Happy 2007! What will happen here?

Any predictions for 2007 in Flower Mound?

• Will we have a wild Town election season, or will we continue this current "era of good feeling" (relatively speaking)?
  
• Will we finally see the long-promised decent development in Lakeside, or along FM2499?
  
• Will the FM2499 widening project be finished by the end of the year? Will traffic be better or worse?
  
• What businesses will be still be here, and what businesses will pack up and leave?
  

Your turn. Post a comment with your prediction(s).

Happy 2007 Flower Mound! Thanks for a great 2006.

End of year tallies

It's been a big year for Flower Mound Road, thanks to all of you! How big a year? Here are some estimated stats for this website for 2006. (My host swapped out web-tracking services in May, so these year-long numbers are extrapolated and estimated, but they should be very close.)

Daily uniques:	28,000
Total visits:	75,000
Total pageviews:	115,000

Not bad for a volunteer, non-revenue, spare-time-only enterprise. Thank you for your visits, for your comments, for your story tips. Next year will be the year for RoundTheMound.com, where all of you are the reporters!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year to All!

I've been a bit out of pocket the past couple of weeks, which is why the posts haven't been so frequent. But I've got a little time before we open presents tonight and tomorrow, so here's all that I've learned in the past few days. Some good posts below, I think!

A safe and blessed holiday to each of you, and thanks for making 2006 so great.

The big fire Friday night

Quite a scene Friday night on FM2499 just north of Grapevine Mills Mall. I was driving home from downtown Dallas around 7pm when I saw a huge plume of smoke coming up from somewhere near the mall. The fire was consuming the clubhouse of the Marquis at Silver Lake apartment complex, which is just south of the Flower Mound town line, just north of the Starbucks by Magic Mikes. It was a huge fire. I heard later that 9 different fire agencies responded to fight the fire and keep it from spreading. I didn't have any camera better than my Treo cam (the video posted here), so I called FOX 4, and we had video on our 9pm news. Fortunately for the residents, no one's apartment home was damaged. The clubhouse, which was self-standing, suffered significant damage. Perhaps there's enough of it to rebuild, however.

I had no problem passing by the apartments heading home to Flower Mound. People were slowing down to get a look, but traffic was moving. But 30 minutes later, my wife and I were heading back south on FM2499 to see a movie at the mall. By now, FMPD had closed off southbound FM2499 at Gerault, which was causing a lengthy south-bound backup.

Note to FMPD: Next time you need to shut off that stretch of road, how bout doing it at the Silveron intersection. That way traffic can easily go east toward 121 or west to the Grapevine Lake Dam. There are fewer ways out if you let the traffic go all the way south to Gerault. The backups were much longer than they should have been at that hour of the night.

FMPD nabbing Northshore residents and others for illegal right turns

Perhaps this is tied to the new construction on FM2499, but twice in the past week I've noticed an FMPD officer pulling over drivers for violating a "no right turn between 7-9am" sign that's posted on McKamy Creek Blvd just before the 3-way stop at Woodhill. Woodhill connects with McKamy in between the new light at Old Settlers and the soon-to-be-turned on light at Flower Mound Road. The "no right turn" sign was posted on McKamy years ago to keep morning rush-hour traffic from using the Villages of Northshore as a cut-through alternative to going through the 2499/3040 intersection.



The problem with this sign though is that it doesn't allow even Northshore residents to enter our own neighborhood, which is a total pain for those of us who take our kids to Old Settlers Elementary and McKamy Middle School. We can't get back to our homes without having to go all the way around the neighborhood, and on to FM2499. I feel similar sympathy for our neighbors in Lake Forest and Woodlake Estates, immediately to the south of Northshore, particularly those with kids at Old Settlers.

So when I saw the officer with three cars pulled over the other morning, I thought I'd find out if he was ticketing thru-drivers or neighbors. Turns out it's both.

