FRIDAY UPDATE: Taste Addison begins tonight and runs through the weekend.  Click here for hours, concert schedules and more!

Congratulations Addison! As you hopefully know by now all six of our bond propositions passed by an overwhelming majority in last Saturday’s Joint Municipal Election! This is evidence of a very clear direction from our community and strong consensus for the foundation of our project work going forward. I believe our transparent, inclusive, deliberative process provided the important reassurance and confidence of our desired direction for the Town, and as a result we attained a very positive result. Many thanks are appropriate…first to our Bond Evaluation Committee that spent several months and hundreds of hours exploring and developing options and recommendations for Council. The Bond Committee was lead by Mary Jo Cater, and their tireless work laid the important foundation for the final proposals. Next, many thanks belongs to our outstanding staff led by City Manager Ron Whitehead—our professional staff also spent hundreds of hours facilitating the deliberations of and reviewing and analyzing the recommendations of the Bond Evaluation Committee. Then our dedicated City Council spent multiple meetings thinking, discussing, collaborating, advocating, budgeting for and ultimately deciding to call the election for the six propositions.

Once the election was called and set, new community leadership stepped up and took on the challenge of advocating the passage of these important proposals; this effort was led by Phil Griggs and the team of Paula Jandura, Ivan Hughes, Mary Carpenter, Mary Jo Cater, Rick Witherspoon, Yvonne Mollica and Michael Daniels. This group spread the word to KEEP ADDISON AWESOME very effectively throughout our community, both residential and business. Much of their work was door to door, or by making presentations in front of neighborhood groups, and they each worked really hard and all did a great job. This entire process is a wonderful example of the power of an informed passionate group of dedicated folks working together accomplishing so much…they have made a lasting difference in our community.

Thanks each and every one that worked hard to make this happen, but most importantly, a special thank you to all of you that showed your support and embraced our future together by voting for the propositions. We will keep you informed of our next steps as we begin to plan just how we will go about implementing the projects that have now been authorized by the Bond election—keep checking back to the Bond website for future updates, and here in this newsletter.

And I must also send congratulations to Janelle Moore and Margie Gunther on their victories to serve on our Council for their first terms, and to Council Member Neil Resnik who was reelected. Each of these folks worked very hard getting to know our community and sharing with residents more about themselves; events, candidate forums, yard signs, mailers and door-to-door visits. All of that hard work paid off with not only impressive victories at the polls but with new and relevant knowledge about the concerns and issues of importance to our neighbors. Now the fun part begins! Please join us this next Tuesday, May 22 at 7:30pm at Town Hall when we will say goodbye and a big thank you to Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and Council Member Roger Mellow who are retiring off the Council, and swear in and welcome our newly elected Council Members.

Other Council News

Monday, the Metrocrest Chamber hosted the “Global Business Connection,” sponsored by the Town of Addison, WORLDFEST and the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. This series brings international speakers to our community so that we can get to know their part of the world a bit and so that we can let them know about Addison…this is yet another chance to enhance our international brand identity. In true “work to the last day fashion,” Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and Council Member Roger Mellow joined me to hear from Andrew Millar, Her Majesty’s Consul General, who gave us his presentation on “2012- A Great Year for Britain.” Andrew shared with us that the United Kingdom is the 7th largest economy in the world and is a country the physical size of Oregon. He also mentioned that throughout 2012, all of the UK will celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee—60 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign—and in July; London will host the world for 28 days during the Summer Olympics. In addition, October 2012 will mark the 170th anniversary of Her Majesty’s representation here in Texas!

Tuesday continued along that same international theme as Economic Development Director Orlando Campos and I attended the Addison Hispanic Chamber’s meeting at BlackFinn to celebrate the signing of the new free trade agreement with Colombia. The event drew a large international crowd of business folks who were very pleased that after six long years the agreement has finally been signed opening new opportunities for the U.S. and Colombia to more effectively and efficiently do business. I was pleased and honored to welcome the group and I encouraged them to find ways to bring business to Addison as well as enjoy our parties and special events like Taste Addison this weekend.

