The Heights Park Neighborhood Association Newsletter April 2013

Transcription

1 The Heights Park Neighborhood Association Newsletter April 2013 THE HEIGHTS PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2013 Wildflower Mark your calendars is an award-winning, to join your neighbors multi-day at arts and our 7th Annual OctoberFest on Saturday, October 26, from 11:30am 1:30pm in Heights Park. music festival featuring six performance stages, the Wild! Marketplace, The event is fun the for Taste the whole of Texas family, Food so come Garden, the family have friendly a free lunch, Kidz play Korner, some and games, a whole decorate lot more! a See the pumpkin or two and enjoy the cooler weather. attached See the attached flyer for flyer details for more on WildFlower! details. tickets. Go to to Some of our favorite moments from last year: get updates on artists and events during the festival. BUY YOUR TICKETS FROM HPNA to get Bounce House Cops & Kegs (root beer) Bobbing for Apples Face Painting a free pizza lunch on Sunday, May 19th and take advantage of our reserved patio space. This year the City of Richardson is bringing door prizes to Octoberfest. As part of their city-wide green initiative, they re giving reusable Richardson Recycles shopping bags to the first 20 families at the festival. Also, every family will get two packs of blue recycling bags. Balloon Artist Bring the whole family Meet RFD & check out a fire truck at the North Pavillion HEIGHTS PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

2 Well Done, Haystack, Well Done. The new restaurant in town, Haystack Burgers & Barley, is owned and operated by Heights Park residents, Kevin and Jenny Galvan and Rob and Christine Wondoloski. We sat down with the Galvans, who oversee the dayto-day operations at Haystack to get answers to those burning questions we have about the hottest burger joint in Richardson (and possibly Dallas). Where d the name come from? Lindsey, our 10 year old. We were driving and there were hay bales by the highway, she said What about Haystack? We kept going back to it. We knew we d do haystack onions and then we came up with burgers and barley and it just worked. Who masterminded the Chicken Fried Burger? The chef at the time wanted to do it. I said, No one s gonna buy it, it s not gonna sell. Then Thrillist named it the #4 burger in Dallas. What s your favorite off-the-menu item? If I get a burger, it s plain Jane, just mustard and pickles only. Kevin I only get the kid burger and when I m with the kids I always get the queso. It s Kevin s parent s recipe. -Jenny Haystack is just south of the neigborhood in the Richardson Heights Shopping Center at 100 S. Central Expressway. How many beers are on the menu? Twelve on draft and about 35 in a bottle, maybe more. All the drafts are local. We re all craft style beers. The Haymaker is all the rave with the real housewives of Richardson how did this magical beverage come to exist? Maker s Mark bourbon is high end and went with the concept we re doing, so I wanted something a little refreshing and away from margaritas. We made it at home in our kitchen and then we walked around with our Igloo coolers going door to door to our neighbors. Everyone loved it. And the name Haymaker, well, we just had to name it that because of Maker s Mark. What made you decide to open your restaurant in Richardson? As residents, we saw the neighborhood changing to younger families and we wanted to create something, a place where we would like to go and for our new neighbors. The namesake burger (shown here with a Peticolas Golden Opportunity) is a must. But don t sleep on the chicken sandwich. How long have you been Heights Park residents? Fourteen years. My parents found the house and called me and said you ve gotta come in. We were pregnant with Callie and wanted her to be born in Texas, so we moved when I was pregnant at 33 weeks. What s it like being neighbors to Alamo Drafthouse? Alamo s been very supportive. During construction, Bill made Haystack his temporary office. It s been fun. We re seeing a lot more inquiries about the shopping center and open spots. What s your favorite thing about the neighborhood? We love the location and that people at all different stages of their life. We like the homes and big trees. We just love being part of the neighborhood. One of our favorite things about opening (Haystack) is that we ve gotten to meet neighbors.

