1.
A handful of folks are terrified
of the recent progress that's been made in Denton. The phrase “We are just a handful of funerals away from being a
really amazing city,” should be our new motto. Our motto for the past 20
years was, “That
was grandfathered in."
2.
The fund matching grant program is fascinating. Not
only is it a really cool resource for making neat things happens in our city – but
also in the process of grant proposals, we are seeing where our city needs to
go, including improvements outside of the grant program like pedestrian-scaled lighting around the square. That’s a capital improvement and is already
part of the Master Plan, but isn’t getting done yet.
3.
A few new businesses opened – we welcome Authentic
Life Yoga, Viet Bites, 7 Mile Coffee and Barefoot Apparel. A few more
businesses will be here soon. See you soon Denton County Hamburger (new
concept), Subway (yes, that Subway), Herrera’s, Rusty’s Tacos, Queenie’s, Smiling Moose Deli, DIME
and Mulberry St. Cantina. Thankfully
7-11 is not opening any where near the square (that almost happened, y'all).
4.
Dan’s is expanding! This is especially great news since
we feel like some of our favorite shows sell out way too quickly and we can
never get a table when we want one. Apparently word on the street is that Little
Guy’s Movers is moving off of Industrial Street and over to McKinney. After
they move, Dan’s is going to bust down a wall and expand into a good part of
that space. Sounds like more room to get our groove on – which is always a good
thing.
5.
Some people claim that parking on the square has always been a problem. But no more! Or… hopefully not as much -– the
city has done their homework and has proposed some awesome angled-back-in
parking a la South Congress St. in Austin, TX up and down East Hickory Street which will make the bicyclists safer
when coming down that hill. Plus, the new parking plan will provide for several
more parking spaces.
6.
Jim Engelbrecht, our city councilman for
District 3 now has a challenger in the upcoming city council elections. Hello
there, Brendan Carroll – how nice of you to run. This will make city elections
super exciting – and will make every vote super important. Last year, Jim won
by 19 votes. That’s it. Not even 20. So if you’re reading this and you live in
District 3 – start researching your stuff and figure out whom you want to vote
for – your voice really matters especially if over 19 of you are reading this.
7.
Sometimes the red tape that is the City of
Denton is crazy. Did you know that if you want to hang a sign on your building
you have to either take a special class for it, or find a sign maker who has?
8.
We’re actually really impressed with how the
city is all ears for new ideas. We love living in a place that listens to its
citizens, and listens well. We look forward to taking advantage of that and
taking part in local activism.
Have you attended one of the Denton 2030 meetings or something else recently? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
