The North Texas Wildlife Center houses avian species like Mississippi Kite at its facility. Read more on page
Photography by Lauren Allen.
Mark the arrival of the Silver Line at one of our station celebrations!
Join the fun as we launch the Silver Line with food, festivities and surprises at every stop!
Saturday, October 25 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Plus, enjoy FREE rides systemwide so you can check out every station celebration!
There’s more! DART is offering FREE rides on the Silver Line October 25 – November 8. Community
3 PIECES OF LEGISLATION AFFECTING OUR SCHOOLS THIS SCHOOL YEAR
Story by ALYSSA HIGH
CELL PHONES
Texas House Bill 1481 passed this legislative session, requiring all school systems to adopt and implement a policy prohibiting the use of personal communication devices by students on school property during the school day.
The law took effect on June 20, with school systems having until Sept. 18 to have a written policy in place.
What does the law specifically require?
Students cannot use personal communication devices on school property during the school day. This includes:
•Cell phones
•Tablets
•Smartwatches
•Laptops (not district-assigned)
•Airpods/headphones
•Smart glasses
Districts can either prohibit students from bringing devices to campus or designate a method to “securely store the devices during the school day,” according to the Texas Education Agency.
School districts across the state are handling this in different ways. While neighboring districts like Plano ISD require students to put phones in their backpacks during the school day, Richardson ISD is taking on different approaches, with some using Yondr pouches and some being required to turn off devices and put them in their backpack.
What are Yondr pouches?
Richardson ISD started using Yondr pouches at select campuses in 2022, with eight campuses now utilizing the program, including Berkner High School and STEM Academy, Lake Highlands High School, Pearce High School, Richardson High School, Apollo High School, Liberty High School, Forest Meadow Middle School and Lake Highlands Middle School.
Each student is assigned a pouch, which locks when their phone is placed in it at the beginning of the school day. At the end of the day, students have access to a magnetic device to unlock the pouches.
Students at all other schools are required to turn off their devices before the beginning of the school day and store them in their backpacks.
What happens if students are caught on their phones?
The bill provides specific requirements for discipline. After the first offense, a parent/guardian can pick up the device without a fee, followed by a $5 increase in fee for additional offenses (no more than $15). After the second time, students can be sent to Disciplinary Alternative Education Placement.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
Senate Bill 10 was passed this legislative session, requiring all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
While the bill is currently being challenged in court by the ACLU of Texas on behalf of several families and school systems, school districts that did not join in on the injunction, including Richardson ISD and Dallas ISD, must comply. Those that did, including Austin ISD, Houston ISD and Plano ISD, are not required to comply while litigation is pending.
However, the Next Generation Action Network Legal Advocacy Fund filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas alleging that the law violates the students’ First Amendment rights, listing Dallas, DeSoto and Lancaster school districts as defendants.
What does the law specifically require?
Every public school classroom is required to have a display of the Ten Commandments in either a durable poster or a frame that is:
• In a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom
• At least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall
• Written with the specific words/version specified in the bill ( King James Version ) The new educational code does not require all districts to purchase said posters. If posters that fit the requirements are purchased or donated, however, districts are required to accept them and put them up in classrooms, with no exceptions.
LIBRARY MATERIALS
Senate Bill 13, effective Sept. 1, amended the educational code to require schools to provide parental access to the catalog of available library materials at each school library in the district or school, allow said parent to create a list of materials their child is not permitted to check out and provide access to a list of materials that said child has checked out.
The school board must also approve all materials donated or procured by the school library,
The bill also required the board of trustees of each school district to establish a school library advisory council if 10% of the parents of the students enrolled in the district or at least 50 total parents petition the school board for the creation of such a council.
Richardson ISD voted to create the council during the August board meeting. Applications for positions on the council closed on Sept. 5, and appointees will likely be announced in the coming weeks.
Senior Art Director: Jynnette Neal jneal@advocatemag.com
Creative Director/Photographer: Lauren Allen lallen@advocatemag.com
Contributors: Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Sam Gillespie
Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Yuvie Styles, Victoria Gomez, Amani Sodiq, Rae Overman, Cat Iler, Jenni Cholula, Austin Gibbs, Ethan Good, Tanner Garza, Gabriel Cano, Brandon Gonzalez, Jessica Turner
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Mushrooms at Dallas Arboretum Children’s Adventure Garden & Education Center. Photography by Lauren Allen.
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When Life Changes, You Need a Steady Hand
Meet Derek Bragg — Your Trusted Family Law Advocate, Right Here in the Neighborhood
From divorce and custody matters to enforcement and modifications, Derek Bragg brings clarity and strength to life’s most personal legal challenges. A Partner at Calabrese Budner, Derek is known for his calm presence, strategic mind, and unwavering integrity.
A proud member of your community, Derek is here when your family needs experienced, compassionate legal support, close to home.
