When Seconds Count, the Police are only Minutes Away

 

The other day the Journal-News (in New York, of course) decided to publish the names and addresses of local guns owners in Westchester and Rockland Counties and created an interactive map. Talk about possible bone-headed ideas and of bone-headed things to do, well, this seems to be it.

First, it lets those criminals who want to play it safe and burglarize home where there are likely to be no weapons and in some other cases where it will probably tell the criminals which homes to target because they know there will be guns at that home. Not a very bright idea.

Unexpected (for me) White Christmas

Amir Omar for Richardson Mayor Youth Video Contest

The first out of the chute for the first mayoral campaign in over 50 years was Laura Maczka, where she seemed to be testing the waters with her toes in a tentative announcement that she was considering running for mayor.  Then Amir Omar rattled a few trees  (or cages) with his news release announcing he was running for mayor. Laura had little choice at that point. If she wanted to be a contender she had to announce that she was officially jumping into the race , with both feet into the mayor’s race. Somewhere in between, Amir stepped it up again with another mailer laying out part of his case  as a hands-on leader. Then a Christmas card mailer   came from Amir the day before yesterday and a Happy Holidays email  from Laura yesterday.

Then, last night, came another Merry Christmas email from Amir that once again seems to have taken things to a new level in Richardson politics.

Happy Holidays from Laura to the Citizens of Richardson as Well

click on image to enlarge

Hitting the inbox this afternoon was an email from Laura Maczka wishing Happy Holidays to all, and a little bit more in the form of an update on some campaign for mayor stuff. It appears she started her campaign with 15 former elected leaders, has added some neighborhood leaders over the past few weeks and now has a total of 676 endorsements from some real folks right here is Richardson. Not too shabby!  It's going to be a great race.



A copy of her email is here: http://graphics.dc-tm.com/Laura-HappyHolidays.pdf

A Christmas Card and a More Comprehensive Mailer From Amir Omar

It is Christmas time again. Once again I have neglected to send out Christmas cards. But there is someone in town that did manage to find the time to send them out, Amir Omar.

 

Click on image to enlarge

In addition to the Christmas card he has sent a mailer this week out to make his case for why he should be elected mayor. http://graphics.dc-tm.com/AmirForMayor.pdf

 

Laura Gets Another Vote for Mayor

This morning at work I looked out the window at a person walking up the sidewalk and thought to myself “That looks like Laura Maczka”. After another few steps I thought, "By golly, that is Laura Maczka”. Who would have though and what are the chances?

It seems she had a little car problem that was easily resolved. Afterwards, we sat down inside the office and started yacking it up, some politics, but mostly just general stuff. I haven’t talked to her all that much over the last few years, and none before that. We had a good conversation.

 

The Tide Will Turn One Day

The item on the left is from today's DMN editorial page. Click on it to enlarge.

The tide will probably be turning when more citizens get involved and realize some of the things going on. This issue is just one of many.

http://letterstotheeditorblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/inspection-seems-unnecessary.html/

Bad Day in Court for David Morgan and the City of Richardson Staff

 

It was a bad day to be an upper city staff member of the City of Richardson today as they have been accused of effectively calling and holding an illegal election. There was lots of explaining to do to a judge hearing the case about Richardson’s City Charter election a few years ago.

Even more years ago, William Gordon filed suit against the city after city officials told him that if he didn’t like the fact that the city council violated the City Charter by hold secret conclave when it was not allowed, then just go ahead sue them about it. So, he did.

Richardson Has a Solution in Search of a Problem

During 2012, so far, out of 644 rental home inspections, only 1 rental home has failed the inspection. That represents a solution Richardson leadership has developed in search of a problem. With inspection fees of $75 a year and re-inspection fees even high, it seems to represent more of a “money grab” for the City of Richardson than an effort to insure rental homes are safe.

Richardson instituted a rental home inspection program a while back. Most people don’t know about it because it has no effect on them, yet. But things will probably change in the near future. One tenant of Richardson sees the actions of Richardson government rather heavy handed: “The heavy-handedness of a local government having this kind of power and response is unconscionable,” Peter Balbus said.

