Peak's Addition Homeowners' Association

Old gray Ford minivan, panel van with no windows, 2 Latino men in front was seen driving multiple times up and down on Sycamore St. Saturday morning. An old van of the same description was possibly involved in an attempted break-in on Bryan Parkway Friday. A rear window was smashed but thieves did not gain access to the house because the alarm went off. There have been 5 burglaries in one block of Victor St. in one week. Break ins are on the rise. Please be alert. If you see this gray van see if you can get a license number and/or alert the police. We are having both daytime and evening burglaries lately. Stay safe. From Jackie Staley

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The Lower Greenville fire has resulted in a lot of folks losing their jobs overnight. There are several ways you can help:

From the Lakewood Advocate Backtalk Blog:

Benefit for employees of Terilli’s, Mick’s, Hurricane Grill is Sunday
Five bands are playing a benefit concert Sunday at the Doublewide for employees of Lower Greenville restaurants that were destroyed in a fire this week.

The bands are Corey Howe, STEW, Manned Missiles, Cocky Americans and Slider Pines, plus sets from DJs Sista Whitenoise and Woodtronic. The party starts at 8:30 p.m., and tickets are $7.

From the Taste of Lower Greenville Avenue website:

How to support the employees of Terilli’s, Greenville Avenue Bar & Grill, Mick’s and Hurricane Grill
Collection of information, job leads, etc – Help Lower Greenville Facebook page

Restaurant Employee Relief Fund Bank Account
A bank account has been opened to raise money for employees directly affected by the fire. Donations can be made at any local Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T) branch. The account name: Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, Account #8056613196.

The account is coordinated by the Greenville Avenue Restaurant Association, The Greenville Avenue Area Business Association, The Greenville Merchants Association, and the Historic Greenville Avenue Area Business Association. Funds will be dispersed by the owners of the businesses on a case-by-case basis in coordination with the Associations managing the account.

PayPal
Send your donation online to Relief@TasteOfGreenvilleAvenue.com

St. Patrick’s Day block party
A portion of the $8 admission to the March 13 St. Patrick’s Day block party on Lower Greenville will benefit the burned restaurants, which will sell food and drink at the party in a tent on the parking lot behind Blue Goose. Since that parking lot was used for employees in previous years, the block party organizers have decided to start the Mockingbird Station shuttle at 7 a.m. so that employees can get to work. The shuttle is free for party-goers.

Etcetera
The Greenville Avenue Area Business Association will hold two happy hours between now and St. Patrick’s Day to collect money for the fund – Friday March 5, @ The Dubliner, 5pm and Friday March 12 @ Stan’s Blue Note

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Please mark your calendar for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dallas Half Marathon on Sunday, March 14. Residents, businesses and organizations along the course will receive a detailed “road closure brochure” in the mail this week.

PDF versions of our course map and road closure grid are available on our website. If you are affiliated with a community group or business along the route, please share this information with your members and/or employees.

You’re invited to get involved with this exciting event. Spectators are encouraged to line the route to cheer 15,000 runners and walkers towards the finish line. Volunteers are still needed at the Expo, Start Line and Finish Line. Please sign up online.

Thank you,

Community Relations Department
Rock ‘n’ Roll Dallas Half Marathon
Sunday, March 14, 2010
http://dallas.competitor.com/event-info/course/road-closures

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Join us for the first “Peak’s Pick-Up” neighborhood beautification project!

• When: Saturday March 6, 9:00 a.m. to noon
• Where: Meet at parking lot of East Dallas Christian Church on the corner of Worth Street and Peak Street
• What: picking up trash, cleaning up graffiti, and trimming overgrown vegetation (or dead branches) in vacant or deserted areas.

We need volunteers to bring: paint rollers, paint rollers on a pole and dolly's (hand-trucks) if available.

Volunteers, stop by the Taco Joint Saturday morning for a free drink!

Everyone wants a clean neighborhood, but trash doesn’t pick itself up!