BIG DREAMING
In a difficult climate for public school officials, Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum is staying hopeful
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by GABRIEL CANO
It may be a tough climate for Texas public school officials, but Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum is still dreaming big.
She’s known plenty of rancor since first arriving at RISD in 2014. As deputy superintendent, she watched first as Board of Trustees President Karen Clardy, then Superintendent Jeanine Stone, resigned during the peak of debates over library materials and parental rights in 2021 before her permanent promotion in 2022.
But even after a less-than-ideal start to her tenure, Branum is still remarkably warm and enthusiastic as she sits across the table. She makes jokes about the district’s yearly motto, wears friendship bracelets in her executive suite and, somehow, still finds a way to remain hopeful following a difficult summer.
RISD’s 20th superintendent, now 50, was born as an army brat in Wiesbaden, Germany, traveling around the world until landing in Texas in eighth grade. After graduating from Southlake Carroll High School, Branum earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in education from the University of North Texas.
Most of her early career was spent at Coppell ISD, where she taught history before moving to the district’s technology integration team and eventually leading the design and development of Coppell’s New Technology High School.
Since her promotion to superintendent, Branum says she is proud of the district’s lowered teacher turnover rates, academic strides and transition to a middle school model — a jump both Lake Highlands Learning Community campuses have already made.
Her tenure has seen its fair share of challenges as well. A budget deficit fueled by declining enrollment forced the district to close four schools in 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the district for alleged violations of the state’s transgender policy earlier this year and education savings accounts have become the law of the land.
So, to find out how she’s staying so optimistic, we caught up with Branum as the school year settles in.
YOU’VE MADE “DREAM BIG” THE DISTRICT’S MOTTO FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?
‘Dream Big’ really was something that, as we were closing up last year and we were thinking about this upcoming year, I wanted to remind our staff that what we do is fun. We get to impact lives every single day. And so let’s not be limited. And whether it’s budget or all kinds of different challenges from COVID, everyone tends to fall into a little bit of this deficit mindset versus an abundance mindset. And I think dreaming big is not focusing on, “Hey, do we have the money for that? Or are we allowed to do that?” Like no, let’s dream big for what the possibilities could be.
DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW YOU WANTED TO BE AN EDUCATOR?
Yes. One of my favorite pictures of me is in my room, and I have all of my dolls and my stuffed animals lined up, and I’m holding a book, and I’m doing a read aloud, and I’m teaching my stuffed animals, and I’m even, like, directing their behavior.
DO YOU MISS THE CLASSROOM?
Every single day, yes. And I really, really miss the principalship. I think the principalship for me was one of my most favorite experiences ever.
I look at each of these leadership opportunities as my classroom has just gotten bigger. My classroom is really like our central leaders and our principals. How do I help grow and pour into them in a way that they can then pour into our campuses, so that our teachers can pour into our kids?
YOU CAME ON FOLLOWING DR. STONE’S RESIGNATION. WHAT WAS THAT TIME LIKE?
That was a challenging time, both personally and professionally. When you’re in this work, you become a family with the people that you work with. You often have board meetings where you’re here till midnight, you have early mornings, there’s weekend events and Friday night events, and you end up really kind of cementing relationships. And so when that’s disrupted for any kind of reason, personally, that’s a change that you’re processing, and then it was a disruptive time in the district. There was a lot of emotions, a lot of polarization around so many different topics. And what I was certain of is, at that moment, I knew that if I could be a small part of just helping the district take one step forward at a time and kind of anchoring us back to, “Y’all, we only have one purpose. We only have one mission. And that’s about our kids.”
THE DISTRICT SHUTTERED FOUR SCHOOLS TWO
YEARS AGO. HOW DIFFICULT WAS THAT?
Other than attending a funeral of a staff member or one of our kids, it was probably one of the most difficult things I ever had to do. I also knew it was something we had to do. We have actualized the savings we promised. We yielded over $12 million in efficiencies by right-sizing the number of elementary seats that we have, we were able to sell another over $10 million of excess property.
THE VOUCHER BILL PASSED OVER THE SUMMER, ALTHOUGH HB 2, WHICH INCREASES SCHOOL FUNDING, ALSO DID. THOUGHTS?
We have, as a system, worked hard to not focus on that. I can’t control that. A family, in the end, needs to make the best decision for their family, and I honor that. So our focus has shifted to we just want to Be the One. So how are we, as Richardson ISD, going to center ourselves as the one for our community? How are we going to provide the best opportunities, whether that’s through our magnet programs, expanding choice programs, so that if our parents want an innovative option, we have it right here.
I do appreciate Austin and our legislators for making an investment in public schools. I will tell you that it does not go near what it needed to do in order for us to really shore up our budgets.
PARENTAL RIGHTS HAVE BECOME AN ISSUE RECENTLY. HOW HAS RISD BALANCED GIVING PARENTS A VOICE AND MAINTAINING THE SYSTEM’S INTEGRITY?
