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Arlington, Texas

Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. The city had a population of 394,266 in 2020, making it the second-largest city in the county after Fort Worth and the third-largest city in the metropolitan area, after Dallas and Fort Worth. Arlington is the 50th-most populous city in the United States, the seventh-most populous city in the state of Texas, and the largest city in the state that is not a county seat.

Arlington is home to the University of Texas at Arlington, a major urban research university, the Arlington Assembly plant used by General Motors, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV, Texas Health Resources, Mensa International, and D. R. Horton. Additionally, Arlington hosts the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field, the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, the Arlington Renegades at Choctaw Stadium, the Dallas Wings at College Park Center, the International Bowling Campus (which houses the United States Bowling Congress, International Bowling Museum and the International Bowling Hall of Fame), and the theme parks Six Flags Over Texas (the original Six Flags) and Hurricane Harbor.

History
European settlement in the Arlington area dates back at least to the 1840s. After the May 24, 1841 battle between Texas General Edward H. Tarrant and Native Americans of the Village Creek settlement, a trading post was established at Marrow Bone Spring in present-day Arlington (historical marker at 32.70227°N, -97.11287°W). The rich soil of the area attracted farmers, and several agriculture-related businesses were well established by the late nineteenth century.

Arlington was founded in 1876 along the Texas and Pacific Railway. Named after General Robert E. Lee's Arlington House in Arlington County, Virginia., Arlington grew as a cotton-ginning and farming center, and incorporated on April 21, 1884. The city could boast of water, electricity, natural gas, and telephone services by 1910, along with a public school system.

From 1892 until 1951, a mineral well drilled exactly in the middle of downtown Arlington, Texas, was a key reason to visit the town. The water was part of the city's brand, also serving as a meeting point for everything from prohibition to the right of women to vote. The well has been paved over.

In the 1920s and 1930s, life in Arlington was bustling with controversy and entertainment. In the early 1920s, a tea room known as "Top O' Hill Terrace" opened up along the now-defunct Bankhead Highway to serve dinner and tea to guests traveling through Dallas and Fort Worth. Ownership changed in the late 1920s and shortly thereafter the facilities were secretly converted into casinos and a speakeasy. Known by historians as "Vegas before Vegas", escape tunnels and secret rooms were constructed to hide the illegal gambling during police raids. However, the restaurant portion of the facility still existed as a legitimate business and a front.

By 1925 the city's population was estimated at 3,031—well under the population of Dallas and Fort Worth at the time. In 1929, a horse-racing track called Arlington Downs was constructed by W.T. Waggoner and Brian Nyantika close by to the speakeasy. Gambling was still illegal, but people were making bets regardless. Waggoner and his sons campaigned to make parimutuel betting legal, and in 1933 the state issued its first legal gambling permit to Arlington Downs. The track was immensely profitable at that point, making a daily average of $113,000 before inflation with a daily attendance average of 6,700 people. At the end of the 1937 season, the state legislature repealed their parimutuel gambling laws, and the Downs were sold to commercial developers.

In the 1940s, the Arlington Downs was used as a rodeo and event venue. Top O' Hill Terrace evaded the police until 1947, when famous Texas Ranger M. T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas caught the gambling operation in full-swing and had the place shut down. The 1940s brought World War II to the forefront of the United States, and many families from around Texas moved to Arlington to find jobs. Before World War II, the city's population had grown to over 4,000. The war kick-started a manufacturing revolution in Texas. Arlington was between the biggest aerospace engineering hubs in Texas at the time, Dallas and Fort Worth.

In 1956, the Top O' Hill Terrace property was purchased by the Bible Baptist Seminary and converted into what is now Arlington Baptist University. The underground tunnels and original structures are still standing. In 1958, the Arlington Downs was completely destroyed by commercial developers. All that is left is an original concrete water trough and a Texas historical landmark marker placed in 2016. Large-scale industrialization began in 1954 with the arrival of a General Motors assembly plant. Automotive and aerospace development gave the city one of the nation's greatest population growth rates between 1950 and 1990.

Arlington became one of the "boomburbs", the extremely fast-growing suburbs of the post-World War II era. U.S. Census Bureau population figures for the city date the population boom: 7,692 (1950), 90,229 (1970), 261,721 (1990), 365,438 (2010) and almost 374,000 by 2011. Tom Vandergriff served as mayor from 1951 to 1977 during this period of robust economic development. Six Flags Over Texas opened in Arlington in 1961. In 1972 the Washington Senators baseball team relocated to Arlington and began play as the Texas Rangers and in 2009 the Dallas Cowboys also began to play at the newly constructed Cowboys Stadium, now AT&T Stadium.

On January 13, 1996, a 9-year-old girl, Amber Hagerman, was abducted in Arlington and found murdered four days later. No one has been arrested or convicted for her murder as of 2024. The case led to the creation of the Amber Alert system.

In October 2019, Arlington was chosen out of several major U.S. cities to become the permanent home of the $150 million National Medal of Honor Museum. Construction of the museum is set to be completed in 2024.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Arlington has a total area of 99.7 sqmi; 96.5 sqmi was land, and 3.2 sqmi  is water. The city lies approximately 12 mi east of downtown Fort Worth and 20 mi west of downtown Dallas.

Johnson Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River, and the Trinity River itself, flow through Arlington. Arlington borders Kennedale, Grand Prairie, Mansfield and Fort Worth, and surrounds the smaller communities of Dalworthington Gardens and Pantego.

Climate
Arlington falls in the Cfa (humid subtropical) region of the Köppen climate classification system which is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters.
 * The highest recorded temperature was 113 °F in 1980.
 * The lowest recorded temperature was -8 °F in 1899.
 * The maximum average precipitation occurs in May.
 * Severe weather generally occurs April and May months.
 * Located in the famous Tornado Alley.
 * Winters are typically mild with snow seldom occurring (snowless years are not unusual).

2012 Tornado
During the April 3, 2012 tornado outbreak, a severe thunderstorm produced an EF2 tornado in Eastern Kennedale which moved North East across 287 near Stagetrail Drive and continued in a North North-Eastern direction. The tornado had a maximum path width of 150 yards estimated path length of 4.6 miles, and estimated maximum wind speeds of 135 mph.

The tornado caused damage to numerous businesses including the Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center which had a large portion of its roof torn off and sustained damage to exterior walls. Eighteen homes were destroyed, and 291 others were damaged as well. There were eight injuries which occurred due to this tornado, one of which was serious.

2020 census
At the 2020 United States census, there were 394,266 people, 135,240 households, and 93,164 families residing in the city. During the 2018 American Community Survey estimates, Arlington had a population of 392,462. At the census of 2010, there were 365,438 people, 133,072 households, and 90,099 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,811 /mi2. There were 144,805 housing units at an average density of 1,510 /mi2.

The 2011 estimated racial makeup of the city (based on the 2010 census) was 59% White, 18.8% Black or African American, 6.8% Asian, 0.7% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 11.3% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latinos of any race were 27.4% of the population. In 2018, the racial makeup of the city was 39.1% non-Hispanic White, 22% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 6.8% Asian American, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.3% from some other race, 2.3% from two or more races, and 29.2% Hispanic or Latino of any race. Approximately 20.8% of the population were foreign-born from 2014 to 2018. By 2020, 34.93% were non-Hispanic White, 22.38% Black or African American, 0.31% Native American, 7.63% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.43% some other race, 3.54% multiracial, and 30.68% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The demographic increase of people of color has contributed to decline among the once predominantly non-Hispanic White population state- and nationwide.

