“Where do you live?” is always the first question people ask in Dallas. Your reply offers a pretty accurate picture of your income level, the value of your home and the quality of your schools.
“I live in Lake Highlands” usually brings one or two responses: Isn’t that somewhere near NorthPark? or a vague comment about the pretty trees.
I like it that Lake Highlands can’t be so easily categorized. It’s not the Bubble, it’s not Radical/Political, it’s not as ambitious as some parts of town or as sluggish as others.
Lake Highlands is what every community longs to be: an active, caring, extended neighborhood flexible enough to change with the times, yet traditional enough to know what’s worth hanging on to.
Lake Highlands has something money can’t buy: a community you can count on.
I know what it’s like to count on Lake Highlands.
When I asked my neighborhood to a crime watch meeting, more than 100 people came.
When I asked people to express their support for our branch library, they came out in droves.
When I participated in drives to raise money for a toddler playground at the Lake Highlands Recreation Center and a community park at White Rock Elementary, the response was one of enthusiastic generosity.
Recently, area parents have launched an energetic drive for a toddler pool at the rec center. The Four Seasons Garden Club, after planting trees at every area school, continues to landscape the Audelia Library.
Lake Highlands businesses and residents are raising money to transform Abrams Road into a beautiful boulevard. Many residents donate regularly to the RISD Clothing Closet, tutor underprivileged children from low-income families, take over carpools, cooking and other chores for neighbors with cancer, and find time to keep their houses and yards neat, decorate their homes for the holidays and participate in the annual 4th of July parade at the rec center.
Local businesses and Realtors provide substantial support to our schools and parks, our police substation has the largest number of volunteers in the City (many of them active retirees), our branch library is the busiest in Dallas, and our rec center is bursting at the seams.
To keep Lake Highlands a thriving community, we need to take these five steps:
1. Support our local businesses. Not only Realtors, cleaners, restaurants, supermarkets and barbershops, but Lake Highlands area service people, too. Ask neighbors for recommendations. Give new businesses a chance. Try new restaurants, make people feel welcome. We want them here!
2. Volunteer in any way you can. Your help is truly needed at schools, the police substation, the library, the recreation center, and in crime watch groups. Be willing to serve on civic boards.
3. Stay interested. Attend town hall meetings. Work through your neighborhood association, crime watch, local clubs or PTA for improvements to our area. Work with City Councilman Donna Halstead and other elected officials for solutions. Our political strength depends on keeping up with current issues and long-term planning.
4. Think community. Use your contacts to help a neighbor who is out of work. If the PTA is holding a bake sale during the November election, try to buy something. When local children come to your door raising funds for their school band or scout troop, support them if you can.
5. Most importantly, support the Lake Highlands Advocate. The Advocate provides a free forum for neighborhood concerns and a local community calendar to publicize events. The monthly crime watch and real estate features keep us updated on our neighborhoods. Our local businesses can reach local customers more efficiently.
And next time someone asks where you live, you can hand them an answer!