When you’re the superintendent, it’s not your school district. It is the community’s schools, and they’ve elected seven individuals of a school board to carry out their vision for what they want for their public schools. You’ve been hired to execute that vision, and so I think that that has always helped me and thinking about this isn’t just about what I want or what I think is best alone. I think, really, in the last three to
five years, our community has seen our willingness to listen.
RISD WAS ONE OF THE DISTRICTS THAT SUED THE STATE OVER THE RELEASE OF TEA A-F ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS. WITH THE CASE’S DISMISSAL AND THEIR RETURN, ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE STATE OF ACCOUNTABILITY?
I believe in accountability. Our taxpayer dollars invest in programs and supports to ensure academic outcomes for our kids. So I do think that there should be an accountability system. What I think is challenging is designing an accountability system that is truly easy to understand for our parents and represents truly what’s happening at a campus. And I don’t think that that’s true right now. I think our current accountability system is as complex as our financial system, and if that’s the case, then I don’t think it’s doing what it intended to do.
DISTRICT ENROLLMENT IS DOWN, DEMOGRAPHIC REPORTS PROJECT CONTINUED DECLINES AND LAWMAKERS HAVE CONTINUED TO PASS LEGISLATION YOU DISAGREE WITH. HOW DO YOU REMAIN SO OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PUBLIC EDUCATION?
I find hope in what is happening in our buildings every single day. For me, that’s where my hope is. You know that in the end, our 36,309 kids as of today, they’re counting on us. They need us to be the very best. They need us to believe that dreams can be possible. And so as long as our kids are dreaming big, then we’re going to continue to dream big, and we’re going to continue to have hope. Because one thing that we know is that public education is resilient, and we continue to put one foot in front of the other, and we face the challenges that are put in front of us, and we continue to do great things for kids, so that gives me hope.
for clarity and brevity.
NE ED A FIX?
FAIRWAY FIX BRINGS INDOOR GOLF TO NORTHVIEW PLAZA THIS FALL
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
FIX?
Know someone who needs to get their golf fix in?
Highland Meadows neighbor Adam Cowdin is bringing the game indoors this October with his new indoor golf simulator business, Fairway Fix.
Cowdin has played sports for most of his life, including while at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he was on the track and field team. One sport that he hadn’t played much up until last year, however, was golf.
As he got further and further into the game, Cowdin found himself constantly borrowing clubs. While on a trip to a local golf store to fix the problem, an employee offered him a go on the store’s golf simulator.
“Twenty minutes later, I literally asked him. ‘Can you just rent this?’ He was like, ‘No, but there are people that do.’ And so that was sort of like the moment,” Cowdin says.
The new business will occupy a 2,500 square-foot space next to Carlos Machado Jiu Jitsu on the second floor of Northview Plaza. He picked the location due to the explosive growth seen in the area in recent years and a perceived lag in entertainment options.
A full round of golf typically clocks in at around four hours and can be taxing — especially in the Texas heat. Now, Cowdin says, aspiring golf players in our neighborhood will have a place to hone their skills without the commitment.
“Golf isn’t easy to learn. So being able to come in here for an hour and work on your game outside of the elements and working a course, now I’ve got that opportunity to travel and do my best on the course,” he says.
Fairway Fix will be equipped with two 15-foot-long golf simulators and a large putting area. Each simulator utilizes a projector and screen to replicate a course, with a high-speed camera registering
players’ swings. As the business grows, one to two more simulators could possibly be added.
The space will also feature a lounge area equipped with couches and a projector for live sports. Retail offerings and snacks will not be available, although there will be vending machines on site and customers will be able to bring their own refreshments.
“I’d love for there to be families coming in here and doing either after school time or, family game night,” he says. “I’d love for dads’ groups to come in here and be able to watch sports games and hit balls and play cards or dominoes.”
Neighbors will be able to utilize the space through a membership model, with two tiers available: a single membership for $150/month that allows for
10 hours of playtime a month and a single guest each visit, and a family membership for $250 that allows for 15 hours of playtime a month and up to three guests each visit. Addons for additional time will be available, and walk-ins will be able to sign-up for simulator time for $30 an hour until membership fills.
Cowdin hopes to be open by mid-October. When asked what he wants the space to become, he’s pretty open.
“I’ve been asked several times if I’m going to get into allowing people to coach here,” he says.
“And I think it’s sort of just yeah, whatever the community wants. For people to learn golf, people to get better at golf, or to just play games and be mediocre.”
EYES ON FRIDAY
After back-to-back District 7-6A Championships, Head Coach Cory Campbell is focused
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by MIKE DUHON
Growing up as a coach’s son in rural Archer City, Texas, much of Lake Highlands High School Football Head Coach and Athletic Coordinator Cory Campbell’s early life revolved around football. He spent his early years on sidelines and in locker rooms. In high school, he played quarterback for three years in a town where he says Friday night lights were everything.