There is a story about this in the DMN today at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/lake-highlands-richardson/headlines/20121211-landlord-and-tenant-fight-richardsons-rental-registration-rules.ece

William Gordon the Poet and Author

I was wondering what William Gordon has been up to lately, and I found out. It appears he just published a book by the name of 293!  And oh, by the way, he has a poem or two in the collection that appear to be about the election last year I have been told. One of the poems in the book, titled "Yesterday's Applause," I was told he wrote in between questions while on stage at the Civic Center during the League of Women Voter's candidate forum. I can't wait to read that one. Here is the link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/293-H-William-Gordon/dp/061569103X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355264451&sr=1-1&keywords=william+gordon+293

Guess he is a poet and I didn’t know it.

 

Missed Opportunity to Offset Park Costs

At last night’s council meeting my focus was on the golf contract. The council with very little discussion, except for Amir Omar, gave authorization for the city manager to contract with RGI for the next 3-9 years. So for the most part, the city council gave the rubber stamp of approval to go forward.

But, there was another part of the meeting that was even more interesting than the golf course contract. The new park in Richardson Height had the opportunity to offset some of the cost with a donation for naming rights. It seems none of the council had any interest in soliciting donations to offset the expenses, with the exception once again of Amir Omar.

Ronnie Glanton Inc. Proposed 2012 Contract

It is that time. Time for a contract redo. The last time the golf pro contract was redo appears to have been back in May of 1999. Here is the proposed contract up for discussions tonight: http://graphics.dc-tm.com/RGI-Contract-2012.pdf

Much has change since then, but some things have stayed the same. More people know about how lucrative that old contract was for Glanton Inc. and more people have been expressing a few thoughts about how they perceive that RGI got the gold mine while the citizens of Richardson got the shaft.

First snow of Winter '12

 

 

Winter comes early this year. Snow and 28 degrees outside and 55 degrees in the house this morning. Where is the global warming? We need some of it today.

Who Is Anti-UN Agenda 21 and the ICLEU

 

Is it only nut-jobs and conspiracy theorists against UN Agenda 21 and the ICLEI? Apparently not. Even some democrats seem to have banded together to put a stop to it. Here is part of what Democrats Against UN Agenda 21 have to say about it.

From http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/index.html

“… Considering its policies are woven into all the General Plans of the cities and counties, it’s important for people to know where these policies are coming from.  While many people support the United Nations for its 'peacemaking' efforts, hardly anyone knows that they have very specific land use policies that they would like to see implemented in every city, county, state and nation.  The specific plan is called United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development, which has its basis in Communitarianism.  By now, most Americans have heard of sustainable development but are largely unaware of Agenda 21.

 

United Nations Agenda 21/ICLEI and Richardson, TX

 

It seems that the ICLEI and Richardson have gone their separate ways. For several years the City of Richardson was a dues paying member of the ICLEI. For 2012 E.A. Hoppe sent an email to Eli Yewdall telling him that due to budget considerations the City of Richardson will not be maintaining ICLEI membership for 2012. See http://graphics.dc-tm.com/agenda21.pdf

DART Fares Cover Less Than 10% of Operating Expenses

DART is in deep, very deep financially. In 2009 their operating loss was $466 million dollars before other revenues were put in to pay their bill. In 2011 DART’s operating loss was $560 million.

Passenger revenue is 2011 was about $57 million, not even 10% of their operating cost. Only is big government will an entity survive with these kinds of losses.

Richardson Christmas Parade 2012

Grand Marshall TexKef and Wife



The Mayor and Notorious Candy Bomber

No Honor Among the Thieves of the Richardson Coalition

So, an interesting few days with the election for mayor. The Richardson Coalition had a meeting Thursday and decided to not endorse anyone until the filing deadline is done. That sounds like a reasonable way to approach endorsing or not endorsing a candidate for mayor. The other day they also announce those intentions on their website with this:

“Please note that the Coalition has not endorsed anyone for the mayor opening or any council seat and we do not currently plan to do so until the respective deadlines have passed.”

Quote from http://www.richardsoncoalition.org/