Summer time in Lake Highlands means the annual Fourth of July parade is close at hand. This year’s parade will be on Saturday, July 3rd. Once again the Lake Highlands Exchange Club will be organizing the participants in the parking lot of the North Highlands Bible Church. The church is across the street from Lake Highlands High School’s tennis courts at 9626 Church Road. The parade will start at 9:00 a.m. so get to the staging area by 8:00 a.m. This parade is meant primarily for the kids of Lake Highlands to come out and participate in an old fashioned way of celebrating the fourth. However, if you have an antique car or "classic" auto, be sure and come out and participate. Decorate your bikes, wagons, and the kids for the contests, with prizes to be given to a variety of age groups at the parade’s ending celebration in Lake Highlands North Park just outside the recreation center. Free refreshments will again be served at the park by those wonderful Exchangites. The rec center pool will open after the parade functions so you can make it a day-long event should you like. This is a great community function you should not miss!
This summer should also usher in the long awaited start to the Royal Lane connection between Skillman and Audelia Roads. I will not believe it until I see it, but the contract has been let to the contractor and utility work has begun. Also the city council will be looking at changing the bulk trash policy. Citizens have been able to put out bulk trash items a week prior to the scheduled week for pick up. The problem is many folks jump the gun and it ends up looking like we never see the streets void of this eyesore. We are considering changing the policy to only being able to put items out the Saturday before your scheduled week’s pick up. If it goes out early you would receive a notice the first time that it is out too early and you would be given 48 hours to remove it. This notice would be the only free warning you would receive for a year. Should you put it out early again within a year of the notice you would be subject to a $150 fine. I am favorable to this change as I believe we all should work to make our neighborhoods look better.
As usual the city council will not meet during July. Sometimes I wonder if we would be better off if we only met in July! My council assistant Patricia Love will be back from maternity leave in July (she had a beautiful boy) to make sure you don’t notice that the council is on break. I visit with her daily so please let me know of any concerns you may have. The council office number is 214-670-4068. Now bring on some Wildcat Football!
