Dallas Has A Problem For Sure

This car is correctly going to right direction, including making the required right turn at the stop sign. However, a black SUV came down the road today going the other direction and nearly hit me head on. The very point that TxDOT could learn from  about why vehicles are going the wrong way all over the Metroplex and lives are being lost.

The park is posted with signs that read:" You must Obey Warning Signs. It is a state law."

One thing that I have noticed about Dallas is the number of people who go the wrong way on the Toll Roads, expressways, and streets. One thing about going to the lake on a daily basis is that over a period of time, it begins to point itself out to you that people don't read signs---especially road signs and/or traffic signs. The Texas Department of Transportation could do a study in a high use area where this very topic could be studied in concentration. After all, it is state law to obey warning signs!

In talking to various departments and people from inside city hall on down, it came to light that one of the reasons why there are so many violations at White Rock Lake is because the park and recreation division are short on parking spaces in out-of-ratio comparison to the number of people using the park in comparison to the numbers just a few short years ago---like 5 years. Also, White Rock is a big Public Relations Platform for the city and its parks. Having passed that information on after being told to me, it's also the age old story that the genie isn't going back into the bottle once it's been let out. So, I ask one of the police officers that at the time, was new to the park beat from the old guard that has gone on to better jobs, retired and left the force or otherwise moved either up the ladder or up the food chain. The question was since you know about the parking situation being on the the reasons some of the signs had come down  why aren't the city codes enforced? His answer to me was," Thank God--next question!"

Loss Prevention finally got a good number for me to call about the signs which have caused more confusion being down than up. Since the storm hit the park, now is not the time or the place to bring up that question at the moment. However, since then, I have counted 6 armadillos, a red should hawk, a pelican and several pigeons that have been hit by cars or bikes. Surprisingly, the number is growing by bike hits on the wildlife and migrating birds. Cars, being what they are, have nearly hit kids on bikes, older adults and a few hikers. With the number of cars going the wrong way on one way patterns while others, not knowing the basics of transportation flow when "signs are not present" (i.e., when approaching a "Y" where so sign is present at where to enter,  always go to the right as if you were entering a traffic circle). State law requires that bikes observe stop signs the same as cars. That just does not happen at White Rock Lake.Images of cars going the wrong way on marked "do not enter" or 'begin one way" are into the hundreds while bikes running stop signs as if the "Tour De France" trophy was on a finish line somewhere at the lake is only going to get some one killed before that trophy is ever awarded in Dallas.

An Enjoyable but Short Conversation with Former Chief Brown

We all remember that awful day when gunfire began to echo in the canyon of tall buildings downtown. That's when then chief, David Brown stepped forward as the leader that he was and became the "wise father" for the police department. 

The nation listened as he spoke at new conferences, critical updates to past press conferences and at the funerals to come later. He stood like a rock for fallen officers families to lean upon. He stood as a rock in support of the men in the department he lead, although there were some bitter sweet times off and on before that tragic day outside El Centro College in the heart of downtown, the Chief stood as the top man leading a department with much success.

He was named the Grand Marshal of this years St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival. For some reason this year, I landed a great spot at the beginning of the parade. Generally, I'm a bit farther down on Greenville Avenue. A little trick I learned from the Christmas Parade is that you want to be where the celebrities are before they take their place in the vehicle or float that they will be riding on. So, that may have been the reason I stayed at the corner of Blackwell and Greenville. The old Sam's Club Park Lane store parking lot was filled with trucks and floats and staging activity. It is a "fur" piece from there down to Blackwell from Park Lane and Greenville, the official start of the annual parade.  I wanted a good picture of the former Chief to add to the portfolio of images from the memorials outside Jack Evans when the Chief was master of the domain so to speak. Ironically, I saw him pose with a couple of characters depicted in "Lord of the Rings" earlier.

Before the five minute warning was issued to parade participants, the new Rolls-Royce convertible was moved into place driven by a young Marine Corp enlistment in his sleek dress uniform, I called out to the former chief and then waved. He turned and looked my way. At that time, another man did the same thing and private consultant David Brown was on his way over to the metal barricade. I shot images while he was walking and while he greeted the man next to me. Then, I said to Chief Brown:" you look relaxed and happy now." He replied, " I'm getting there. After about 4 months it sets in."  From my experience of being retired, I said to the Chief," once you lay down the sword, it takes about six months before you really feel free and start to have fun again." The five minute warning was sounded and the chief said," You got to get a shot of these kicks" making a reference to his green athletic shoes, then he headed over to his position in the parade. I got the picture of the chief and the "kicks" and if another picture didn't come out, my day had already been made and I was that "happy"photog that I mentioned to the Chief.

 Click on any image to enlarge all three. More images will follow in a second post. 

These "Kicks" are Beau-T-Ful

The Chief Turns in response to the call.

Chief Brown looks really good and relaxed.