“Football has been a huge part of my life,” Campbell says. “Growing up in a small town, whatever you do, the town supports. And I was fortunate to be on some really, really good high school football teams. And, at the end of the day, it just helped mold me and help grow me up.”
Lake Highlands has won the district championship in each of his first two seasons at the helm and has been picked to win a third this Dave Campbell’s Texas Football . Campbell, however, isn’t wasting any time fantasizing about a three-peat.
He’s focused on next Friday night.
The third-year head coach says he doesn’t really
believe in circling games on the calendar or looking past regular season opponents toward potential school records. His attitude, apparently, has paid off, with Lake Highlands finishing the 2024 season undefeated in district play.
Following high school, football took Campbell to Cisco Junior College next, where he played on the football team before finishing with his degree at Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M, he student-taught and volunteer coached at Texas A&M Consolidated High School in College Station under legendary Head Coach Ross Rogers.
After spending a few years at Lake Dallas and other Texas high schools, Campbell was hired as offensive coordinator under then-LHHS Head Coach Scott Smith in 2010. In his time as offensive coordinator, Campbell was a key part of both ending a decade-long playoff victory drought in 2019 and the Wildcats’ first undefeated regular season finish in 25 years in 2020. Most of his tenure was spent under Lonnie Jordan, who he says played a key role in his development as coach. “I can’t remember what year Lonnie came
in, and he’s another great friend of mine, a mentor that was super, super good to me,” Campbell says. “He’s one of my best friends. At the end of the day, it was an opportunity for me to kind of continue being the offensive coordinator, but at the same time, get to work alongside a guy every day was special, coming to work.”
In 2023, after Jordan left to serve as Highland Park ISD’s athletic coordinator, Campbell was named the school’s head football coach and athletic coordinator.
The team met immediate success, winning the UIL District 7-6A Championship in his first season as head coach with Campbell still calling plays.
“We had a very tight nucleus of people in our building that were vying for one thing,” Campbell says. “It was huge. That first year, you know, we got a huge win over Highland Park. I don’t think anybody but the guys in our building thought we could do it. It was special for me.”
Lake Highlands went on to beat South Grand Prairie in a nailbiter 42-38 firstround playoff game before falling to Prosper in the area round.
When asked about the culture he’s trying to build, Campbell responds with his usual actions-speak-louder restraint. It’s not something easy to fit into a sentence.
“It’s not something that’s on a T-shirt,” he says. “It’s not something that’s hanging on a banner.”
Still, when he thinks of culture, two words come to mind: relationships and accountability.
“I believe the relationship piece is first and foremost when you talk about culture,” Campbell says. “I think every year there’s ways we fall short, ways that it’s happened this year a little bit already we needed to get this corrected. We need to fix this. And when you see those things and you try to correct them, I think that’s another part of culture that you realize, ‘Hey, we need to get better here. This
players like current Oklahoma State safety Ayden Webb and four-star Southern Methodist University commit Christian Rhodes. Roster turnover, however, is inherent in high school football, which is why Campbell adapts his base offense and defense before each
“The philosophy is 100% about the kids,” he says. “One year, you may really have a tight end-type kid, and then you may go a while where you may not have a tight end-type kid. We don’t get to recruit them. And so I think the number one thing is you have to adapt to your personnel. What do our kids do? Well, what do they not do?”
This year, Campbell and the Wildcats will look to defend their title en route to a three-peat, something which he says he believes would be a school record (not that he’s worried about it). Rhodes will lead the charge alongside Highland Park transfer quarterback Chuck Smith.
Tough games in October will come against Jesuit Dallas, Berkner and Pearce. Campbell, however, says he doesn’t enjoy “rivalry” games or assigning special significance to a matchup.
“I’m not a big rivalry guy or look forward to it guy,” he says. “I think at the end of the day, I love playing all those teams, but I don’t love it until we get into the week of. I know Berkner, we share a stadium with and rivalry and all that stuff, and I’ve got tremendous respect for Coach Bryant and the job he does over there and, man, when we play Berkner, it’s going to be the biggest game of our life, right?”
Campbell recently moved his wife and three children to Lake Highlands after years of commuting. He says he enjoys our community, which reminds him of his small town roots.
The Wildcats’ last matchup of the season will fall on Nov. 7 against Irving. Some may already have their mind on history. Campbell, in the meantime, has his eyes on the road.
“It’s exciting when you talk about it from afar, when you talk about it as a goal in the summertime, but when you get in it, being where your feet are right now, what’s going on right now, that’s the most important thing. And that’s kind of that grounded aspect that I think is truly important.”