In 2010, there were 133,072 households, out of which 40% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 48% were married couples living together, 15% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32% were non-families. 25% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.7 and the average family size was 3.3. In the city, the 2010 population was spread out, with 31% under the age of 20, 8% from 20 to 24, 30% from 25 to 44, 23% from 45 to 64, and 8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 104 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94 males 18 and over.

The median income for a household in the city was estimated to be $50,655 in 2011. Individual males working full-time year-round had a median income of $41,059 versus $35,265 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,317. About 16% of Arlington families in general and 31% of female-headed families with no husband present were living below the poverty line; 20% of the Arlington population as a whole, including 28% of individuals under age 18 and 8% of those age 65 or over were living in poverty. Approximately 43% of Arlington renters and 28% of homeowners were paying 35% or more of their household income for housing costs in 2011.

Top employers
According to Arlington's 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), the top five employers, making up 13% of the total employment in the City, include:

Arts and entertainment
Arlington is home to Six Flags Over Texas, a nationwide theme park that includes many notable attractions. Six Flags also opened Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, a waterpark, after the previous location, Wet 'n Wild, was sold to them in the mid-1990s.

With the relocation of the U.S. Bowling Congress, and the Bowling Proprietors Association of America and the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame, Arlington became the world headquarters for bowling.

For retail shopping, Arlington is home to the Parks Mall at Arlington, which houses numerous stores, eateries, an ice skating rink, and a movie theatre. In addition, the Arlington Highlands was completed in mid-2007, serving as a shopping and entertainment hotspot. The Arlington Highlands is located on I-20 at Matlock Rd. The Lincoln Square located near the AT&T Stadium also houses several stores, restaurants, and a Studio Movie Grill.

Arlington is also home to Theatre Arlington, one of the largest community theatres in the nation, which produces quality live theatre year-round and offers theater classes for all ages. The Mainstage Theatre at UT Arlington is another well-known venue for live theatre in Arlington.

The Arlington Museum of Art in downtown and the Gallery at UT Arlington are the city's designated art venues. In 2016, the city's art museum hosted a public art project called "The Star of Texas" to promote their new slogan as the "American Dream City." Community artists were chosen to paint a large star sculpture with their interpretation of the city. Today, these stars can still be seen throughout the city – most notably in the downtown and entertainment districts. In the mid-2010's, art murals began to appear in downtown Arlington, giving the area an artistic atmosphere.

The Planetarium Dome Theater at UT Arlington is one of the largest in Texas.

Levitt Pavilion Arlington opened in 2009 and offers 50 free concerts per year in downtown Arlington featuring a diverse range of music genres. Notable performers have included Asleep at the Wheel, the Band of Heathens, the Killdares, Pentatonix, the Polyphonic Spree, the Quebe Sisters, and Ray Wylie Hubbard. The Texas Hall and AT&T Stadium are also destinations for live concerts in Arlington.

On July 4, the all-volunteer non-profit Arlington Fourth of July Parade Association puts on the annual parade through Downtown Arlington and UT Arlington's College Park District, featuring floats and entries from local schools, businesses, and organizations. The parade is broadcast on local radio stations as well as on the AISD TV station and website. The parade began in 1965 as decorated bicycles ridden through Randol Mill Park organized by citizen Dottie Lynn and Church Women United. It has grown to around 75,000 spectators a year enjoying the festivities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the parade was canceled for the first time in 55 years.

Texas Live! is a $250 million mixed-use district featuring dining, entertainment, and a 302-room hotel with a convention center. The 200,000-square-foot district is located immediately outside the new Globe Life Field. Texas Live! opened in August 2018.

Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau
The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau is the official tourism identity for the city of Arlington, Texas. The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) is tasked with pursuing conventions, meetings, tour groups, reunions, and individual leisure travelers to increase city revenues from sale and lodging taxes. The Arlington CVB also supports local stakeholders that pursue high-profile special events and sporting events to fill hotels, Arlington Convention Center, AT&T Stadium, College Park Center, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and other venues around the city.

Professional sports
Arlington has long been the home of the Texas Rangers baseball team, who made Arlington Stadium their first home upon moving to Dallas/Fort Worth from Washington, D.C., in 1972. In 1994, the Rangers built a new stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington (renamed Choctaw Stadium in 2021 ). The Rangers made trips to the 2010 World Series, 2011 World Series, and 2023 World Series, winning in 2023 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2016, residents voted to construct a new stadium and by 2017, construction began on the $1.1 billion Globe Life Field across the street from Choctaw Stadium. Globe Life Field serves as the new home of the Texas Rangers; however, the debut of the park was delayed by the postponement of the 2020 season. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Arlington became the first city since 1944 to hold every World Series game in a single venue at Globe Life Field. In October 2023, the Rangers defeated the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series, and won the 2023 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dallas Cowboys football team moved from Texas Stadium in Irving in 2009 to the $1.3 billion AT&T Stadium, which is within walking distance of the Rangers Ballpark. Completed in 2009, it has attracted high-profile sporting events to Arlington, including the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl XLV in 2011, the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball South Regional Championships, and the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Final Four; the stadium was also the site of the first College Football Championship Game in January 2015 (covering the 2014 season). The Dallas Cowboys rent AT&T Stadium from the City of Arlington for $167,500 per month over a thirty-year period, a sum far less than market value; in exchange, the Cowboys have complete control over the facility's calendar and the revenues collected therefrom, including naming rights, billboard advertising, concession sales and most of the surrounding parking.

The Dallas Wings became the first Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise in North Texas in 2015. They were known as the Tulsa Shock while based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but reinvented their brand after relocating to North Texas. The Wings play home games at the College Park Center in Arlington.

The Arlington Renegades is a UFL football team based in Arlington. The team was established in 2019 and played in the renovated Choctaw Stadium. The inaugural home opener drew 17,026 fans.

The North Texas SC of MLS Next Pro also calls Arlington and Choctaw Stadium home since May 2020.

AT&T Stadium will host the most matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

College sports
The UT Arlington Mavericks are the athletic teams representing The University of Texas at Arlington. The Mavericks compete in the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference in 15 varsity sports;

UTA was a founding member of the Southland Conference in 1963 and participated in the league until the end of the 2011–12 athletic year. They joined the Western Athletic Conference for one year before moving to the Sun Belt Conference for several years then moving back to the Western Athletic Conference in July 2022.

A new arena called the College Park Center is now the host facility for basketball and volleyball home games as well as other university activities. The arena opened February 1, 2012, and seats approximately 7,000 people. Baseball home games are held at the Clay Gould Ballpark and softball home games are at the Allan Saxe Field; both facilities completed $5.5 million in upgrade cost in early 2015.

The Mavericks' team name selection was made in 1971, predating the National Basketball Association's expansion franchise Dallas Mavericks' starting choice in 1980.

Arlington Baptist College also competes in a number of sports. They are known as the Patriots and is an active member in the National Christian College Athletic Association, Southwest Region, Division II, and is a member of the Association of Christian College Athletics. The sports Arlington Baptist competes in range from: basketball (men and women's), golf (men and women's), cross country (men and women's), Track & Field (men), volleyball (women), softball (women), and baseball (men).