Earlier in the day I dropped by to see Stewart Elliott, Jr. at Bottled Poetry Imports at 4389 Westgrove Dr, just across from Million Air north of Addison Airport. Stewart and his team were deep into doing inventory, however he did take time to let me know they are very pleased with their seven year history in Addison and that their business now imports wine from all over the world for distribution here in the U.S. He appreciated my visit as well as the free Taste Addison passes I left for he and his team as just a small token of our appreciation of them as a very successful Addison Business. From there over to the regional corporate headquarters of 24-Hour Fitness to meet with Regional VP Jason Miller. Jason and I had a great visit, and he shared their plan to stay in their current retail location in Village on the Parkway to take full advantage of the new and exciting changes about to occur there—but likely will relocate their office space someplace close by…hopefully still in Addison. Jason gave me a few seven day passes for anyone that would like a free “test drive” of their facility. I’ll keep them here on my desk for anyone that would like to use them…just let me know.

At the start of the day, Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens represented us at the Metrocrest Law Enforcement Memorial Service at Liberty Plaza in Farmers Branch where over 200 citizens came out to pay their respects to law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, as did our Addison Police Officer Ronnie Cox in 1986. Addison Police Chief Ron Davis and Blake are on the right of the picture below.

We spent time Wednesday making plans for our Strategic Planning and Budget Sessions this summer. These will be intense meetings that first focus on our role as Council Members, and then we will develop our goals and objectives for the year and the strategies to attain them. This work will lay the important ground work that will guide our discussion of our budget and other financial decisions throughout the year. We plan to begin those meetings in early June.

Later on Wednesday I went by to meet with Cathy Kuebler the General Manager of The Colonnade, located at 15301, 15303 and 51305 Dallas Parkway. The Colonnade is our largest office complex with over 1 million leasable square feet. The Colonnade is doing very well with substantial improvements in the last six months and a very positive trajectory for continued improvement with new tenants moving in each month. Cathy plans to organize a local General Managers group so that they can more effectively communicate about relevant local topics such as safety and technology issues. I certainly encouraged her to do so and that we would be supportive and helpful in any way that we could. Cathy tells me that daily, there are over 3,000 folks who office in her buildings—wow!

Thursday morning I met with the president of NTA Life, Brian Ellard, his chief marketing person Patti Stewart, and upper management folks including Patty Dimmitt and their very special guest—United Nations Ambassador Brian Bowler. NTA Life is located at 4949 Keller Springs, in the building with the trade mark sculpture of the world, on the corner of Keller Springs and Quorum. For 40 years, NTA Life has been supplying insurance products to teachers and other professional organizations all over the world. They’ve been headquartered in Addison for almost 15 years and my visit Thursday was a follow-up to one I made a few months ago when they were contemplating relocating outside of Addison. This meeting was to share with me the great news that they have not only decided to stay in Addison but they plan to do some remodeling and expand their current facility—and to become even more active in our Town! Given their corporate culture of philanthropy, it should be very easy to find numerous ways for NTA Life to become even more connected to Addison. Congratulations to Brian and his entire team for making the very wise decision to stay right here with us in Addison. We look forward to finding new ways to keep you connected. Pictured below, left to right: Patty Dimmitt, UN Ambassador Brian Bowler, Mayor Todd Meier,  Patti Stewart and Brian Ellard.

Later in the morning, Matt McCombs, the Assistant to the City Manager, and Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Kimberly Lay and I attended a meeting in downtown Dallas at DART Headquarters for a joint meeting with DART officials and the Regional Transportation Council. Topics included a discussion of the possible legislative agenda items as well as possible ways to deal with ways to create a disincentive for cities outside of the Transit group to use economic incentive money to lure Transit system cities business away. There was also the beginning of an idea exchange on how we can advance the Cotton Belt line within a much more reasonable time frame that previously discussed. With the advent of new technology in the new production equipment for the tracks that will be quieter and environmentally acceptable, many of the objections to progress become moot. This was a very small glimmer of hope and progress; we will keep you informed as we progress along this path.