The new ordinance that amends the definition of “smoking” to include electronic smoking devices (Vaping) goes into effect at midnight on Thursday, December 11, 2025. Any area that currently prohibits smoking, now includes vaping of any kind. These areas include all indoor and enclosed spaces within fifteen (15) feet of building entrances, and on park property. For more details, visit us at the link or contact us at greendallas@dallas.gov.
The public and business owners and operators please note the date to come into compliance is December 11, 2025. Visit greendallas.net to view the ordinance.
REAL ESTATE REPORT
Photo by Josephhaubert.com
CHAINS
&
LINENS
After stagnation and decline in the 1990s and 2000s, Lake Highlands experienced a dining renaissance in the 2010s
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
As the end of the ’80s rolled around in Lake Highlands, the neighborhood’s dining scene was in sad shape. Shakey’s Pizza Parlor and Next Door closed in relatively short order toward the middle of the decade, and chains like Pizza Hut had clearly gained the upper hand over locally-owned establishments in ZIP codes 75231, 75238 and 75243.
And if the ’80s were a victory for chains in Lake Highlands, the 1990s were a triumph.
“There was a very limited selection when it came to one-of-a-kind (restaurants), or mom and pops, or, ‘Hey, let’s bring in a new restaurant,’” says Will Buerhing, who grew up in Lake Highlands in the late 1980s and
’90s. “It was very non-existent at that time. And the selection they did have was Chili’s or whatever.”
The dominance of the chains over the neighborhood’s dining scene was exemplified by the more than six chain restaurants lining side-by-side on Vantage Point Drive on I-635 in the ’90s and 2000s. Vantage Point Drive became a symptom of the casual chain dining explosion seen in the United States in the 1990s. Chili’s Inc. became Brinker International in 1992 as the brand rose to the height of its success, and Red Lobster made its initial public offering in 1996.
“It was a focal dining point in Dallas, where it was, like, Red Lobster and Outback and Olive Garden and Cheddar’s,” Buerhing says. “I think at one time there was a Mexican place. But there were six or eight big name chain, franchise restaurants that were there.”
However, the decade wasn’t a complete loss for independent eateries in Lake Highlands. In 1990, Hans and Clare Van Loenen opened Sweet Temptations Bakery near the intersection of Skillman Street and Audelia Road. The European immigrants’ business went on to
enjoy popularity among neighbors, especially for their award-winning Lake Highlands Rock Cake, and began serving hot food from ST Cafe soon after. In 1996, Dallas Diner opened in a former Dunkin’ Donuts building as Dallas Donuts and Ice Cream.
Perhaps the most significant addition of the decade came with the opening of Picasso’s on the north side of I-635 in 1990. The concept, through a relocation to Walnut HillSkillman and ownership changes, went on to become a beloved neighborhood staple for three decades before closing in 2020.
“It was well supported for a long time as a neighborhood pizza joint,” says Keith Whitmire, admin of the “You Know You Grew Up in Lake Highlands If…” Facebook group. “If it’s something good and quality, we support it. We just don’t have a lot of options, like you go to the suburbs, and they’re surrounded by fast casual places.”
Tiger Bulls, a popular burger joint at the corner of Forest Lane and Abrams Road, opened in 1993, giving students from the high school a prime spot for after school shakes. It was joined by
Willy’s Market and Grill, another popular burger spot on Greenville Avenue.
As the early 2000s began, close to 20 years of decay, drives for dinner and closures had caught up to Lake Highlands. Retail sat vacant, neighbors could count the number of locallyowned sit-down restaurants in our neighborhood on their hands, and even some fast food spots moved towards closure (Braum’s).
Start of a return
While the effects of the decline from the ‘80s lingered into the 2000s, as the decade wore on, the tide slowly turned toward stagnation and eventually modest growth as a few local spots opened up.
In 2001, the Zhuta family opened Tony’s Pizza and Pasta on Northwest Highway. Twenty-four years later, the family establishment is a neighborhood institution beloved for its low prices and casual atmosphere.
“My family is right around the corner from there, the house we grew up in, and my older brother worked there from when he was in high school, on and off, up until really a few years ago,” says Madison Chapman, a Bell Boy from the LHHS Class of 2011. “And I worked there when I was in high school, and my little brother picked up shifts there.”
Another needed victory came in 2006 when a group of Lake Highlands neighbors, including current District 10 council member Kathy Stewart, opened Highlands Cafe at Walnut Hill-Audelia. Between that, the debut of Mi Cocina and Nancy and Robert Baker’s opening of White Rock Coffee on Northwest Highway, Lake Highlands was starting to get back on track.
“For a while there, I guess in the ’80s, in the ’90s, 2000s, one of the few decent places to sit down and eat was Mi Cocina, and the neighborhood supported that tremendously,” Whitmire says.
In 2008, Offshore’s Next Door opened on Audelia Road, bringing a watering hole to the neighborhood as dry restrictions eased.
