Chemical Warfare in Richardson

Source: Life Magazine.

If you're reading this, it means you survived last night's aerial bombardment in Richardson's escalation of chemical warfare against the lowly mosquito. Hallelujah!

After the jump, all I'm going to say about that.

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1. The public's reaction to West Nile virus (WNV) was overblown. WNV is low, low, low on the list of causes of sickness and death to worry about.
   
   
2. City of Richardson officials over-reacted, first by sending the truck sprayers out on nightly raids, and then by succumbing to demands for aerial spraying as well.
   
   
3. The public's reaction to aerial spraying was overblown as well. By all means, bring your pet inside. The chances that your pet will come to harm are greatly increased if it is left outside overnight, but spraying for mosquitoes is low, low, low on the list of reasons for that.
   
   
4. Who decided that the City of Richardson would participate in the county's aerial spraying program? The press release by the city says the mayor sent a letter to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins requesting inclusion in the program. Did the mayor make that decision? If so, by what authority did he do that? Did the City Council as a whole make the decision, through some vote outside of regularly scheduled meetings? If so, is that legal? Did the City Manager make the decision? If so, then why didn't the City Manager have his name on the letter to the Dallas County Judge? The city has a referendum election coming up in November to decide whether the mayor should be directly elected. I've been arguing that in Richardson "mayor" is a ceremonial position that isn't worth fighting about. But if it turns out that the mayor, all by himself, can call out the air force to wage chemical warfare in the skies over Richardson, then, whoa, I might have to rethink this whole referendum thing.