Willis Winters

Oak Cliff is One Big Step Closer to Getting a Dog Park at Kidd Springs [Updated]

Folks in Oak Cliff have been pushing for an Oak Cliff dog park for a while now. More specifically, they've been lobbying the city to pitch in for a permanent one, since they have the pop-up thing down by now. Yesterday brought good news. According to a post on FIDO Oak Cliff's website, the city has ... More >>

City Dawdling Leaves Trinity Canoeists Up Shit Creek

Park and Rec Is Looking For Firm to Handle $27 Million Worth of Cotton Bowl Improvements

​Shortly before the 2011 kick-off of Texas-OU's annual clash at the Cotton Bowl we spoke with Willis Winters, Park and Rec's second-in-command, about the need to once again renovate the Fair Park stadium in order to keep the Red River Shootout in Dallas past the 2015 contract. Said Winters, it was ... More >>

Don Your Sunglasses For Yet Another Look at New-Look Reunion Tower (The Omni Too)

We said it before: Downtown Dallas is starting to look a little like Lil' Las Vegas. The subject spurred a little back-and-forth during a staff dinner last night, during which someone mentioned the story in yesterday's paper about our even more illuminated skyline. Said urban planner Larry Beasley, ... More >>

City, State Fair to Replace Fair Park Livestock Arena With Fancy "Mini-Convention Center"

Click here to see more of Good, Fulton & Farrell's renderings for the new Fair Park Livestock Center.​The reason I called Park and Rec's second-in-command Willis Winters the other day wasn't about downtown parks. Rather, I was curious about an $869,465 item on the Park Board's agenda for today ... More >>

A Tree Grows in the Deck Park

Photo by Willis Winters​Yesterday the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation sent word: The deck park would be receiving its first trees this morning, at 'round 10:30. I was told that despite the cold temperatures, the timing was good: "This season is the preferred time to plant because leaves are gone s ... More >>

Park and Rec Provides Nifty Guide to Those "Art" Pavilions Slowly, Surely Filling City Parks

Clockwise, from top left, some of the pavilions still in design phase or under construction: Kidd Springs, College Park, Webb Chapel and Lake Highlands​When I had Willis Winters on the phone the other day, I mentioned in passing that I just driven pastthe new pavilion at Royal Park, off Royal and ... More >>

City, Sixth Floor Museum to Split Cost of $1.5 Million Dealey Plaza Redo Down the Middle

From the Dealey Plaza renovations briefing the council's Quality of Life Committee never got to hear earlier this year​We first told you back in May that Dealey Plaza is due for a makeover, which involves redoing the north and south plaza pergolas, planting new way-finding and history-of signs, a ... More >>

Heritage to Sell Odd Bit of Cotton Bowl History. Turns Out, the City Has Its Own Stash o' Seats.

Heritage Auction Galleries​For the longest time I've had this auction item sitting on my desktop: a chair said to be from the Cotton Bowl circa 1960-'62, during the Dallas Texans' days at Fair Park. Heritage is parting with the curio this weekend, during the same auction at which it's offering the ... More >>

No Plans For Women's Museum Building, But Summer Place Park's Still Set to Bow in 2013

​Speaking of Fair Park ...In the wake of its inclusion on the American Planning Association's list of Great Public Places, several Friends of Unfair Park have asked: How's that long-proposed plan to open the fairgrounds year-round(ish) coming? And: What about the pending closure of The Women's Mus ... More >>

If Texas and OU Need More Seats to Stay at the Cotton Bowl, Well, There Is Room to Expand

​It's been all of three years, almost to the day, since then-Mayor Tom Leppert and Tennell Atkins played a game of catch on the Cotton Bowl field to formally commemorate the end of $57 million worth of redos, $30 million of which was paid for out of the 2006 bond program with the State Fair of Tex ... More >>

City Acknowledges "Renegade" Workers Did Cut Down Trees in the Great Trinity Forest

Photos courtesy Rawlins Gilliland​A few weeks ago we looked into whether some Park and Rec workers got a little too chainsaw-happy in the Great Trinity Forest -- specifically, near the soccer and baseball fields in the Gateway Park on the west side of Jim Miller Road. It was brought to our attenti ... More >>

Park and Rec Has a New a Radar Gun. And It's Using It To Measure Hike-N-Bike Trail Speeds.