3 HELP YOUR BEST FRIEND OUT Heartworm, flea and tick prevention are vital yearround. Unfortunately, when warm weather ends, many pet owners stop heartworm and flea and tick prevention. HEARTWORMS If your dog is bitten by a mosquito in summer, he may not develop a full-blown case of heartworms for a few months. Heartworm preventives kill microfilaria already in the bloodstream so they do not have a chance to develop into adult heartworms and cause a potentially deadly infection. Since winters in north Texas are mild, dogs need to receive regular doses of heartworm preventive year-round. FLEAS Flea populations continue to breed as long as it s over 70 degrees outside, and can breed indoors yearround. Although spring and summer are peak times for flea infestations, it s important to continue to use flea and tick prevention to keep these parasites away. Visit your local veterinarian for heartworm, flea and tick preventives. Prevention is critical for our fourlegged friends so they can continue to be loving, loyal family members for many years to come! If you are looking for a new family member, please consider adopting from/ fostering with the Richardson Humane Society, who holds regular Adopt-A-Pet events at pet stores in our area and once a month at Collin Creek Mall in Plano. Find out more at richardsonhumanesociety.org.

4 Heights Family Aquatic Center proved a resounding success in its inaugural season, despite being open only ⅔ as many days as the other city pools. Heights averaged more than 500 visitors daily and accounted for more than half of the total attendance for all city pools over the entire season. The 4 other city pools in the park system combined to average 331 visitors daily. City Bond Tracker Find out what improvements are coming to your street. The Heights Aquatic Center (pictured above) was paid for by Richardson s 2010 Bond Program. The 2010 Bond Tracker, at allows anyone to track the progress of projects approved by voters and provides direct contact information to project managers for questions. The program also provides the financial commitment made to construct each project. The interactive map is easy to navigate and loaded with information about the remaining work and schedule. Some highlights: Most of the bond projects east of Floyd are complete, with the exception of replacing three alleys in the 600 blocks (the ones south of Northill, Newberry & Westwood). As most of you have probably seen, these alleys are well underway and are slated for completion near the end of the year. West of Floyd is about to get busy. Several streets and alleys west of Floyd will be completely rebuilt. First up are streets and alley of Gentle, Lockwood, and Weatherred Drives, which will begin this fall. Still west of Floyd, the reconstruction of Ridgedale and its alleys is in design as is the reconstruction of Northill. This work is scheduled to begin early in Design is also underway for the enhancement of the three bridges on Arapaho westward from the new recreation center. That work is expected to begin next year. SAVE THESE DATES! Take advantage of these city-sponsored events. Recycle Electronics, shred documents Saturday, October 12th 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. City Hall parking lot Drug Take Back Day Bring your unused or expired pharmaceuticals for disposal. All solid dosage pharmaceutical product and liquids in consumer containers may be accepted. Saturday, October 26th City Hall

5 What s Going on at Belt Line & 75? The northbound Central Expressway (US 75) frontage road has been reduced to one through lane at Belt Line Road/Main Street. The reduction in lanes is expected to last approximately one month as a contractor completes construction of an underground drainage structure. Along with the lane closure: All but one lane of the northbound frontage road will be required to turn onto Belt Line Road/Main Street. Just one lane will be allowed to turn left from eastbound Belt Line Road/Main Street. The outside westbound Belt Line Road/Main Street lane will be right-turn only, leaving two westbound through lanes. The U-turn lane from the southbound to the northbound frontage road will be closed as needed from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Construction at Belt Line and the northbound 75 frontage road is expected to last a month The planned schedule is subject to change due to potential weather and construction complications. The construction is part of a project to improve drainage in the Floyd Branch Watershed, which collects drainage from 2.6 square miles in south central Richardson and eventually flows to White Rock Lake. The project will add capacity to the area s drainage system by adding new underground drainage pipes north and south of Main Street between US 75 and the DART rail line. No existing open channels will be enclosed. Improvement work also includes the installation of a new right turn lane along westbound Main Street from Interurban Street to the US 75 northbound frontage road and construction of a new bridge over Floyd Creek Branch at West Phillips Street. In addition to improving the decades-old drainage system, improving drainage system deficiencies will also allow for the possibility of future development since current conditions have been a costly deterrent to redevelopment along the City s Main Street and Central Expressway corridors. Final completion of the project is expected in spring of Heights Park Tech Corner You can now pay your yearly association dues and flag program online via PayPal. There is an option to do a one-time payment, or you can enroll in automatic yearly payments. The one-time yearly membership payment does not require a PayPal account. However, if you d like to be charged on a recurring yearly basis, you will need to have a PayPal account so you can cancel the recurring payment in the future if necessary. For details, visit Additionally, you can now check the status of your membership. A simple listing of street addresses and current membership status is available at www. heightspark.com/membership-list. If anyone out there is interested in blogging for heightspark.com (such as writing articles or local restaurant reviews, taking photographs to document local events, or anything like that), please send an to contact@heightspark.com and we can set you up. Knowledge of Wordpress publishing would be a bonus, but it s really not that difficult to learn. Finally, please join us on Facebook: We d love to connect.

