Richardson

Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. It is home to the University of Texas at Dallas and the Telecom Corridor, with a high concentration of telecommunications companies. More than 5,000 businesses have operations within Richardson's 28 square miles (73 km²), including many of the world's largest telecommunications and networking companies. Richardson was a "dry city" with no alcohol sales until November 2006, when the local option election passed to allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores. In the fall of 2008 Peter Perfect, a Style Network television show, came to Richardson. The business-makeover show remodeled SpiritWear, an apparel and embroidery store in the city's historic downtown area. It was the first episode of the series to be filmed outside of California. In 2006, Richardson was ranked as the 15th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. In 2007, the Morgan Quitno 14th Annual Annual and Most Dangerous Cities Awards pronounced Richardson the 69th safest city in America. Richardson has continued to be recognized as a best workplace for commuters every year since 2004. In 2010 Richardson was the 4th best city to be a parent in, according to Business Week's annual "Best Places to Raise Kids" report. The city was named after the secretary of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, Alfred S. Richardson.

History

Emigrants from Kentucky and Tennessee settled near present-day Richardson in the 1840s. The town was named after the secretary of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, Alfred S. Richardson. Richardson was a "dry city" with no alcohol sales until November 2006, when the local option election passed to allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores. In the fall of 2008 Peter Perfect, a Style Network television show, came to Richardson. In 2014, Richardson was called the "5th-sized city in America" by national real estate website and blog, Movoto.com. In November 2016, The Dallas Morning News ranked the Breckinridge Park neighborhood as the best neighborhood in the city. In August 2016, Safeco Insurance Insurance listed Richardson as the 9th safest city midsized in the nation based on overall property crime rates. In 2008, Money magazine ranked Richardson the 18th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. In 2009, Business Week's annual report on the "Best Places to Raise Kids," ranked Richardson in 2nd place in Texas. The city of Buckingham, after being completely surrounded by Richardson, was annexed into the city in 1996. In 2002 Richardson had four Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail stations and had built the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations and the adjacent Galatyn Park urban center, which has a 2-acre public pedestrian plaza, a luxury hotel, and mixed-use development. Richardson had a population of 74,840 according to the 1990 census.

Geography

Richardson is located at 32°5756N 96°4257W. The city has a total area of 28.6 square miles (74.2 km²), of which 28.5 square miles is land and 0.08 square miles are water. The northern third of the city is in Collin County, the southern third is in Dallas County. Richardson has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. The Lake Highlands area of northeast Dallas borders Richardson to the south, Far North Dallas to the west, West Plano to the north, the city of Murphy to the northeast, Sachse to the east, and Garland to the southeast. The cities of Dallas, Plano and Garland constitute almost all of the Richardson border apart from the extreme northeastern "panhandle" of the Lake Highlands, which is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1.3 million in 2010. The population of Richardson in 2010 was 1.4 million. The United States Census Bureau estimated the city had a population of 1.5 million in 2011. The 2010 U.N. World Population Census estimated the population of the City of Richardson was 1,788,000. The City of Dallas is the second largest city in Texas, after Dallas, with 1.8 million people.

Demographics

Richardson is home to a large Vietnamese community. The DFW Chinatown is located in Richardson, in part because of the large Asian population. Dallas County has an estimated 275,000 Arab Americans, with many of them settling in Richardson. Richardson is one of the earliest settlements in the DFW area of Texas of Indian origin. The Indian community has been primarily driven by the international telecommunications industry that is so prevalent in the city. Richardson has a population of 106,123. As of the 2020 census, the racial and ethnic composition was the following: 50.46% non-Hispanic white, 10.56% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 17.09% Asian,0.05% Pacific Islander, 3.95% multiracial, and 17.18% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The median income for a family in Richardson was $72,427 and a median home price of $198,900. The majority of ethnic Chinese K12 students resided in Richardson in the mid-1980s. The University of Texas at Dallas in Plano has a program to recruit students of Chinese origin. In 2011, Richardson had almost 1,000 Chinese students, as well as almost 1.5,000 students of other ethnic backgrounds. The city's population is 67.0% White, 15.7% Asian and 8.7. African American. The racial makeup of the city was 67.5% white, 8.3% Asian. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.15.

Economy

From 2005 to 2009 Richardson had substantial increases in its economy. The city's total assessed property value went up from $8.3 billion in 2005 to $14 billion in 2017. The economy remains rooted in the telecommunication industry. The top employers in the city were: T-Mobile, Fossil Group, Lennox International, Vent-A-Hood, Wingstop Restaurants, id Software, VCE, BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, RealPage, Fujitsu Network Communications (U.S. Headquarters) and Samsung Mobile have their corporate headquarters in Richardson. In 2015, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) determined Richardson's daytime population to be 156,065 based on American Community Survey information. Richardson's property tax base is deep and extends beyond its telecommunication roots to include other sectors including insurance, health care, technology and finance. On March 1, 2014, the Richardson Fire Department officially received its Class 1 ISO rating. At the time, Richardson was one of only 56 municipalities in the country to achieve this highest rating, which tends to reduce property/casualty insurance premiums. The 10 leading taxpayers accounting for 16.17% of total assessed value. According to the Richardson Economic Development Partnership's listing on Major Employers (last updated May 2018), the top employers were: Samsung Mobile, T- mobile, FossIL Group, Vent -A- Hood, and VCE. Richardson is located on the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Arts and culture

The Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts is located in Richardson, Texas. It serves as the primary venue for the Richardson Symphony Orchestra and the Plano Symphony Orchestra. It is home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Philharmonic, and the Dallas Opera. It also hosts the Dallas Ballet, Dallas Opera, Dallas Symphony, and Dallas Symphony. It was built in the 1950s and opened in the 1960s. It has a capacity of 3,000. It opened its doors to the public in the 1970s and has since become a major concert venue. The center is owned by the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks' owner Tom Landry. It's also the home of the Texas Symphony, Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys' minor league baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and Texas Rangers' high school football team, Texas Stars and Texas Longhorns. It features a state-of-the-art music hall, which opened in 1978. It hosted the Texas State Symphony Orchestra in the 1980s and Texas State Opera in the 1990s. The Texas Symphony Orchestra is based in the Dallas suburb of Plano. It performs at the Texas Center for the Performing arts, which was founded in the 1940s and is located on the Dallas campus of Texas State University. It holds a string of major symphony orchestras, including the Dallas symphony orchestra, the Fort Worth symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Austin Symphony and the Texas City Symphony.

Government

Richardson is located in North Central Texas and was originally incorporated in 1925. The community is a home rule city and has operated under the councilmanager form of government since 1956. The City provides to its citizens a full range of services including police and fire protection, emergency ambulance service, water and sewer service, solid waste disposal, park and recreational activities, cultural events, and a library. In addition, the City provides planning for future land use, traffic control, building inspection, and community services and operates two 18-hole golf courses. It also operates the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations, which is a multi-venue performing arts and presentation center. It is a voluntary member of the North CentralTexas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) association, the purpose of which is to coordinate individual and collective local governments and facilitate regional solutions, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and enable joint decisions. The city manager is not appointed for a fixed time and may be removed at the will and pleasure of the majority of the City Council. The Council members representing the four districts (1 to 4) must live in each district respectively; however, the mayor and the remaining two districts (5 and 6) can live in any part of the city. All Council members and the mayor are elected at large, with four Council membersrepresenting each of theCity's four districts. The council is elected for two-year terms on a nonpartisan basis. It has a mayor and six Council members.

Education

The city is served by the Richardson Independent School District (RISD) within the Dallas County portion of the city and the Plano Independent School district within the Collin County portion. Four charter schools operate within the City of Richardson. The Richardson Public Library is located at 900 Civic Center Drive at the southwest corner of U.S. Route 75 and Arapaho Road. The University of Texas at Dallas, also referred to as UT Dallas or UTD, is a public research university. Dallas College (formerly Dallas County Community College District or DCCCD) serves areas in Dallas County. Richland College of Dallas College is in Dallas on the Richardson border, featuring nearly 20,000 students. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas operates two K8 schools, St. Joseph School and St. Paul the Apostle School in Richardson. Other private schools include Canyon Creek Christian Academy, North Dallas Adventist Academy (K12), IANT Quranic Academy, The Alexander School (812), Dallas North Montessori School (ages 39), and Salam Academy (K12). The city's public library was established in 1958 and moved into a newly constructed building at 310 Tyler Street in 1959. The City Council established the Richardson City Council library as a city department in 1958. The library was just 6,000 square feet (560 m2) in size at a cost of $2.2 million and was built at a time when the city's population was less than 1,000. The city is home to the Winthrop University of Dallas, which is located in the Dallas suburb of Dallas.

Transportation

Richardson and the region benefit from the location of two major highways in the city. The President George Bush Turnpike, running eastwest along the northern border of the city, provides a convenient connection to the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Richardson also benefits from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Light Rail line which parallels U.S. 75. In July 2015, Richardson was named a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. Richardson has a long-range plan to provide bicycle facilities and to designate preferred bicycle routes on lower-volume, lower-speed roadways. There are now more than 15 miles of bike lanes in Richardson. The southern Central Trail extension, opened in June 2014 and the northern extension opened in 2015. The new hike and bike trail segments mean that the central spine to Richardson's trail network will run from city limit to city limit, eventually connecting to trails throughout the region. In October 2016, DART approved the future construction of the Silver Line commuter rail with the adoption of its 20-Year Financial Plan. Service on the Cotton Belt is projected to commence in 2023, with Richardson stations located at The University of Texas at Dallas and CityLine. The Cotton Belt rail line will also connect to Trinity Metro's TEXRail line, which is being developed to connect downtown Fort Worth to the DFW Airport. The City has implemented three Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts. TIF District #1 was established in November 2006, encompassing both sides of the U.S. 75 corridor from Campbell Road south to Spring Valley Road, and then extending west along Spring Valley road to Coit Road.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Richardson, Collin County, Texas = 32.3. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 87. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 12. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Richardson = 5.7 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 119,469 individuals with a median age of 37.7 age the population grows by 13.97% in Richardson, Collin County, Texas population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 4,168.49 residents per square mile of area (1,609.66/km²). There are average 2.63 people per household in the 39,405 households with an average household income of $67,803 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is of the available work force and has dropped -1.43% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 29.94%. The number of physicians in Richardson per 100,000 population = 225.3.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Richardson = 38 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.2 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 73. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 230. 96 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 35 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 25, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Richardson, Collin County, Texas which are owned by the occupant = 62.40%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 30 years with median home cost = $182,160 and home appreciation of -1.45%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $17.84 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,715 per student. There are 15.1 students for each teacher in the school, 458 students for each Librarian and 331 students for each Counselor. 6.31% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 32.06% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 16.56% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).