City Council - public_hearing

Can't be on trail progress. Like you would close for a house, you'd look at every little thing and make sure, okay, this is good, this is good. Oh wait, this is not good.

Project leaders walking the latest part of the completed trail, bringing together north and south for residents to enjoy. Flying for the future.

In my opinion, this is the most incredible job in the world. And aside from the opportunity to actually fly the airplanes, the best part of it is the community and the people.

The pilots of today putting potential pilots of tomorrow through their paces. those stories, plus getting a new look at the coming indoor pool at Center Park. Now on CitySource. Contractors and inspectors putting the final touches on the latest stretch of the Campion Trail, the massive trail aiming to connect all of Dallas County when it's done. Hello, and welcome to City Source. I'm Nick Lawton. That story's still ahead, but we begin with some lucky aviation enthusiasts getting the chance to see life from the pilot's seat, and they didn't have to leave the ground to do it. First time out first? I'll be shot easy. Anyone would be a little hesitant to jump in the pilot seat for the first time.

We're all set.

Lucky for these aspiring aviators, this is all a simulation in Irving. And all the rough patches are virtual.

We can do everything in this that we can actually do in the airplane and even more.

In honor of National Aviation Day, Envoy Air, a subsidiary of the American Airlines Group, is bringing in 10 contest winners to try their hands at a professional flight simulator. And with these sims at Avenger Flight Group in Irving, they can get a taste of the skies.

There's a lot that happens behind the screens. These machines are composed of lots of computers, avionics.

And the simulator can really put them through their paces.

Engine failures, any mechanical failure on the airplane, emergency descents, we can do so much more than what we can actually do in the airplane.

And experience for the potential pilots of tomorrow that the pilots of today remember well.

I definitely remember my first Discovery flight, first takeoff, you'll never forget. So getting to see the reactions and the expressions on people's faces when they're getting to experience this for the first time.

ignites a spark in some and then also just, you know, fuels the flame in others. I really feel the pilots or future pilots that come here will go into the simulator and absolutely just thrive on, you know, what they see.

Moments like these showing Irving doing its part to foster the future of aviation.

The demand for training capacity is going to steadily grow. On a day like this, you can see the end result. But when we started this facility, this was a completely empty bay.

We have our flight simulators here in Irving. We have our classroom and all our training facilities in Irving, airplane mechanics training, ground support trainings, all done right here in Irving, Texas.

The Irving City Manager toured the latest construction inside the Center Park Aquatic and Recreation Center ahead of its reopening date. The renovation will include a new year-round indoor aquatic facility, so city leaders got a look at how that pool and everything else is shaping up. So far, progress is on schedule, and Center Park is set to reopen with everything ready for residents to see this fall. You can provide feedback on the City of Irving's proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Some of the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget highlights include more police and fire personnel, street, water, wastewater and drainage improvements, and fire station improvements. The next hearing on Irving's budget for the 2026-2027 budget year will be September 3rd at 7 p.m. inside City Council Chambers. You can submit your questions or comments online by visiting irvingtx.gov slash askthebffs. Or you can email your questions and comments directly to askthebffs at irvingtx.gov. And if you can't make it to the hearing, we'll be streaming the whole thing on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the City of Irving. Well, the folks who take care of the City of Irving vehicles you see around town got an upgrade. The old fleet building goes all the way back to the 1950s. The current construction has been happening in three phases. Phase one wrapped up back in October 2025. Phase two finished back in June. So now this latest work, phase three, is on track to be completed before January of next year. With this expansion, fleet has grown from 14 vehicle bays to 29, which fleet managers say will make a big difference in operations. Now you might have already walked or ridden on it. Crews are putting the finishing touches on the Campion Trail's newest connection. We were there as contractors and inspectors did a walkthrough. Blowing the dust off the latest edition of the Campion Trail in Irving. More than two years after Phase 1A of the Elm Fork Extension finished, now Phase 1B is nearing the finish line.

Our connection between the north part of Campion and the south part of Campion.

Contractors and inspectors walk to this newest part of the trail to look out for anything that still needs doing.