City of Dallas Park and Recreation​The city warns, via its Hike & Bike Trail Facebook page, that it's "preparing to collect data on cyclists' speeds on Dallas trails." And ... that's about that. So I called Park and Rec's second-in-command, Willis Winters, for further information -- such as, f ... More >>

The Standing Wave on the Trinity River Stands Ready to Wash Away More of Your Dough

​Somewhere in the saga of the Dallas Wave, formerly known as the Standing Wave, there is sanity. Things happen for a reason. I take this as an article of faith, but my faith is sorely tested by the wave. The standing wave is a manmade rapids in the Trinity River downriver from downtown that t ... More >>

City to Make Sure Its Tree Trimmer Didn't Get a Little Too Chainsaw-Happy in Trinity Forest

​A few tree-hugging Friends of Unfair Park sent word earlier today that someone from Park and Rec was out clearcutting trees in the Great Trinity Forest, which seemed a bit ... odd. Wrote one, the guy was using a chainsaw in Gateway Park to cut down Red Oaks, Possumhaw Hollies, Bur Oaks, Cedar Elm ... More >>

Let's Cut the (Dog) Crap and Deal With the Real Problem Plaguing Main Street Garden

​Tuesday night, I was on the phone with Park and Rec second-in-command Willis Winters, who happened to be standing near the Lily Pad in Main Street Garden. Mid-sentence, he stopped talking, said, "Excuse me," then said, rather loudly to someone standing near him: "Are you going to pick that up?"Ah ... More >>

Bummed Out: Angela Hunt Wants Homeless Issue in Main Street Garden Addressed

Photo by Justin Terveen​Directly below, in the comments, a reader accuses us of ignoring Angela Hunt's handful of weekend tweets concerning "bums camping out in our [downtown] parks, making them unusable for families, children, & residents." Can't ignore what you didn't see, but Hunt was refer ... More >>

The Trinity River's 'Standing Wave' Crashes into Reality

The city spent millions on a kayaking park that almost no one can use -- and the money's still flowing.

Scratch That May 7 Dedication Off To-Do List, As Dallas Wave Is Closed Till Further Notice

Photo by Harry Wilonsky​Below, unhappy Friend of Unfair Park Ben notes in the comments that the Dallas Wave (formerly known as the Standing Wave) is off-limits -- meaning, you can wave adios to that May 7 dedication ceremony that's been on the books since last fall. Willis Winters, second-in-comma ... More >>

Landmark Would Like State Fair Vendors to Pick Up After Themselves at Fair Park

Some of the displays around Hall of State and the lagoon that remained after the State Fair of Texas​The 7-year-old who lives in my house and I have spent the last two weekends at Fair Park while he wrapped a school project; so -- sniff -- proud. And somewhere between walking around the Cotton Bow ... More >>

Getting Wet on The Dallas Wave

Photos by Harry Wilonsky​For the moment, at least, it isn't easy to access The Former Trinity Standing Wave, known, for now, as The Dallas Wave -- though that's but an unofficial working title being floated out there (see what I did?). Willis Winters, assistant director of Parks and Rec, offered t ... More >>

Liveblogging Today's Trail-Tastic Quality of Life Committee Meeting

Mind the gap?​Greetings to you, Unfair Friends, from City Hall, where the Quality of Life Committee kicked off their meeting about trash and trails today just after noon o'clock -- and after David Neumann gave a clowny and enthused interview to a TV camera. Willis Winters, Assistant Director of Pa ... More >>

Yet Another Exciting Addition to Fair Park: "Proposed Cotton Bowl Museum." Pardon?