Arlington athletes
Arlington is the home of several notable athletes. 1998 American League Rookie of the Year Ben Grieve graduated from Martin High School in 1994. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Vernon Wells grew up in Arlington and attended Bowie High School, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence attended Arlington High School and played collegiate baseball at The University of Texas at Arlington, and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher John Lackey also played for UTA. Lamar High School alumnus Jeremy Wariner won two gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the 2005 world championship in the 400 meters in Rome. UTA also produced Doug Russell, who won two gold medals in swimming at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 and for whom a park on campus is named. Champion bodybuilder (Mr. Olympia 1998–2005) Ronnie Coleman resides in Arlington. Houston Comets Guard Erin Grant grew up in Arlington and attended Mansfield high school. NFL wide receiver Mark Clayton, now with the St. Louis Rams, graduated from Sam Houston High School in 2000 and was part of the University of Oklahoma's 2001 national championship team. Jared Connaughton, sprinter for the 2008 Canada Olympic team, was a sprinter for the UT Arlington team. Myles Garrett, defensive end for the Cleveland Browns and 1st overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, graduated from Martin High School in 2014.

Local

The Arlington City Council has been presided over by Mayor Jim Ross since June 2021, following the 6-year incumbency of Mayor Jeff Williams. The Arlington City Council is composed of the Mayor and eight City Council members. Elections are conducted every May with runoffs in June, with an exception for a November and December election and runoff in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. City Officials are officially elected non-partisan, although many are affiliated with political parties outside of official capacity. The Mayor/Council Members are subject to a combined maximum of three 2-year terms.

City Council Members as of September 2022:
 * District 1: Helen Moise first elected May 2018; term ends May 2024
 * District 2: Raul H. Gonzalez first elected November 2020; term ends May 2024
 * District 3: Nikkie Hunter first elected June 2021; term ends May 2026
 * District 4: Andrew Piel first elected May 2019; term ends May 2026
 * District 5: Rebecca Boxall first elected May 2021; term ends May 2026
 * District 6: Long Pham (at-large) first elected June 2022; term ends May 2024
 * District 7: Dr. Bowie Hogg (at-large) first elected May 2022; term ends May 2024
 * District 8: Dr. Barbara Odom-Wesley (at-large) first elected May 2019; term ends May 2026

According to Arlington's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended in September 2022, the city's various funds had $731.306 million in revenues, $678.643 million in expenditures, $4.995 billion in total assets, $1.970 billion in total liabilities, and $528.568 million in cash in investments.

The Arlington Police Department had 871 employees and a budget of $118 million as of 2020.

Fire protection is provided by the Arlington Fire Department, and emergency medical services are provided by American Medical Response, which also provides medical support to AT&T Stadium.

The city of Arlington is a voluntary member of the North Central Texas Council of Governments association, the purpose of which is to coordinate individual and collective local governments and facilitate regional solutions, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and enable joint decisions.

State representation
Arlington is home to the following State House districts: the 92nd represented by Salman Bhojani (D), the 94th represented by Tony Tinderholt (R), the 95th represented by Nicole Collier (D), the 96th represented by David Cook (R), and the 101st represented by Chris Turner (D).

Arlington is also represented in the following State Senate districts: Kelly Hancock (R) of the 9th, Phil King (R) of the 10th, Brian Birdwell (R) of the 22nd, and Royce West (D) of the 23rd.

It is represented in the Texas State Board of Education by Patricia Hardy (R) and Aicha Davis (D) of the 11th and 13th districts.

Federal representation
Four US House of Representatives districts go through Arlington: Texas' 6th represented by Jake Ellzey (R), Texas’ 25th represented by Roger Williams (R), Texas’ 30th represented by Jasmine Crockett (D), and Texas' 33rd represented by Marc Veasey (D).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains the Arlington Ecological Services Field Office (ARLES) on Northeast Green Oaks Boulevard in far northeastern Arlington. While it is one of the oldest Ecological Services Field Stations in the United States, today its activities are focused primarily on the illegal trafficking of exotic species through Dallas/Fort-Worth International Airport. The office is not staffed or funded for nor active on the protection and enhancement of local urban-area endangered species habitat, nor on the enforcement of the related provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) operates the Arlington Main Post Office. Other post offices operated by the USPS include Bardin Road, East Arlington, Great Southwest, Oakwood, Pantego, and Watson Community.

The National Transportation Safety Board operates the Arlington Aviation field office in Arlington.

Colleges and universities
Arlington is home to several public and private colleges and universities.

Public institutions
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is one of the largest universities in North Texas. The university has over 40,000 students and is a valuable asset to the city of Arlington and its economy. Buildings within the academic core of the UT Arlington campus are among the oldest structures in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, including Preston Hall, Ransom Hall, College Hall, and the original Arlington High School.

The Southeast Campus of Tarrant County College is located in Arlington.

Private institutions
Arlington Baptist University (ABU) is a private 4-year Bible college affiliated with the World Baptist Fellowship that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. ABU traces its founding to J. Frank Norris, the controversial Independent Baptist minister.

Kaplan College, along with a branch of University of Phoenix is located in Arlington as well. The flagship campus of Ogle School (a cosmetology school) is located in Arlington.

Primary and secondary schools
Arlington's residents live in five independent school districts (or ISDs): Arlington ISD, Mansfield ISD, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, Kennedale ISD, and Fort Worth ISD. In Texas, school district boundaries do not always follow city and county boundaries because all aspects of school district government apparatus, including district boundaries, are separated from city and county governments. Not all city of Arlington residents are in the AISD, and not all AISD students are residents of Arlington.

There are currently ten AISD high schools.

Arlington has dozens of private and public charter schools not affiliated with any ISDs.

Transportation

On July 2, 1902, the first Dallas/Fort-Worth "Interurban" electric trolley came to Arlington; this popular service ran between those three cities and points in between until Christmas Eve, 1934, providing easy transportation for both business and pleasure. The track ran through Arlington along what is now Abram Street.

In the era of private operation of passenger trains prior to the Amtrak era, Texas and Pacific Railway trains such as the Texas Eagle and the Louisiana Eagle made stops in Arlington, on trips between Fort Worth and Dallas. Amtrak's Texas Eagle (Chicago-San Antonio) makes stops at Fort Worth Central Station 14 miles to the west and Dallas Union Station 18 miles to the east.

Arlington Municipal Airport (GKY) is located entirely within Arlington and is a public use airport owned by the City of Arlington. It serves as a reliever airport for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field. Several companies operate aircraft services on the airport property, including the Bell Helicopter division of Textron.

For many years, Arlington had the infamous distinction of being the largest city in the United States that was not served by a public transportation system. Between 1980 and 2013, voters rejected three separate ballot proposals to bring public transportation to the city, though certain political and economic realities particular to North Texas made successful passage of those measures arguably more difficult in Arlington than in other parts of the state or country. On August 19, 2013, the two-year pilot project known as the Metro Arlington Xpress (MAX) bus began offering weekday bus service between College Park Center (on the campus of The University of Texas at Arlington) and the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) CentrePort Station near DFW Airport, with a single stop near the Arlington Entertainment District. From the TRE station, riders could take the TRE to Fort Worth, Dallas and points in between, all of which are served by comprehensive public transit systems. On its first year, the MAX program logged 64,600 one-way rides and cost $1.4 million. The service was run through a tri-party agreement between the City of Arlington, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. City Council extended the MAX bus service beyond the original two-year pilot timeframe through annual contracts until December 31, 2017. The MAX was officially shut down on December 29, 2017, a few weeks after Via debuted in Arlington. The City of Arlington has a lower than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, just 4.7 percent of Arlington households lacked a car, which dropped to 3.7 percent in 2016. The national average is 8.7 percent in 2016. Arlington averaged 1.89 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.