I filed an Open Records Request with the Town Secretary's office, and I got a response in record time, about 4 hours. Here's what the records show:

Between 6:58am and 8:54am on Monday December 18, Officer Kevin Schmidt issued 13 citations for this "no right turn" infraction. All 13 had Flower Mound addresses. 8 lived in Wellington, Bridlewood or other neighborhoods farther west -- these were likely cut-through drivers. But 5 of the ticketed drivers lived in Northshore, Lake Forest or Woodlake Estates. I feel sorry for all these drivers, particularly for the one ticketed driver who lives on Elmridge, which is just a few feet beyond the Woodhill/McKamy Creek intersection.

I realize it was my Northshore neighbors who, years ago, lobbied the Town for this "no right turn" sign, but I don't think it's right that Northshore/Lake Forest/Woodlake neighbors are denied legal access into their own neighborhood via the most direct means.

Why can't we amend the ordinance and change the sign to read "no thru traffic", as opposed to a general "no right turn"?

By the way, you can download the open-records spreadsheet for yourself, by clicking here. Thanks to Ginger and Shirley at the Town of Flower Mound for such a speedy turnaround on the data!

FM2499 update: access to shopping centers closed

I was disappointed to see this. For the time being at least, the turn-ins to the shopping centers on FM2499 on both sides of FM3040 are closed (see red lines on the map). No longer can you drive southbound on FM2499 to turn left into Tom Thumb or Blockbuster. No longer can you drive northbound on FM2499 and turn left to get to Chili's or Cici's. Sure doesn't seem like this was necessary, since they haven't closed off the turn-ins for Northshore Blvd. or Lake Flower Rd.

FMPD enforcing teen curfew for holidays

Flower Mound police say they'll be using unmarked units to enforce the teen curfew this holiday break. I know they've done this in summer time before. I'm surprised to see this on such a short break, with cooler weather and with so many people spending family time.

A couple of weekends ago, about 10:30pm on a Friday night, we saw a group of about 10 kids hanging out together on Woodhollow Trail, not too far from my home. When we woke up the next morning, the two reindeer planted in front of our home were arranged in a lewd position. Our neighbors had it worse -- they got tee-peed.

Perhaps the curfew is a good thing.

CoServ still pays; meantime, waiting for deregulation

From 1996-2000, I lived in a Flower Mound neighborhood where CoServ was the electric provider. Since 2000, I've lived in TXU territory. Even though I haven't had CoServ is almost 7 years, I still technically own a CoServ membership, which means this week I got a dividend check in the mail. $13.01 won't make or break me, but I'll take it any day.

I've watched the stories that my TV station FOX 4 has done on The Price of Power, which has provided a great explainer on how TXU and some other power companies do business. Watch the November 10, 2006, story where my colleague Paul Adrian reads from the TXU quarterly financial report -- it's amazing how much money TXU makes, and how much I'm paying per month.

Despite my feeling that TXU charges way more than it should for power, I still haven't changed power companies. One reason is that the difference between TXU and its competitors isn't that much. The semi-regulated system that we've lived under the past couple of years hasn't created a whole lot of price competition. So I'm waiting until January 1, until we get real deregulation (or what passes for it here in Texas) to survey the electric landscape. Perhaps the prices will be more variable then.

Have you made the switch? What power company do you have? Too bad I can't get CoServ where I live now.

My yearly trip to the mall

I'm not a mall shopper. I don't like the crowds, and I hate to walk that far to park. OK, I'm a shopping wuss. But today I found myself back at Vista Ridge for our family's annual trek to see Santa. We've gone to visit the Vista Ridge Santa almost every year we've lived here. Our oldest is now 11 -- too old for this -- but he plays along for his 5-year-old sister.

The Vista Ridge Santa is younger than he used to be. Spoiler alert -- don't let your kids read this! I think they switched out Santas a couple of years ago. The old guy was there for many years. The last couple of years, I think, there's been a new Santa.

As soon as the kids got home from school, on this Monday afternoon, we rushed over to Vista Ridge to beat the Santa crowds. Not to worry at 4pm though -- no one else was there except the jolly old man himself and a couple of photo-taking elves. Hey, even Santa has his slow days around Christmastime!

Still the best road in town

I was driving home from Vista Ridge tonight during rush hour, and remembering how long it used to take to drive FM3040 around 5pm. You could spend 30 minutes going the 5 miles from I-35 to FM2499. Tonight, it took less than 7 minutes.

