HB 3418 - The bill made it to the Urban Affairs Committee at the State Legislature last Tuesday for discussion. This bill threatens to undermine local control over historic preservation decisions and Preservation Dallas opposes the bill.  Board President Nicky DeFreece Emery was at the Committee hearing to give testimony in opposition to the bill on behalf of Preservation Dallas. Norm Alston, a local architect in Dallas, was also there giving testimony in opposition  as well on behalf of the Dallas American Institute of Architects chapter. Evan Thompson with Preservation  Texas gave testimony in opposition  along with representatives  from San Antonio. There were also several people there from Austin that spoke in favor of the bill. At the end of the hearing the author of the bill, Representative Elkins from Houston said he would like to introduce a substitute  bill after working with both parties to come up with a compromise. The bill is now listed as pending so we will keep tracking it to make sure that if it comes back up we are there to oppose  it. To read more about the bill and its negative  impacts  to historic preservation click here.   

DART D2 - There will be two public meetings  on Tuesday, April 18 on the current options for the routing of the proposed D2 subway line. At the meetings  people  will be able to review the remaining  routes being considered for the D2 subway line, see the proposed station locations and pedestrian  access points, and hear about the expansion of the Downtown Dallas Streetcar system. The public meetings will be held in the board room of DART Headquarters at  1401 Pacific Avenue. The meetings  will take place at 12:00 pm and 6:30 pm where the same information will be presented . For more information go here. 

DISD - DISD has formally filed for a demolition  permit last week  for the headquarters building at  3700 Ross Avenue. The issuance  of the permit is currently on hold as it falls in the Downtown  Demolition Delay area. After that period expires the demolition  permit will be issued as there is nothing legally to stop the demolition . DISD is selling the  site for $9.4 million. The headquarters  building and several  other properties  in the DISD inventory were approved for sale in February .    

El Corazon de Tejas - A demolition permit for the restaurant located at 110 W. Davis in Oak Cliff was issued last week. The building, which was originally built as a Wyatt's Grocery in the 1940s, is not a City of Dallas Landmark or in a historic district and is outside of the Demolition Delay area in Oak Cliff so there was noting to stop the demolition permit from being issued. There has been speculation that a developer wants the site for a new CVS store. Preservation Dallas has reached out to the developer to discuss plans and possible reuse of the building instead of demolition. There has been no response from the developer. The current owners of the restaurant have stated recently that they will be "serving for the indefinite future" at that location; however, they did state they have been talking to developers. To read more about this issue click here.  

I have returned from an amazing trip to New Zealand! It's quite a haul to get over there, but well worth the hours and hours you have to spend in a metal tube shooting across the Pacific. The scenery and architecture over there are absolutely incredible. In our short time there we tried to see as much as possible spending most of the time on the South Island with a few days on the North Island before returning to the US. 

I took a little detour on the way to New Zealand, thanks American Airlines frequent flyer miles, traveling over 16 hours from Dallas to Sydney, Australia. With a 12 hour layover, thanks again miles, I was able to get into the Harbour area and tour around. I was in Sydney in 2001 but didn't get a chance to see the inside of the Opera House so I didn't squander this opportunity and took an amazing tour of the fascinating structure. I also toured around the historic areas near there before jetting off to Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand.  

While on the South Island we traveled to see as many places as possible with our time constraints and the long travel times between locations. Its slow going on those windy twisty small roads. It was a joy though to not be on mega highways and dealing with insane traffic, plus all those twisty roads provided amazing vistas. Our stops included the west coast where we stayed with a family on a dairy farm, the south end of the island where we toured the amazing town of Dunedin which dates back to the 1840s that has an incredible Flemish Renaissance style rail station and a 1906 mansion, which still maintains its original integrity. On the north end of the island on the east coast we visited a family farm belonging to my sister's brother-in-law that has been in his family for over 120 years. Unfortunately the family house built in 1900, with an addition in 1918, was damaged in the 2011 earthquake. They have the unenviable task now of deciding what to do with the house as they are still waiting on insurance and engineering reports on the damage. Rounding out the coasts we got to a beach on the north end of the island for a bit to relax a couple of days before heading on to the North Island. 

To get from the South Island to the North Island we took a wonderful 3 hour ferry ride landing in Wellington. After a couple of days touring there in the rain we headed to Auckland and toured again in the rain.Thankfully is wasn't cold! While in Auckland we took a drive a couple of hours south to see Hobbiton, the movie set where they filmed the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies. While not a historic site it was still fascinating to see the Hobbit holes in the side of the hills and to have an ale at the Green Dragon! 

I highly recommend a trip to New Zealand if you haven't been there! To me the most interesting part of the country were the lovely small towns  with some really fascinating architecture  you happen upon while traveling from place to place. The scenery was so incredible and certainly not a boring ride when traveling around, especially if you try and count all the sheep in the paddocks or pastures for us Americans! 

Amazing tiled concrete shells of the Sydney Opera House.	Arthur's pass on the way from the east coast to the west coast of the South Island.
Pancake Rocks on the west coast of the South Island.	Elaborate Flemish Renaissance style railway station in Dunedin.
Wharanui, the family home of my sister's brother-in-law which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake.	Darn, I don't fit in a Hobbit hole! Visit to the Hobbiton movie set.

Wednesday | April 26 | 5-7 p.m. | 2950 North Harwood Street

Thursday | April 27 | 6 p.m. | 2615 South Good Latimer Expressway

Saturday | May 6 | 10 a.m.-2 p.m. | Begins at Main Street Garden