Photo by Justin Terveen

​Like I need to tell you, even if there were no photo credit, this is a Justin Terveen photo -- one in a series of extraordinary photos of the rain-soaked city he's taken in the past 24 hours. This one was taken earlier this evening, just west of the Houston Street Viaduct: "dead-smack center in between Houston and 30," he says.

Justin's still out and about, making the city look stunning in the reflection of the Trinity River. He's moved to Sylvan now, then ... who knows where. "It's too good to pass up," he says. "The water's flat and glassy, with a nice reflection." More to come, he vows. "But nothing like what you see here." As always, the big'n is here, suitable for framing.

Came across this video posted to YouTube yesterday by the friend of the show who maintains the essential Dallas Trinity Trails blog. I'll let Ben describe what he captured:

Dallas County Sheriff Deputy cornering and chasing dirt bike motorcycle on the Trinity River levees near Industrial Blvd and Corinth. The dirt bike tried to flee into the woods only to find he was trapped. He rode back and forth for a minute looking for a way out. In that time, the deputy positioned his squad car blocking the road under the trestle. If it were a vehicle or quad bike the deputy would have caught him. The deputy had no chance against a dirt bike.The rider approached the car and appeared to taunt the deputy before taking off back up the levees towards downtown Dallas.

This is the north levee of the Trinity River in Dallas, Texas, at the new Santa Fe Trestle Trail trailhead. The DART rail line linking Dallas with Oak Cliff is directly overhead.

Private motorized vehicles are forbidden from driving on the levees. This is due to potential erosion issues and safety. Fines are high if you are caught.

Yeah, Schutze.

​Back in September it was revealed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants back $15 million it gave to the city for the Dallas Floodway Extension project, insisting those federal funds were improperly advanced beginning with the first payment made back in '04. In the words of Col. Richard J. Muraski Jr., the commander of the Fort Worth District: The Corps discovered its accounting whoops during FY2010, when it realized "we weren't authorized" to advance the city all those many millions. Problem is the city spent $8 million of the $15 million on buying up unspecified properties for the project. And every time the subject came up at council, it would go behind closed doors to discuss what next.

But per the agenda addendum for Wednesday's meeting, the city and Corps have worked out an arrangement: Should council sign off on the resolution this week, the city will have 30 days to pay back $7 million to the Corps out of its U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Cooperation Funds account. But that may not be the end of the repayment plan. According to the resolution:

The City and the Army have agreed that the City shall repay the Army $7,000,000 within 30 days of the date this resolution takes effect and that the City, subject to appropriation, shall repay the Army some or all of the remaining $8,000,000 if after an independent audit it is determined that the City is entitled to a credit of less than $8,000,000 for its design and construction of the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant and Rochester Park levees, with the amount of this repayment being the amount the credit is less than $8,000,000, and this amount being due in three equal annual installments, with the first annual payment being due within 120 days after the date that the Army provides the City, in writing, the amount of the credit and the City exhausting its rights, if any, to appeal the determination of the amount of credit;

Read the whole thing here. It's Addendum Item No. 4.

The revised master plan for the Texas Horse Park, if it's ever fully built out

​The council's Economic Development Committee kicked off its morning meeting by taking up the Texas Horse Park, which came up $14 million short in private funds but remains high on the city's to-do list. Hence, as we've noted in recent days, Park and Rec and the city manager's hope that the council will let them see if there's a private operator willing to take over a project -- funded with $15 million in '98 and '06 bond funds -- the nonprofit couldn't build out years after it was initially promised.

Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan pitched it as a money-maker, a job-creator, a bringer of "recreation" and "culture." And she did so in front of an audience that included many familiar faces down at City Hall, chief among them Gail Thomas of the Trinity Trust, which had hoped to open the park in 2007. "I have no doubt you'll raise the money for the park," said council member Sheffie Kadane. "I have no doubt," added Jerry Allen.

Most of the committee was all for putting out a request for proposals: Tennell Atkins, chair of the committee, said: "T. Boone Pickens, Gerald Ford, the Dallas Mavericks, the SMU Mustangs, the Texas Rangers -- everything's horse-related" 'round these here parts. "Why not have a great horse trail? Horses bring money. We got plenty of space ... When horse people come to the show, they spend money. Look at the Fort Worth Rodeo."