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The Central Patrol Division is hosting a Volunteer in Patrol class on March 12th from 6 pm until 10 pm. It will feature a guest speaker who will discuss Crime prevention on the Katy and Santa Fe Trails. This course will be held at 5100 Ross Avenue at St. Matthews Cathedral using the entrance on the South side of building.

For information on this class, please visit the Central Patrol web site for more information.

The Volunteers in Patrol program is a Dallas Police-sponsored citizen watch and patrol group. Interested members receive training from the police department and then agree to patrol our neighborhood in their cars, with a partner, about one night a month. These volunteers look for suspicious activity and call the police. The marked cars help send a message to criminals that we are serious about fighting crime and that there are neighbors on the lookout for crime. Consistent VIP patrols have been proven to reduce crime in neighborhoods around the nation. Peak’s Addition has several trained volunteers already and simply needs more to get the program jumpstarted again. The Dallas Police Department offers flexibility with the training and the patrolling schedule can also be fitted to meet individual needs. In addition to monthly patrols, volunteers meet once or twice a year. The more volunteers we have, the more frequently we can patrol our neighborhood. If you’re interested in learning more about the program, email postmaster@peaksaddition.org or speak to any board member.

For information about the March class, please contact Senior Corporal Comstra at Stephen.comstra@dpd.ci.dallas.tx.us or 214-670-4420

Posted by at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our DPD officers provided a crime update at the General Meeting on March 2. Property crimes are up in the neighborhood, specifically business burglary and residential burglary. See files below for detailed crime statistics.

View crime map
Download YTD Comparison
Download Detailed Offense File

Posted by at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The US Census Bureau is looking for people to fill various roles for the 2010 census. Roles pay $17.50/hour and can be part-time to 40 hours per week. Applicants must be 18 or older, have a valid ID, and must pass a 30 minute basic skills test. Available positions include:

• Census Takers
• Crew Leaders
• Crew Leader Assistants
• Recruiting Assistants
• Census Clerks

US Census jobs offer good pay, flexible hours, paid training, and the chance to work independently in your own community. For further information see www.2010censusjobs.gov or call 866.861.2010.

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The March 2010 newsletter is hot of the presses! The articles have been posted online and paper copies have been delivered.

Click here to download a PDF version of the newsletter.

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General Meeting
Tuesday, March 2, 7:00 p.m.
Monica's Aca Y Alla
2914 Main Street

Posted by at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We recently got to experience the rare treat of a thick blanket of snow covering our neighborhood, turning our streets into beautiful scenes out of a postcard. The snow has since melted, but there is no reason the beauty can’t linger (albeit in a nonfrozen form). So I would like to invite everyone to our first “Peak’s Pick-Up” neighborhood beautification project on Saturday, March 6th from 9:00 a.m. – noon. At 9:00 a.m. sharp, we will meet at the parking lot of East Dallas Christian Church on the corner of Worth Street and Peak Street, where supplies will be distributed and tasks will be assigned. This will be a fun time of working with your neighbors, having a good laugh, mocking the graffiti taggers’ lack of creativity, and generally beautifying the neighborhood. “Sounds interesting, but what exactly will we be doing?” you may be wondering. Generally speaking, we will be picking up trash, cleaning up graffiti, and trimming overgrown vegetation (or dead branches) in vacant or deserted areas. The specifics, however, will be up to you. In the days leading up to Peak’s Pick-Up, I invite everyone to keep your eyes open for things we can clean up, graffiti we can wipe out, and overall beautification that can be done in a few hours by a dedicated group of weekend warriors. Email your suggestions to president@peaksaddition.org.
Everyone wants a clean neighborhood, but trash doesn’t pick itself up. Here is your chance to do your part to make it happen. It’s the perfect reason to wake up a little earlier on a Saturday, head down to the Taco Joint for some breakfast, and put on your work gloves for a few hours to make Peak’s Addition a little prettier.
Walker Duke