Missing Beijing Wok

We were driving home from church yesterday morning, and wanting something good to take home to eat. A lot of times like this we'd stop in at Beijing Wok to get our favorite Chinese dishes. But as previously reported here, the Wok has rolled away. That's left a Chinese food void on the south side of Town. Yeah sure, there's Panda Express on FM3040, but their menu is very limited.

News You Can Use: Where to Find the Best Santa?

Looking for the best mall Santa to take your kids this holiday season? The Star-Telegram did a nice story this morning on what you'll find at each of the malls they surveyed.

Because it's the Star-T, they don't cover any mall north or east of Grapevine Mills. We've always gone to Vista Ridge for our kids to get their yearly Santa fix. What about you?

On RoundTheMound.com: Vote now for the Best Service in Flower Mound!

Click to our new Flower Mound-focused community-news portal, RoundTheMound.com to participate. We're looking for you to give an electronic "holiday tip" to those people who provide you great service throughout the year. Here's a chance to recognize them, and by doing so, promote better customer service in Flower Mound.

Don't post your comments here -- they won't count. Go now to RoundTheMound.com.

How to spend 2 hours in your car and never leave Flower Mound

I had today off from the TV station. With the wife at work and the kids at school, I spent the day taking care of stuff around Flower Mound. My car has a timekeeper in it, to measure how much time I spend on each trip. That timer resets to 0:00 if my car is parked for more than two hours, but it keeps growing up and up if I drive it regularly throughout the day. When I was driving home at 6pm tonight, I looked at my dash and saw I had driven 2 hours and 9 minutes in my car today, and I'd never left Flower Mound.

Here are the stops I made:

Started at home.
Old Settlers Elementary (drop off kids for school)
Main Street Vet (drop off dog for procedure)
Home
Chick-Fil-A (to pick up lunch for kid #1)
Old Settlers Elementary (lunch with kid #1)
Lifetime Fitness
Sonic (next door)
Culvers (2499/3040) (to pick up lunch for kid #2)
Old Settlers Elementary (lunch with kid #2)
Back in Time barber shop (2499/Churchill)
Old Settlers Elementary (pick up kids after school)
Home
Dr. Hudelson's allergy clinic (next door to library)
Kroger (1171/2499)
Kohl's
Main Street Vet (pick up dog)
Home

All that took over 2 hours in the car. How many miles? Take a guess. 25 miles in just over 2 hours. That's a lot of school zones and red lights (and a couple of drive-thrus where I didn't cut off the engine).

Searching for a haircut, and finding a close shave

For as long as I've lived in Flower Mound (10 years), I've been getting haircuts. Funny how that is. When we first moved here in 1996, my wife and me (and then later my baby boy) all went to The Hair Company on Morriss Road. That worked out just fine, although I always hated making hair appointments for myself, and I always stressed out having to rush home from work just to keep the appointment I made. I'm OK with making appointments for doctors, but I'd rather just wait in line to get my hair cut.

I remember when the SportClips store next door to Chilis (2499/3040) opened up. I was one of their very first customers, and I've been going there ever since. It's convenient, it's fast (usually), and I've always gotten a pretty good cut, particularly when Colleen has wielded the razor and the scissors. I keep telling my wife I'm going to go to that Knockouts hair shop in Lewisville - the ones with the Hooters-like girls cutting hair, or so they advertise.

Unfortunately for me, neither The Hair Co. nor SportClips has been able to stop nature from making haircuts of any sort all but unnecessary for me. What's left of my hair is confined to the rear and sides -- not much on top. Styling my hair isn't much of a decision beyond whether to get a #1 or #2 razor to do the work. There will be no "combover" for me -- thank goodness.

Given where I am in life, I thought it wise to go back to my childhood and check out the "Back in Time" barber shop on FM2499 in the old Kroger shopping center. The shop has a manufactured old-time barber shop feel to it, and there are several antique pieces to give it that air. I signed the sheet and waited for my turn.

Ernie called me to his chair a few minutes later. Once I gave him the gameplan, he set to work, and I quickly learned the difference in the way a bonafide barber works. Whereas the last razor-cut I had had at SportClips a couple of weeks ago had taken all of 4 minutes, Ernie would spend 15 minutes hand-crafting the razor's artwork on my scalp. It was if he was taking a census of my hair - not an impossible task these days.

