Welcome to Dallas City in Texas, Also Called The Big D

Dallas City, TX

Welcome to Dallas City in Texas, Also Called “The Big D”

By Marco Ayllon

Modern Dallas Texas

Welcome to Dallas, also called “The Big D,” part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metroplex of 6.5 million people.

Whether you’re looking for arts, technology, or culture, a Dallas tour has a little bit of everything. Stroll through the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center to take in their creative works, followed by a trip up to the top of the Reunion Tower for a breathtaking view of the city.

If you have an affinity for living beings, you Dallas sightseeing must include the underwater passages of the Dallas World Aquarium. Don’t worry – it also has an entire section devoted to creatures of dry land, so make sure you check out the Jungle Walk. You can also scream your way through over 100 rides at Six Flags, or explore the history of the cowboy way at Pioneer Plaza.

A fine Texas day comes to an end with steak, dancing, and mingling with friendly locals who have hearts as big as the state itself.

Video 4:52 min.

A Severe Arctic Ice Storm Arrives to Dallas and The City Struggles to Cope With the Cold and Three Dayas of Closures

By: Marco A. Ayllon
December 9, 2013

For the past days the city of Dallas experimented a cold Arctic front, about 20 Degrees Fahrenheit (-8 Degrees Celsius.) Four days after a debilitating ice storm, now a whole lot of Dallas looks just as it did on Friday: frigid, hunkered down, and, in many cases, closed for business.

As of Sunday night, about 20,000 Oncor customers were still without power as temperatures headed toward an expected low of 26 on Monday. The city was keeping its emergency shelter open for another night, and across the region schools and government offices had announced they’d be closed another day.

At least three deaths had been linked to the storm since Saturday, authorities said, including Marija Guimbellot, 75, who slipped on the ice in her front yard Saturday near Dallas Love Field. In North Dallas, Sergio Diaz Jr., 26, was killed when his car crashed early Sunday on Royal Lane near Preston Road.

Police said a woman in her mid-40s who was found dead in a South Dallas parking lot on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near S.M. Wright Freeway is also believed to have been a victim of the storm.

Thousands of workers had been hard at it around the clock the whole weekend to get the city back on its feet Monday with mixed results.

“When Mother Nature drops a hockey rink on your airport, there’s only so much you can do,” said David Magaña, a spokesman for the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in a statement that had to have resonated with officials throughout the region.

Still, though Dallas is in for another cold day of dicey traffic and spotty services, Sunday’s efforts weren’t for nothing.

A brief afternoon warming spell brought temperatures above freezing for the first time since last week, if just barely. That was enough for D/FW to open new runways and start flying home some of the thousands of people who camped out overnight Friday and Saturday.

The warming didn’t last long, as it got cold again Sunday night. But it was enough, too, to give Dallas Area Rapid Transit reason to expect — even if it wasn’t guaranteeing — that its light rail service would be back in business Monday morning for the first time since Friday.

“The goal is to have the full system operational,” spokesman Morgan Lyons said. Crews worked all weekend to retrieve stranded trains from across the rail network after ice built up on the overhead wires that power the system.

The outage, similar to a systemwide shutdown during Super Bowl week in 2011, is the longest ever for DART. “What we have been able to do so far has been encouraging, but there are still some areas of the system where we haven’t been able to run our trains,” Lyons cautioned Sunday.

Those areas are in the northern reaches of the network, at stations in Carrollton on the Green Line and
in Plano on the Red Line, he said.

“We do feel, though, that we will be able to restore a lot of the service — we think we will be able to have it all running” Monday, he said. Still the agency isn’t taking chances, he said. It will have buses at each of the rail stations in case the trains don’t work.

 

Dangerous Higways and Roads

Texas Transportation Department officials warned Sunday that even though all area highways had been reopened, drivers should take “extreme caution” Monday, especially on bridges and ramps.

Some stretches of interstate, including I-20 west of Fort Worth and I-35 in Denton County, had been all but shut down as a result of ice that piled 6 inches deep. Only by bringing in motor-graders with serrated blades was TxDOT able to chop up the ice enough to treat it with salt.