Posted by at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In 1967, when I was 3, my family was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Califonia, when my grandparents sent a photo of an historic event in Dallas- a record snowfall of 7 inches. My mother reminded me of that photo as we talked on the phone during the recent record snow. My children were witnessing history. They adore snow, and are becoming fine skiers. I prefer to train hard at sipping Irish coffee, but I picked them
up at school armed with boots, parkas and hats, and learned what a lot of joy a little frozen water can add to the day. We all had fun throwing snowballs, making angels and catching snowflakes on our tongues. There were dozens of us middle-aged kids playing with the same abandon as our children. I live with naturally gifted engineers. My house if filled with structures created from Legos, Tupperware, scotch tape, pillows, boxes dominoes and scraps stolen from Daddy’s shop. It was no surprise when Britney announced her plan to build an igloo on Friday. We sat on the porch debating technique, hot chocolate and Irish coffee in hand. She couldn’t cut ice blocks as the Inuit do, so she rolled snowballs. Big ones. Stacking them up, she employed her brother with packing the chinks with snow mortar. The walls grew high, but she
realized the snow was too soft to support a keystone construction for the roof, so she grabbed scrap lumber from the shop and made ceiling joists. She has lived in a
construction zone most of her life, and it shows! With the wood covered in snow, the igloo was finished. Passersby stopped to admire and take pictures. Snowball fights occurred. It was glorious. We share the sadness for both lost trees and property damage, but both scientifically and in the life of our family, this was day for the record books. Some winter when my kids are grown and far away, I will send them pictures of this happy day. We hope you had fun, too.

Posted by at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February "Certificate of Appropriateness" (CA) applications:
4811 Sycamore Street-exterior changes including new front door siting, new windows, paint, side walkways eliminated, new front sidewalk

Applications for March should be submitted to Margaret Fiskell, our City staff representative. Her email is
Margaret.fiskell@dallascityhall.com and her phone number is 214 670 4151.

Next month's CAs are DUE to Margaret by THURSDAY MARCH 4th.

Posted by at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Too busy to cook? Need a personal chef? Peak's Addition has a new business in our neighborhood that offers this service using fresh ingredients and artisan techniques to prepare their meals.The MaD Foodery is in an historic, Spanish-style building at the corner of Worth and Haskell. According to owners Melanie and Dell, the building started life in the 1930s as a Good Luck Oil Station--a “GLOCO” gas station, famous for their architecture. The latest renovation added kitchen equipment from around the world and 10,000 Italian and Mexican tiles. The owners say they “love that we helped preserve a little piece of Dallas history.” They offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with a variety of ordering plans. Check out their offerings at www.themadfoodery.com. Their client base includes busy professionals, retirees, moms an singles, anyone who wants to eat well without cooking. They welcome suggestions from their new neighbors about additions to the menu or services. Melanie would like to extend a special offer to all our readers. Open an account online by March 30, and then email her at info@themadfoodery.com, and she will give you a @25 credit to use on your first order. Please remember how important it is that we support our local businesses.

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Dallas is known for technological advances, present and past, such as the local invention of the car radio and the traffic light. While these are the type of inventions that were developed independently by several people in different places, all trying to solve the same practical problem, a Dallasite created them right here, and gave us a cultural bonus as well. I am plagiarizing the work of historian Steven Butler, who spoke at the recent 11th Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference in January on “Henry ‘Dad’ Garrett: The Wizard of Dallas, Texas.” Garrett was not an inventor by trade, he worked for the city, including running the fire department, and dabble in technology to solve the city’s problems. Early automobile traffic in Dallas was complicated at every intersection. The only possible signaling system were police officers directing traffic, sometimes with a sign on a stick that they would turn to show the “stop” side or the “go” side. There was no way to coordinate their efforts from one intersection to the next, and you can imagine the delays created. Garrett thought electricity might solve the problem, and his traffic light used the color system already found on railroad signals. The first lights were controlled manually by a policeman in a tower, an improvement for him over standing in the street amid angry drivers. The introduction of a timing system eliminated the need for human observation, though one wonders how much drivers trusted those first signals not to tell everybody to go at once. Garrett found a way to provide radios with power and antennae to solve a lifethreatening problem in the fire department. When the trucks were called out from the station for one fire, there was no way to let them know if another one started someplace else. Garrett’s radio allowed firefighters and police to maintain contact, but it was broadcast radio, over open airwaves. The need for a radio station to send the information led to the cultural bonus, when Garrett
started KERA. The station broadcast fire and police calls, as well as music
and local programming, all together. It was undoubtedly an interesting station
and listeners would have known what was going on around town. It would
seem that Dallas tends toward the practical in both technology and entertainment.