In January 2017, Arlington was part of a Texas state-wide designation as an Automated Vehicle Proving Ground by the U.S. Department of Transportation. In August 2017, Arlington launched the first autonomous vehicle shuttle service in the United States offered by a municipal government to the general public on a continuous basis. Named Milo, the autonomous electric shuttles provide service during major events at Globe Life Park and AT&T Stadium, connecting remote parking areas to the stadiums. Arlington also offers Via Arlington, a public, on-demand, shared transportation service in partnership with the TransitTech company Via, which began in December 2017. Riders can request a pickup from a six-passenger van within a designated service area, which covers key destinations within Arlington as well as connecting to the Trinity Railway Express CentrePort Station. Beginning January 19, 2021, this service was expanded citywide. Arlington also partners with Via and autonomous vehicles provider May Mobility to operate Arlington RAPID, which provides on-demand autonomous vehicle rides in Downtown Arlington and on the University of Texas at Arlington's campus and is one of the first services of its kind in the United States.

Additionally, Arlington has four transit services targeting individual demographic groups: "Handitran" serves senior citizens and disabled people; Arlington hotels pay for a tourist-oriented shuttle-bus system for their guests; The University of Texas at Arlington runs a limited shuttle service for college students; and lastly Mission Arlington, an Arlington-run charity serving the severely indigent, has a bus service that circulates people needing social services or transportation to employment.

The city is served by two Interstate Highways, I-20, also known as Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway, and I-30, also named Tom Landry Memorial Highway. Other limited-access freeways include State Highway 360, which is named for the founder of Six Flags Over Texas, Angus G. Wynne, running along the eastern border, and U.S. Highway 287, which traverses the southwestern portion of the city. In most cases, the memorial names are not used in reference to these roadways. The city also has a tollway, The 360 Tollway, which connects Mansfield to Arlington and Grand Prairie. The tollway is also known as the Rosa Parks Memorial Parkway, named after the civil rights activist. Near US-287, where the tollway ends, the tollway is also named "Senator Chris Harris Memorial Highway" after the local legislator who aided the extension.

The Union Pacific Railroad now owns and operates the original Texas and Pacific (later Missouri Pacific) transcontinental right-of-way and rail route through Arlington (parallel to which the Interurban originally ran); it offers no passenger stops in Arlington, its Arlington freight service is primarily to the local General Motors assembly plant, and most of its lengthy and numerous freight trains are merely passing through town to and from points far away.

title: Arlington, Texas


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Direct democracy

Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies. The theory and practice of direct democracy and participation as its common characteristic was the core of work of many theorists, philosophers, politicians, and social critics, among whom the most important are Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and G.D.H. Cole.

Overview
In direct democracy, the people decide on policies without any intermediary or representative, whereas in a representative democracy people vote for representatives who then enact policy initiatives. Depending on the particular system in use, direct democracy might entail passing executive decisions, the use of sortition, making laws, directly electing or dismissing officials, and conducting trials. Two leading forms of direct democracy are participatory democracy and deliberative democracy. Semi-direct democracies, in which representatives administer day-to-day governance, but the citizens remain the sovereign, allow for three forms of popular action: referendum (plebiscite), initiative, and recall. The first two forms—referendums and initiatives—are examples of direct legislation. , thirty countries allowed for referendums initiated by the population on the national level.

A compulsory referendum subjects the legislation drafted by political elites to a binding popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation. A popular referendum empowers citizens to make a petition that calls existing legislation to a vote by the citizens. Institutions specify the timeframe for a valid petition and the number of signatures required and may require signatures from diverse communities to protect minority interests. This form of direct democracy effectively grants the voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature, as in Switzerland.

A citizen-initiated referendum, also called an initiative, empowers members of the general public to propose, by petition, specific statutory measures or constitutional reforms to the government and, as with other referendums, the vote may be binding or simply advisory. Initiatives may be direct or indirect: with the direct initiative, a successful proposition is placed directly on the ballot to be subject to vote (as exemplified by California's system). With an indirect initiative, a successful proposition is first presented to the legislature for their consideration; however, if no acceptable action is taken after a designated period of time, the proposition moves to direct popular vote. Constitutional amendments in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or Uruguay goes through such a form of indirect initiative.

A deliberative referendum is a referendum that increases public deliberation through purposeful institutional design. Power of recall gives the public the power to remove elected officials from office before the end of their designated standard term of office.

Mandatory referendums correspond to majority rule while optional referendums and popular initiatives correspond to consensus democracy (e.g. Switzerland).

Antiquity
One strand of thought sees direct democracy as common and widespread in pre-state societies.

The earliest well-documented direct democracy is said to be the Athenian democracy of the 5th century BC. The main bodies in the Athenian democracy were the assembly, composed of male citizens; the boulê, composed of 500 citizens; and the law courts, composed of a massive number of jurors chosen by lot, with no judges. Ancient Attica had only about 30,000 male citizens, but several thousand of them were politically active in each year and many of them quite regularly for years on end. The Athenian democracy was direct not only in the sense that the assembled people made decisions, but also in the sense that the people – through the assembly, boulê, and law courts – controlled the entire political process, and a large proportion of citizens were involved constantly in public affairs. Most modern democracies, being representative, not direct, do not resemble the Athenian system. Moreover, the Athenian democracy was exclusive. For example, in Athens in the middle of the 4th century there were about 100,000 citizens (Athenian citizenship was limited to men and women whose parents had also been Athenian citizens), about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners,” and 150,000 slaves. Out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos, meaning only about 40,000 people could participate in the democratic process.

Also relevant to the history of direct democracy is the history of Ancient Rome, specifically during the Roman Republic, traditionally founded around 509 BC. Rome displayed many aspects of democracy, both direct and indirect, from the era of Roman monarchy all the way to the collapse of the Roman Empire. While the Roman senate was the main body with historical longevity, lasting from the Roman kingdom until after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, it did not embody a purely democratic approach, being made up – during the late republic – of former elected officials, providing advice rather than creating law. The democratic aspect of the constitution resided in the Roman popular assemblies, where the people organized into centuriae or into tribes – depending on the assembly – and cast votes on various matters, including elections and laws, proposed before them by their elected magistrates. Some classicists have argued that the Roman republic deserves the label of "democracy", with universal suffrage for adult male citizens, popular sovereignty, and transparent deliberation of public affairs. Many historians mark the end of the Republic with the lex Titia, passed on 27 November 43 BC, which eliminated many oversight provisions.

Modern era
Modern-era citizen-lawmaking occurs in the cantons of Switzerland from the 13th century. In 1847 the Swiss added the "statute referendum" to their national constitution. They soon discovered that merely having the power to veto Parliament's laws was not enough. In 1891 they added the "constitutional amendment initiative". Swiss politics since 1891 have given the world a valuable experience-base with the national-level constitutional amendment initiative. In the past 120 years, more than 240 initiatives have been put to referendums. Most popular initiatives are discussed and approved by the Parliament before the referendum. Out of the remaining initiatives that go to the referendum, only about 10% are approved by voters; in addition, voters often opt for a version of the initiative rewritten by the government. (See "Direct democracy in Switzerland" below.)

Some of the issues surrounding the related notion of a direct democracy using the Internet and other communications technologies are dealt with in the article on e-democracy and below under the heading Electronic direct democracy. More concisely, the concept of open-source governance applies principles of the free software movement to the governance of people, allowing the entire populace to participate in government directly, as much or as little as they please.