Happy with my haircut, I invited Ernie to give me a shave -- something you won't find at most hair shops (though I do like the "All-Star Treatment" at SportClips -- hot towels, face and shoulder massage for a paltry $5 surcharge). The shave cost $20, but it must have taken Ernie 20-30 minutes more to finish it. Lots of hot and cold towels wraps, lots of lotion, a whisNicely done.

I can't change the hair on my head. I'm stuck with what I got. And since I've got it like I do, perhaps the barber shop is the best place for me. "Back in Time", I'll be back.

New ordinance, no drive-offs

The new ordinance requiring gasoline retailers to require pay-at-the-pump or pay-in-advance appears to be working. I jotted off a quick open-records-request to the Town, and I learned that since the ordinance went into effect a couple of months ago, there have been no drive-offs reported. Likewise, there have been no citations issued for clerks caught allowing someone to pump before they pay.

More from The News Connection

Regarding last week's post re: "Missing the News Connection" below...

News Connection publisher Shane Allen posted a comment, and he asks a good question. So I thought I'd post his response here to make sure all of you get to see it. Post your own comments, if you will.

"Chip - we are having some trouble with the post office and in fact are thinking of going to a free thrown method of distribution for more than one reason. Perhaps a Thursday delivery instead of Friday would be appealing to the community? Meanwhile, can you email me with your address so that I can put you on our subscriber list to insure you get it. Out of curiosity, I would like to know what your users think about us throwing the paper instead of mailing it. Ultimately, it will depend on our advertsiers but maybe a survey or post in reference to mailed vs. free thrown is in order to give us some good feedback."

Your turn now, Road readers. What do you think?

Salernos: What is it that draws the crowds?

A few Friday nights ago the family and I were looking for a place to dine. The rules were the same as they usually are -- some place close (in Flower Mound), relatively quiet, good food for grown-ups and kids, reasonable price. We could only narrow the choices down to three -- Christina's (1171/Shiloh), Baris (2499/Churchill), and Salerno's (across the street from Baris). So we decided to call each restaurant to find out the waiting time. Christina's -- 10-minute wait. Bari's -- no wait. Salerno's -- a 30-minute wait. That night we took the easy way out and went to Bari's. Had a nice meal, in fact, and of course we got right in.

So what is it about Salerno's that keeps this place packed when restaurants with comparable food and surroundings aren't nearly as much so?

We had been to Salerno's twice before, but not once since 1999. The last time we went there was for a Sunday School class party where the menu (Lasagna, as I recall) was set in advance. We didn't much like that lasagna, and we hadn't been back there since.

The night before Thanksgiving, we packed up the kids, and my mother-in-law, and pulled into the Salerno's parking lot. With everyone else either travelling to Grandma's or pre-cooking the family feast, Salerno's was a walk-in-and-be-seated kind of place on this night. We got a booth-table in the center room, in between the kitchen and the bar, and we enjoyed peeking at the TV sets that were showing a Mavs game.

But what about the food? Keep in mind my usual disclaimer -- we are not gourmet eaters, and we don't go very deep into the menu. We loved the cheese sticks, and they tasted totally homemade, which is different from most places. My son and I shared a pizza. The crust is medium-weight (not thin, not thick). The pizza was pretty good, though I think I like Bari's thin-crust and Alforno's medium-crust pizza better. My wife's dish (and now I can't remember what she had) was terrific, so she says. My mother-in-law, same thing.

Despite the fact we all enjoyed our food, I wouldn't put Salerno's in a different class from Alfornos or Bari's. All three are very good local restaurants. So why is Salerno's such a hot spot? Tradition, I suppose. The name, I suppose. Here's another reason. When we were leaving the restaurant, there was a nice crowd of people hanging out in the bar. The way they acted in there, they seemed like regulars. I guess if a restaurant has a "family" of loyal customers, then the family can carry a restaurant for years and years. That perhaps is the reason why Salerno's is so popular and loved by so many Flower Mounders.