Addison's National Night Out Against Crime

On Tuesday, October 7, 2008, communities all over Texas will celebrate the "25th Annual National Night Out" (NNO), a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW). In other parts of the country, the event was celebrated on August 5, but we waited for cooler weather!

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is designed to:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

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Tolls to increase at Wycliff Avenue gate on Dallas North Tollway

September 23, 2008

By DAN X. McGRAW / The Dallas Morning News

The North Texas Tollway Authority is raising tolls at the Wycliff Avenue gate of the Dallas North Tollway to make them consistent with those at other toll booths.

Beginning Oct. 1, tolls will go up a dime to 70 cents for TollTag customers and a quarter to $1 for other motorists, the authority said today.

The tolls had been lower because of construction between Lemmon Avenue and Interstate 35. Wycliff Avenue sits in the middle of the construction. The construction had limited toll road access to two lanes in each direction. But on Aug. 29, a third lane opened, marking completion of a $50 million renovation project.

Urban Reserve changed former dumping ground to eco-friendly development

September 25, 2008

By DAVID DILLON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Urban Reserve is not a subdivision, Diane Cheatham will tell you, more than once if she gets the chance. Nor is it just another pricey enclave for the overprivileged, even though it contains its share of million-dollar houses.

"It is a community of enthusiasts for modern architecture," points out Cheatham, founder of Dallas-based Urban Edge Developers Ltd. "People of all ages and incomes will be living there."


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The City of Addison to receive a plaque, appoint a representative to...

This week, the Addison City Council is having a joint council meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission.

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Landing attractions lakeside

Denton Record Chronicle - August 12, 2008

LAKE DALLAS — Holly Deitrick doubts she’ll ever carry any kind of handheld computer. Instead, she plans the city’s next special event by filling a small spiral notebook with to-do lists, reminders and random thoughts.

“I love crossing stuff out,” said Deitrick, 25, who has been the city’s special events coordinator for two-and-a-half years. “I’ll never have a PDA [personal digital assistant] because I can’t physically write it down and mark it out when I’m done.”

Notebooks and a measuring wheel have become Deitrick’s favorite tools as she figures out how to do a job that has few peers in area cities. Lake Dallas was able to create the position in January 2006 after Best Western opened a hotel inside the city limits and brought hotel occupancy tax revenue to the city for the first time.

State law requires the city to spend the money on something that encourages tourism.

“We promote our lakeside to outsiders,” Deitrick said.

But the job has had a huge learning curve, she said. It took a little while to figure out what city leaders wanted.

For example, a national personal watercraft race is coming to town next month.

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Fuel surcharges are delivering extra pain

The Dallas Morning News - July 16, 2008

You're not only paying to fill your tank these days, you're also helping your pizza deliveryman gas up.

Along with your cabbie, your plumber, your tow-truck operator, your florist, your landscaper and the guy who services your home-security system.

While fuel surcharges on airline tickets and package deliveries have attracted the most attention, small businesses in Dallas and across the country are also tacking on the fees.

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House sales - pretty hot' in county

The Dallas Morning News - Thursday, July 17, 2008

The housing market in Denton County appears to be holding its own despite the continued increase in residential foreclosure postings.

“Denton County is pretty hot right now,” said Stacy Curtis of Curtis Mortgage in Denton. “July is the biggest month we’ve had in 2 1/2 years, and August is looking like it will follow suit. People are still buying houses.”

A total of 507 foreclosures, an increase of 40 percent from a year ago, were posted for the Aug. 5 auction, according to the Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. monthly report released Thursday.

The overall market across the Dallas-Fort Worth region also is healthy, said George Roddy Sr., president of the Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

“All in all, the market itself is performing rather well,” Roddy said. “Denton County is actually in the path of growth and is going to continue to be in the path of growth.”

Neighboring Collin County continues to rank high among 10 Dallas-Fort Worth area counties with a 42 percent hike in residential postings from 404 in August 2007 to 573 for the upcoming auction.

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