Bold Taken to a New Level in Richardson

Click on the image for a pdf of the mailer

In a second bold shot that is sure to get the attention of my of the folks who live in Richardson, Amir Omar sends out a mailer aimed at becoming Richardson's first elected mayor while we have not heard from Laura Maczka since the DMN article where she appeared to be just sticking her toe in the water to check the temperature.

 

Richardson first direct election of mayor is probably going to be very exciting, lots of twists and turns, and drama. Drama is ok as far as I am concerned. The more vigorous the fights for mayor, the better the chances are that the resident of Richardson will be the ones to truly win.

For far too long the city council has seemed to vote in lock-step in Richardson. There is not much discussion about important topics that come before the council and even less disagreement when it comes time for them to vote up or down on something. It seems at time the council gives much more preference to all agreeing and little preference to be independent on thought and can easily make a person who watches think that all the important discussion is done far away from public view.

 

Only Amir and Laura have given any indication they have intention of running for mayor. There are many people who are lining up and supporting Laura for the mayor's position. They think that she would be the best person for the mayor's seat.

 

There are probably just as many people lining up and supporting Amir. So far, he has shown that he is playing for all the marbles. I don't look for his bold action to end anytime soon. Maybe Laura can play catch-up. Who know for sure?

 

About the only thing I feel fairly certain about is that either of the two would make for a good mayor in Richardson. Amir is so very different than what we are use to. He has lots of energy and seems to be everywhere doing everything. Most of what he does seems to be of benefit to the public. He can probably be considered an "outsider" to the inner working of the city. He is not a coalitionist.

 

Laura has a very hard task in front of her convincing people that she is not a coalitionist. To me, that is her biggest obstacle. She voted against charter review and direct election of the mayor back in January while Amir voted for both items. It might be worth it to take a look at the video and discussion of those two topics to her what all of the councilPERSONS (ya, I am making fun of someone, Scott) comments were and why they voted the way they did. The video is at http://richardsontx.swagit.com/play/02102012-528. If I remember correctly, she didn't want to rush the charter review and thought it was lower on her priority list. She also did not think there would be enough time for a chart review to get on the May 2013 ballot. Her vote that night against both the direct election of the mayor and against a charter review are probably votes that she would like to take back and vote the other way on given how the charter change election turned out. Voting against the will of the people, in what turned out to be 75% of the voters voting for direct election of the mayor, is probably a stomach churning experience.

The is another portion of the video of the charter review discussion where Laura absolutely shines. At about  23:55 into Part 2 of 2 she does show she is very intelligent and thoughtful about planning for the charter review. She doesn't take lightly her duty or the duty of the council when considering the charter review. It looks like if they vote for the charter review, she wants it done thoroughly and properly.  

So, it is going to be an uphill battle for both Amir and Laura in my view. I hope that Richardson is in for a good show and that the fight for mayor will end up benefiting all of those who live in Richardson.