Early Athens
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 600 BC. Athens was one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model, none were as powerful, stable, or well-documented as that of Athens. In the direct democracy of Athens, the citizens did not nominate representatives to vote on legislation and executive bills on their behalf (as in the United States) but instead voted as individuals. The public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire of the comic poets in the theatres.

Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508–507 BCE), and Ephialtes (462 BC) all contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. Historians differ on which of them was responsible for which institution, and which of them most represented a truly democratic movement. It is most usual to date Athenian democracy from Cleisthenes since Solon's constitution fell and was replaced by the tyranny of Peisistratus, whereas Ephialtes revised Cleisthenes' constitution relatively peacefully. Hipparchus, the brother of the tyrant Hippias, was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who were subsequently honored by the Athenians for their alleged restoration of Athenian freedom.

The greatest and longest-lasting democratic leader was Pericles; after his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by an oligarchic revolution towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. It was modified somewhat after it was restored under Eucleides; the most detailed accounts are of this 4th-century modification rather than of the Periclean system. It was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but the extent to which they were a real democracy is debatable.

Sociologist Max Weber believed that every mass democracy went in a Caesarist direction. Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed the term to stress, inter alia, the plebiscitary character of elections, disdain for parliament, the non-toleration of autonomous powers within the government and a failure to attract or suffer independent political minds."

Liechtenstein
Despite being a monarchy, direct democracy is considered to be an engrained element on Liechtensteiner politics.

Switzerland

The pure form of direct democracy exists only in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. The Swiss Confederation is a semi-direct democracy (representative democracy with strong instruments of direct democracy). The nature of direct democracy in Switzerland is fundamentally complemented by its federal governmental structures (in German also called the Subsidiaritätsprinzip).

Most western countries have representative systems. Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons, and federal state). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy. On any political level citizens can propose changes to the constitution (popular initiative) or ask for an optional referendum to be held on any law voted by the federal, cantonal parliament and/or municipal legislative body.

The list for mandatory or optional referendums on each political level are generally much longer in Switzerland than in any other country; for example, any amendment to the constitution must automatically be voted on by the Swiss electorate and cantons, on cantonal/communal levels often any financial decision of a certain substantial amount decreed by legislative and/or executive bodies as well.

Swiss citizens vote regularly on any kind of issue on every political level, such as financial approvals of a schoolhouse or the building of a new street, or the change of the policy regarding sexual work, or on constitutional changes, or on the foreign policy of Switzerland, four times a year. Between January 1995 and June 2005, Swiss citizens voted 31 times, on 103 federal questions besides many more cantonal and municipal questions. During the same period, French citizens participated in only two referendums.

In Switzerland, simple majorities are sufficient at the municipal and cantonal level, at the federal level double majorities are required on constitutional issues.

A double majority requires approval by a majority of individuals voting, and also by a majority of cantons. Thus, in Switzerland, a citizen-proposed amendment to the federal constitution (i.e. popular initiative) cannot be passed at the federal level if a majority of the people approve but a majority of the cantons disapprove. For referendums or propositions in general terms (like the principle of a general revision of the Constitution), a majority of those voting is sufficient (Swiss Constitution, 2005).

In 1890, when the provisions for Swiss national citizen lawmaking were being debated by civil society and government, the Swiss adopted the idea of double majorities from the United States Congress, in which House votes were to represent the people and Senate votes were to represent the states. According to its supporters, this "legitimacy-rich" approach to national citizen lawmaking has been very successful. Kris Kobach, former Kansas elected official, claims that Switzerland has had tandem successes both socially and economically which are matched by only a few other nations. Kobach states at the end of his book, "Too often, observers deem Switzerland an oddity among political systems. It is more appropriate to regard it as a pioneer." Finally, the Swiss political system, including its direct democratic devices in a multi-level governance context, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars of European Union integration.

United States
In the New England region of the United States, towns in states such as Vermont decide local affairs through the direct democratic process of the town meeting. This is the oldest form of direct democracy in the United States and predates the founding of the country by at least a century.

Direct democracy was not what the framers of the United States Constitution envisioned for the nation. They saw a danger in tyranny of the majority. As a result, they advocated a representative democracy in the form of a constitutional republic over a direct democracy. For example, James Madison, in Federalist No. 10, advocates a constitutional republic over direct democracy precisely to protect the individual from the will of the majority. He says,

"Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.

[...]

[A] pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

Other framers spoke against pure democracy. John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, said: "Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state – it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage." At the New York Ratifying Convention, Alexander Hamilton was quoted saying "that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is falser than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure, deformity."

Despite the framers' intentions at the beginning of the republic, ballot measures and their corresponding referendums have been widely used at the state and sub-state level. There is much state and federal case law, from the early 1900s to the 1990s, that protects the people's right to each of these direct democracy governance components (Magleby, 1984, and Zimmerman, 1999). The first United States Supreme Court ruling in favor of the citizen lawmaking was in Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company v. Oregon, 223 U.S. 118 in 1912 (Zimmerman, December 1999). President Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Charter of Democracy" speech to the Ohio Constitutional Convention (1912), stated: "I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative."

In various states, referendums through which the people rule include:
 * Referrals by the legislature to the people of "proposed constitutional amendments" (constitutionally used in 49 states, excepting only Delaware – Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
 * Referrals by the legislature to the people of "proposed statute laws" (constitutionally used in all 50 states – Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
 * Constitutional amendment initiative is a constitutionally defined petition process of "proposed constitutional law", which, if successful, results in its provisions being written directly into the state's constitution. Since constitutional law cannot be altered by state legislatures, this direct democracy component gives the people an automatic superiority and sovereignty, over representative government (Magelby, 1984). It is utilized at the state level in nineteen states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and South Dakota (Cronin, 1989). Among these states, there are three main types of the constitutional amendment initiative, with different degrees of involvement of the state legislature distinguishing between the types (Zimmerman, December 1999).
 * Statute law initiative is a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of "proposed statute law", which, if successful, results in law being written directly into the state's statutes. The statute initiative is used at the state level in twenty-one states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming (Cronin, 1989). In Utah, there is no constitutional provision for citizen lawmaking. All of Utah's I&R law is in the state statutes (Zimmerman, December 1999). In most states, there is no special protection for citizen-made statutes; the legislature can begin to amend them immediately.
 * Statute law referendum is a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of the "proposed veto of all or part of a legislature-made law", which, if successful, repeals the standing law. It is used at the state level in twenty-four states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming (Cronin, 1989).
 * The recall election is a citizen-initiated process which, if successful, removes an elected official from office and replaces him or her. The first recall device in the United States was adopted in Los Angeles in 1903. Typically, the process involves the collection of citizen petitions for the recall of an elected official; if a sufficient number of valid signatures are collected and verified, a recall election is triggered. There have been four gubernatorial recall elections in U.S. history (two of which resulted in the recall of the governor) and 38 recall elections for state legislators (55% of which succeeded). Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have a recall function for state officials. Additional states have recall functions for local jurisdictions. Some states require specific grounds for a recall petition campaign.
 * Statute law affirmation is available in Nevada. It allows the voters to collect signatures to place on the ballot a question asking the state citizens to affirm a standing state law. Should the law get affirmed by a majority of state citizens, the state legislature will be barred from ever amending the law, and it can be amended or repealed only if approved by a majority of state citizens in a direct vote.

Direct democracy by country
The strength of direct democracy in individual countries can be quantitatively compared by the Citizen-initiated component of direct popular vote index in V-Dem Democracy indices. A higher index indicates more direct democracy popular initiatives and referendums, shown below for individual countries. Only countries with index above 0 are shown.

