Arlington, TX

To signal the arrival of the holiday season, a 51-foot blue spruce was hoisted up in front of City Hall on Abram Street this morning. The $6,000 tree (paid for by private donations) was hauled in from Manton, Michigan.

The official lighting of the Christmas tree will immediately follow the annual Holiday Lights Parade which will take place on December 8 at 6 p.m. The parade is sponsored by the Arlington Star-Telegram and the Arlington Christmas Parade, Inc. It will feature antique cars, bands, drill teams, lighted floats, mounted units, and a visit from Santa. In addition, spectators can enjoy the old-fashioned feel of the decorated businesses on Main Street while drinking hot chocolate and snacking on roasted nuts. I encourage you to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping to enjoy a night out with the family and enjoy the parade.

For more information on the upcoming Holiday Lights Parade, visit http://www.arlingtonparadeoflights.com/.

Wentworth Miller, star of Prison Break, and other actors and crew members walk through a scene on Main Street in downtown Arlington before shooting.

The Fox prime-time drama Prison Break paid a visit to downtown Arlington yesterday. They were filming scenes for the series, which will begin airing new episodes in January 2008. Traffic on some streets had to be diverted during filming.

The show moved from Chicago to the Dallas/Fort Worth area after the first season. They do much of the filming here in the D/FW area because of the many small towns of various sizes, all in close proximity, which it needs for its “on the run” type of storylines. Dallas and Fort Worth also give the producers plenty of options for a big-city look as well. They chose this area for it’s “Anywhere USA” feel.

Make sure to watch out for familiar sites, like downtown Arlington, when the show comes back in January.

Source
Photo Source: FW Star-Telegram

The city of Arlington has launched a program called “Street Scouts” to encourage residents to report hazards such as potholes, burned-out streetlights, and missing street signs. After all, residents know best what the problems are in their neighborhoods.

Residents are asked to report problems by leaving a message on the Arlington Community Services hotline at 817-459-6777 (or you can press “0″ to speak with a live operator) or by visiting the city’s website and clicking on “Citizen Action Request” on the right-hand side of the page. 

Average response times is 2-3 days for non-emergency problems such as burned out streetlights or minor potholes. Hazardous situations, such as dangerous potholes, downed light poles or missing stop signs, can receive same day response.

I have used this new service and I want to give the city rave reviews for their response. We had a huge bump on our street in front of our house as well as several crumbling curbs. Phone Guy contacted the city through the website and a crew was out the very next day marking the areas that needed to be fixed. They came out within a week and started the project, tearing out one side of the street and pouring new concrete. That same day they replaced all the deteriorating curbs on the street as well. After letting it cure for a week, they returned and fixed the other side of the street. Within 3 weeks, the entire project was done and our street was no longer a nuisance.

Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

(Click the map for a larger view)

The Arlington Police Department is trying to help you avoid the traffic as you begin your Christmas shopping this weekend. They have provided the map above to help aid you in finding an alternate route as you visit the shopping district.

They are asking drivers to be patient and have offered a map of alternate routes to both The Parks and the Arlington Highlands.

For The Parks, consider using alternate entrances. Instead of using the main Cooper Street entrance at Pleasant Ridge Road, go north to the entrance near the Barnes & Noble or the next to Jason’s Deli. Shoppers can also enter the mall in two places from Arbrook. Drivers can exit at the southeast corner of the mall by the FedEx Kinko’s, which exits onto the I-20 service road, avoiding Cooper Street, or onto Arbrook on the north side of the mall.

Visitors to the Highlands are encouraged to enter and exit from Center Street and Arbrook Boulevard. Barricades will be set up to prevent left turns out of the Highlands on Highlander Boulevard and there will be limited access to Matlock Road. Once inside the shopping center, drivers will be asked to travel in a clockwise direction. Signs will assist drivers with the direction of travel and police will be on hand to direct traffic.

Do your best to stay off of Matlock and Cooper (I know I always do). Alternate North/South routes include Bowen Road and Collins Street.

To avoid traffic, shop during the week. Avoid the peak times of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and shop early.