Thursday afternoon I had the great honor to participate in the official swearing in of four new Addison Police Officers. It was great to see their enthusiasm and commitment to help keep you and me safe. With many family members, several of our current Addison Police Officers, city management and our police department leadership team present to show support, the cadets took their oath of office, after which, I had the distinct honor of pinning their Addison Police badges on their very proud chests! With professionals like these cadets, willing to serve our community, our future is indeed very bright. Pictured left to right are: Mayor Todd Meier, Tara Faustmann, Tawney Kasberg, Eric Rios, and Cole Utley.

After office hours, I held a Mayor’s Coffee at 6:00pm at Astoria Café in Addison Circle, right in the middle of all of the final preparations for Taste Addison. Lots of orange traffic cones and workers scurrying about to make sure everything is just right for our opening in just a few minutes. Thanks to all of you that showed up in the midst of the fun—was real glad we could chat and you had a free cup of java on me!

While I was at the Mayor’s Coffee, newly reelected Council Member Neil Resnik was covering the Open House for Ed Bauman Clothiers on Arapaho and Addison Road and then Neil headed out to supervise all of the fun at “Bite Night at Vitruvian Park” and the Food Truck caravan—tough duty for Neil—lots of folks having fun, awesome food and beautiful weather…sure sounds like the perfect warm up for Taste Addison!

Better run now. With this great weather we are going to have an unbelievable busy and successful weekend of fun, music and food at our 20th anniversary celebration of Taste Addison! I hope to see you this weekend at Addison Circle Park for our first really big special event of 2012—come savor the flavor of Taste Addison! -Todd

I’m back this week from a few days away—I came back early—I’m not so good at vacations because I miss Addison too much. Special thanks to Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens for handing lots of mayor duties for me, and to Carrie and Ron for help with last Friday’s newsletter.

Council News

On Tuesday evening, we began our work session with a presentation and discussion regarding the Addison Arbor Foundation projects. Arbor Foundation President Mary Jo Cater and Vice President Jay Ihrig presented the recent past projects, projected projects, and financial status of the Foundation. Their recent successes include raising enough money to plant 103 trees at the new Bush Elementary School for generations of kids to enjoy, planting 45 trees commemorating the 45th Super Bowl that took place last February in Arlington, as well as the very successful completion of our Community Garden project. The Board has received great local corporate support from Mary Kay, and new restaurant Raising Canes. Both businesses pitched in with money and crews to help complete the hardscape and Gazebo.

Future Arbor Foundation projects will include work on the landscape for our iconic new Water Tower, possible redo of one of our dog parks, relocating some public art along our Redding Trail, and possible location of art in our new Vitruvian Park. The Community Garden is now self-sustaining and self-governing and they all give a significant part of their harvest to the Metrocrest Social Services. All of which adds to the great value of another place for our neighbors to work together and get to know each other even better. Smart folks working together are a very good thing for our community. The Foundation is growing its Board and new members for its committees, and of course is always willing to accept your financial help. And, be sure to check out their website! Also, a big thank you to Potbelly Sandwich Shop in Addison which donated a tree to our Addison Arbor Foundation’s Leaf Your Mark campaign.  In the photo below is Potbelly General Manager Joe Rosales (left) Sandra Benton Manager(center), and the Foundation’s Jay Ihrig.

Our Regular Council meeting began at 7:30pm with our pledge and the announcement from our City Manager Ron Whitehead that Eric Cannon will join the Addison team as our new Finance Director effective June 4. Eric currently is the Finance Director with the City of Trophy Club and he will join Addison’s team just in time to help us through our budget process. Following that announcement, our Council consent agenda included items approving an assignment of our consulting contract for help with our P3 system and funds to host a luncheon in Austin with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The luncheon is a great opportunity for the Town to provide an overview of our economic development efforts, Visitor Services and the Addison Airport. This meeting will take place in June and I will provide a full report to you when we return.