“As soon as this starts to freeze again, all of this water is going to become black ice,” said Matt Zavadsky, spokesman for MedStar. “We are very concerned about the afternoon, evening and especially morning commute.”

Zavadsky said scores of calls for emergency ambulance service came in over the weekend for women who needed rides to hospitals to give birth. By Sunday, others just wanted to get out of the house.

Steve White of Dallas was ready to go just about anywhere. But as soon as he got to the dairy aisle at the Kroger in Oak Lawn, he was ready to go back home again — to warm up.

“It’s too cold,” said White, who arrived in Dallas five years ago from Iowa. “I moved here to get away from the cold.”

 

At the Grocery: Where’s the Lettuce?

He was one of the lucky ones to find what he was looking for at the grocery. Produce aisles at many area stores were quickly emptied late last week, and deliveries still have not been made.

Customers at the Kroger bought $15,000 in produce Thursday during a pre-storm rush, said produce manager Israel Gonzales. Since then, few trucks have managed to make their deliveries from a warehouse in Keller, he said. On Saturday, only a truck with sacks of potatoes arrived.

“They say they’re going to come in to deliver, but we don’t know when,” he said.

Dallas Rejoices Inspirational Opening of The Perot Museum of Nature and Science

By Graciela Ayllon and Marco Ayllon

Modern Dallas Texas 

Dallas’ Perot Museum readies for Saturday December 1, 2012 grand opening The $185 million paid building at the corner of Field Street and Woodall Rodgers consists of five floors of exhibits and collections designed not just to entertain, but also to raise student skills in technology, math and science.

The building has a 3-D theater, dozens of dinosaur skeletons and exhibits that focus on such topics as astronomy, human anatomy, energy exploration and weather. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science located in Victory Park, near Downtown Dallas is said to be a "world of wonder" by The Dallas Morning News. Passing the test of school children, inspiring curiosity in all ages and boasting as a living science lesson, this new Museum opens its doors to the public today. Get ready to amaze your brain through hands-on learning experiences.

Our city has been watching the construction of the building for quite some time, and now we all feel excited and amused to have a modern museum near to the heart of Dallas downtown, and El Centro College area. The once empty lot of land behind the House of Blues building has grown into quite the focal point in the West End meets Victory Park area of Downtown Dallas. The Perot Museum of Nature & Science has taken shape after months and years of Dallas sites wondering just what the eclectic and modern edifice had become .

You need to come to explore this site to learn more about the new Perot Museum: watch a time-lapse video of the building as it was built, learn about the building, the halls and exhibits, the programs, and the fundraising campaign and how you can contribute to the Perot Museum. Plus, learn how the incredible generosity of the Perot family and other wonderful donors turned a dream into the start of something big.

Construction outcome: 

Cinthia Andrea LaChance Living with Sorrow, Without her Daughter, and Suffering Domestic Violence in Dallas TX

An Intelligent Mother Surviving Stroke and Domestic Violence:

By: Marco A. Ayllon Bueno
Famous Dallas City Entertainment News
Nautilus News Dallas TX
March 17, 2012

We had the pleasure to interview Cinthia Andrea LaChance who claimed: "I suffered a Traumatic Brain injury due to a domestic violence (battering.)" She is a professional graduated as a Systems Engineer at UCB, and was the best in the dean’s list. Her mom stated: "The I.T. Dean congratulated and told me that I should feel proud of my daughter because she was well prepared and implemented knowledge at her final Thesis dissertation." Before Cinthia migrated to U.S., she worked as Professor Assistant at UCB, and for the Bolivian government at the congress.

After talking with her and supportive family for more than three hours, we noticed that she is more interested in her daughter welfare, maternal love, and learning development. Cinthia said: "Domestic violence should not happen to anybody." (http://www.domesticviolence.org/ )
We learned many credible facts about her need and petition for care and nurture to her beloved one and half (1.5) year old daughter. Frisco family court awarded an erroneous temporary custody to a semiconductor technician her ex-husband. “Well, his smoker uncle who lives with him is the one in charge of my baby” Chinthia stated; while Cinthia and her ex-husband are in the middle of a daughter’s legal custody battle.