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Many of us will be spending Thanksgiving with family and doing some shopping on Friday. but in case you have any city-related business to attend to, here is a rundown of what will be open and closed for the holiday: 

The following will be closed on Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 22:

• The Arlington Municipal Building (City Hall)
• The Municipal Office Tower
• Arlington Municipal Court
• George W. Hawkes Central Library and all branch libraries 
• Parks and Recreation Department Administrative Office
• Handitran Office and Handitran special transportation services
• All Senior Recreation Centers
• All City of Arlington Recreation Centers
• Hugh Smith Indoor Pool
• Lake Arlington Operations
• Arlington Tennis Center
• No garbage or recycling pickups will occur

All municipal golf courses will be open with special weekend/holiday rates on Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving Day). Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m.- 2 p.m.

The following will be closed on Friday, November 23:

• The Arlington Municipal Building (City Hall)
• The Municipal Office Tower
• Arlington Municipal Court 
• George W. Hawkes Central Library and all branch libraries 
• Parks and Recreation Department Administrative Office
• Handitran Office and Handitran special transportation services
• All Senior Recreation Centers
• Dottie Lynn Recreation Center
• Meadowbrook Recreation Center
• Hugh Smith Recreation Center
• Hugh Smith Indoor Pool
• Lake Arlington Operations
• Arlington Tennis Center

The following will be open on Friday, November 23:

• All municipal golf courses with special weekend/holiday rates
• Elzie Odom Recreation Center - Opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.
• Cliff Nelson Recreation Center - Opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m.
• Meadowbrook Recreation Center - Opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m.
• Dottie Lynn Recreation Center - Opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m.
• Garbage and recycling pickups will occur as scheduled.

Fashion designer and television personality Tim Gunn will be making an appearance at the Dillard’s in the Parks at Arlington Mall this Saturday, November 17 at 1:00 p.m.

Gunn, a native of Washington, D.C., has appeared as a mentor and judge on Bravo’s show Project Runway since its first season in 2004. Project Runway is a reality competition show in which contestants compete to create the best clothes within the limitations of time, materials, and theme. Their designs are judged and one or more are eliminated each week. Gunn is known to Project Runway viewers for catchphrases like “Make it work” and “Carry on.” He also has another series, Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style, which debuted this season on Bravo. It it, he gives advice to fashion-challenged individuals. If you’re not familiar with his Bravo shows, you may remember him from a couple of Ugly Betty episodes he appeared in, as himself, last season.

In addition to his television credits, Gunn served Chair of Fashion Design at Parsons, The New School for Design until earlier this year. He is currently the chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne and the author of the book Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style.

The event this Saturday at Dillard’s will feature a holiday fashion show, along with giveaways, music, refreshments and prizes! Shoppers who spend at least $100 on regular-priced merchandise will be professionally photographed with Tim Gunn and receive a personalized signed copy of his new book, Tim Gunn:A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style. If you’d like to be a part of Saturday’s festivities, call 817-465-0718 for more information or to R.S.V.P.

Have you heard of the band New Year’s Day? No, well I hadn’t either, but they have a pretty good song called, “I Was Right.” If you want to check out some of their music, go to their MySpace page. The band is currently touring with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, who I happen to love. I don’t see any Dallas/Fort Worth dates on their calendar yet though.

So what does this have to do with buying cowboy hats? Well, as far as I can tell, Dan and Brad are part of the band’s Street Team and they have embarked on a radio tour to promote the band. They are recording their adventures as they travel across the U.S. by car. They have posted some amusing You Tube videos of their exploits, one of which shows them at Cavender’s Boot City in Arlington shopping for cowboy hats.

For more adventures of Dan and Brad, check their website: http://www.newyearsdayrocks.com/iwasrightradiotour/

Hector Montenegro, currently superintendent of the Ysleta school district in El Paso, has been named the finalist for the new AISD superintendent. He will succeed the current superintendent, Mac Bernd, who announced his resignation earlier this year.

Montenegro has been superintendent of the Ysleta school district since 2003. The district, which has about 46,000 students, is in the eastern part of El Paso. He is credited with making improvements to the district. He has also been an administrator in Dallas, Austin and San Marcos and in Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

Texas mandates a 21-day period between the naming of a finalist and his or her hiring. The period is used for trustees to conduct background checks and visit the finalist’s home district before making the final hiring decision.

Trustees are scheduled to visit the Ysleta school district on November 26. If everything checks out, Montenegro will be offered a contract on November 29.