However the neighborhood wasn’t immune from the economic downturn in the later half of the decade. Development of the Lake Highlands Town Center stalled following the 2008 Financial
Crisis, stifling a fertile ground for new eateries.
2010s
As the housing market thawed in the early half of the 2010s, Dallas homebuyers finally found out about Lake Highlands. ‘Dallas’ once-hidden gem, touting easy access to major thoroughfares and Richardson ISD schools, wasn’t a secret anymore. A whirl of remodels first, then listings and eventually new builds sent home prices skyrocketing as the area’s per capita income soared.
Another thing that happened? The area got younger.
“I think that you’ve seen that the turnover of the neighborhood, where the neighborhoods are a lot younger today than it was maybe when we first moved back into the neighborhood … It’s bursting at the seams.” says Alan Walne, who represented District 10 on Dallas City Council for seven years. “It’s a more vibrant, youthful area. You had a situation where folks had raised their families, and they were still living there, and older residents and all that were still living in the neighborhood. That, for the most part, has turned over.”
But as the neighborhood got younger and wealthier, questions began to arise over why Lake Highlands’ dining offering hadn’t quite caught up with the growth. Younger neighbors had moved from areas with more options, and while the neighborhood’s independent dining scene began the process of bouncing back in the 2000s, important corners still sat empty in 2010.
“In the 2010s, it presented an opportunity for people to find housing that was relatively affordable compared to other parts of Dallas and offered RISD schools, which has always been the appeal of the Lake Highlands area,” Cedar and Vine owner Brandon Carter says. “But I think when people started to move back of a certain age, maybe people that lived there before, people that are new to that area, and they are observing, well, ‘Hey, I lived out my 20s in Uptown, where restaurants were on every corner.’”
“For me, fast forward to having kids and moving to Lake Highlands, I’m kind of looking around going, well, I spent the last 10 years having restaurants on
2013 SHADY’S BREWHA
every corner. And I think a lot of other people my age did the same thing, like, why don’t we have all these conveniences?”
As the decade progressed, those conveniences began to arrive. The Zhuta family gave the neighborhood a spot to watch Nelson Cruz’s dominant ALCS run in 2011 with Go 4 It Sports Grill, and a group of White Rock Valley neighbors opened a Campisi’s-style pizza restaurant with Atomic Pie at Walnut Hill-Audelia that same year. Early risers also gained a new stop in 2011 when Jose Ramirez bought Divine Coffee Shop and reopened it as JJ’s Cafe, bringing migas and huevos rancheros to Northlake Center.
The demand was there. Growth was happening.
Then, in 2015, the strangest thing happened. A veteran of Michelin-starred heavyweights like The Inn in Little Washington opened a small taqueria at the corner of Walnut Hill-Audelia. The menu contained idiosyncratic fillings like braised short rib and fish tempura on housemade tortillas. Grammy Award-winning artist St. Vincent served chips n’ quac.
What had caused this improbable scene in a neighborhood proper that hadn’t supported an elevated concept since Vick’s Cafeteria in the ’60s?
While working in New York, Andrew Savoie met his wife, Amy, a Lake Highlands High School graduate who happens to be the sister of Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent. Savoie followed her back to Lake Highlands and after some time working as an instructor for the International Culinary School
at The Art Institute of Dallas, decided to open a shop right down the street.
“To me, the restaurant that put us on the map was Resident Taqueria,” Carter says. “All the press that it got. When Andrew decided to do that restaurant concept in Lake Highlands, that really changed the trajectory of restaurants. I don’t know if that was part of his big master plan, but I think he was doing it more like, ‘Hey, I want to have a restaurant. I want to have it close to home. I want to do it for the community.’”
A restaurant for the neighborhood, by the neighborhood. It was finally clear that Lake Highlands was ready to support varied and higherend independent eateries. After Shady’s opened in 2016 and became an immediate family favorite, Carter decided to ride the wave of momentum and finally bring some of the conveniences he’d been missing by opening Cedar and Vine.
“We wanted to kind of create a concept around the idea of, ‘How do we do something that you that we’re used to seeing around the corner from Lower Greenville, from Knox, from Uptown, all those places, how do we how do we get those things, all the things we like about those places, roll it into one concept and drop it in the middle of Lake Highlands, and so that was really kind of what we did,” he says.
For the first time in the memory of many, neighbors were finding linen napkins and wine lists in neighborhood restaurants.
RM 20:20 Bistro, a higherend French restaurant with
Southern touches from Erin Willis, opened in the former Offshore’s space in 2018 with $40 steak frites plates and imported Bordeaux.
In 2017 and 2018, the Lake Highlands Town Center, long a symbol of the stagnation seen in the 2000s, finally saw major developments with the construction of the Lookout Apartments and ground level retail space. Taco Diner and Fish City Grill opened shortly after. And being Lake Highlands, it was only natural when national chains got in on the action with the opening of Jersey Mike’s.
