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I thank the Lord for Angela Hunt - a city council person who actually cares and is sharp as a tack, always 'hunting' down the answers, loopholes etc. and not getting snowed by anyone, including the city staff or DMN's nefarious interests.

Now all of y'all who hated on Lakewood here need to buy us a round at the Balcony Club.

When I think of walkable cities, I think of - San Fran, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington D.C.

I don't really think of Dallas, yet. The fact that I don't see a lot of walking, biking, or DART rail riding out of neccesity. The white man will not ride the rail unless they are going to the zoo on the weekend. I can't blame them. Once you get off the rail, outside of the loop, the city is hardly walkable.

While riding from the Eastern Bloc to White Rock I was told to get an F'ing car by a guy in a 3-series BMW. I don't think we are grown-up enough to be walkable, yet.

Had the "onerous" zoning process not happened, and the 'new' Whole Foods been built, the $4.5M dollars that was saved would have been added to the local economy. It most certainly wouldn't be the first time that a company has had the checkbook open, only to be told to put it away.

I think Dallas is pretty walkable if you actually live in the city.

Like it's pretty easy to get from Deep Ellum to the DMA on foot. Pretty easy to get from the DMA to the West End on foot too. From the West End Victory and the Katy trail aren't very far away either. The Katy trail gives you access to most of uptown. You can walk up to the west village and catch the DART all the way back to Perl street then back to Deep Ellum.

That's just one example but it's pretty easy to get around on foot. If you have a bike or skateboard and combine that with DART then everything inside the loop is accessible. You're going to have to actually exercise though (hint: 2 miles isn't far).

I wondered how a business that promotes itself as environmentally conscious was going to justify the bulldozing and reconstruction of that lot...

I'm glad to see that they went with the adaptive re-use rather than the scrape and re-make.

LOVE Angela for being on top of things.

Chad- easy for a man. Difficult for a woman to walk around this city without feeling vulnerable when it comes to certain areas. I don't consider myself timid, but I especially hate the underpasses and back streets downtown. The quickest routes are usually the worst because they were designed specifically for cars. If you're on foot, they leave a person completely exposed.

And Lakewooder- I'm pretty sure I know you.

Walkable? Would I walk to Baylor, Deep Ellum or even downtown from where I live in Lakewood? There are plenty of sidewalks and I'm certainly fit enough to do so, but there is just no way.

I have absolutely no desire to get myself robbed, assaulted, maimed or even killed by some of the citizens who live in the areas in between.

Could someone explain why we didn't build a subway system?

Also, wouldn't it be just dandy if the rail had stops at I dunno, say Lakewood Shopping Center, maybe Lower Greenville, Knox-Henderson? I don't understand why it doesn't hit the logical venues of entertainment and convenience. Cheers to the rail hitting Expo Park though. I give them props. Thing is...I still have to drive there...from Junius Heights. I'm just getting tired of hoping in my car to drive a mile and a half...big waste of gas.

Oh and I love Angela Hunt too. Maybe she can talk the City Council into getting more retail, casual watering holes, and the like into Downtown.

I love this city. I truly do. It would just be a hell of a lot better if it was easier to get around in and enjoy.

well it's common sense that you have to be aware of your surroundings and careful. That goes for any city not just Dallas.

I don't skate from downtown to Southside on Lamar or Lee Harvey's after dark and I don't stare down the barrel of a loaded gun either.

One of the other issues that hasnt been taken into account is bike lanes, which all the above listed cities have. Why hasnt the city council gotten off their collective asses and designated downtown and city streets w/bike lanes? No offense, bike trails are great to get away from the noise, but they're not convenient to get to work on. Another idea would be to consider a congestion charge to drive in various parts of the city and downtown. NYC is currently considering a similar move to lower traffic and pollution, perhaps both the cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth should consider something of this nature to make this area a better place to work and live.

Hey "Dallas Can't Academy", didn't mean to yell at you, braw! I was just in a hurry to sales meeting and was running late do to traffic in Frisco. That's where I live, braw, Frisco. I live in Frisco.

Braw, what does the "ARM" stand for on my mortgage? I bet they put that on my mortgage cuz I got huge guns braw!

RG, we don't have subways for the same reason that we don't have basements: the water table is too high. Putting in subway tunnels across the city would involve huge amounts of pumping and frequent tunnel floods. Plus, the soil is very high in clay, making it much more difficult to excavate.

Personally, I'd like to see more of an elevated train system.

Oh, it's okay Chris Chris, come down to our neck of the woods anytime. Maybe I can buy you and your overly successful buds a Redbull vodka at Sofrano's or Cuba Libre sometime. We can show off our tribal arm band tattoo's and secrets for how to get those frosted tips oh so spiky using a Chi.

And, don't worry about the ARM. I think it means "All Redbulls on Me". Keep racking up those debts, the government will bail you out soon.

Late braw

I guess I don;t understand why everyone was so mad about the Whole Foods deal. Whether financial or not, reusing the building just makes sense. Did the community want or expect something different?

Not a subway and not an elevated train, streetcars, a trolley system. Lakewood, Deep Ellum, Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn, Downtown, Deep Ellum all were built when trolleys were a large percentage of transit for the people. We should put in new tracks, connecting the night spots you mentioned. Think about it, these lines wouldn't go North of Northwest Highway, not South of MLK, not West of Sylvan/Inwood/Denton Dr, not East of Fair Park/Casa Linda Plaza/Arboretum. The surface streets wouldn't be negatively impacted, and developers will certainly put West Village type property in place. This boon of property taxes would pay for itself, offer an alternative to gas-powered commutes and drunken drives home.