neighbor mom-ness. It’s just who they are. And whether they are here in the flesh or here in spirit, they are always here and forever near.

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.

us

Here’s to Vickie Thompson, Candy Post and all our ‘neighborhood moms’

2017

BEST F 2017

Over the past three months, Advocate readers voted to select the best of Lakewood/East Dallas. Be sure to visit all of these local spots, and share your pictures with us on social media — we’d love to see you around the neighborhood.

Best of Dining

BEST FAMILY - FRIENDLY SPOT

WINNER – The Lot

RUNNER-UP – Steel City Pops

3RD PLACE – Cane Rosso White Rock

BEST CRAFT BEER

WINNER – Lakewood Brewing Co.

RUNNER-UP – Craft Beer Cellar

3RD PLACE – Lakewood Growler

BEST CUP OF COFFEE

WINNER – White Rock Coffee

RUNNER-UP – Cultivar Coffee

3RD PLACE – Union Coffeehouse

BEST PLACE FOR SWEETS

WINNER – Steel City Pops

RUNNER-UP – Hypnotic Emporium

3RD PLACE – Society Bakery

BEST LUNCH SPOT

WINNER – Jimmy’s Food Store

RUNNER-UP – Liberty Burger

3RD PLACE – Goodfriend Package

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD OPENING

WINNER – Meso Maya

RUNNER-UP – Lounge Here

3RD PLACE - Smoky Rose

BEST BREAKFAST / BRUNCH

WINNER – Dream Café

RUNNER-UP – John’s Café

3RD PLACE – Hypnotic Donuts

BEST COMFORT FOOD

WINNER – Highland Park Cafeteria

RUNNER-UP – Blind Butcher

3RD PLACE – SugarBacon Proper Kitchen

BEST HEALTH FOOD

WINNER – HG Sply Co.

RUNNER-UP – Garden Café

3RD PLACE – Unleavened

BEST TACOS

WINNER – Torchy’s Tacos

RUNNER-UP – Taco Joint

3RD PLACE – Taocs Y Mas

BEST GREENVILLE AVE STAPLE

WINNER – Terilli’s

RUNNER-UP – The Libertine

3RD PLACE – Blue Goose Cantina

Best of Services

BEST THRIFT /CONSIGNMENT SHOP

WINNER – Dolly Python

RUNNER-UP – Buffalo Exchange

3RD PLACE – White Rock Center of Hope

BEST ANIMAL CARE

WINNER – Vhea’s Laundromutt

RUNNER-UP – Pet Supplies Plus

3RD PLACE – Doggie Den Dallas

BEST HOME GOODS

WINNER – The Consignment Solution

RUNNER-UP – Talulah & HESS

3RD PLACE – The Gypsy Wagon

BEST GARDEN CENTER

WINNER – Ruibal’s Plants of Texas

RUNNER-UP – Walton’s Garden Center

3RD PLACE – Redenta’s Garden

DINING Terilli’s

2815 Greenville Ave. 214.827.3993 terillis.com

TERILLI’S has been family owned and operated in our neighborhood for over 30 years. They truly appreciate the neighborhood that has supported them through the trials and triumphs of three decades. They are open 7 days a week and dining on the rooftop is available seasonally. The Terilli family says, “We look forward to serving your family for many more decades.” Come by for lunch, brunch or dinner and check out their specials like happy hour all day Monday and half price wine on Tuesday. Complimentary valet. Visit their website to check out the live music schedule.

BEST PLACE TO WORK OUT WINNER – East Dallas Crossfit

RUNNER-UP – White Rock YMCA

3RD PLACE – Crowbar Cardio

BEST BOUQUETS FOR WOMEN WHO WANT SOMETHING BESIDES ROSES AND CARNATIONS (HINT: ALL OF THEM)

WINNER – The T Shop

RUNNER-UP – The Corner Market

3RD PLACE – Talulah & HESS

BEST GO-TO FOR LAST MINUTE GIFTS

WINNER – Tallulah & HESS

RUNNER-UP – Sample House

3RD PLACE – The T Shop

Best of Culture

BEST PLACE TO TAKE YOUR DOG

WINNER – White Rock Lake Dog Park

RUNNER-UP – Truck Yard

3RD PLACE – Swiss Avenue Dog Park

BEST LOCAL SWIMMING HOLE

WINNER – Fraternal Order of the Eagles (FOE)

