NOTES from CITY HALL NORTHAVEN TRAIL EXTENSION

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Each month, Advocate highlights the issues being discussed Downtown and how they affect Preston Hollow.

The next portion extends west from Preston as far as the current funding will take it. City officials project Midway Road. The trail eventually will reach the Walnut Hill/Denton Drive DART Station, as mapped out in the Dallas Trail Network. With the eastern connection across Central Expressway, trail users could go from the Elm Fork sports complex to White Rock Lake.

District 11 Councilman Lee Kleinman during a recent neighborhood meeting at Grace Bible Church. “Sixty to 70 percent of the city’s green space is south of Downtown. We have to use whatever corridors we can.”

The trail is a 2-mile linear park, running mostly along the Oncor easement. The trail is poised to be the city’s primary east-to-west hike-and-bike trail.

Trail users will have to wait about three years before they can continue west on our neighborhood’s Northaven Trail.

Design work for the second phase should be complete in about a year, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2016.

More City Hall updates:

Neighborhood residents get behind Uber

Back in August, when the anti-Uber ordinance sneaked its way onto the city council’s consent agenda at the last minute, a number of Preston Hollow residents made clear their support for the app-based car service.

“My office received an onslaught of calls,” says District 13 Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates. “They like the convenience of it. It makes it easier to meet people across town without taking two cars.”

The Dallas Morning News reported that interim City Manager A.C. Gonzales, at Yellow Cab’s demand, tried to slip in a proposal that would make it much harder for services like Uber to operate — services that have been welcomed with success in other major cities. Cab and limo companies in Dallas, however, argue that because a technology company like Uber is not subject to the same taxes

The city approved funding in the 2012 bond program. The second phase costs about $3 million, through a partnership with the city and Dallas County.

“What we find is really that trails knit communities together. That’s what’s starting to happen in North Dallas,” said

Trails are the best tool for acquiring public green space around Preston Hollow, said District 13 Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates.

“We can’t gain park land any other way.” and fees, it could put traditional services out of business.

More specific questions about crossings (including the Bachman Branch Creek) as well as possible alley reconstructions will be answered during another meeting in spring of 2014.

The Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee will address the issue in several hearings that will begin Jan. 13 with a public forum 5-7 p.m. Jan. 21 in the council chambers.

Uber allows riders to call one of its signature cabs or SUVs using a smartphone. You also can pay and split fares with a smartphone, so it’s cashless. Similar services include Lyft and UberX. Rumors are circulating that even more of these companies are eying Dallas.

Bag-ban ordinance headed for a vote

Sometime in the beginning of this year, the city council will decide whether to ban single-use, carryout bags in Dallas. Councilmember Dwaine Caraway presented an updated proposal back in March that would enact a $500 fine to businesses that did not comply while including exemptions for certain types of bags such as dry-cleaning bags, restaurant take-out bags and charity organizations.

Councilman Lee Kleinman represents parts of Preston Hollow on the city’s Quality of Life Committee and has expressed his support of a ban or fee for single-use bags.

80 Percent Of City Traffic Signals Are Obsolete

City officials have proposed a comprehensive plan to upgrade traffic signals citywide since most have surpassed their 20-25-year life spans and don’t meet state and federal standards.

The city council and staff will look for funds in each annual budget to begin a 25-year program to replace 60 traffic signals at $10 million a year.

The result should help decrease service requests, accidents, and congestion on the roads, and the new signals will include sensors to detect cyclists as well as motorists. —Emily Toman