Lucy Wrubel

When I go to the website for Dallas City Hall, I don’t expect to see the face of Lucy Wrubel, the coolest DJ the Park Cities has ever produced. But there she is alongside Lyle Lovett, because they will both be performing at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge celebration party on March 2.

Beverly Drive resident and TRT Holdings controller Robert Rowling was the recipient of much back patting at Dallas City Hall this morning.

His company, which owns the Omni Hotels and Resorts brand and Golds Gym, will relocate from Irving to Dallas (specifically a new building at 4001 Maple Ave.) as part of an agreement with the city. In return, the city granted the company a property tax abatement of 90 percent of the next ten years.

While showing off renderings of the building, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the 170,000-square-foot building inside the the old Parkland campus “will last decades.”

The Highland Park Town Council approved the replacement of 16 “Highland Park Town Limit” signs and the addition of three new signs Monday evening.

The new design — which will include “Town of Highland Park” across a dark blue background — will replace the current signs, which feature a picture of the HP Town Hall. The signs were designed by Scott Reynolds Outdoor Media, at no cost to the town.

The signs themselves — plus the poles they rest on — will cost $24,000, which will come out of the town’s operating budget.

I am not a technophile. My iPod is from my senior year of college (2006), my laptop is from the summer of that year. I appreciate technology, but usually wait until the kinks (read: cost) are worked out.

That said, I was impressed by the display at University Park City Hall on Tuesday night. Five councilmen, plus the city secretary and manager, flicking through city documents, agreements, and contracts on new “UP” emblazoned iPads.

The journalist in me immediately screamed “Fiscal irresponsibility!”, but city spokesman Steve Mace set me straight.

“As with other cities far and wide, we are trying to go paperless where possible,” he said in an email. “The move also saves on printer costs and repairs, staff time, duplication of effort, etc.  All good things.”

Still, if you see Mayor Davis or any other officials fiddling with an iPad at Starbucks on a Saturday, maybe look over their shoulder to make sure it’s city work. Angry Birds can be a devil.

The University Park City Council denied a request to allow backyard chickens in the city Tuesday evening, following months of campaigning by invested residents.

The Council split, 3-2, on the decision.

For more information, pick up this week’s Park Cities People.

A few weeks ago, I reported that the University Park Public Library would move soon. Now we know the date.

The library in the Chase Bank building will close Jan. 21, and reopen in the Peek Services Center (4420 Worcola Avenue) Feb. 1, according to a statement from the library. Not all books will be shelved, though all will be available to library patrons.

The library is expected to move into its permanent home in the Plaza at Preston Center in early 2013.

After months of clucking around, the University Park City Council will discuss allowing backyard chickens tonight, at 5 p.m.

The proposal made its way through committee in December, with restrictions on the number of chickens and the sizes and locations of the coops.

Honestly, I just want this thing to end so I don’t have to keep coming up with more chickens puns. I’m cluckered out.

Detective/town spokeswoman/general nice human being Marty Nevil will be leaving Highland Park at the end of the month to spend more time with her family, she said.

I’ve always enjoyed working with Detective Nevil, and I’ll be sad to see her go. Reporters tend to set the bar pretty low when it comes to police and government spokespeople, but Nevil always soared over it. She’ll be replaced by Sgt. Lance Koppa, an 11-year veteran of the department.

Good luck, Marty.

While hanging out at Highland Park Town Hall, waiting for the Town Council to emerge from an executive session, I spied two notices of Board of Adjustment hearings scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Robert Campbell, a resident of the 3100 block of Beverly Drive, will go before the board because of his plans to build a 10-feet-square outdoor cooking area. The town’s zoning ordinance requires a setback of 7 feet from the side of a yard, and Mr. Campbell’s cooking center would infringe upon that area by 2 feet.

Robert and Lois Glasgow, also of the 3100 block of Beverly, want to build a 6-feet-tall, 42-feet-wide fence in their front yard. The proposed fence would connect to the brick wall at the dead end of Beverly. The Glasgows need the town’s OK because front-yard fences are prohibited in Highland Park.

Both hearings are scheduled for 8:30 a.m., so somebody’s going to have sit through their neighbor’s appeal.

According to the agenda for Monday’s Highland Park Town Council meeting, the folks at Dallas Country Club want to launch a fireworks display on April 11 to celebrate the completion of their new facility.