Democratic reform trilemma
Democratic theorists have identified a trilemma due to the presence of three desirable characteristics of an ideal system of direct democracy, which are challenging to deliver all at once. These three characteristics are participation – widespread participation in the decision-making process by the people affected; deliberation – a rational discussion where all major points of view are weighted according to evidence; and equality – all members of the population on whose behalf decisions are taken have an equal chance of having their views taken into account. Empirical evidence from dozens of studies suggests deliberation leads to better decision making. The most popularly disputed form of direct popular participation is the referendum on constitutional matters.

For the system to respect the principle of political equality, either everyone needs to be involved or there needs to be a representative random sample of people chosen to take part in the discussion. In the definition used by scholars such as James Fishkin, deliberative democracy is a form of direct democracy which satisfies the requirement for deliberation and equality but does not make provision to involve everyone who wants to be included in the discussion. Participatory democracy, by Fishkin's definition, allows inclusive participation and deliberation, but at a cost of sacrificing equality, because if widespread participation is allowed, sufficient resources rarely will be available to compensate people who sacrifice their time to participate in the deliberation. Therefore, participants tend to be those with a strong interest in the issue to be decided and often will not therefore be representative of the overall population. Fishkin instead argues that random sampling should be used to select a small, but still representative, number of people from the general public.

Fishkin concedes it is possible to imagine a system that transcends the trilemma, but it would require very radical reforms if such a system were to be integrated into mainstream politics.

In schools
Democratic schools modeled on Summerhill School resolve conflicts and make school policy decisions through full school meetings in which the votes of students and staff are weighted equally.

Criticism
The core criticism of direct democracy coincides with democracy's overall criticism. Critics have historically expressed doubts of the populace's capacity of participation, deeming its advocates utopian. Despite this, instances of direct democracy - such as the Petrograd Soviet - lack documented incidents involving participation deficits or mobocracy.

From the liberal democratic standpoint, restraining popular influence stonewalls the state of nature, protecting property rights. Adversaries of greater democratization cast doubt on human nature, painting a narrative of misinformation and impulsivity. MAREZ, utilizing sortition, had managed itself successfully prior to being overrun by drug cartels, as did FEJUVE remaining tranquil with self-managed organizations.

Although Revolutionary Catalonia had demonstrated the feasibility of non-liberal democracy, critics have continued to deride its presumed mobocratic nature, although there are no recorded instances of tyranny of the majority. It is of note that direct democracy's critics have emerged from Hobbesian and liberal philosophy.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Direct democracy


text:
Honorius

Honorius may refer to:

People

 * Honorius (emperor) (Flavius Honorius Augustus, 384–423), western Roman emperor 395–423
 * Honorius of Canterbury (Saint Honorius, died 653), archbishop of Canterbury 627–653
 * Honoratus of Amiens (Saint Honorius of Amiens), bishop of Amiens
 * Pope Honorius I (died 638), Pope 625–638
 * Pope Honorius II (died 1130), Pope 1124–1130
 * Pope Honorius III (1150–1227), Pope 1216–1227
 * Pope Honorius IV (1210–1287), Pope 1285–1287
 * Antipope Honorius II (died 1072), 1061–1064
 * Honorius of Thebes, dates unknown
 * Honorius Augustodunensis (Honorius of Autun, 1080–1151), Christian theologian, 12th century
 * Honorius of Kent, died after 1210, Archdeacon of Richmond and canonist

Other uses

 * Honorius (plant), a genus of plants
 * Honorius, a character in the Bartimaeus Trilogy

title: Honorius


text:
Trading Spaces

Trading Spaces is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series Changing Rooms. The first iteration ran for eight seasons. A revival began airing on April 7, 2018, with several team members of the original run returning.

Premise
In each episode, two sets of neighbors redecorated one room in each other's home. Each two-person team had two (later, three) days, a budget of US$1,000, (later $2,000) and the services of a designer. Both teams in early seasons shared one carpenter, while later on, each team had a carpenter. Although the producers generally allowed the teams to go over budget slightly, there was one instance when a designer went $150 over budget and the producers forced her to return a rug she bought for the project.

The teams have no say over what happens in their own homes, but they are able to give input into what happens in the home they are redecorating. The teams are not allowed to enter their own home for the duration of the show, and the transformed rooms are revealed only at the end of the final day.

Ty Pennington, one of the show's original carpenters, later hosted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC.

Production and changes
The first season featured original host Alex McLeod and some designers who never returned to the show, such as Dez Ryan and Roderick Shade, and was produced by Knoxville, Tennessee–based RVIR Media. After the first 40 episodes, McLeod left to pursue other television opportunities. Beginning with the second season in 2001, Paige Davis took over as host, with the new production company Banyan Productions of Philadelphia. Early-season episodes were traditionally videotaped in and around the production company's home base, as can be seen in those episode's titles (where the city or state and the street are listed).

Beginning in the show's fifth season, homeowners chose up to three rooms for their neighbors to re-decorate, and the rooms were selected randomly, with some rooms having increased budgets of $2000 or $3000. Midway through this season, Davis was dismissed, and the show went to a hostless format for several seasons and episodes often featured two carpenters. This change allowed the two homes to be farther apart, with the most extreme case featuring homes in New York and Oklahoma in the same episode.

On November 13, 2007, it was announced that Davis would be returning as the host of Trading Spaces beginning in January 2008. The first episode with Davis as host aired on January 26, 2008. The show also changed production companies, from Banyan Productions to A. Smith & Co. Productions. On February 6, 2009, Davis announced that Trading Spaces was not picked up for a ninth season.

On March 28, 2017, TLC announced that it had ordered an eight-episode revival of Trading Spaces from Endemol Shine North America's Authentic Entertainment. Host Paige Davis returned, joined by a number of cast members from the original era of the series, as well as new carpenters Brett Tutor and Joanie Dodd (billed as Joanie Sprague), new designers John Gidding, Kahi Lee, Sabrina Soto, and one-off crossovers from Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent (fellow TLC series Nate & Jeremiah by Design) and Clinton Kelly (former fellow TLC series What Not to Wear). A reunion special hosted by Lisa Joyner was also planned to accompany the April 7, 2018 premiere, featuring appearances by other former cast members. The format remains relatively unchanged from the previous seasons, although the spending budget was increased to $2,000. There is also brand integration with the online retailers Overstock.com and Wayfair; one of the retailers provides a "pop-up store" with home décor products during each episode, where a homeowner may pick an item for incorporation into their respective room.

The two-hour premiere (which included part one of the reunion special and the season premiere episode) was seen by 2.8 million viewers, making it TLC's highest-rated Saturday primetime program since 2010. On May 30, 2018, TLC renewed Trading Spaces for a tenth season, with a premiere date set for March 16, 2019, and twelve episodes produced. On November 10, 2019, host Paige Davis stated that there were not currently plans for an eleventh season.

Cast
The show featured different participants each episode. The designers and carpenters alternate for each show.

