Big D @ 150

[gc]

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2006/150/vitindex.html

Pretty neat bundle of info about our fare city.

[FoUTASportscaster]

cool stuff, even if it only glosses over the top.

[Lakewooder]

I was quite nonplussed at this section of the paper...it was a very cursory look at 150 years --- there was not even a section on Education. The other sections were merely a few paragraphs..

I can only conclude it was created to sell vanity/congratulatory advertisments.

[Random Traffic Guy]

I was quite nonplussed at this section of the paper...it was a very cursory look at 150 years --- there was not even a section on Education. The other sections were merely a few paragraphs..

I can only conclude it was created to sell vanity/congratulatory advertisments.

Agreed...

[antoinekhuu]

DOWN THE ROAD: Future will force Dallas to become a part of something bigger




08:54 PM CST on Friday, January 27, 2006
By DAVID DILLON / The Dallas Morning News


One hundred fifty years from now Dallas won't exist, though it will still be on the map and a million or so people will continue to call it home. By then it will have been absorbed into the "Texas Triangle," a vast new city-state encompassing San Antonio, Austin and Houston.

DallasNews.com/extra

Tipping Point: Access the original series and the recent update
The Triangle will function as a single economy, with jurisdiction over air, water, transportation, open space and other critical resources that transcend political and geographical boundaries. The big issues won't be whether a city has a splashy new convention center or a pro sports franchise, but how often the bullet train runs and the health of its watershed.

If this sounds far-fetched, consider that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut already comprise such a mega-region, as do Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, San Diego and Baja California. Planner Robert Yaro calls them the "basic competitive units of the new global economy," mini European Unions without the language problems.

These grand realignments aren't cheap, easy or painless, but they are inevitable.

The world is running out of oil and gas, which will make sprawl unsupportable and force wasteful, expansive cities like Dallas to recycle vacant land and abandoned buildings instead of always starting from scratch. Developers won't be able to blackmail mayors by threatening to move to cheaper land farther out, because there won't be any cheap land to move to. North Dallas is nearly built out with shopping centers and McMansions, while the supply of raw land south of the Trinity – the city's greatest economic resource – will be exhausted in 25 years.

So expect a taller, denser Dallas with more apartment blocks and mixed-used projects, mainly along transit corridors, and fewer single-family homes and solitary office parks. This corresponds to the urban profile sketched out in the proposed comprehensive plan making its way through City Hall. The corridors eventually will supplant freeways as officials recognize that they can never pour enough concrete to eliminate congestion. It always expands to fill the space available.

As part of this new recycling ethic, Dallas will also rediscover neighborhoods that it had previously ignored, such as the Cedars, South Oak Cliff and the Stemmons industrial district. In this it will be following New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, where the most-coveted communities these days are Brooklyn, the South Side and Silver Lake, all forsaken and left for dead only a few decades ago.

As with oil and gas, American cities are exhausting their green infrastructure at an alarming rate, which will make what's left priceless. The most successful cities of the 21st century will not only preserve and enhance their green space, but also set aside land for incubating the new industries and ideas that we know are coming, even if we can't identify them. Not being able to predict the future is no excuse for not preparing for it.

Human capital is even more precious. Dallas is lucky to have one of the youngest populations of any U.S. city, a situation that will continue as it becomes more Latino and less Anglo. So while competing cities will struggle to accommodate aging baby boomers, Dallas will be challenged to attract and retain its younger residents. Older U.S. cities continually reinvented themselves by harnessing the talents of their newcomers. Now it's Dallas' turn. The alternative is to become merely a port of entry for immigrants on their way to the suburbs.

Part of the solution is the familiar trifecta of jobs, housing and education. The jobs can't all be high-tech. Dallas will have to offer tens of thousands of quality manufacturing and service jobs to serve its burgeoning young workforce, persuade companies to invest in the city and then supply the infrastructure to support them. Its track record so far is mediocre, particularly in southern Dallas, where the infrastructure is marginal and much of the new housing second-rate. The new campus of the University of North Texas will help turn around things, but it's not a silver bullet.

The Dallas Morning News' "Tipping Point" series two years ago highlighted the dearth of affordable housing throughout the city. Dallas is ecstatic about $500-a-square-foot condos and $500,000 historicist hodgepodges, but less interested in workforce housing. There's virtually no affordable housing in the Uptown boom, and young professionals and empty nesters occupy most of the downtown lofts.

One reason for the latter is the generally sorry state of Dallas' public schools, a key reason for the middle-class exodus from the city and a major threat to long-term economic health.

The Texas Legislature allows Dallas little direct control over its schools. Yet what the Legislature proscribes, a consortium of civic, business and educational leaders could provide in the form of new initiatives and constant pressure for improvement.

Dallas has always been a city of entrepreneurs, from John Neely Bryan hawking house lots to pioneers to Texas Instruments selling semiconductors to the world. Education reform is just a different kind of entrepreneurship, requiring new leaders who are focused on the big picture and the long view instead of this year's budget and next year's election.


E-mail ddillon@dallasnews.com

http://www.wfaa.com/s/dws/spe/2006/150/stories/DN-closingessay_150.State.Edition1.15f88787.html

[Lakewooder]

Today's the day ! Happy Birthday DALLAS!

I Love You!

:happtybda

[Columbus Civil]

Is it too late to plan a birthday party?

[AndyIvey]

There's virtually no affordable housing in the Uptown boom, and young professionals and empty nesters occupy most of the downtown lofts.
When I read this, I see that the new construction is occupied. That is a good thing. Only when we see empty lofts combined with a lack of affordable housing will it be clear that our development has been directed to the wrong tax bracket.

[Cliff Dweller]

I was really amazed that there was no official recognition. Seems like it was a great opportunity to do some civic boosterism. If not from "officialdom", I would have thought one of our arts groups or the Chamber of Commerce or somebody would have jumped on this. Anyone have any insights?

[Lakewooder]

I too am disappointed -- perhaps the Fair can be extended as it was for the Texas Sesquicentennial back in 1986.

BTW, DMagazine has a good section on Dallas 150 -- mostly great photos. I understand a lot of them are on display at the library Downtown -- anyone seen them?