6 Calling all crime fighters! We need you! No Joke. We need you to help keep our neighborhood safe by getting involved with one of these opportunities. Citizen Crime Patrols are trained volunteers who patrol the neighborhood to detect and deter crime. Volunteers first complete an online application and then attend a training session. Classroom training is scheduled on a monthly basis. The next class is October 31st from 10:00 AM 2:00 PM. Volunteers patrol a minimum of one hour per month. Patrol schedules are flexible and can be worked out on an individual basis. Crime Patrol also meets as a group for briefings and updates. Neighborhood Crime Watches are an organized way to meet and get to know your neighbors. It is neighbors looking out for neighbors. Neighborhood Crime Watches hold an annual block meeting where a roster is complied with each neighbor s contact information. The neighborhood rosters are helpful for vacation notifications and in case of emergencies. Detailed information can be found on the City of Richardson s website, National Night Out (Tuesday, October 1, 2013) is a celebration of our Neighborhood Crime Watches. Richardson Police call it a going away party for criminals. Many Neighborhood Crime Watches use this night as their annual meeting with potluck dinners a favorite theme. Crime watch coordinators along with the support of the neighbors organize the National Night Out celebration. More detailed information and sample invitations and flyers can be found in the Richardson Police department s crime prevention section on the city s website. Crime Watch Coordinators organize annual crime watch meetings for their block, typically on National Night Out. They maintain the roster for the block and provide proof of meeting attendance to the crime prevention department of RPD. Heights Park Neighborhood Association Block Representatives distribute neighborhood newsletters and other neighborhood correspondence. They also act as crime watch coordinators until an official one is selected. Join the Heights Park Neighborhood Association! Keeping our neighborhood safe takes all of us working together. By joining HPNA you will be able to receive important information regarding crime alerts in our neighborhood. Neighbors who are not HPNA members do not receive the notices and are not informed of criminal activity in the neighborhood. alerts from our association, postings on the Heights Park website and postings on Next Door all provide important information for our residents. When a neighborhood has strong resident participation, there is no room for crime. Please stay informed and GET INVOLVED. Marsha Mayo hpna safety chair & crime patrol coordinator mmayo01@sprynet.com /

7 Safety Reminders for the Holidays Police remind us to close our blinds at night and keep valuables out of plain site. The use of exterior lights is a big deterrent. Dark yards make sneaking around the neighborhood easy. Dusk to dawn light timers and motion activated lights are good options for exterior lights. Leave your front porch light on especially if you live on a dark street. Leave a light on inside your house at night. If a burglar sees a light on, he can t be sure if you are awake inside the house. If you have an alarm system, arm at night while you sleep. Most alarm systems allow you to disable the motion sensors while residents are in the house. New technology offers video surveillance cameras as added crime prevention tools. Richardson Police Department encourages you to enroll in their video camera program in the event of a crime on your property. Several criminals have been arrested with the help of the new technology and the new program. Always remember, if you see or hear anything suspicious, please call 911 immediately. Holiday Safety Reminders: Shopping Precautions to take while shopping: Look before you park your car, never park in a dimly lit area. Don t be lax during day time hours. Purse and cell phone snatchers are always out looking for a distracted target. Be alert to anyone following you out of the store: Before you leave the store look around to see who s there. If someone is watching you, wait, don t leave the store. Never be embarrassed to ask for assistance and an escort. Prepare to get in your car before you leave the store: Just before you leave the store, get your keys out of your purse or pocket and keep them in your dominant hand. Know where you are parked and make sure you know who s around the area. Combine as many bags in to one or two so you can speed up the process of getting in to your car. Make yourself a moving target: Walk briskly, confidently and directly to your car. Scan around, inside and under your car. Don t unlock your car until you know no one is inside. If someone approaches you and wants your belongings, give it to them. Drop everything on the ground and run for help. Your personal safety comes first. Always be aware of your surroundings. Confident and alert people make the worst victims. Stay informed. Stay vigilant. Stay safe. Join the Social Network for your neighborhood NextDoor Heights Park, a program sponsored by the City of Richardson Police Department, is a site where the Police Department can post area police activity for us, but also a site our residents can use to post neighborhood news, advertisements, post lost and found items, start groups, etc. Every day more Heights Park neighbors join the site. Check it out! It s just another way we can communicate with you and a fast and easy way the Police Department can get word to us about any criminal activity, scams, or other items of community interest. Join us at nextdoor.com. The new MyRichardson App makes connecting with the City of Richardson easier than ever! Use it to report city issues like potholes, stray, wild or deceased animals, code violations, etc. It s easy to include photos with your report and to keep track of the progress the city makes on your issue. Learn more at cor.net/ MyRichardson