Allen had but one concern -- making sure the Texas Horse Park would be "world-class." Because, after all, "This is Dallas."More >>

The revised rendering for the first phase of the Texas Horse Park -- if, that is, the city can find an interested outside operator

​A little later than promised, here's the 44-page Texas Horse Park briefing the city council's Economic Development Committee will review tomorrow morning. We'll follow along as Paul Dyer, head of Park and Rec, attempts to convince the council to spend $12 million in '06 bond funds to build out Phase 1 of the facility -- if, that is, the city can find an outsider to take over for the nonprofit that never could raise the matching $15 million needed to get it trotting along the Trinity.

Per the presentation, as part of the city's proposed RFP it wants the would-be facility manager to commit to the Texas Horse Park for 20 years, with two five-year renewal options. And while the new operator wouldn't be responsible for putting money toward development -- since, after all, the city would maintain ownership of the $2.56-million property paid for with '98 bond money -- it would have a say-so in the design if it ponies up some dough. Also:

The Operator will be required to dedicate the facility to the preservation and expansion of Texas' equestrian tradition by providing a venue for education, competition and community involvement in horse-related and other agricultural activities.

The city hopes to put out RFP in February and award the bid in May. But still, there's no time line for construction: "Schedule is dependent on the type of design and construction scenario proposed by the Operator." Initially, you may recall, the Trinity Trust once expected ground to be broken on the Texas Horse Park by 2007.

One of Brown Reynolds Watford's renderings for the Texas Horse Park. More scaled-back renderings forthcoming.

​Technically I could have filed this under "Today's History Lesson," since most of you who even recall the Texas Horse Park likely considered it a thing of the past. After all it's been around since the mid-1990s and was included in the $246-million capital bond program for the Trinity River Corridor Project in 1998, in which $2.56 million was allocated for an equestrian center. It reappeared as part of the 2006 bond program, in which $12 million was set aside for development of the Texas Horse Park, with another $2 million going toward land acquisition not far from the Trinity River Audubon Center.

A master plan was completed and presented to council in 2007, but as Sam pointed out way back in '08, the thing stalled out in large part because those in charge of the project couldn't raise the other $15 million in private funds needed for Phase I of the project. There were some fund-raising efforts made in 2010, but in all, city officials say now, the horse park only ponied up $1 million, give or take.

Now, all these years later, the city once more is wrestling with the familiar old: What now? But for the first time in a long time, we may be nearing a resolution.

Paul Dyer, director of the Park and Recreation Department, briefed the Park Board on a proposal just yesterday and will give the council's Economic Development Committee the same presentation Tuesday. In it, he will propose putting out a request for a proposal in February in the hopes of finding a private operator who'd be willing to "manage, operate and maintain the horse park at no cost to the city," he tells Unfair Park this afternoon. "And if they want to put in some money, that would be fine with us."More >>

Photos by Justin Terveen

​In the end, the timing was perfect: The rain, scarce for far too long, had moved off but not before topping off the Trinity River just enough so that it resembled an actual river -- roaring, even, almost mighty. The clouds remained, and the glare from an ever-illuminated downtown gave the sky a subtle blue-gray glow through which shone the spotlights of TV-news helicopters awaiting The Big Moment. And it was chilly but not too cold, and so the people came out, lining the Continental Avenue Bridge with their cameras at the ready, waiting ... waiting.

Mayor Rawlings

​But before that, before Mayor Mike Rawlings threw the switch that slowly illuminated the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, there were speeches to be made. The mayor said, "We already know what a sight this bridge is during the day," but now it will become "an elegant sculpture" at night that links downtown to the new-and-improved West Dallas. Vonciel Jones Hill -- council member, judge, pastor -- spoke of a bridge as "a connection in time and space," then launched into a reading of Will Allen Dromgoole's "The Bridge Builder," a favorite at such occasions, this short poem about finding your way across the "chasm, vast, and deep, and wide." Lynn McBee, chair of the Trinity Trust's opening weekend party, spoke of fireworks forthcoming and a Lyle Lovett performance during the $200-a-ticket kick-off.