RUNNER-UP – White Rock YMCA

3RD PLACE – Tietze Pool

BEST PLACE TO TAKE NEW NEIGHBORS

WINNER – Dallas Arboretum

RUNNER-UP – Lowest Greenville

3RD PLACE – Lounge Here

BEST COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT

WINNER – FTLOTL Shoreline Spruce Up

RUNNER-UP – Swiss Avenue Home Tour

3RD PLACE – Christmas Toy Drive

BEST PUBLIC EVENT

WINNER – Greenvile Avenue

St Patrick‘s Day Parade

RUNNER-UP – Lakewood Country Club Fireworks

3RD PLACE – Dallas Marathon

BEST PLACE TO SEE A LIVE SHOW

WINNER – Dallas Arboretum

RUNNER-UP – Granada Theater

3RD PLACE – Balcony Club

BEST NEW ADDITION TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD

WINNER – Smoky Rose

RUNNER-UP – Fleece Yarn Boutique

3RD PLACE – Lounge Here

BEST PLACE TO GO FOR A RUN

WINNER – Fish Hatchery

Nature Trails

RUNNER-UP – White Rock Lake

3RD PLACE – Santa Fe Trail

BEST PLACE FOR KIDS

WINNER – The Lot

RUNNER-UP – Dallas Children’s Theater

3RD PLACE – Lakewood Library

BEST PLACE FOR A PICNIC

WINNER – Dallas Arboretum

RUNNER-UP – White Rock Lake

3RD PLACE – Flagpole Hill

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD INSTITUTION

WINNER – Lakewood Theater

RUNNER-UP – The Grape

3RD PLACE – Terilli’s

AC & HEAT

CLASSES/TUTORING/LESSONS

PIANO LESSONS Cert. Teacher, 30 Yrs. Exp. North Dallas Area. 214-906-4649.

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

Family Owned & Operated

Serving the Dallas area for over 30 years

We raise our kids here, too!

214-330-5500

ClassicAirandHeat.com

TACLB29169E TACLA29042C

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

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

FINANCIAL CONSULTANT

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

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

CUT THE CABLE. CALL DIRECTV Bundle & Save. Over 145 channels + Genie-HD-DVR. $50 a month for 2 Yrs. (with AT&T Wireless) 1-855-781-1565

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

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,

CREATIVE ARTS CENTER

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

DYSLEXIA THERAPIST/CALT/TEACHER

Individual or Group Tutoring for Reading. Grades K-12. References. Lindsay 214-566-4622

MUSIC TEACHER Lessons in voice, piano, guitar, bass & uke. Master’s degree SMU. North Dallas area. dalerdan@gmail.com 214-535-3895

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.

ALTOGETHER CLEAN

Relax ...We’ll Clean Your House, It Will Be Your Favorite Day! Bonded & Insurance. Free Estimates. 214-929-8413. www. altogetherclean.net

AMIRA MAID 972-840-8880

Since ‘98. Insured. amiramaid.com Dependable Service. References

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

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

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

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

CONCRETE/MASONRY/PAVING

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

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

FENCING & DECKS

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

4 QUALITY FENCING • 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

All Wood Decks, Arbors & Patio Covers

EST. 1991 #1

COWBOY

FENCE & IRON CO.

214.692.1991

SPECIALIZING IN Wood Fences &Auto Gates

cowboyfenceandiron.com

Northlake Fence and Deck

Locally owned and operated by the Mccaffrey family since1980 214-349-9132

www.northlakefence.com

CONSUMERS CHOICE AWARDS 2007-2016 Making

972-926-7007

arrowelectric.net

Phones Answered 24/7

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

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

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

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

WILLEFORD HARDWOOD FLOORS 214-824-1166 • WillefordHardwoodFloors.com

Restoration Flooring

25+ Years Experience

469.774.3147

Hardwood Installation · Hand Scraping Sand & Finish · Dustless restorationflooring.net

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

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

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

HONEST, SKILLED

General Repairs/

WANTED: ODD

Allen’s Handyman

Your Home Repair Specialists Drywall Doors Senior Safety Carpentry

972-308-6035 HandymanMatters.com/dallas

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

TEXAS BEST PAINTING 214-527-4168 Master Painter. High Quality Work. Int/Ext.

TONY’S PAINTING SERVICE Quality Work Since 1984. Int./Ext. 214-755-2700

KITCHEN/BATH/TILE/GROUT

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

PAT TORRES 214-388-1850 Lawn Service & Tree Care 28 Yrs. Complete Landscape Renovation.