8 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Opens in Richardson Heights Shopping Center Alamo Drafthouse opened in the Richardson Heights Shopping Center in August. The 39,000 square foot cinema, the first Alamo Drafthouse in the Metroplex, has seven theaters. It includes a wide variety of menu options and a stand-alone cocktail bar with more than 30 local beers on tap. The cinema shows first-run Hollywood films, the classics, and limited release films. They provide a variety of movie experiences and offer something for everyone. It was recently announced that Richardson s Alamo Drafthouse will host the Dallas Videofest October It s the oldest and largest video festival in the US and is celebrating its 26th year. Visit drafthouse.com/dfw/richardson to see what Alamo has to offer you and your family. (from Richardson Today, Sept 2013) Get The Scoop Become an HPNA Member and get on our list so you ll receive monthly neighborhood updates. We send our updates via Constant Contact so your address is never visible or advertised to others. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION BOARD Janet DePuy PRESIDENT jdepuy@tx.rr.com Mariam Ballard VICE PRESIDENT mariamballard@gmail.com Robbie Robison TREASURER rkrobison49@yahoo.com Stephen Springs CIVIC CHAIR ssprings@brinkleysargent.com Lynda Leverett ENVIRONMENTAL CHAIR ljlofn1@airmail.net Marsha Mayo SAFETY CHAIR mmayo01@sprynet.com Kevin de Miranda NEWSLETTER kevindemiranda@mac.com Sheila Harrison SECRETARY sheila.harrison600@gmail.com Nathan Beach WEB CHAIR nbbeach@gmail.com Melanie Brown SOCIAL CHAIR melanie@browngraphics.com Stacey Moberly MEMBERSHIP CHAIR staceyamoberly@hotmail.com

9 Yard of the Month Our neighborhood Yard of the Month runs May through November. You can nominate yours, or a neighbor s yard at or contact the HPNA environmental chair, Lynda Leverett, at lyndajol@swbell.net. We need nominations by the 15th of the preceding month. After nominations are received, our YOM committee views all nominated yards and votes by the end of the month. A Yard of the Month sign will be placed in the winning yard. Homes may only win once in an 18 month period. We also award a Decorated Yard of the Month for October and December. Those votes need to be in by the Sunday of the first weekend of October and December. The home that gets the most votes will have the Decorated Yard of the Month sign placed in their yard. No nominations only votes for Decorated Yard of the Month. MAY 609 Opal JULY 533 Parkview SEPTEMBER 617 Lockwood JUNE 504 Thomspon AUGUST 722 Winchester Dig into a Good Book. With Friends. Every Month. Heights Park Book Club was formed in 2004 shortly after we had our first Neighborhood Association Meeting. Our first book was the Richardson Reads One Book (2004) Pay it Forward. One Book/One Community is a nationwide reading program created to develop a community built around the shared experience of people reading and talking about the same book. We have continued to read all the Richardson Reads One Books, as well as attend the lectures by the authors. We usually meet the 4th Monday of each month at 7 pm. There are 2 exceptions - November, which we don t At the August meeting, the HPNA Book Club celebrated the 10th anniversary of Richardson Reads One Book meet at all and December, when we meet on the 2nd Monday. We had to adjust meetings these months because of the holidays. One of the members chooses the book for the month, has the meeting at their home and leads the discussion. We started with 5 members and currently have around 15 members. Usually between 8 and 12 members attend our meetings. We are always open to new members and welcome anyone who enjoys reading. If you are interesting in joining us, please contact Lynda Leverett at lyndajol@swbell.net, or Carter Tinsley at carter-tinsley@tx.rr.com