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Rain Good, Lightning Bad For North Texas Wildfires: Saturday saw four inches of rain fall in some parts of North Texas. Possum Kingdom Lake got a little more than an inch, which helped quell some of the fires. Yet the 17 new blazes also started Saturday. Last night brought more Olympian tears and lightning rage from Zeus, as he continues his efforts to burn Texas to a crisp as part of his ongoing war with Chuck Norris.

This Evening, Mavs Will Try to Prove That They Aren’t the Worst Team to Root For in All of Sports: Are the little Mavs soft? Are they the most notorious chokers in NBA history? Will Dirk’s hall of fame career be forever overshadowed by fourth quarter playoff impotence? Tune in tonight for another maddening episode of As The Portland Series’ Tide Turns.

Cruise With Cowboys Cheerleaders Canceled, Cruisers Upset: I suppose if you are Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders-obsessed then it is a shame that you spent good money for a chance to take a cruise with the cheerleaders only to have the buxom broads cancel. But what really fascinates me about this story is the list of other similarly themed cruises. I guess it makes sense that there are Star Trek-themed cruises, but Little House on the Prairie cruises? Or cruises featuring guest passenger Donald Rumsfeld? That sounds like Reality TV gold.

City Council Food Truck Vote This Week: The Dallas City Council will vote on food trucks this week, and it looks like it will be a go for zoning changes allowing the portable eateries to operate in the Arts District and in a section of Lower Greenville Avenue. Next step: allow trucks to operate anywhere they darn well please.

Our Urban Affairs columnist Patrick Kennedy argues that it’s not the weather that keeps life from being lived outdoors most of the year in Dallas:

How many cities have as many 70 degree and sunny days as Dallas does? San Diego? LA under a shroud of smog? The list pretty much begins and ends right there. Yet if it is anything but precisely that we bitch and moan and build a city around climate controlled environment at all times.

If Dallas was built to be in Dallas would we have so much paving, radiating more heat, and creating the dreaded “heat island effect?” Would we have so many mirrored glass buildings reflecting sunlight onto the unshaded sidewalks below amplifying ambient temperatures? Oh, I forgot that reflective glass is supposedly green in the facile world of LEED construction. Would everything be so far apart, thereby abdicating the role of a designer to create micro-climates that are comfortable since we never have to be outside of air conditioning? Can we afford to make those trips as gas prices round $4/gal. and head for $5 despite being already incredibly deflated via a cadre of subsidies?

I think that he undersells just how terrible the heat gets in July and August, especially those summers when we rack up dozens of 100-degree days. But I also think he’s got a point.

The best headline about yesterday’s Dallas City Council vote to officially ditch the original fancier design and give Santiago Calatrava $10.7 million for a cheaper design for the second bridge in the Trinity River project is from the Archinect website:  “Calatrava’s bridge in Dallas shot down, back as zombie”

The forum for “progressive-minded” architects also casts doubts, as have plenty of others, on whether we’ll ever actually see even this revised version of the second Trinity River “signature bridge” built:

For a refresher, Santiago Calatrava, 59, has been in Dallas before. This is, was or might be the Valencian’s second bridge in Dallas’ Trinity Bridge project— his first bridge, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, is expected to be open very soon.

It’s after the jump.

Oak Cliff — and really, I suppose when I say Oak Cliff these days, and when you say Oak Cliff these days, I/you really mean North Oak Cliff — is not a secret anymore. Not to you, not to your parents, not to anyone. If I were to see you in the street and say to you, “Hey, cool s— is happening in (North) Oak Cliff” — because I tend to swear when I’m not on this blog, and certainly when I’m in the street — you would only think that was strange because I just randomly brought up that subject when we were having a conversation about hypothetical scenarios and grudges, my two favorite conversation topics.

So, what I am about to talk about is not new, but maybe is interesting. To streamline my wording here: FEEL FREE TO SKIP TO THE NEXT ONE.

Dallas City Council Redistricting Begins: In the wake of the 2010 census, the city has set up a redistricting commission to review and suggest new council districts that reflect changes to the city’s demographics. With Hispanics now making up 42 percent of the city, commission member Domingo Garcia says one of the goals is to create two new Hispanic-majority districts. The challenge, however, is that both the Hispanic and African-American populations are now spread more widely throughout the city than they were 10 years ago, the last time the city considered redistricting.

Complete Downtown Dallas 360 Plan Made Public: Let me help destroy your Monday productivity: the complete Downtown Dallas 360 plan is now available for download ahead of the city council’s vote on the recommendations, which will take place on April 13.

Sweep. It’s a long season, but this is not a bad way to start.