These days, neighbors can rely on a myriad of locally-owned options when going out to eat. And yet, there’s still plenty of room for growth. While it may be a family neighborhood, Lake Highlands could always use more bar-forward dining options, and the Forest Meadow area has lagged behind in development.
But there’s always room for improvement. Six independent eateries now serve customers at Walnut Hill-Audelia. In 2008, there were two. The four restaurants in the Town Center are often filled with Lake Highlands families, while on Vantage Point Drive, Olive Garden sits as the proverbial last man standing.
So, what will the next ten years look like for Lake Highlands’ foodies? It’s probably fair to say neighbors are ready for bigger and better.
“The demand is so pent up, it’s busting at the seams,” Carter says.
This is part 2 of a 3-part series on Lake Highlands dining.
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BOND 2025 SNAPSHOT
steering committee. The $1.4 billion bond covers the transformation of remaining junior high campuses into middle schools, technology services and upgrades to athletics facilities. Bond 2025 is covered by a .04 cent increase to the Interest & Sinking tax rate.
Richardson ISD’s last bond election came in 2021, when voters approved a bond package of $750 million, close to half of the requested amount in the proposed bond. Bond 2021 paid for facility maintenance and upgrades, the transformation of the Forest Meadow Junior High building and the construction of Lake Highlands Middle School.
The bond steering committee is made up of parents, staff and community members and first began meeting in the winter to bring forward a recommendation on the bond.
LAUSTIN WOOD
RISD’s newest bond covers facilities, technology and stadiums | Story by
ake Highlands neighbors will soon have the chance to vote on career readiness facilities, library devices and tennis court upgrades with a Richardson Independent School District bond election.
On Aug. 7, Richardson ISD trustees voted to call a bond election for November based on recommendations made by the bond
“We had a bond steering committee that met for about six months,” Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum says. “We had over 40 individuals who gave up their blood, sweat and tears to bring forward this recommendation. It’s composed of three different referendums.”
While both of the Lake Highlands Learning Community Junior Highs served as pilot schools for the transition and have already been rebuilt/ renovated, neighbors may be interested to hear more about the proposed Career and Technology Center. While a location has not yet been announced, the center would consolidate the district’s existing vocational training programs that currently exist independently at each high school under one roof.
Students would likely spend around a period a day at the center, where they can receive instruction and hands-on learning experiences in fields like automotive and manufacturing.
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“They graduate with an industry certification that allows them to enter the workforce and have a really high living wage that would allow them to have a high quality life,” Branum says. “Or for some of our students, it might be that they are working in that industry while they’re also trying to attain their two-year or four-year degree.”
A potential location has not been announced.
Lake Highlands tennis players may be excited about Proposition C, which will pay for nighttime lighting at the LHHS tennis courts, where they would be diverted if a proposed conversion of the tennis courts at Lake Highlands North Park is approved. Some have complained about the lack of lighting in the past.
According to a Richardson ISD estimate, under the proposed tax increase, a household in a Lake Highlands home valued at $500,000 would be subject to an annual increase of $124.
Election Day for Bond 2025 falls on Nov. 4.
PROPOSITION A : $1,338,600,000. Addresses facilities and instructional materials. $750 million will be used to transform the remaining six junior high campuses outside the Lake Highlands Learning Community into middle schools. District-wide facility maintenance is also covered. Further facilities upgrades supported by the proposition include construction of the Career and Technology Center, a renovation of the district’s Environmental Education Center and elementary furniture upgrades. Additionally, the proposition provides for fleet purchases and instructional materials and equipment
PROPOSITION B: $54,000,000. Refreshes the district’s technology inventory. The proposition would provide funding for new devices including teacher devices, paraprofessional devices, administration devices, staff tablet devices, student devices, student Wi-Fi hotspots and specialized desktops. RISD libraries would also benefit from new circulation devices, as would journalism, A/V and computer labs.
PROPOSITION C: $7,400,000. Athletic facilities upgrades. Proposition C will provide for turf replacements at both WildcatRam and Mustang-Eagle stadiums. It will also provide funding to install ramps and other upgrades to make the stadiums more ADA compliant. A small portion will be used to install LED lighting at RISD tennis courts.
ZOBOOMAFOO
After a scare, the Lake Highlands-led North Texas Wildlife Center secures a future
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
In a quaint residential neighborhood in Plano, there’s a house bustling with raccoons, opossums and owls. No, it’s not animal control’s worst nightmare. It’s the North Texas Wildlife Center’s permitted animal rehabilitation facility. Cages sit stacked on yet more cages tagged with custom care sheets, a myriad of aromas drift through the halls and a cacophony of noises from numerous species fill the space. A trip to the backyard reveals yet more enclosures and recovering animals.