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Junius Heights Historic District was selected by This Old House Magazine as the nation’s “Best Neighborhood For Families” in their annual “Best Old House Neighborhoods” contest:

Like most of Texas, the city of Dallas is obsessed with all things big. But the people of the Junius Heights neighborhood beg to differ. “This is a small-town, front-porch community,” says Bill Williams, who purchased a Craftsman here in 2003. Junius Heights is home to some of the city’s most interesting residents, including artists, reporters for The Dallas Morning News, and about half the lawyers in town. And it’s turning into a haven for families looking to eschew traditional suburban living. That’s thanks in part to Woodrow Wilson High School, “one of the best examples of an inner-city high school in the country,” according to one resident (and Newsweek magazine). The school provides a top-notch education, as well as entertainment for Junius Heights residents through its excellent theater and athletic programs.

Click here to read the full article.

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The City of Dallas will provide free storm debris collection for Dallas’ Sanitation customers affected by the record snowfall that hit North Texas on February 11 and 12. Customers who need to clear their property must place cut and stacked tree limbs at the curb. Customers do not need to call 311 to request collection. Citations for “out of cycle” brush waste will not be issued until after March 15.

Sanitation brush collection crews will work overtime and Saturdays to pick up all storm debris on customer’s property. The debris will be picked up on customers’ normal brush/bulk schedule and will likely require 4-5 weeks to complete pick-up. Customers can look up their brush collection week by going to http://www.dallascityhall.com/sanitation/sanitation.html and then clicking on “”Bulk Collection Map” and “2010 Bulk Collection Calendar”.

Dallas Sanitation customers may also take storm debris to the following two locations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and must show proof of residency with a driver’s license or current water bill.

Bachman Transfer Station
9500 Harry Hines Blvd.
214-670-6150

McCommas Bluff Landill
5100 Youngblood Rd.
214-670-0977

Storm debris will be chipped into mulch and will be available at no charge to customers for home use. Customers can pick up mulch at either location—just in time for spring gardening.

Posted by at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Neighbors found a dog who has been wondering in the area for a couple weeks. He does not have a chip or tags, so they are looking for a home or rescue place for him.

Approximate weight is 50 lbs. Looks like he may have been a pet at one time, however for the past week or two our neighborhood has tried to find his home, posted signs, emails, gone to vets, etc. He is skittish around men, but happy to play with other dogs. Eats from a woman’s hand after warming up to her.

Not neutered. No idea on shots and heartworm (have to assume no, given his owner did not want him). Seems healthy, not underweight. Like to play with other animals, submissive to other dogs.

If you're interested in adopting this beautiful dog, contact Kate Flume: Kate.flume@gs.com or 214-403-9194.

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OneDAY starts March 1 for 180,000 households in Oak Cliff, Southwest Dallas, West Dallas, Southeast Dallas, South Dallas, Pleasant Grove, East Dallas, and Northeast Dallas.

Continue reading to find out the answers to your questions about OneDAY Dallas. If you are interested in having the Sanitation Department attend an upcoming PAHA meeting to answer questions or to explain the program or how to recycle, please contact president@peaksaddition.org.

Continue reading "Confused About OneDAY? Don't Be!" »

Posted by at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peak's Addition Homeowners' Association is having a membership drive for the neighborhood. Check out the attachment and see how you can win $100!

Download Membership Drive info

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