It is really unfortunate that your article did not mention that the garden was designed by Carmel Womack (Gardens-from-the-Heart.com).  She donated hundreds of hours designing the garden and taking it through the approval process - far more than anyone else involved in the project and a real cost to her since it took her away from her paying customers, and then gets none of the credit.

Ever wonder why it is difficult to get volunteers for civic projects?  Maybe it is because too many of them get rode hard and put away wet.

He’s got a point. I did spend time speaking with Ms. Womack about her extensive involvement in the project, and she did indeed spend hours designing the water-wise garden at the Bath House Cultural Center.

My apologies for leaving her out of the story.

There are many types of these groups that provide different amenities. If you, or used to, belong to one of these groups and are interested in sharing your experience with me, shoot me an e-mail at austin.kilgore@peoplenewspapers.com

Does CNNMoney.com have any credibility left?

Of course, being that Texas is a non-disclosure state, nobody knows who bought it or how much they paid for it. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the DCAD records to be updated to at least figure out the owner.

The vacant lot was previously held by the estate of the late, great Lamar Hunt, the SMU alumnus who was instrumental in the creation of the American Football League and its later merger with the National Football League. He also was the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, and was the man who brought us Major League Soccer, among many other great accomplishments.

Thank you for your May 23rd article on “Tearing Down Our History.”

We all know change is inevitable and that some is beneficial and some is detrimental. It would seem that it would behoover us to carefully examine change initiatives and if we determine that we are note resisting change because we are just reactionary, we should try to deter detrimental change.

Our community does have something unique. People across the state and nation realize this. We know it is not just because of money. Our community has much of a small-town atmosphere despite being in the middle of one of the larger urban areas. People know one another. People are centered on family and schools. The list goes on and on.

The new “big box,” “nuevo rich” mentality that is sweeping the nation is and will have an impact on our community. We look more and more like Plano or Frisco every day — not that there is anything wrong with these cities but it is not the same “personality” as the Park Cities.

The people who are coming to the community to build these new structures seem to want to take advantage of what we and those who came before us have established but do not seem to recognize that they are changing what makes the community unique.

There are numerous issues. One that does not seem to have been mentioned is the alley entrances utilized by many of the new structures. Our alley is a single lane but many people are now using it as a street. Do our alleys have to be made one way? Will the alleys have to be resurfaced more frequently because of the traffic? Because most of the new construction does not want to waste any land on a driveway and the alley entrances are inconvenient for quick in and outs, people often park in the street as do their visitors. Many of our streets are down to a single lane because there are cars parked on each side of the street. Virtually every block seems to have construction going on and that adds even more vehicles. The safety issue of children crossing the street to play with other neighborhood children is also of concern.

The rear entrances and the high fences are similar to the bedroom communitites where people are said not to have met their neighbors.

Most of the new construction is “over building” the lots. The lack of lawn area should concern us. The privacy issues you mentioned should concern us. The drainage issues should concern us. Many of these houses should be built on acreage and not in a residential setting.

Your analogy to the recent rash of problems at NorthPark should give us pause. Bigger is not necessarily better. Zoning ordinances meant to protect the community should be completely revisited. Please continue to bring this to the attention of the community.

Now, when I say invite, I mean someone outside the company told me about the party, and I heckled an invitation out of the folks downstairs. But I digress.

All in all, it was a fun event. It was held at the Mansion, and was a virtual smorgasbord of who’s who in real estate in Dallas. Good times.

In the midst of all my schmoozing, I talked to a few real estate agents, and the topic of the President and Laura Bushes new home came up.

One agent theorized that they would forego a home, and instead buy a condo either on Turtle Creek, or maybe even Victory Park. This same agent suggested the Bushes wouldn’t want to live in the Park Cities, because they would want to maintain the image of living “in Dallas,” and limit their association to Park Cities big money.

All of this is obviously pure speculation, but an interesting theory nonetheless. Not sure if I agree with the condo idea, just because that seems like it would make security more difficult, but it would be interesting if the Bush Jr. moved into Ross Perot Jr.’s Victory Park development.

As for avoiding appearances by not living in the Park Cities, once you’re done being president, do you really care what people think about you? I know I wouldn’t.

<Putting on publisher’s hat> And Mustang Realty, you’re welcome to advertise your fine company in the pages of People Newspapers anytime. You might just want to rethink that logo.

UPDATE: Erroneous information in an earlier draft of this blog was corrected.