Hosts

 * Alex McLeod (2000–2001)
 * Paige Davis (2001–2008)

Designers

 * Goil Amornvivat (2007–2008; from Bravo's Top Design)
 * Frank Bielec (2000–2008)
 * Nancy Hadley (2008)
 * Laurie Hickson-Smith (2000–2008)
 * Gordon Holmes (2008)
 * Lauren Makk (2007–2008)
 * Hildi Santo-Tomas (2000–2008)
 * Edward Walker (2002–2008), originally a fabric coordinator for the show
 * Doug Wilson (2000–2008)
 * Laura Day (2004, 2007)
 * Mario DeArmas (2007)
 * Nadia Geller (2007; one episode)
 * Genevieve Gorder (2000–2003, 2005–2007)
 * Jon Laymon (2005–2007; winner of Pick the Next Designer competition)
 * Christi Proctor (2003–2007)
 * Rick Rifle (2003–2004)
 * Dez Ryan (2000–2001)
 * Leslie Segrete (2005–2007)
 * Roderick Shade (2000; one episode)
 * Kia Steave-Dickerson (2002–2004, 2007)
 * Barry Wood (2004–2007)
 * Vern Yip (2001–2003, 2007)
 * Anna Ryder Richardson (one episode; from Changing Rooms; rebroadcast as "British Invasion" on The Best Of Trading Spaces episode 17, January 18, 2011)

Carpenters

 * Patty Benson (2007)
 * Jason Cameron (from While You Were Out)
 * Andrew Dan-Jumbo (one episode in 2007; from While You Were Out)
 * Amy Devers (2008)
 * Faber Dewar (2004–2008)
 * Andy Kane (2002–2003, 2007; a.k.a. Handy Andy of Changing Rooms)
 * Jimmy Little (several episodes in a row after Town Haul ended)
 * Thad Mills (2007–2008)
 * Carter Oosterhouse (2003–2007)
 * Amy Wynn Pastor (2000–2007)
 * Ty Pennington (2000–2003, 2007)
 * Brandon Russell (2007–2008)
 * Leslie Segrete (2005–2007; from While You Were Out)

Host

 * Paige Davis

Returning designers

 * Frank Bielec
 * Genevieve Gorder
 * Hildi Santo-Tomas
 * Laurie Smith
 * Doug Wilson
 * Vern Yip

New designers

 * John Gidding (2018-)
 * Kahi Lee (2018-)
 * Sabrina Soto (2018-)
 * Mikel Welch (2019)

Returning carpenters

 * Carter Oosterhouse
 * Ty Pennington

As of S9E2, "The Carpenters Strike Back", both are now primarily designers on the show.

New carpenters

 * Joanie Sprague
 * Brett Tutor

Guest designers

 * Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent (S9E4, "A Surprise In The Truck")
 * Clinton Kelly (S9E5, "Stripes & A Stripper Pole")

Timeline
Notes: 1) Roderick Shade appears in one episode and is not on the designer chart list. 2) Ty Pennington and Carter Oosterhouse transitioned from carpenters to designers in Season 9.

Trading Spaces: Family
The first spin-off, entitled Trading Spaces: Family, also aired on TLC (2003–2005). It allowed larger teams of three or four, including children considered too young to participate in the original Trading Spaces program. The same designers and carpenters (one per episode, shared by the two teams) worked with host Joe Farrell.

Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls
Another spin-off, Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls aired as a part of Discovery Kids along with airing on the network's Saturday morning block on NBC). Unlike the original, this version used the same two designers and two carpenters for each episode.  In addition, there is no budget limit, and the rooms are rebuilt into theme rooms, making the show look more like Monster House.  Reruns aired on The Hub until June 2011.

Trading Spaces: Home Free
A spun off series produced for TLC in 2004. In this spin-off the winning couple received their home mortgage-free.

Trading Spaces: 100 Grand
This was a special episode where the budget was increased to $50,000 per team (while keeping the standard time limit). Designer Doug Wilson and carpenter Amy Wynn Pastor completely remodeled and equipped a kitchen, while designer Laurie Smith and carpenter Ty Pennington completely remodeled and furnished a living room. Approximately two minutes of footage from this episode is included in the Trading Spaces: We're Back online series.

The Best Of Trading Spaces
In January 2011, TLC's sister channel OWN debuted The Best Of Trading Spaces, which revisits some of the traded spaces from the series. Paige Davis hosts the new segments, including interviews with the people who traded spaces in each episode and what has been changed in the spaces since the original episode aired.

Training Spaces
Initially commissioned as part of the series relaunch, Training Spaces is a "GO ORIGINAL" online series, available through TLC on demand, the TLC website, and the TLCgo app which serves as a bootcamp for carpenters and designers, hosted by Paige Davis.

Season 1 (April 7, 2018): The theme of Season 1 is "3 new designers, 2 new carpenters, 1 epic bootcamp". Episode 1 features Tutor and Sprague being mentored by Pennington and Oosterhouse, while Episodes 2-6 feature Soto, Gidding and Lee being mentored by one of the veteran designers in each episode (Yip, Wilson, Santo-Tomás, Smith, Gorder).

Season 2 (March 11, 2019): The theme of Season 2 is "6 contestants, 1 winner", as six designers compete to be a design assistant for veteran designer Frank Bielec in the upcoming season of Trading Spaces. In six of the seven episodes, one of the other veteran designers (Pennington, Smith, Oosterhouse, Wilson, Soto, Santo-Tomás) joins Bielec in challenging the contestants.

Trading Spaces: We're Back
Also as part of the relaunch, TLC commissioned this online series of nine mini episodes featuring Davis and most of the returning series veterans reflecting on some of the best, worst and most memorable moments from the original run.

title: Trading Spaces


text:
Talk:Direct democracy

Boy, is this poorly written.
Poorly written. 84.229.133.113 (talk) 12:07, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

 * You are welcome to seriously improve it! -- ZH8000 (talk) 15:55, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

 * It is poorly written. For instance, the author waves general nouns such as, say, Anarchists, as if everyone knows what they mean exactly, and even more malicious, as if all anarchists believe one and the same thing uniformly, as if they were all robots. To make things even worse,the author then lists several of those general nouns, all of them extremely left oriented, or even with terrorist tendencies, that support direct democracy. As if only radicals support direct democracy. It's pure propaganda, the author of those passages does not bother to explain anything in any detail, nor to provide a counterexample: they just keep pushing in their own malicious direction. Also, the use of general nouns is hurtful, since it's political new-talk and does not provide any information at all, because general nouns do not refer to anything specific and real. That's why they're general. Such as, again, say, anarchists. If the author mentions anarchism as a philosophical concept with very well known literary representatives, why don't they say so then? Even then putting everything into a subject of few select anarchist books is extremely malicious. Improve it? Yes, delete those general propaganda, there's no other way to improve it. -- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.136.196.250 (talk) 11:00, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

 * That's the least of the problem. It is a lie too, but if we change it the anarchists will just change it back and Wiki likes tha. 2600:4040:7EDC:6400:1593:A59A:2D24:14DF (talk) 18:10, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Svody. Peer reviewers: Octopus's garden.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 19:33, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Civic Education
Definition of direct democracy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 105.112.164.81 (talk) 21:12, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Rojava
Hello. I find it difficult to understand the presence of the "Rojava" section in this article, because I do not see the link with the general theme of direct democracy. Kimdome (talk) 11:39, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Sortition?
"'Fishkin instead argues that random sampling should be used to select a small, but still representative, number of people from the general public.[9][37]'"

Is the above referring to [sortition] or something similar? Should a link or discussion of sortition be added here? Phytographer (talk) 16:47, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

 * Yes, a link to sortition should be added. HudecEmil (talk) 20:11, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Yeah yeah 171.76.87.217 (talk) 14:13, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Sussy Bakka 171.76.87.217 (talk) 14:13, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

Essence of direct democracy
The essence of this topic is as follows

To let the people determine their laws. 196.188.35.22 (talk) 17:06, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Direct democracy


text:
Auparu

In Cook Islands mythology, Auparu ("gentle dew") is a stream in Rarotonga, the bathing-place of nymphs or fairies.

title: Auparu


text:
Auraka

Auraka is a locality in the Keia district, on the western side of the island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands. The Keia district contains at least two ancient burial caves, Kauvava and Piri Te Umeume, which were accessed by diagonal descents through boulder-strewn roof collapses from the top of the makatea, the limestone cliffs that form a concentric ring around the central basalt core of the island (Anton and Steadman 2003:133, 136). Gill, an early source for the mythology of Mangaia, noted a cave in Keia named Auraka, with one of its two entrances named Kauvava (1876a:71–79). However, according to Anton and Steadman (page 136), Gill's "description of the physical features of this cave does not match that of the cave currently known as Kauvava". Gill describes Auraka as a cave which is the 'last resting-place of the dead' (Gill 1876b:202, 243).