Flickr user: steevithak​Shame about this weather -- if only because the ice and snow put the kibosh on our plans to head down to Fair Park this morning for a meeting of the Landmark Commission's Fair Park Task Force, which was called on account of the weather. Because, you see, there was this one ... More >>

Barefoot in the Park Pavilion, or: How the City's Putting Art Into Neighborhoods

The St. Augustine Park Pavilion, built in 2008​On Sunday we took a look at the new pavilions at Brownwood Park on Walnut Hill Lane, just as they were getting their finishing touches following some issues with a contractor that tried to cut corners. At which point Willis Winters, assistant directo ... More >>

Slowly (Very Slowly, Occasionally) But Surely, City's Custom Park Pavilions Take Shape

​What you see above are the new pavilions at Brownwood Park on Walnut Hill Lane, between Webb Chapel Road and Marsh Lane. When I spotted them Friday morning, contractors were putting the finishing touches on the three structures, which have been very slow to take shape. "We had difficulty with the ... More >>

How's That Deck Park Coming, Anyhow?

​My dad was over this morning, and we got to talking about the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. One thing leads to another, and we're watching the construction cam, which now tops the Calatrava cam on my must-watch list. Impressive. I called Willis Winters, assistant director of Park and Rec, to see how ... More >>

Take a Dip in the New Children's Aquarium at Fair Park, Which Opens This Friday

Photos by Danny FulgencioOut back, the Stingray Bay at the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park gives visitors the hands-on experience of feeding the rays.​Till Monday afternoon I hadn't been in the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park since I was, oh, maybe 11, 12 years old. This much I recall of the '36 bui ... More >>

A Look Back at a Time When State Fair-Goers Wore Ties to the Midway and Shot the Chute

​Back in June, upon the occasion of the release of City Archivist John Slate's Historic Dallas Parks, I mentioned yet another history book was forthcoming from Arcadia Publishing: Willis Winters's Fair Park. At the time there was no release date set, only "closer to the State Fair of Texas," but a ... More >>

Jury's Still Out on Whether Main Street Garden Playground's Still a Child-Sized Frying Pan

Photos by Andrea GrimesA look at the new coating that crews spent the weekend spraying all over the playground equipment at Main Street Garden​'Round 3 on Monday afternoon, the day after crews coated the hothothothot stainless-steel playground at Main Street Garden, Andrea was supposed meet Park a ... More >>

Liveblogging This Morning's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee Meeting

From the PowerPoint proposing a new Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Gateway connecting Fair Park to the Trinity​The very top of the very morning to you, Friends. Here I am at City Hall once again (still haven't regained my Foursquare mayorship, very upset about it) to bring you live updates from ... More >>

Park and Rec Board to Discuss New Ordinance That Would Close All City Parks Hour Earlier

Flickr user: Nick Findley​According to Dallas City Code, all but three city parks are closed from midnight till 5 a.m. (The exceptions -- Barnes Bridge Park, Bachman Creek Greenbelt and William B. Dean Park -- close at 10 p.m.) But according to a proposal the Park and Rec Board will consider Thurs ... More >>

Legendary Dallas Skateboarders, Rebuffed By The City In Their Efforts To Build A Public Skatepark, Go Underground And Build Their Own.

Your Wednesday Morning Eye Candy: Local Sign Maker, Collector Dan Holzschuh's Vision

Today's eye-opener is more abstract than a short doc about Willis Winters. Instead, it's a virtual sculpture by noted neon-sign collector, Dan Holzschuh, who counts among his collection's pieces remnants from the old Prince of Hamburgers, the Circle Inn, the Gemini Drive-In and even Jack Ruby's Caro ... More >>

W.W. Samuell Told Dallas It Could Never Sell His Farm. How, Then, Did It Come to This?

