The city needs your help and input about the future of our water supplies. So, two public meetings will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 16. One will be at the Bachman Recreation Center, and the other will be at the Tommie M Allen Recreation Center. A time for public comment will follow a presentation.

“The choices and decisions we make now will shape our future water supply, so this is an opportunity for the public to be a part of planning our city’s future,” director of water utilities Jody Puckett said in a statement.

There’s a lot happening this spring at The Plaza at Preston Center:

As we previously reported, Russian fashion designer and SMU student Kira Plastinina will open her U.S. flagship store, LUBLU Kira Platinina, this June.

Aftershock London‘s U.S. flagship store will also make its debut at the Plaza. The British fashion retailer will open May 9.

Dallas jewelry designer Matthew Trent returns to his roots in his recently renovated space.

True Food Kitchen will dish out healthy, locally grown menu items by the end of summer. The location will be the first in Texas.

On April 11, Calypso St. Barth combined two stores. The brand now houses both its women’s wear and home accessories under one roof.

Bag’n Baggage relocated to the Plaza this month after closing its Inwood Village store at the end of January.

Finally, Sprinkles Ice Cream will serve cold treats this June in spot adjacent to its cupcake counterpart. The Plaza location will be the third in the country. And alas, the cupcake ATM will finally make its way to Sprinkles.

Whew. Did I miss anything?

Dallas Morning News reports the Developers of the Preston Hollow Village will add an office spaces to the mixed-use development. The 42 acre land at the northwest corner of Central Expressway and Walnut Hill Lane will include grocer Trader Joe’s, which is expected to open early next year.  This will make the second for the Dallas area, after the Lower Greenville store is expected to open this summer.

The development will also include retail shopping, apartments and town homes. Provident Realty Group of Dallas is projected to break ground for in June.

While researching about North Haven Gardens last week, I found a bit of Preston Hollow trivia that seemed fitting on the heels of Ebby Halliday’s birthday.

Residents near Preston Road and Northwest Highway have most likely driven by “Ebby’s Little White House” a number of times, but did you know that its history as a landmark goes much further back? Ira Deloache, one of the founders of Preston Hollow, used this house as, wouldn’t you know it, a suburban real estate office. Then, it served as the Town Hall before Preston Hollow was annexed into Dallas proper. Today, passersby recognize it by the large white script draped across the roof, reading “Ebby Halliday Realtors.”

Public service can be a thankless job, especially when you have to sift through bureaucratic minutiae such as items 35 and 36 on the agenda for next Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting: a pair of public hearings regarding variances to the rules about alcohol sales near churches and schools.

The first hearing is about the sale of mixed beverages at the Romano’s Macaroni Grill on Northwest Highway. The restaurant is technically prohibited from selling them because it sits within 300 feet of Northwest Bible Church. But if you’re thinking, “Wait, I’ve been served a mixed drink there before,” you’re right; the restaurant was granted a variance five years ago. The owners have to be granted another one only because they’re finally getting a “wet” permit from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission as opposed to a “private club” permit.

In making his client’s case for the variance, attorney Marcus Schwartz points out that the only part of Northwest Bible Church that is within 300 feet of Macaroni Grill is the door to the church’s gym. The door to the sanctuary, he writes, is actually 600 feet away.

My client is of the position that just as Texas courts have held that a school stadium on school property does not convert a stadium into a school for purposes of TABC measurements … a church gymnasium on church property does not convert said gymnasium into a church for alcohol measurement distances.

Distances are also clarified by the attorney for Central Market, which already sells beer and wine at Preston and Royal for off-site consumption. But the store’s management wants people to be able to drink in its cafe and cooking classrooms. The problem is, Central Market technically sits within 300 feet of St. Mark’s School of Texas.

But wait, says attorney Myron Dornic; that 300 feet is a misleading figure on both ends. While the St. Mark’s campus is within 300 feet of the 8-acre Preston Oaks Shopping Center, Central Market is on the north side of said shopping center. “The store entrance is actually located at a walking distance of over 1,477 feet along the nearest public sidewalks to closest corner of the school campus,” he writes.

But that’s not my favorite part of Dornic’s argument. This is:

The portion of the campus that is within 300 feet of the shopping center tract is a very small edge of the school property located at that corner of the campus that is farthest from any school building entrance or active student area. In fact, it appears to include only an area that is outside the perimeter fence of the campus.

So, if you want to weigh in on either of these variances, the public hearings will start at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In the wake of the Connecticut massacre, a playful image of a man holding up two guns struck Preston Hollow resident Mahra Pailet as distasteful when she saw it in the Urban Outfitters inside NorthPark Center. So Pailet took to social media, and, lo and behold, the guns disappeared from the store.

“Dallas Midtown” is the moniker city officials and the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce are trying to slap on the area bounded by the Dallas North Tollway, Interstate 635, Preston Road, and Southern Boulevard — also known as the world’s smallest piece of land holding two shopping malls (Valley View and the Galleria). The chamber and the city want you to know more about the plans to redevelop this area, so they’re inviting you to a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in the Westin Galleria, specifically in the San Antonio Ballroom on the hotel’s fourth floor.

Dan Koller gets his motor running at the new Dave and Buster's. (Staff photo: Allison Slomowitz)

As we have told you before, the new flagship location for Dave & Buster’s will officially open for business Sunday at the former site of the AMC Glen Lakes, a movie theater I worked at in my younger years. If this restaurant/sports bar/arcade were opening at any other location, I would have declined an invitation to Thursday’s media preview. But, given my history with this piece of land, I was too curious to stay away.

One of the first video games I tried was Grid Deluxe Race Leader. I’m no gearhead, but even I was enthused by this car game. As soon as I swiped my power card, the entire machine started humming and vibrating as if I were actually behind the wheel of a 400-horsepower muscle car.

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A peek inside the Aether airstream trailer (Image via Aether Apparel)

If you are heading to a chilly climate for the holidays you should know two things:

1. I am incredibly jealous.

2. Your shopping just got a whole lot easier.

California based retail company, Aether, is rolling into town (literally) with an inventory full of outerwear, knits, and accessories for both men and women. The pop-up shop will be housed in an airstream trailer behind The Plaza at Preston Center from Nov. 26- Dec. 29. Doors will be open Tuesday-Sunday for all of your apparel needs.

When I drove by the corner of Northwest Highway and Hillcrest yesterday, I barely recognized the stores that line the intersection. Turns out, Bella Lifestyle Nail Salon & Spa has disappeared and in the past few weeks, Hillcrest Nails Spa and Massage Felax have popped up in its place.  These two neighboring salons market themselves differently; Message Felax focuses only on massages, while Hillcrest Nails Spa offers manicures, pedicures, and massages.

Not far down the block lies Soleo Mexican Kitchen. This five-week-old restaurant features both traditional Tex-Mex dishes and more modern takes on the classics.

If you have tried any of these new places, please let me know what you think!