Before June, this cramped assembly of box turtles, Mississippi Kites and gray squirrels hadn’t been a problem. Foot traffic increased significantly in 2025, with NTWC reporting 1,400 drop off visitors as of September, up from the 950 seen in 2024. On June 28, the center received a call from the City of Plano’s business department giving it 90 days to vacate the premises.
“It was the worst time of my life, like it still feels uncertain,” NTWC President and Lake Highlands neighbor Rebecca Hamlin says. “Worse, it’s not over.”
The issue, City staff said, was that the center, despite having all necessary permits, was generating excessive foot traf-
ZOBOOMAFOO
fic in a residential area. Shortly after, Hamilin launched a fundraising campaign with a $250,000 goal.
NTWC was founded in 2013 by Mela Singleton and Jeniffer Coats. Hamlin came into the picture four years ago after finding an opossum in her neighborhood.
“The joke is that I brought an opossum here four years ago and never left. But it’s actually not a joke. It’s very, very true,” Hamlin, who works as a lab manager at the University of Texas at Dallas by day and lives off Royal Lane, says. “I found an opossum in my neighborhood, because I live on a green belt in Lake Highlands, and he was the first opossum that was in sanctuary. I very passively said, ‘I would love to rehab if you know anyone.’ And the founder was like, ‘Why are you not just telling me you want to work with me?’”
She took her up on the offer, eventually becoming president of the nonprofit organization in 2023. A year prior, NTWC moved from Singleton and Coats’ garages into the current facility.
The North Texas Wildlife Center provides free rehabilitation services for injured and orphaned wildlife across the region. Intake varies year over year, but Hamilin says they have assisted over 3,600 animals so far in 2025 and expects to reach 4,000 by December.
“A lot of animals come in, either primarily or secondarily because of human activity,” Hamlin says. “So that could mean the opossum crossing the street is hit by a car because we put a street in the middle of a nature preserve, or there’s a forested area here.”
When a person arrives with an animal at the facility, they are asked to fill out a Texas Fish and Wildlife form and describe their discovery of the animal. After that, NTWC staff evaluate the animal to determine the level of necessary care.
Hamlin says that around 40-50% of the animals they see have been orphaned. In those cases, the center’s primary concern is to provide nutrition and
a stable environment for them as they grow and gain weight.
In other cases, NTWC staff first determine whether or not a veterinarian is needed to treat extensive injuries. Then, if none is needed, a custom care plan is created for the animal’s stay at the center. Hamlin says the average time spent at NTWC ranges from several days to a couple of months.
“We do have a significant amount of time to give them to heal if it’s an injury that they can heal from, but usually we can determine it pretty quickly if they can survive it. If it’s going to be something we can heal and if we have the capacity some of our long term heals will need to go to one of our satellite facilities so they’re not taking up a cage for our quick heals.”
One of the center’s most notable animals up until a few months ago was its camera-friendly ambassador, Coconut, the White Opossum. The leucistic (white, but not lacking in pigmentation as in albinism) opossum had appeared on morning news programs and celebrated his second birthday at Vector Brewing in his time as ambassador. Tragically, he passed away over the spring from illness but has found a worthy successor in Turnip, a fellow white opossum.
Hamlin says one of the most difficult days for staff came after a torrential Memorial Day storm overburdened the center with close to 50 animals in two days. In those cases, she says, the organization is forced to close for intakes.
“I guess the storm was May 25,” she says. “The following day, we had 48 animals come in.
A lot of them were critically injured, and we kind of all looked at each other like, this is a lot emotionally, and this is a lot physically because we were working in the mud, we’re working on our feet. So we waited about two days, and then we took a day off.”
One day that Hamlin certainly didn’t want to take off came in August when the organization met its fundraising goal for a new facility with more than a month to spare.
The center’s situation had spread far and wide on social media as Hamlin appeared on Fox 4 and fundraisers were held. Still, she didn’t expect to raise the funds in such a short amount of time.
“Like, the first day we raised $15,000, and it went from me being excited every time there was a donation, I would call or text someone and be like, ‘Someone just donated $500,’ and then it just kept going,” she says. “And I was like, ‘OK, I can’t keep calling everyone every time we get a donation.’”
The center is currently in the process of finalizing loan papers for a new, decidedly non-residential facility. Windows will need to be redone, enclosures rebuilt and privacy fences installed, which is why she plans to hold mini fundraisers to support individual projects.
NTWC’s future looks considerably more secure now than it did a couple of months ago. It’s a crucial turnaround for Hamlin, who has cystic fibrosis and counts on its mission as much as the animals themselves.
“My entire life, I never felt like I was gonna do something that was meaningful or impactful,” Hamlin says. “And then I started rehabbing wildlife. I found my purpose, I found my passion. And if I die at the age of 37, this is my legacy. This is what I leave behind, and I don’t take that lightly at all. It’s a really big deal. And not every person has the privilege and the luxury to live something that they’re really passionate about.”
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