Photos courtesy the Friends of the FarmOne of the foot bridges on Samuell Farm​I just spoke with Willis Winters, assistant director of Park and Rec, about the potential sale of Samuell Farm and how it landed on the board's agenda this Thursday in the first place. Says Winters, it actually came up ... More >>

See, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, or: Poor Main Street Garden Has Some Issues

Photos by Patrick MichelsEver since the park opened last fall, the generically named "Cafe" has been awaiting its proper name, the Lily Pad.​Well, so much for the Lily Pad opening today in Main Street Garden.Rudy notes that Park and Rec has sent word that someone kicked in the park eatery's bathro ... More >>

Fair Park Needs a Million Bucks Worth of Work

​The Park and Rec board's meeting at the Dallas Zoo today -- appropriate, since the highest-priced item on today's agenda involves the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park, scheduled to reopen in September as The Children's Aquarium at Fair Park under the privately operated auspices of Dallas Zoo Manageme ... More >>

After Prematurely Selling Bonds, City Urges Nonprofit to Fund Design of Scaled-Down Version of Texas Horse Park

Robert WilonskyPark and Rec's assistant director, Willis Winters, at Main Street Garden's construction site in October.​In case you missed it, the nonprofit folks over at the Trinity Trust and Texas Horse Park, Inc. flew media types and others in a helicopter last week to check out the 600 acr ... More >>

Perhaps a Name Change We Can All Believe In: How About "Trinity Forest Boulevard"?

​From the looks of this sneak peek at a presentation Willis Winters, assistant director of Park and Rec, is giving the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee on Tuesday, that $3 mil earmarked for the so-called Loop 12 Gateway will most likely wind up being spent on Trinity River Audubo ... More >>

A Beacon of Hope: Council Committee Not Terribly Fond of Those 120-Foot Towers

​So, back to those Trinity Beacons for a second. We went to this afternoon's meeting of the Trinity River Corridor Project committee convinced the council would bite on the 120-foot-tall light towers, which would cost $3 million in '98 bond money earmarked for the so-called Loop 12 Gateway. But we ... More >>

ESPN's Heartbreaking Piece About Woodrow Wilson's Sergio Kindle and the Winters

Sergio Kindle with Jan and Willis Winters​On Monday, we directed your attention to The Times's tale of Sergio Kindle, the Woodrow Wilson High School grad one day away from playing in The Only College Football Game That Matters. A fellow Woodrow grad and good Friend of Unfair Park also directs our ... More >>

Main Street Garden Will Open on November 13; Followed By New Fair Park Fountain

Last week, Willis Winters wasn't too sure -- the Park and Rec Department's assistant director had hoped to get Main Street Garden open by November 13, but, well, you saw the soggy pictures. But, clearly, the mud pit has been Kaboomed: After I noticed the opening dates mentioned on the Cultural Affai ... More >>

Pulling Up Few More Main Street Garden -- and Downtown Dallas Park -- Details

The Lily Pad cafe and the light-sculpture canopies, part of the Main Street Garden scheduled to open next month​More than a few Friends of Unfair Park have asked privately and in the comments of yesterday's Main Street Garden sneak peek how the city expects to deal with the homeless. So happens, t ... More >>

Willis Winters Gives Us a Slightly Soggy, Kind of Early Walking Tour of Main Street Garden

Less than one month from now, this very spot will be where the city plants Thomas Balsley's 60-foot-tall Christmas tree.​Willis Winters, assistant director of the city's Park and Recreation Department, was kind enough to give Unfair Park a tour of the $17-million Main Street Garden this morning -- ... More >>

If They Can't Redo the Statler Hilton, Well, They'll Just Cover the Damned Thing Up

The city's love-hate relationship with the Statler Hilton's been well documented here, so no need to rehash that never-ending story. But there is this bit of news concerning the Hotel Conrad Built on Commerce Street: Mayor Tom and the DowntownDallas-ites would love that sumbitch covered, if'n you do ... More >>

City Prepared to Spend Bond Money to Keep Dog Parks From Going to, Well, You Know ...

This morning, the Dallas City Council's likely to approve spending $718,803 in 2003 and 2006 bond money to build the proposed Wagging Tail Dog Park near Preston Road and Keller Springs; it's Addendum Item No. 4, for those playing along at home. As mentioned last week, though, that was but one of two ... More >>

From Now On, We're Going to Call City Project Delays "Deep Breaths"

White Rock Lake Neighbors Want to Know Whose Bright Idea It Was to Install Lights

Wherein Corby Davidson Goes to the Cotton Bowl and Takes a Wee-Wee

Money to Burn

The City of Dallas pays consultants millions to write reports. Does anyone read them?