When the Creek Ran Red

Recently, a spill of detergent from a car wash into a tributary of Richardson's Cottonwood Creek turned the water red. The good news is that, according to the City of Richardson, "the spill has been successfully cleaned, and water quality tests show normal results."

My compliments to the City of Richardson for its reaction and its communications about this incident. My compliments also to Councilmember Dan Barrios for elaborating about the spill in his own Facebook posts.

Now, it's my own turn. I want to elaborate on something Barrios said.

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Barrios wrote:

In the spirit of transparency we were able to use social media as a tool to communicate with the public about the issue, what we were doing in response and a follow up this morning with results. Not all cities take this approach and just hope people won't notice, especially in cases like this where it was not visible from a main road. This could have easily been attempted to be swept under the rug but it wasn't. Information is power and I'll always be committed to transparency and providing information to the public.

Source: Dan Barrios.

Barrios says, "Information is power." How does the old chant go? "Power to the People." Accordingly, in the spirit of ever more of the transparency that Barrios believes in, a reader of The Wheel had these suggestions for Barrios:

I look forward to when Dan will:

1. publicly advocate that contents of council packets relevant to meeting and worksession agendas are made available to the public when council members receive them rather than 30 minutes before the start of meetings.
2. publicly advocate for removing the gag order in executive sessions from the ethics code.
3. publicly advocate that all non-executive session meetings are always on first floor accessible locations and recorded for the public.

Source: Anonymous.

The first request is a new one to me, but it sounds like a proactive step in the interests of ever greater transparency in the public interest.

The second request is a longstanding request I've made. See, from 2010: "Gag Order Against Whistleblowing".

The third request is also one I share. See, from 2021: "Dispatch from the Chamber of Secrets". In another post, from 2023, I shared a Shakespearean play that another reader of The Wheel wrote, using ChatGPT:

Act 1, Scene 1:
(A special Saturday meeting of the Richardson City Council on September 16, 2023)

[Enter the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Dubey. Justin Neth is present.]

Mayor Dubey:
Fair councilors, in secrecy we convene, To chart our goals for this two-year term, unseen. No video, no record for the public eye, Yet Justin Neth, our watchful scribe, is nigh.

Justin Neth:
I bring you tidings from this covert meeting, Where transparency, like a ghost, is fleeting. Breakout sessions, they claim, the reason why, But I call B.S., that's just a thin disguise.

Source: Anonymous.

I couldn't have said it better myself.