Our next agenda item was a public hearing and discussion regarding the application of Salata to open as a new restaurant at 4930 Belt Line Road. While this may sound like a fairly routine process it was not. In fact, our staff, P&Z Commissioners, and Council all expressed serious reservations about granting a new application for a restaurant in an area that already has parking availability challenges. Staff and P&Z Commissioners had encouraged the applicants to go back to the drawing board and take a serious look at alleviating the parking problems that occur in this center. The applicant came with an entirely new creative plan to increase customer parking by moving employee parking off site and hiring a new valet service that will also park cars off-site. The Council still had serious reservations and while we approved the applicants request we required them to come back to Council with a more permanent solution within 30 days. In the event the new changes or their plan that will be submitted in 30 days is not effective at dramatically improving the parking situation in the center, Council has a variety of options including changing the current code with respect to parking ratio requirements for that center. This agenda item was an outstanding example of Staff, P&Z Commissioners and Council working together in the best interests of our Town and protecting our Brand. We will keep you informed…better yet…YOU keep us informed! Tell us your thoughts on the parking situation at 4930 Belt Line Road—the southeast corner of Landmark and Belt Line Road—the current home for Café Brazil, Melting Pot, 7-11, Pete’s Piano Bar and the Improv, among others? If you’re out there, go check it out and let me know what you think…

Our next agenda item was a presentation, discussion and update from Addison’s Fire Chief John O’Neal on the status of our new Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere radar site for weather analysis. Chief O’Neal let us know the project owners have run into some technical delays and that there were some unexpected new costs associated with the project. Council gave clear direction that in spite of the delays and possible cost overruns, the increased capability to give our community (and to those beyond our Town borders) an earlier warning capability for severe weather was very worth the additional investment necessary—it’s pretty tough to put a price on our safety. We are still hopeful that if we can overcome the technical issues, we can have the CASA system in place later this summer.

Item #R5 was another very important item on our agenda; the discussion and approval authorizing the Town Staff to seek quotations for the purchase of cameras and monitoring systems for the Vitruvian Park Bridge areas. Addison’s Police Chief Ron Davis brought us information showing graffiti on our new park bridges that our traditional police procedures have been unable to deter. The Chief’s recommendation was for us to install a sophisticated camera and monitoring system that will help us catch the offenders and hopefully deter future criminal behavior. As you may know we have successfully used this technology in other parts of our Town and this is a natural progressive use of this law enforcement technology. Cities all over the world from London, New York City and Dallas have used this technology to great effect in not only reducing crime but in cases of emergency providing more rapid response capability. As we implement this tool at Vitruvian Park, we will be mindful of any lessons to be learned so that if and when we need to expand this capability we are ready to do so in a cost effective and efficient manner.

Council then entered into Executive Session to receive an update and guidance about contemplated litigation involving construction contracts and projects at Vitruvian Park and the Spring Valley Road widening. At the conclusion of the Executive Session, Council asked Staff and Council to act according to the discussion and guidance from our session. Sorry to be so obtuse, however as you might imagine these are very sensitive confidential conversations at this stage. I will share more as soon as we are able.

We concluded our evening fairly early, before 9pm, however we really had some very important issues that we worked on tonight with long term consequences for our Town. Well done by all!

Other Council News

Council member Chris DeFrancisco and Assistant to the City Manager Alison Ream have been working with our area multifamily property managers to ascertain the best approach for developing our multifamily recycling program. They have met with over a dozen area mangers and hope to have a strategy for us by this summer.

