The Dallas City Council gets a glimpse at the future on Wednesday, when it'll be briefed on the Fair Park aquarium redo and the new slogan that's supposed to soothe the public during Love Field's extreme airport makeover.
As you're no doubt aware, the aquarium, due to be rebranded the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park, had fallen into quite the state of disrepair, losing its Association of Zoo & Aquariums accreditation nine years ago. Between that and the popularity of the Dallas World Aquarium (which attracts some 500,000-plus annually at $19-per-grown-up, compared to Fair Park's guesstimated 135,000 at $4 a head), the council said enough's enough, and the Fair Park aquarium wound up with $8.2 million in the '03 and '06 bond packages -- enough for an overhaul. Work began in October transforming the fishbowl into an "Ocean of Adventure" and is scheduled to last through the State Fair, when a "sneak peak preview" is planned. But you can hop to the head of the line -- this week's briefing package comes with conceptual renderings and work-in-progress photos.
Then there's the $519-million Love Field Modernization Program, which is about to get hot and heavy in the hopes of wrapping up on the very day the Wright Amendment is adiosed (October 13, 2014). A couple of weeks ago, the city and Southwest Airlines, partners in this endeavor, launched a Web site to keep folks up-to-date on the project's progress -- and they've included an animated fly-through of the new-and-improved Love Field. My, that's quite the Concessions Village -- complete with a pleasuredome-tree house of some kind done up in Dallas's apparent favorite shade of blood-red.
This week's briefing package previews the forthcoming public information campaign: "Love Evolution." Otherwise known as a very popular parade in San Francisco.