Claims of mythological associations
In a few sources on the Internet, Auraka is erroneously described as a Polynesian god of death; these sources also claim that Auraka translates as 'all-devouring'. However, the word 'auraka' in Cook Islands Māori is a prohibitive adverb, with the approximate meaning 'do not'; it does not mean 'all-devouring'. The idea that Auraka is an all-devouring god of death appears to be a false assumption deriving from a misreading of Gill, where 'all-devouring' is his translation of the word 'maumau' in a line from a Mangaian song of mourning. The line that Gill translates as "From all-devouring Auraka" is O Rākā maumau e! (1846b:243). Gill comments on the same page that this is a reference to "Auraka, the last resting-place of the dead", and he makes no suggestion that Auraka is a god of death rather than a burial cave. 'All-devouring' is certainly possible as a poetic translation of 'maumau', the basic sense of which is 'to be wasteful'; in the song, it is clear that 'maumau' (and therefore 'all-devouring') is a poetic description, rather than a translation of the name.

title: Auraka


text:
Hine

Hine is a surname deriving from Middle English.

Etymology
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, the modern name Hine and its variants derive from the Middle English word hine (with the addition of the genitive -s case ending in forms like Hines, implying that the name-bearer was the child of a father called Hine, or addition of -s on the analogy of such names). This occupational name derives from Old English hīne ('household servant, farm labourer'), but in the Middle English period could also mean 'farm manager' and also be used of high-status people serving in a lordly household.

Distribution
Around 2011, there were 2899 bearers of the surname Hine in Great Britain and 21 in Ireland. In 1881, there were 2301 bearers of the name in Great Britain, concentrated in Devon.

People
Hine may refer to :

 * Charles DeLano Hine (1867–1927), American civil engineer
 * Deirdre Hine (born 1937), Welsh medical doctor
 * Edward Hine (1825–1891), proponent of British Israelism in the 19th century
 * George Thomas Hine, son of Thomas Chambers Hine, architect
 * Lewis Hine (1874–1940), American sociologist
 * Nicholas Hine, a character in the Sharpe novels of Bernard Cornwell
 * Nick Hine (born 1966), British Royal Navy officer
 * Milton B. Hine (1828–1881), American politician
 * Reginald Hine (1883–1949), solicitor and historian
 * Robert V. Hine (1921–2015), American historian
 * Sonny Hine (1931–2000), American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer
 * Thomas Hine & Co., a manufacturer of cognac
 * Thomas Chambers Hine (1813-1899), architect

title: Hine


text:
Hine-nui-te-pō

Hine-nui-te-pō ("Great woman of night") in Māori legends, is a goddess of night and she receives the spirits of humans when they die. She is the daughter of Tāne Mahuta / Tāne Tuturi and Hine-ahuone. It is believed among Māori that the colour red in the sky comes from her. Hine-nui-te-pō shepherds the wairua/souls into the first level of Rarohenga to ready them for the next stage of their journey. Before she was Hine-nui-te-po her name was Hine-ti-tama. Her father Tane Mahuta took her virginity; she then felt ashamed, hiding herself in internal darkness to hide from her father and became Hine-nui-te-po, goddess of the night.

Background
Hine-nui-te-pō, also known as the "Great Woman of Night" is a giant goddess of death and the underworld. Her father is Tāne, the god of forests and land mammals. Her mother Hine-ahu-one is a human, made from earth. Hine-nui-te-pō is the second child of Tāne and Hine-ahu-one. Her birth name, Tikikapakapa, was changed shortly thereafter to Hine-au-tauria.

Hine-au-tauria marries her father Tāne and bears his children. She realizes he is her father, becomes ashamed, and goes down to the underground world, known as Pō ("darkness"). There, she becomes Hine-nui-te-pō, acquiring men's souls while her father Tāne tries to lead them to light.

Māui's encounter with Hine-nui-te-pō
The great hero Māui is tricked by his father into thinking he has a chance to achieve immortality. In order to obtain this, Māui is told to enter into the goddess through her vagina. While Hine-nui-te-pō is asleep, Māui undresses himself ready to enter himself into the goddess. One of his bird friends, the fantail, warned Hine-nui-te-po of the situation and woke her. As Māui turned into a worm squirming to enter the goddess, Hine-nui-te-po decided to punish him, and crushed him with the obsidian teeth in her vagina; Māui was the first man to die.

title: Hine-nui-te-pō


text:
Kanaloa

In the traditions of ancient Hawaii, Kanaloa is a god symbolized by the squid or by the octopus, and is typically associated with Kāne. It is also an alternative name for the island of Kahoolawe.

In legends and chants, Kāne and Kanaloa are portrayed as complementary powers. For example, whereas Kāne was called during the canoe building, Kanaloa was called while the canoe was being sailed. Likewise, Kāne governed the northern edge of the ecliptic while Kanaloa governed its southern edge, Kanaloa is "the subconscious to Kāne's conscious". In this way, they represent a divine duality of wild and taming forces similar to (by Georges Dumézil, et al.) in Indo-European chief god-pairs like Odin–Týr and Mitra–Varuna, or the more widely known yin and yang of Taoism. Kanaloa is also traditionally depicted as an ocean god, hence his association with seamanship, or cephalopods. However, there are also interpretations that see Kanaloa as subordinate to Kāne.

Kanaloa is also considered to be the god of the Underworld and a teacher of magic. Legends state that he became the leader of the first group of spirits "spit out" by the gods. In time, he led them in a rebellion in which the spirits were defeated by the gods and as punishment were thrown in the Underworld. In traditional, pre-contact Hawaii, it was Milu who was the god of the Underworld and death, not Kanaloa; the related Miru traditions of other Polynesian cultures support this.

The Eye of Kanaloa is an esoteric symbol associated with the god in New Age Huna teaching, consisting of a seven-pointed star surrounded by concentric circles that are regularly divided by eight lines radiating from the inner-most circle to the outer-most circle. Huna, as a New Age religion developed in the 20th century by a Caucasian-American founder, bears no relation to the Native Hawaiian Religion. Native Hawaiians reject "Huna" as a mishmash of Hawaiian elements with European religious metaphysical ideas.

As a namesake
After Kanaloa, one prince was named — he was a son of the Chief Kanipahu and one of his consorts, either Hualani or Alaʻikauakoko.

title: Kanaloa


text:
Limu (Tongan mythology)

In the Polynesian mythology of Tonga, Limu is the primeval Tongan god of creation, whose union with the goddess Kele produced the goddess Touiafutuna, from whom all creation descends.

title: Limu (Tongan mythology)