And then came the countdown, after which Mayor Rawlings threw the switch ... and then we waited, and waited a little longer, for the lights to warm up.More >>

Justin Terveen's already taken his place on the west side of the Continental Avenue Bridge for tonight's lighting of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, set to begin glowing at 6:15, give or take. He says it's filling up fast, no joke. I'm about to head that way myself; why not. But before I split, this big, bad bit of breaking news: For the first time ever -- by which I mean, since being rediscovered by Noel Waggener and his Heavy Light Records label out of Austin -- The Relatives will be playing their hometown, at the Bridge-O-Rama wingding set for the Calatrava's opening weekend. Rev. Gene and the band will perform March 3, specifically, at 5 p.m. on the Ben E. Keith Stage, which will be located at 317 Singleton Ave. For this you have to thank, in part, our old pal Jeff Liles of the Kessler, one of the event's myriad partners for the shindig.

And they're not the only band lined up for the event: Says the release just dispatched by the West Dallasites in advance of tonight's formal announcement, Possessed by Paul James and Rattletree Marimba will also play the World Music Stage that Saturday. The music portion of the program begins at 1 that day, and, says the release, "Additional acts will be announced as they become confirmed over the next few weeks." I'll let Audra tackle those on DC9 -- because, ya know, she's the one who wrote the first, best and longest piece on The Relatives back when she was at the Austin Chronicle. I expect she's itching to do a follow-up.

Till then, you have heard The Relatives' record, right? No? Here, lemme fix that for you.

Update: Lyle Lovett will play the March 2 opening-weekend fund-raiser.

WFAA-Channel 8

​A little while ago reports began to circulate that Dallas Police and Dallas Fire-Rescue were searching the Trinity River for a car thief who ditched out of his stolen ride and took a dive into the rain-swollen river. That search is over, despite the fact authorities have yet to find the man. Moments ago, this dispatch was sent to media by Senior Corporal Kevin Janse of the DPD:

Today at 2:40 p.m., officers responded to a burglary of a motor vehicle, in-progress call, at 1000 E. Colorado at Eads. When they arrived they observed a Latin male in his mid-20s getting into a grey pick-up truck. When the officers attempted to perform a traffic stop to question him, he fled along the Trinity River Viaduct at a high rate of speed. Officers did not pursue him but merely followed the tire tracks along the viaduct until they found the truck abandoned. The officers saw the suspect near the waters edge. When the suspect saw the officers, he jumped in.

Officers attempted to reach the suspect with his baton and branches in an attempt to pull him out but the suspect refused to grab them. One officer was taking his gun belt off in anticipation of entering the river to pull the suspect to safety when the suspect pushed away and went under the water. He did not come back up after he went under the first time. Dallas Fire and Rescue was called to perform a swift water rescue but were unable to locate the suspect.

After an extensive search of the river, DFR discontinued the search, feeling the suspect was no longer in the water. Officers are still trying to determine who the truck belongs to that the suspect was in. There is no further information at this time and no sound will be given.

Moments later, Dallas Fire-Rescue followed with its own account:

DALLAS FIRE RESCUE's water rescue team searched the water from the reported point of entry going South approximately 1/4 mile past the Corinth Street Bridge and did not find the suspect. That, coupled with the speed of the river's current, gives us no reason to believe that the suspect couldn't have gotten out. Therefore we have called off our search.

Click to expand this look at the "seat wall" proposed as part of the West Dallas Gateway that'll be discussed this afternoon.

​Drove the Continental Avenue bridge several times over the weekend on back-and-forth trips to Oak Cliff; the boy and I even pulled over on the west side, at the under-construction entrance to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, to grab the quick pic seen below. As mentioned Friday, all that and more will be a topic of discussion at today's meeting of the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee when David Whitley of the CityDesign Studio provides an update on the $11.7-million project. And, as promised, here's that lengthy briefing, which provides new renderings of the pedestrian park and West Dallas Gateway.

The eastern entrance from Riverfront won't get much of a makeover -- just some additional parking, a staircase and some landscaping to go along with the Jack in the Box, Southern Maid Donuts, bail-bond business, Big Daddy's and for-sale warehouses. The wholesale makeover will take place on the West Dallas side (just a few blocks from W. Main Street, for those who've never driven down that stretch of street in the shadow of the Calatrava).

There, as you'll note, they're talking about making the bridge accessible from the neighborhood, adding in "much-needed vehicular parking," creating a "plaza/gathering space" and providing "a strong bicycle & pedestrian connection from the bridge/plaza to adjacent development opportunities." Also included: a look-see at sites that could be used in the future for street fairs, concerts and concession (beneath what appears to be a translucent done of some kind). As noted Friday, the city expects to have this wrapped by August of next year.More >>