"It was really outrageous learning how my ex-husband prearranged an evil plan to become a victim, taking advantage of me by preparing not to pay “child support”, and make me arrest in one child visitation occasion; by pretending that he was “victimized” by a stroke visiting mom in a wheelchair." Cinthia affirmed. According to the Help Guide.org: Domestic violence and abuse is not due to the abuser’s loss of control over his or her behavior. In fact, abusive behavior and violence is a deliberate choice made by the abuser in order to control you. (A none profit Domestic Violence Organization) http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm

Cinthia indicated: “My ex-husband executed through my marriage verbal abuse, and domestic violence. I always thought that he will change and he needed love and us. Instead, he become worst, he was arrogant individual, insensitive, and bipolar. I suffered battering and emotional violence by him in my pregnancy. Recently, I spoke with many specialist in Speech Pathology, NPL, and did a lot of research about my condition “Causes of Stroke” and Correlation with Mental and Emotional factors such as: Stress and Depression. Before and after my pregnancy and my stroke he was insensitive and he became angrier and always made me feel stressed and unloved. More at the end, he seemed that he did not love me anymore, and he wanted to kill me or remove me away. He was looking forward to create conflicts.”

What do you know about your ex abusive behavior and previous relationship? “Well this is his second marriage, and his first one ended because a lot of family violence, grief, abuse, and nothing good in his side. He has a daughter which hardly cares and sees she now has a protection order against him. I come from a nice educated family; my parents and my sisters are always supportive, and I wanted to build something similar or better for me. I did not though much about me, I am respectful and caring person, always I cared about children in need and impoverished, and the elderly. Now I feel betrayed.” affirmed Cinthia.

She cried and showed to us many photos depicting physical abuse, bruises, and concoctions. Her villain ex-husband filed an order of protection with the Frisco police against her. She mentioned to us that one day, she went to visit her daughter along with her parents and other witness. “He tried different ways to make us uncomfortable. He always requested at the door documents, and always started arguments with any voluntary’s, professionals, and family who came as companionship. We recorded these altercations as evidence” Cinthia Affirmed.

In the police report, she is also accused her of squeezing her ex-husband. So a warrant was issued for her arrest. On March 1, 2012 at ex-husband residence Cinthia A. LaChance was handcuffed and arrested by Frisco police. “They took me directly to jail, without been sensitive and investigating the trough and facts.” Cinthia mentioned. They treat me as a criminal and they pushed me inside police car” Cinthia's family witnessed the events and insists that she is the victim. Her mom said: “I felt sad that day and powerless, I hope the judge will learn more about this arrogant individual. She Cried, and sobbed.” Cinthia said she can’t believe that she is the one facing charges, when she’s the one who called for help that day.

Cinthia said: "I was treated with injustice and unfairness by the police and the judge, after the police arrested me, I could not represent herself quick and tell them My story side verbally because I had a Maxillofacial paralysis. Also, I had a Tracheotomy due to my stroke which was a surgery done to help me breathe through an opening in her neck (trachea.)" With this condition, it was hard to believe that a woman can become an aggressor. Now she can talk thanks to 12:00 hour reconstructive nerve surgery.

“At a men’s conference in Utah, for example, a professor and proponent of “fathers ‘rights” (FRs) made a presentation on what he claimed was new research to support his perspective. The “research” was based upon interviews with alleged abusers. Periodically, popular publications report on research claiming that men are abused by women as often as women are abused by men. A closer look at these findings reveals
that the authors failed to consider rape, failed to consider how hard someone was hit or the injuries that were caused, and failed to differentiate between assaults and self-defense. In one Queens County, New York, custody case, the court appointed a FRs psychologist to perform an evaluation. This particular psychologist had recently been quoted in a New York Times article. At trial, during cross-examination, he could not provide a single research citation to support his views. Instead, he said he had discussed the subject with some of his friends (presumably other psychologists). This is typical of mental health professionals who do not have the knowledge, training, or experience to accurately assess the presence of DV and other forms of abuse.”

