Justin Maldona teaches his children to swim at the Kidd Springs pool. (Staff photo by Christina Barany)

A reader is trying to get a conversation going on our Facebook page about which pool is preferable — Kidd Springs or Martin Weiss? Anyone have any thoughts? My wife, the former Jessica Harbaugh, was a member of the swim team at each park, so I’ll make sure she weighs in.

MK Semos and our own Chris McGathey train their cameras on each other.

MK Semos and Hugo Garcia Urrutia — the owners of the Decorazon Gallery, formerly of the Bishop Arts District — have been living at the Fairmont Hotel as part of its artist-in-residency program. Their residency culminates with a show at the Ross Akard Gallery that opens tonight. A reception for “Happy Endings” begins at 6 p.m.

La Paisanita Taqueria will be opening at 440 West Davis Street. Manuel Rodriguez and his family will be moving the restaurant into the former laundromat in a few months. Rodriguez also owns La Paisanita at 2930 West Davis Street.

We’ll keep you posted on an official opening date. Delish tacos to come!

On Monday, July 4, the Wynnewood North Neighborhood will have our annual “Brunch on the Lawn” at 10 a.m. at 732 Mayrant Drive.

The event begins around 9 a.m., with the neighborhood children painting Terry Thomas’ white truck with red and blue paint, and continues with a short parade around several blocks, with children and pets invited to participate. The brunch will begin after the parade. Food and drinks are provided by Janice Coffee and Terry Thomas along with Joan Buccola.

During the early morning hours, over 350 flags will be placed curbside along Mayrant.

The Shop in Oak Cliff is carrying what is purportedly the last run of the Shepard Fairey-style “Dirk” shirts designed by Curtis Black.

A look from the Feb. 2010 Pin Show at Union Station.

Make and Made owner and Indie Genius founder Julie McCullough Kim launched the Pin Show four years ago to help budding independent fashion designers and their collaborators get some exposure. After taking a year-long hiatus, the show is back with a new venue and a new board of directors.

Brian Embry, owner and director of the Ross Akard Gallery inside the Fairmont Hotel, is the show’s new executive director. This year’s show, which will be hosted by the Fairmont Hotel, will have the added dimension of the hotel’s artist in residency program, for which Pin Show designers can apply.

Think you have what it takes to make it on the Pin Show’s runway? The application deadline is Oct. 15. Find out more about the event at the Pin Show’s website.

Want to get the real deal on gas drilling — which has the potential to affect Oak Cliff and Mountain Creek residents? Check out the Academy Award nominated documentary Gasland at the Texas Theatre tomorrow night (June 29) at 7:30 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the Old Oak Cliff Conservation Leauge and will be hosted by city council members Scott Griggs and Delia Jasso.

“I think it’s significant that we have the League financing this event,” said local activist Raymond Crawford, “and both city council members working together for a common cause and a clean environment.”

The film by Josh Cox follows a man in Pennsylvania who receives a letter from a gas company, along with a check for $100,000, to allow them to drill on his land. As he’s not familiar with gas drilling or fracking, he dives into researching the topics. The more he learns, the more concerned he becomes. He grabs his camera and heads off across the country, stopping in areas that have gas deposits to determine whether he should cash the gas company’s check.

“What he sees is what you see,” Crawford said. “Shocking, sad, dysfunctional, and beyond is what he witnesses.”

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We just received a press release that says Centro Properties Group — which owns the Wynnewood Village, Stevens Park Village, and Jeff Davis shopping centers — has been bought by BRE Retail Holdings, an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners. The purchase price was approximately … wait for it … $9 billion. That’s because Centro owns 583 other shopping centers covering 92.1 million square feet in 39 states.

Does this mean that Centro’s three Oak Cliff properties will be upgraded anytime soon? Only time will tell.

LGBT task force member Omar Narvaez stands by as Councilwoman Delia Jasso speaks, honoring the LGBT community in Dallas.

Yesterday afternoon, Councilwoman Delia Jasso hosted a ceremony/celebration for Dallas’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community at City Hall, in honor of June being LGBT Pride Month. This was the first time that the LGBT community has ever been recognized in Dallas, thanks to Jasso who created a task force in 2009 that examines ways of supporting Dallas’ gay and lesbian communities.

“It’s astounding that this day has never been recognized in the city of Dallas,” Jasso said. “We felt that it’s very important to our constituents, and next year we plan to make the celebration bigger and better.”

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The City  Council unanimously approved the ad-hoc committee’s nine-member gas drilling task force recommendation on Monday during a special meeting post-inauguration of the new council members.

The drilling task force:

Subject matter experts
Margaret Keliher
David Sterling
Terry Welch

Industry/business
David Biegler
Bruce Bullock
Patrick Shaw

Citizens/environmental
Ramon Alvarez
Cherelle Blazer
John McCall

McCall is the only member representing Oak Cliff. In his first few hours as a council member, Scott Griggs requested that the Council add Ed Meyer to the task force to represent Mountain Creek, during Monday’s meeting. Mountain Creek is one of the areas that will be most affected by potential gas drilling. No one on the Council seconded Griggs’ motion.

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