Council Member Bruce Arfsten is continuing his excellent work with our Bush Elementary School PTA and Principal Dash to develop additional ways for the school and our community to be fully connected; the recent PatriotFest Carnival took in over $3,500 for the PTA and kids. Way to go!

On Tuesday I dropped by to see the folks at the corporate headquarters for Razzoo’s Cajun Café over at 5080 Spectrum Drive. I met with director Dianne Slaight and let her know how proud we were to see the recent story about their corporate expansion plans and success as outlined in the Dallas Business Journal in their May 4-10 edition. I gave her one of our Addison packets of information and I encouraged them to explore opening a restaurant here in Addison—their corporate home.

I then headed over to the new Law Offices of Shanna Nugent at 14825 Midway Road. Shanna is a 13 year Addison resident who has opened her own firm within walking distance of her home. Shanna and her husband George enjoy all that is Addison and have a special interest in the Arts and our great Addison Athletic Club. Shanna and her firm recently successfully completed a very large transaction involving very complicated real estate and business transactions that took over three months of intense work, and they are doing so well here in their new Addison offices that they are adding lawyers to their team!

Speaking of new businesses in Addison! The Loving Hut is now fully open with a great menu, go by or check them out at 14925 Midway Road, and check out their menu offerings online—they are getting rave reviews from our neighbors!

Wednesday I spent the day on Jury Duty in downtown Dallas at the courthouse at 600 Commerce Street…the same place I’ve spent a lot of time on the other side of the jury rail as a litigator…very interesting experience. I encourage all of us to be responsive and serve when you receive that jury summons in the mail.

Speaking of rights, please remember to vote tomorrow, Saturday, May 12!!  Addison resident Annette Karp provided this photo and caption: Don’t be so slow that you miss your opportunity to VOTE!

We have three Council seats and four candidates, as well as the important Bond Election Propositions. So far we’ve had just over 400 Addison residents vote in early voting and I know we can do better than that! Please, go exercise your right and privilege and cast your vote tomorrow!

Thursday afternoon, Town Hall hosted a bitter sweet retirement recognition for Michele Hilgart, our City Manager’s Executive Secretary, who is retiring after 31 years with our Town. Current Council Members Neil Resnik, Roger Mellow, Chris DeFrancisco, Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens and I were joined by former Council Members John Nolan, Mary Dolan, Fred Silver, Jimmy Niemann, Tom Braun, Bianca Noble, and former Mayor Scott Wheeler, along with a host of former and current Addison coworkers, friends and neighbors, who came out to thank Michele and wish her well in her retirement. Michele has truly been a superstar and fully embraced the “Addison Way” each and every day of her service to our community. She will be missed…more than we know now. Michele routinely did so many things for us that we really will not appreciate until she is gone and we realize how much she did for all of us. On behalf of 31 years of Council Members, and six mayors, thank you Michele for your hard work and dedication to Addison.

Next week Addison celebrates our 20th Anniversary of Taste Addison and our Special Event team of Barbara Kovacevich, Meredith McAuliff, and Annemarie Martin are in final stages of preparation for our first really big party of the year—May 18, 19 and 20. Taste Addison is a great showcase for specialty foods prepared by more than 60 fantastic Addison restaurants! It also is a weekend great food, wine seminars and tasting, cooking demonstrations (including demos with some very recognizable Dallas football gridiron greats), and some of the best music anywhere—we have world class headline entertainment scheduled for all three evenings. I hope to see you there!

Tonight is going to be an incredible evening at our Intercontinental Hotel! I was asked to officially welcome and introduce my longtime friend, former Dallas mayor, and current U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, to a packed house of 750 international trade delegates and media. The delegates, media and other stakeholders are here in Addison for 10 days as part of the 12th round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, hosted by the U.S. Trade Representative Office.

I am honored to have been asked to welcome Ambassador Kirk and our international guests to Addison! Attendees of the TPP are visiting from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam and the United States. These are very high-level trade talks happening right here in Addison and this is another wonderful opportunity for us to connect Addison to the world! I assure you we will take full advantage of this opportunity to have an international dateline of stories about Addison. This conference actually runs thru May 18 so we hope to see some of these delegates at Taste Addison!