(Book by Jay G. Silverman, Ph.D. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY Legal Strategies and Policy Issues)
http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/toc/DVAC%20TOC.pdf
Cinthia’s general health improved by now a lot and day by day she is feeling better thanks to their family and different therapy’s. Recently, Cinthia was evaluated by experts in children development and family, and she was granted a certification stating that she is educated professional and competent for care of her baby in paper and they testified on her behalf before the judge. Cinthia said: “I’ve been treated with unfairness, I felt the judge it was leaning toward my evil ex-husband granting him to stay with our daughter and the house which was purchased by both. My ex-husband did not have any savings to pay for the house down payment when we decided to purchased. I’ve choose to leave in different house because he turned into a monster because he was beating and inflicting violence towards me each day." “My case, I hope it will help judges to recognize when experts and other types of witnesses are providing testimony based on myths, stereotypes, and discredited theories.” Cinthia declared.

We spoke with her sister Carol Koch and she valued the latest Cinthia’s lawyer performance in court. Her older sister Pilar Koch came from Spain to show her support and love. Her dearly loved father and mother are starting a multidisciplinary recovery team, along her close friends and community that are supporting Cinthia Andrea in her legal challenging preparations and health recovery progression. Cinthia Andrea told Nautilus News that: "my ex-husband still making treats and inflicting violent behavior towards my family every time that I go for my daughters visitation." Cinthia said: “I will love to show to the judge how my ex is a liar and how his violent behavior contributed to my stroke and other legal inconveniences.”

Cinthia indicated: I have been spoken with different specialist doctors and Dr. Danny M. Ayllon a Neuro Linguistics Programmer specialist explained many cases to me and correlation between abusive behavior, domestic violence and my stroke. Here is a sample of many articles published in the Jama and thesis done in United Kindom in 2009: “First stroke in young women often poses a diagnostic challenge but it has been suggested the risk is associated with heightened exposure to domestic abuse. This UK study was conducted to determine the incidence and examine the predisposing risk factors for early stroke in young women suffering domestic violence. The effect of a range of psychosocial variables and health behaviors on the incidence of strokes in young women in an abusive relationship is assessed.”
(Smith, Yvonne (2009) Exploring psychosocial risk factors for stroke in young women exposed to domestic violence. Other thesis, Queen Margaret University. UK) http://etheses.qmu.ac.uk/136/

In Facebook and Change.Org you can show Cinhtia your support by signing a petition at:

To the Office of Domestic Violence against Women USA, Human Right USA: We want an impartial judgment for Cinthia Andrea LaChance, and that the police and experts investigates the facts.

http://www.change.org/petitions/office-of-domestic-violence-against-women-usa-human-right-usa-we-want-an-impartial-judgment-and-that-the-police-investigates-the-facts?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=share_with_facebook_friends

Dallas City is Getting Ready to Cut Ribbon On New and Modern Convention Hotel

By: Graciela J. Ayllon
Famous Dallas City Entertainment News

Dallas city Omni Convention Center Hotel opens in downtown Dallas Friday November 11, 2011. There are high hopes for the 500 million dollar, city-owned hotel because if it falters, taxpayers pick up the tab.

Omni Convention Center Hotel General Manager Nils Stolzlechner oversees every detail of the 23-story, state-of-the-art hotel: from the lobby ---

Stolzlechner: We've got Egyptian marble that you're looking at the sports bar.

Stolzlechner: Seventy-two TV monitors in here. The largest one is 18 feet tall.

Stolzlechner: The longest bar in Dallas. It's about 65 foot long. You've got a frosted rail, so when you put your beer on there - you see where the ice is - you put your beer right on there, it stays cold. Pretty neat.

In the guest rooms, there are TV's embedded in the bathroom mirrors. And it's a "green" building. Stolzlechner says it's the first hotel outside of Las Vegas to be LEED certified as environmentally friendly and energy-saving. A key part of that is a 25 thousand gallon cistern in the parking garage.

