Vanderbilt home for sale or rent

Just reduced and also offered for rent!

6027 Vanderbilt

Hollywood Santa Monica Availability

A quick update on the neighborhood activity:

• 40 homes currently on the market
• Average price is $313,378
• Average days on market are 95 (from 3-595 days)
• Price range is $159,000 - $599,900
• Average square footage is 1677
• Average price per foot is $190.20

If you are interested in purchasing or listing your home, give me a call for more details.

My recent bike race in Montreal

While in Montreal recently I decided to give the Bixi bicycle sharing a try. Somehow I ended up in a race and included some video.

Bike sharing is gaining popularity all over the world. Paris was one of the first adopters of the system and they have over 20,000 bikes in the program. They believe that no bike station should be more than 300-500 meters apart or people won't use the network. This has led to a traffic reduction of over 5%.

Bike sharing involves picking up a bike at any bike station and for a small fee you may take the bike to your destination and drop it off at another station. It is designed mainly for intercity or close in cities. The Bixi prototype in Montreal (which has 5000 bikes and 400 stations) has been adopted, emulated or modeled in Washington DC, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston and most recently in San Antonio, TX.

The US based systems have been highly financed by companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana who recognize the health benefits. The federal stimulus funds have also played a part in funding due to the environmental benefits of traffic reduction.

So....do you think such a system would work in Lakewood, Downtown & Uptown Dallas? We already have a great trail system that could easily be incorporated into the program.

Interesting Bike Share Article

Willie's Picnic 1974 - College Station

The year was 1974 and Willie was in College Station for his three day 2nd Annual July 4th Picnic. This year marks the 37th year of the picnic at the backyard at Bee Caves, Texas just outside Austin. But, if you can't make it to Austin there are plenty of things going on here in Big D.

Here is a sampling of weekend activities:

Friday and Sunday - Ballpark in Arlington - post game fireworks. I have found in the past that this is one of the best displays of fireworks in the area. Plus the Rangers are kicking it right now.

Saturday & Sunday - neighborhood parades in Lakewood, Forest Hills, Kessler, Bent Tree, Preston Hollow and many others.

Saturday - Thunder over Cedar Creek Lake - Pinnacle Club - Airshow and fireworks spectacular. Airshow begins at 6 pm and fireworks at 9m. This is the best show in all of DFW in my opinion. Last year there were over 40,000 people. View by land or water.

Sunday - Libertine Bar - 2101 Greenville Ave, Dallas - The free Brass Knuckle Corndog Beatdown.

Sunday 9 am - 5pm - Dallas Arboretum - Fourth of July - music, picnics, and floral displays.

Sunday 11 am - 4 pm - Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park - Old-Fashioned Fourth - celebreate like it was 1899. $5 general admission.

Sunday - 9 pm - Lakewood Country Club Fireworks Display - Gaston & Abrams

Monday 6 pm - 10:30 - Fair Park Fourth-on-the-Fifth - Water shows and choreographed fireworks. Free to the public.

There are literally hundreds of other events for more check out Guidelive.

Have a great weekend and be careful.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

This was posted by my friend from Austin City Living and I found it thought provoking. Ponder....

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Wendell Berry

Are banks really necessary these days?

Do you pay your bills online? Do you get cash back on your debit card at the grocery store? Do you go to the ATM? Is your paycheck direct deposited? My guess is that you said yes to several if not all of those questions.

There is even a new bank called Ally that is a virtual bank with no locations. They have lower interest rates and less fees. USAA bank even allows you to make deposits using your iPhone.

So ask yourself, how often to you actually go into a bank? Is there really a need for more "brick and mortar" banks?

Within 2 miles of the corner of Mockingbird and Abrams there are no less than five Chase Bank branches. There are four between Abrams and Central (although the one at Mockingbird & Central is closing). There is also at least one Bank of America, Comerica, Wells Fargo, BBVA Compass, Professional Bank, Liberty Federal Savings, Texas Capital, Park Cities Bank and Wachovia in that same radius. Before bank meltdowns, FDIC closings and consolidations there were even more.

Until the banks start lending again this financial mess is not going to improve much. So if we rarely go into a bank, doesn't it seem that the money used to buy that expensive land and build these new financial institutions would be better spent on improving the balance sheet and lending?

Have you heard what the city wants to do to bicyclists?

• Do you ride a bicycle?
• Do you want to ride a bicycle and feel it's not safe?
• Do you want to see changes in your neighborhood?
• Come share your vision for a bicycle friendly Dallas!
  

The City of Dallas needs your input. The 2010 Dallas Bike Plan is a city-wide plan that will affect OUR neighborhoods, OUR children, OUR future. Please consider participation in this open house on Thursday the 27th of May from 5-8 pm at Dallas City Hall in the Flag Room (6E-North)

If you cannot attend the meeting and would like to provide feedback or if you would like to be added to the email list for news about bicycle planning in Dallas, please contact:

Waco Moore, Dallas Bicycle Advisory Committee
waco.moore@gmail.com
972-352-3492

Whether you support bikers or not, this is your chance to have your voice heard.