Source and Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Voters solidly defeated the proposed Crime Control and Prevention District, 56% Against and only 44% For.Turnout was higher yesterday than it has been in some recent elections. Still only about 9 percent of the city’s 182,418 registered voters cast ballots. As dismal as that sounds, it’s actually up quite a bit from the 3.9 percent who voted last May.

Had it passed, the crime prevention district would have raised our sales tax from 8 cents to 8.125 cents per dollar for five years. City officials estimated that an additional $6 million per year would have been brought in to pay for anti-crime programs. Some say the proposal failed because it included too many non-crime related expenditures, such as tutoring, camp scholarships and youth programs. These were touted as crime prevention projects although opponents didn’t see it that way.

Mayor Cluck says the city will formulate another plan to help fight crime. “We need to look for another plan to take care of the crime problem we are seeing here.” But he added, “I think we had to have a prevention piece in it.”

In other election news, all 16 of the proposed state constitutional amendments passed. Some of the major ones included:

Proposition 3: Ensures that homeowners can’t be hit with a school tax increase of more than 10 percent a year;

Proposition 4: Provides $1 billion in bond money to build prisons, maintain and repair state parks, restore historic buildings and expand crime labs, among other projects. Included is almost $50 million to build an emergency vehicle operations training track near Austin;

Proposition 6: Allows Texans who use their personal vehicles for business to avoid paying property taxes on them;

Proposition 12: Authorizes the Texas Transportation Department to issue $5 billion in bonds to pay for highway improvements;

Proposition 13: Expands the circumstances under which Texas judges can deny bail to certain criminal defendants accused of family violence.

Proposition 15: Authorizes the Legislature to issue bonds of $300 million a year over 10 years to finance cancer research.

Source: Fort-Worth Star-Telegram

Arlington police will be trying to clear out more than 37,000 outstanding warrants over the next four weeks. To borrow a tagline from Heroes, “Are You on the List?”  You can find out by visiting the Municipal Court website.

If you see that you are on the list, it’s time to take care of any outstanding warrants before they visit your neighborhood to arrest you. They are specifically concentrating on zip codes 76012, 76014, 76017 and 76018.

If you find that you do have an outstanding warrant, you can take care of it online at the Municipal Court website; or in person at the kiosk in the main police station located on Division Street, or at the Arlington Municipal Court at 201 E. Abram.

For citations not in warrant status, payment can be made by cash, personal or cashier’s check or money order. If there is an active warrant, only cash, a cashier’s check or a money order will be accepted.

Dates of the warrant roundup are as follows: Nov. 5-11 - 76012; Nov. 12-18 - 76018; Nov. 26-Dec. 3 - 76017; Dec. 3-9 - 76014. Just because you don’t live in these zip codes, doesn’t mean you are safe. Arlington police may still pay you a visit, so it’s in your best interest to take care of any outstanding warrants before that happens.

I checked and I’m not on the list and none of my loved ones are there either. Not that I had any reason to think we were, I just thought “better safe than sorry,” you know?

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 a.m. this Sunday,  November 4. That means you will need to “fall back” one hour.

The change takes place a week later than in the past due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This act changed the dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. beginning in 2007. DST began on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, extending DST by several weeks.

This is a good time to change the batteries in your smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors. Instead of waiting for the batteries to die, go ahead and change them now. It’ll help keep your family safe and save you from listening to that dreaded beeping that only ever happens in the middle of the night.

Free smoke detectors, installation and replacement batteries are available for elderly and low income residents by calling the Arlington Fire Department at 817-459-5500.

Sorry I’m late today. I’m still recovering from Halloween. I think it should be a law that Halloween always falls on a Friday or Saturday. My kids and I were draggin’ this morning. Is it bedtime yet?

Anyway, today’s Thursday so I have a You Tube video to share with you as usual. Today’s video features the UTA Mavericks’ new mascot (who, as of yet, has not been named) doing the “Souljah Boy” with a young fan. The song, actually called “Crank That (Souljah Boy)” is the debut single from rapper Souljah Boy and is currently #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Though it’s not really a favorite of mine, everywhere I go I hear kids singing this song and see them doing the dance featured in the music video.

They both have the moves down, don’t they?