Unexpected Emotion from Motorcycles

As most are aware, this past week has been an awful week in Dallas. As expected, when the funerals began, the reporting on the news begin to wear down a lot of people emotionally. Usually, one can hold up and make it through the ordeal. It's hard. It hurts. It lingers. But as you make it through one, then the second one begins and the third and fourth. Today the fifth funeral takes place in Ft. Worth with a mass for Officer Patrick Zamarripa, followed by his burial at the Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery on Mountain Creek Parkway. It's a beautiful cemetery placed on top of an escarpment overlooking Mountain Creek Lake where, Dallas and Grand Prairie meet on the southern belt of the LBJ Freeway.

Still, after Officer Zamarripa's burial today, Officer Kroll's funeral that was held yesterday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, will not be buried until Tuesday when his Detroit family will hold a service with burial in his native Detroit (Southfield), Michigan. Being familiar with Southfield area and it's infamous Southfield Freeway that splits Ford Motor Company's Headquarters with Fairlane Town Center, a large mall on the former Ford Property that sits east of the estate on Fair Lane Drive. The estate for the Ford Family, named Fairlane, near Evergreen and Hubbard area is  old Southfield, and the center of the universe known as  Michigan 12 and Southfield Freeway.  Ironically, Henry Ford Community College is in that same radii. The mile roads begin just north. Streets with names like Park Lane and Mercury Drive and Auto Club Drive, Lincoln Lane somehow just yell out FORD! The cemeteries up there are completely beautiful. They are like gardens very well cared for.  So, to me, it is fitting that the very last internment from last week will be Officer Kroll's. Then, the burials will be over. The healing is yet another thing. Most certainly, it will take a life-time for many and healing will never come for more than we will ever know. I've been there. The pain does lessen over time, but it never goes away completely. Yes, it's hard. it does hurt and it will linger on for a lifetime.

Waited for an hour to see the procession come over the bridge ramp.The procession is that of Sergeant  Michael Smith.

The sight brought an emotionally filled moment.

Then the sight of red, white and blue lights streaming in an endless line transferred to my arms as I held the camera, and with the shock mode still on, the blur is my emotional shaking from the sight. Over the years, I've seen a lot but never like this before this moment.

 

A Journey Down Harry Hines Boulevard

Many of you will not know, or care, about Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas. It is totally unique for a number of reasons. It's wholesale stores. It's also Trading Companies, fashion stores, jewelry stores, fragrance stores, convenience store wholesalers, bazaars, handbag shops, rugs, smoke shops,  army stores, Sam Moon complex, cell phones, electronics, tires, and if that isn't enough, it runs right across its own cousin, The Asia Trading District.

If you did a mileage check, from start to finish, Eight miles might be a good round number, but it changes from week to week; never shortening and generally growing. It's one of those things where I don't need to  go inside any of the stores. I'm trying to get rid of things rather than buying more. The main reason, however, is that the signs, displays and physical decor of the building is where the camera gets a work out. Sometimes, it gets a bit of a challenge because of how the stores are arranged to the centerline of the street. In other words, zoning. I shoot from public right-a-ways and stay off private property. That's something you learn early on about not having your images in an editorial class. Still, the trip is like a carnival atmosphere, especially on the week ends. The ethnic bazaars, Hispanic, in particular, is like a mall within a mall.The outer mall being Harry Hines Boulevard.

 When I am out and about shooting, I make a note of things I see that I try to come back to later and check it out in more detail. Today, one item got checked off the list before I got sidetracked. The funeral coaches have begun to move up and down the expressways concerning the Friday night shootings in downtown of  five policemen. Four from Dallas Police. One from Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

As I drove past a local funeral home today, there were signs out in front that said, "Police Parking".  Just another reminder that this past weeks event took place just a couple of blocks from another day when shots rang out in downtown. It was 1963. There were two caskets and two funeral coaches then..Yes, we can't forget that Office Tippit, badge 848, was also gunned down when President Kennedy was shot. This time, it will take 5 funeral coaches to move and bury the remains of Dallas' Protectors. That is enough.

Today, as I started to mention, I was sidetracked for a bit watching the two helicopters  hovering over the Trinity River waiting for a funeral coach to carry the remains of one of those five officers to his home town, outside Dallas. When I first saw the choppers, I knew that they were waiting for a body to be moved. It's just one of those feelings you get inside after such events. Seeing the parking signs for police outside one funeral home probably was a mental precurser to knowing instinctively that most likely that was what they were looking for.

I'm glad I had the mental refresh. That's why I like Harry Hines Boulevard. Sometimes, I'll go downtown via Harry Hines because for me, it's a brain De-Stress type thing. Yesterday, shooting out side the Dallas Police Headquarters at the memorial for the officers lost, getting the images edited and up to the live news editors,  I was one of  six that had images running on the live news feed this morning. Still, the mental state required something refreshing today. I turned to Harry Hines for that refresh mode. And, as expected it even brought a chuckle later in the day, which I really needed.

I actually find humor in this sign. Kind of like a Rodney Dangerfield type humor. I can hear his dryness, What's he selling? Nickles?

One of two air beaters  waiting to pick up an escorted funeral coach transporting one of the five deceased  Dallas Policemen.