RED SUN LANDSCAPES • 214-935-9779

RedSunLandscapes.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

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

While we still feel the heat of summer, neighborhood schools are getting ready for students’ return. Follow these tips to get organized and breeze through the school year.

1) Meet the teacher. You’ll feel easier knowing who your child will spend the year with.

2) Take a tour. Show your kid their classroom to help alleviate first-day jitters.

3) Get the school supply list. Get your kids excited for class by letting them pick out a fun binder or pencils.

4) Ease into a routine. Get the kids on a regular schedule a few weeks before school begins for a smooth transition. Have a fantastic school year, students! classifieds.advocatemag.com

HOUSE PAINTING

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

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

CALL A TREE EXPERT - 469-939-3344 Prune. Stump grind. Plant. Burris Tree Service

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

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

Call

OUR CITY

By ANGELA HUNT

It’s a new Dallas

Council and city staff shake-up is exactly what we need

The year of our Lord 2017 will go down in the record books as the “Year of Great and Miraculous Change” in the City of Dallas.

You think I’m overselling this, but look: Dallas is changing, and fast. A decade ago, few would have predicted our city would be undergoing such a rapid transformation today. But 2017 has been pretty remarkable, and the last six months alone have given us every reason in the world to be incredibly optimistic about our city’s future.

This year, three significant, structural transformations have taken place in Dallas, each of which will have long-term, positive effects for at least a generation and likely more.

The first was February’s hiring of T.C. Broadnax as Dallas’ city manager. To say he’s cleaning house at 1500 Marilla is apt only if you typically clean your home with a bulldozer and firehose. Broadnax is dismantling City Hall piece by piece, and building it back with an impressive roster of folks he’s pulled from across the country. He’s brought in a new team of assistant city managers and department heads, and they’re helping him transform our city government.

To appreciate how truly revolutionary this is, you need to understand that previous city managers had steadfastly refused to make dramatic changes. They spent a lot of time rearranging deck chairs. When someone mucked up, they weren’t tossed out but moved around, often with upward mobility.

Seeing dramatic, quick change from

Broadnax is refreshing. And it’s going to reap dividends in the coming years as his new processes and new organizational structures take hold.

May and June saw even more transformation, in what historians will one day call “The Year Things in Dallas Got Real.” Our biennial rite of City Council elections was quite the firestorm this time around, forcing incumbents to dance for their dinner to keep their jobs. After all was said and done, after all the votes

Are these BerlinWall-falling level changes? Maybe not, but for Dallas they’re big. Huge.

were counted and the run-offs run, four incumbents lost their seats.

Beating incumbents is unheard of in Dallas. (Councilmember Scott Griggs has made a pastime of it, beating two incumbents, but he’s the exception, not the rule.) No, it’s a tough row to hoe, beating an incumbent in our city.

But beaten they were. Well, most of them. Philip Kingston easily kept his District 14 council seat, despite the incredible amount of money the Dallas Citizens Council spent trying to oust him. But others, like Erik Wilson, Carolyn King Arnold, Monica Alonzo and Tiffinni Young, weren’t so lucky. They were defeated by former councilmembers Tennell Atkins and Dwaine Caraway,

COMMENT

Visit advocatemag.com and search Angela Hunt to tell us what you think.

along with newcomers Omar Narvaez and Kevin Felder.

The interesting thing here is that the old moneyed establishment supported all four incumbents. With all their old money. Lots and lots of old, old money. But the incumbents still lost, and that’s the refreshing part. New voices and new ideas won out.

In fact, it was one of the new council’s first official acts that laid the groundwork for what I think will be one of the most significant changes for our city. In late June, the council voted on a new contingent to represent Dallas on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board. DART has been heading down the wrong path for years, prioritizing inefficient transportation policies to the detriment of Dallas proper. The new council replaced four of Dallas’ eight board members, knocking off those who had voted against Dallas’ best interests. The new DART board is poised to reshape our transit policies at a critical time.

Are these Berlin-Wall-falling level changes? Maybe not, but for Dallas they’re big. Huge. And I’m still going to call 2017 “The Year Lots of Really Big and Transformational Things Happened in Dallas.” It’s a good year. A great year. And we’ve still got five months to go.

Angela Hunt is a neighborhood resident and former Dallas city councilwoman in East Dallas. She writes a monthly opinion column about neighborhood issues. Her opinions are not necessarily those of the Advocate or its management. Send comments and ideas to her ahunt@advocatemag.com.

lakewood.advocatemag.com