If everything's clean and neat, of course, everything's picked up, make sure everything grades out right like we want. If there's any chip in the concrete pathway, we want to get that fixed.

And even on this walkthrough day, residents showed their own approval by hitting the trail.

I love Campion Trail.

For the last 10 years, the Valley Ranch Green Club's been working to beautify their part of the trail, so much so that the National Wildlife Federation's certified them as a habitat community.

We've got native plants for pollinators, we've got native host plants, we've got native evergreens, and then we've got some non-native ground covers, but they all work together to provide a habitat.

Whether it's physical exercise or the mental and environmental benefits of seeing beautiful plants, residents are working together to connect across Irving, like the trail itself will one day do.

We can walk all the way to Las Colinas and have a coffee over there. Just come and enjoy the parks and come and enjoy the trails and you will be amazed by how great they make you feel.

What's next for Phase 1B will be making a list of everything on the trail that was spotted and in need of fixing and submitting that to the contractor to be fixed in the coming months. And now it's time for one of my personal favorite parts of CitySource. We are here with Pet of the Week here at the Irving Animal Care Campus. And we are joined not only by the campus's outreach coordinator, Egan Dobson. Thank you so much. We are joined by Harley. Harley right here. And if there's any Ted Lasso fans out there, I'm going to tell you right now, as far as Harley goes, ball is life. Ball is life for Miss Harley. And Miss Harley is 10 years young, which means she's already got some tricks up her sleeve.

Oh yeah, Harley did come from a home. She is completely potty trained. I mean, ball is life for this little lady. She knows shake for both hands. She knows speak and lay down.

Oh, wow, okay. Full of tricks. Yeah, so if you wanna take and be Harley's forever home, you've already got plenty of ways to play with her. What would be the ideal family for Harley in your mind?

Really, anybody who wants to take it easy. Supply her with all the tennis balls that her little heart would be happy with. But Harley's a pretty easy dog. She's already set for somebody who's looking maybe even for a first time pet. She'd make a good fit for really anybody.

Oh yeah, absolutely. And if anybody sees little Harley right here and falls in love, how can they adopt her?

Yeah, they can come in during our business hours. You have to be at least 18, have a valid ID and a form of payment. For the whole month of August, our adoption fees are reduced to $25 and then we're celebrating the shelters on Saturday the 29th and everybody's free to go home that day.

Absolutely. Clear the Shelter Day is Saturday, August 29th. What can you tell us about the times and the place?

Yes, absolutely. So doors open at 10 a.m. and then close at 6 p.m. So people have a lot of time to come on out. We are obviously waiving fees. So everybody, cats, puppies, kittens, dogs are all free to go home. And we have goodie bags for everybody who adopts. And we're also doing free ID tags for everybody.

And that's fantastic. And of course, if you don't have it in you right now to adopt a fur baby, there are plenty of other ways people can get involved here. If they want to volunteer here, how would they contact?

Yeah, all of our things that you can be involved with in the shelter or post online, like volunteering, you just apply online. Same with fostering or even our Doggies Day Out program. Just apply online and we'll get you all set up.

And we've got a great pup date here about the last pet of the week that we just featured.

Trixie, Trixie got adopted. Trixie got adopted. What started out as a doggie's day out turned into an overnight stay for a doggie's day out, turned into a forever. And we couldn't be more happy for her and her new mom.

Absolutely. You have a few moments with these wonderful animals and then who knows, some magic might click and... you might just walk away with a forever friend. Yep, exactly. And, of course, if you want to check out all of the previous Pet of the Week segments, you can go on our YouTube channel and see the playlist for yourself. We've got a whole Pet of the Week playlist for you. That's youtube.com slash cityofurban. Coming up on the next City Source, Irving firefighters once again climbing and remembering on the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Those stories and more next time on City Source. Well, here's how you can connect with us. You can email us at ictn at irvingtx.gov. Our YouTube channel is youtube.com slash the city of Irving. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. And we always like it when you leave us positive comments. Let us know you are watching. And you can look for updates on events and initiatives across the major social media platforms at the City of Irving. That does it for this edition of City Source. Thanks for watching. Stay cool out there, and we'll see you back here next time.