Before I sign off, I must do a shout out to Addison resident Brennan Meier on his magna cum laude achievement as a new SMU Law School graduate tomorrow evening. Great job Brennan—and yes, I am a very proud dad!!

Last but not least, please remember to VOTE tomorrow (Saturday, May 12)…this is your chance to be part of Addison’s future. The election includes three Addison City Council seats and a Bond Election.

Upcoming Events

Saturday May 12: Addison Election Day. Polls open 7am to 7pm. Precincts have changed, so please visit www.addison2012.com/bondelection/ to verify your polling location.

May 18-20: Taste Addison. Addison Circle Park. Visit http://www.addisontexas.net/for more information.

May 28: Carter Blood Care opportunity to Give. 5am to 3pm. Carter BloodCare, 3955 Belt Line Road (near the new Addison Water Tower)

I hope you have a great weekend and that includes availing yourself ofyour constitutional right to vote. See you around Addison! Todd

What gorgeous weather—and what a great weekend to do some shopping around Addison!

Beginning today and running through the weekend, the Craft Guild of Dallas is hosting Artful Living: The Craft Guild of Dallas’s Spring Show and Sale at Visit Addison, 5100 Belt Line Rd., #400. The event features unique works for sale and/or show which were created by the talented artists of The Craft Guild of Dallas—beautiful pottery, paintings, jewelry, stationary and more! Stop on by for the sale and tour the art studios at Visit Addison where artists will demonstrate their specialties during the sale! Please visit www.addison2012.com for more information and show/sale hours.

If not handmade pottery or books, maybe you’re in need of a coffee table, faux house plant, or futon? Maybe you’ve been looking for gently used toys for your grandchildren or classic board games for your teens? Be sure to check out the Addison Community Garage Sale tomorrow, Saturday, May 5, in the SAM’s Club parking lot. Addison residents have been coming together for years to present this free event, and you won’t want to miss the high-quality items for sale. The garage sale starts at 7am, but remember, the early birds gets the best worms!

Council News

This past Saturday, Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens attended the 48th annual Dallas Military Ball, held at our Hotel Intercontinental. The annual ball is a formal affair, mess dress for the military and black tie for other guests (about 1,000 people attended), and was complete with military pageantry, a strong military presence and entertainment. The theme for this year, “Ties to the Past – Eyes to the Future,” was in keeping with honoring the military. The keynote speaker was General Norton A. Schwartz, chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, and Blake said he was inspirational. Net proceeds from the Ball are distributed to military relief agencies.

Blake also shared with me that many people sought him out to tell him how much they liked that the event was being held in Addison and how much they like Addison in general. And they said it must be really nice to live in Addison. Of course he agreed, as we all would!

Blake and his wife Jeannie were seated next to Col. Tom Henricks and his wife Rebecca Henricks. Col. Henricks is retired Air Force and former NASA astronaut—he served on FOUR NASA space shuttle missions—as commander of two missions and pilot of two others! Henricks became the first person to log over 1,000 hours as a Space Shuttle pilot/commander. Henricks’ wife Rebecca, a professional singer, sang a fantastic song as part of the program. U.S. Representatives Sam Johnson and Pete Sessions also attended the affair. What a terrific night for Addison—paying tribute to our military men and women was a huge honor—and visiting with a retired astronaut, and two sitting Members of Congress! Wow!

On the economic development front: As you will recall, earlier this year, Council voted and approved incentives for the redevelopment of Village on the Parkway. The project already has already been the talk of the Metroplex, and rightfully so. This past week we were notified by the Dallas Business Journal that the Village on the Parkway project was awarded the “Retail Deal of the Year,” a prestigious designation which recognizes, “the biggest and best transactions and projects that will reshape the region.” The DBJ has been recognizing the region’s best real estate deals for 20 years and puts Addison and Village on the Parkway in VERY impressive company! The VOP project also was a finalist in the category for the “Creative Deal of the Year.” Congratulations to the Retail Connection and Lincoln Properties, and also to our Addison Town staff and City Council, for working together to make this project a winner!