Stolzlechner: All water that comes from your AC, anything that condenses goes into that tank. Then it gets put into the landscaping of the building, then back up to the cooling tower. It saves us about 50% on our water bill.

Dallas City Council member Vonciel Jones Hill says that's great, but will the hotel "make" money??. Hill opposed a "city-owned" Convention Center hotel.

Hill: I did not believe then and I do not believe now that the hotel will clear enough revenue to sustain itself. I thought then, and I think now that ultimately the taxpayers are going to pick up some, if not all, of the financial responsibility for that enterprise.

Taxpayers are responsible for an escalating amount each year to pay off the 500 million in bonds used to "build the hotel". The city's annual bond payment is 22 million dollars for the next three years, then it increases gradually to 37 million over the next 30 years. If things go wrong, there's a reserve fund of about 40 million "tax" dollars that the city would have to tap.

But, hotel General Manager Nils Stolzlechner says that's not likely to happen. He says the hotel expects to fill all one thousand rooms at least ten nights in February. And, more than 225 groups are booked over the next three to four years. Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau President Phillip Jones says the hotel is already doing what was promised: bringing in more big conventions because so many meeting planners demand an attached convention center hotel.

Jones: In the two years leading up to the vote to approve the Convention Center Hotel, we booked 18 big, citywide conventions; roughly ten thousand or more hotel rooms. In the two years since we received voter approval on the Convention Center Hotel, we've booked 55. So, we've more than tripled the number of big conventions coming to Dallas.

Jones says each one of those has an average economic impact of 18 million dollars.

In Dallas, hotel occupancy is recovering. It's 58%, up from last year. And Phillip Jones predicts that will grow with an increase in conventions thanks to the hotel.

Houston and Baltimore both have city-owned convention center hotels. Both cities say even though the recession cut bookings, the hotels have been able to meet their debt service payments and payroll.

Anne Raymond is with Crow Holdings, which owns the Anatole and led the opposition to a city-owned convention center hotel. She says she still has concerns.

Raymond: But the taxpayers voted for it and we have it. I've had a chance to tour it and it looks like it's going to be a great-looking asset. And so now, we just want it to be as successful as it can be.

Raymond hopes the increase in convention business will benefit many Dallas hotels.

Dallas City Metroplex: Food, Clubs, and Attractions

By: Marco A. Ayllon
Nautilus Famous Dallas City Entertainment News
March 31, 2009

Dallas Restaurants
With more restaurants per-capita than New York City, Dallas is truly a food-lover’s town. While first-time visitors might conjure images of Texas steakhouses and barbecue joints, Dallas long ago found its way onto America’s culinary map with innovative restaurants and talented chefs mining the flavors of American, Italian, Asian and Mexican cuisine.
Dallas Nightlife
A bunch of bars and nightclubs come alive when the sun sets in Dallas. Lasting into the wee hours of the morning, Dallas nightlife encompasses everything from upscale member’s only clubs to off-the-wall karaoke bars. From the downtown area of Dallas to the outskirts, not even Debbie does Dallas like the real local party animals.
Dallas Tours & Attractions
A fantastic tourist and business destination with simple access from two airports and multiple highways, Dallas has attractions that provide plenty of things to do and see. A stroll through the city to the impressive Dallas Museum of Art or an afternoon at the Dallas Aquarium or Zoo can mean fun for all ages. For a taste of classic Texas, a visit to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo is all it takes to experience real cowboys and old-fashioned hearty Texas food. Amusement parks, specialized museums and seasonal rodeos all offer unique experiences for visitors and locals.

Eli Young Band Performed at the House of Blues

By: Graciela J. Ayllon
Nautilus Famous Dallas City Entertainment News
March 31, 2009
The Eli Young Band played the House of Blues Friday night, March 27, “they played fantastic, and we enjoyed to the last song” stated Lara Sodano from Mesquite. They played their new and contemporary rhythms, with openers Trailer Choir.