Around Addison

The Addison Police Department is now accepting volunteer applications for the newly created Addison Citizens Assisting Police (APAC) program. Volunteers will receive extensive training in what defines suspicious behavior and will be assigned specific patrol areas, and will be prohibited from carrying any type of weapon while on duty. We envision the ACAP program starting with patrols in our restaurant and business parking lots eventually expanding to other areas such as assisting at special events, patrolling our parks or reporting code violations. Volunteers will wear a distinctive shirt provided by the Town to identify them as ACAP members while on duty. Standard Operating Procedures are being developed and strict adherence to these procedures is required to participate in the program. If you are interested in volunteering for ACAP, please visit our website to review requirements, and complete an Interest Application.

The Addison Athletic Club needs your help! The Athletic Club is starting a book collection for Addison youth to support the Explore 30 Camp Reading Program! Beginning this summer, the Addison Athletic Club, along with the American Camp Association, is launching Explore 30 which addresses summer learning loss by providing youth with at least 30 minutes of reading time per day. Explore 30 is a FREE program and will be an excellent addition to the already great programs provided by the Athletic Club.

To help the Athletic Club launch Explore 30, simply donate by May 31 new or gently used books for children ages 6 to 12. Donation boxes are located at the Addison Athletic Club, 3900 Beltway Drive. Any active 2012 Summer Camp parent that donates will be entered to win a free week of summer camp valued at $125—Summer Camp parents, please let our helpful front desk staff know that you are donating to be entered. The winner will be announced at the Addison Summer Camp Open House on May 31 at 6pm (must be present to win). If you need book suggestions please visit, http://www.nea.org/grants/13110.htm

Growing, giving and learning is the Addison Way…and Addison’s Community Garden members are exemplary examples of the Addison Brand. Recently, the Community Garden received a thank you letter from Metrocrest Social Services for their food donations…just another example of good stewardship. Keep up the good work folks! Speaking of the garden…with the summer temperatures heating up, I also want to share with you a great website resource for design, maintenance and plant selection specific for North Texas native and drought tolerant landscaping. This program will help you save money on your water bills as well as beautify your home or business. Be sure to check it out.

Events from Addison2012.com

May 4, 6-8:30pm: PatriotFest: George H.W. Bush Elementary. Please come out to support Addison’s first DISD school, George H. W. Bush Elementary School, by attending the first annual carnival sponsored by the GHWB PTA. PatriotFest will be a night of fun for the entire family–with carnival games, food, prizes and a bounce house! It promises to be an evening of excitement for GHWB families and Addison residents!

May 4-6: Artful Living—Craft Guild of Dallas’s Spring Show and Sale. Visit Addison Gallery, 5100 Belt Line Rd., #400. Gorgeous jewelry, stunning pieces of glass art, paintings, and clay masterpieces—it’s all for sale! Unique birthday, anniversary, Mother’s Day gifts—stop by and be amazed at the talent we have here in Addison!

May 5, 7:00am: Addison Community Garage Sale. SAM’s Club Parking Lot. Find great bargains on previously owned furniture, clothing, household items and jewelry.

May 12: Addison Joint Municipal Election—Early Voting is open and will last through Tuesday, May 8. The May 12 Joint Municipal Election includes three Addison City Council seats, and a Bond Election. For more information about the Joint Municipal Election, early voting and day-of voting locations, and Bond Proposition information, please refer to our 2012 Bond Election website.

May 14: Global Business Connection luncheon. Brookhaven County Club. Please join the Metrocrest Chamber of Commerce in welcoming Andrew Miller, Her Majesty’s Consul General, for a highly engaging lunch conversation titled, “2012–A Great Year for Britain.” Tickets are $35. Email Fran Murray, info@metrocrestchamber.com for more info. The Global Business Connection is Presented by Addison WorldFest and the World Affairs Council.

 The Four of Us follows Benjamin, whose first novel vaults him into literary stardom, and his friend David, a struggling playwright, who is thrilled by Benjamin’s success…and crushed by it. From the dreams of aspiring youth to the realities of adulthood, this poignant two-man comedy explores friendship and memory, the gap between our hopes and our lives, and the struggles between our egos and our capacity to love.

The cast for The Four of Us features Duc Nguyen as David and Chris Ramirez as Benjamin. The play will be directed by Becca Johnson-Spinos and feature sound and projections designed by Jason Johnson-Spinos.

 The performance dates are Friday, June 8 and Saturday, June 9 at 8 pm; Sunday, June 10 at 2 pm; Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16 at 8 pm; and Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm.

 Regular tickets are $15. Young Adult tickets (ages 18-30) are $10. Rush tickets are $5. There will be ten Rush tickets sold to the first people in line, starting an hour prior to performance. There is a limit of two Rush tickets per person. Rush tickets cannot be reserved.

 Regular and Young Adult tickets can be reserved by emailing outcrytheatre@gmail.com or calling 972.836.7206. Payment for tickets is cash or check only, at the door.

 The Four of Us is presented at:

The Studio Theatre in the Addison Theatre Centre

15650 Addison Road

Addison, TX 75001

 The Four of Us contains adult language and content. It is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. New York City. World Premiere at the Old Globe, San Diego, California, Louis G. Spisto, CEO/Executive Producer, Jerry Patch, Co-Artistic Director, Darko Tresnjak, Co-Artistic Director. Originally produced in New York by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove, Executive Producer.

To celebrate 20 years of Taste Addison, this year’s Taste: The Competition is all about the 20!

Twenty Addison restaurants each created a special new menu item that that must be made in 20 minutes or less.   These items will be offered at participating restaurants for the month of May so be sure to eat your way through Addison and cast your People’s Choice vote by May 21^st.  Ballots may be cast online or at the Information Booth at Taste Addison, May 18-20. In addition to the People’s Choice award, other awards include the Grand Prize winner that is voted by the media, and the Best Promotion award that is chosen by the Addison Special Events Department.

Taste: The Competition kicked off May 1^st with a media social at Visit Addison. Each participating restaurant had one minute to describe their competition dish to the judges, a collection of food bloggers and journalists. The next hour was spent sampling each dish to decide who deserved the winning vote for the Grand Prize.  Each dish was judged on presentation, creativity and of course, taste.  And the winners are:

1)      Thai Star (Khao Soi)
Visit Thai Star’s Website

2)      Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill (Pan Seared U-10 Georges Banks Sea Scallops), Maine Lobster And Chive Mash Potato, Coca-Cola Candied Carrots, Butter Braised Scallions, Champagne Beurre Blanc, Port Wine Reduction, and Fried Mint Leaves)
Visit Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill’s Website

3)      Los Lupes (Tacos de Trompo Al Pastor)
Visit Los Lupes’ Website

Now it’s up to you to cast your vote for your favorite dish!

We’re Social!

Website:             www.addisontexas.net/events/tasteaddison

Twitter:                @VisitAddison #TasteAddison2012

Facebook:           www.facebook.com/addison.specialevents

Foodspotting:   http://tinyurl.com/TasteAddisonTC2012

Flicker:                 http://tinyurl.com/TasteAddisonMedia

The event will begin Friday May 4th with a reception and silent auction that is open to the public from 7pm-10pm.  Saturday May 5th 11am-8pm and Sunday May 6th 11am-5pm.  This event is free and open to the public.

To learn more about the Craft Guild vist them at www.craftguildofdallas.com