Random Thoughts: Black Mirror

2023-07-01: In the "Black Mirror" episode "Beyond the Sea" (S6, E3), astronauts on a deep space mission get R&R by periodically transferring their consciousness to replicas on Earth. If this technology exists, why wouldn't NASA use it the other way around, sending replicas into space and keeping the humans safe on Earth, except when needed in space?

2023-07-03: Life would be easier to figure out if it were accompanied by melodramatic music like in bad movies.

2023-07-03: I'm reminded of when I taught high school in Australia in 1976. I told my students that in honor of the upcoming American bicentennial, there would be no school on July 4. An initial burst of excitement was quicky followed by irritation when they realized July 4, 1976, fell on a Sunday.

Legalities of Short Term Rental Regulations

The City of Richardson is likely to adopt short-term rental (STR) regulations. Richardson is not the first city to try this. It won't be the last. There is a legal thicket surrounding cities' attempts to adopt STR ordinances. Several key cases are still working their way through the courts and haven't yet reached a final judgment. Courts have looked more favorably on reasonable regulation than outright bans. So, rather than risk having more aggressive regulation tested in court, Richardson's regulations are geared to trying to control the nuisances (noise, parking, trash) that STRs bring to neighborhoods.

Short Term Rental Regulations Coming to Richardson

Source: Movie Photo, Everett Collection.

The Richardson City Council reviewed a possible ordinance regulating short-term rentals (STRs). This is in response to a public outcry over an out-of-control explosion in the number of short-term rentals in the City of Richardson, accompanied by an enormous number of nuisance violations (noise, parking, trash). (The police chief was on hand to define "out of control" and "enormous": he said that the police receive "a handful" of complaints each year.) But the public wants short-term rentals banned, so the City Council has to do *something*. So they shall.

Short-Term Rentals Are Getting Regulated, a Little

Source: Airbnb.

Complaints about Airbnb, Vrbo, etc., aren't new. On Monday, the Richardson City Council reviewed options for regulating short-term rental properties in Richardson. Why did it take so long? The wheels of government turn slowly, but the wheels are turning. That might not result in the strong actions some might hope for or expect.

Random Thoughts: Just a Ploy for More Money

Tweets from January, 2022:

• 2022-01-01: "Dallas recorded a 13% drop in homicides in 2021." Wait, what? Didn't the National Fraternal Order of Police just scream about "SKYROCKETING MURDER RATES." You don't think it was just a ploy for more money, do you?
• 2022-01-02: Guys, ask yourselves, "Have I told my wife even once this year, I love you?"
• 2022-01-03: RT: "Donald Trump releases a statement endorsing Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán for re-election, saying he 'truly loves his Country.'". A good pairing to my blog post about Anne Applebaum's article in The Atlantic: "The Bad Guys are Winning."
• 2022-01-04: Don't Look Up (2021): Two astronomers detect a comet headed towards Earth and can't convince anyone to care. Of course, half of America consider it Fake News. A satire that doesn't quite land because today's reality is satire. If it hits, we'll deserve it. Loaded with stars. B-
• 2022-01-05: The Matrix Resurrections (2021): Tired franchise resurrected with nothing new to add. Lots of dialog about how dead characters are alive again. Token "bullet time" fights. Overstuffed with world-building. No chemistry between Neo and Trinity. Keanu Reeves's hair is still good. C+

After the jump, more random thoughts.

RISD School Board Goes To School

The trustees of the Richardson ISD school board held a three hour training session Tuesday night on team-building. You might think this was well-timed, given recent events, but it's been on the board calendar all year. Texas State law requires team-building training every year. This week was RISD's turn. The trainer was Kay Douglas from the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). She was excellent. She is knowledgeable, experienced, and generous with sharing her learned wisdom.

Selling Richardson a Biergarten

Richardson is getting two more drive-through restaurants, this time not on the east side, where a Salad And Go was recently approved, but on the west side. If the City Council approves, they'll go in Richardson Restaurant Park, the catalyst project for the redevelopment of the West Spring Valley Corridor, a planned development sold to the residents with slides of fancy mixed-use buildings and sidewalk cafes. But the developer says that restaurants with drive throughs saw increased business during the COVID-19 pandemic and he predicts that isn't ever going away. I guess cities built in walkable form are now just going to shrivel and die. At least the City Plan Commission bought the sales pitch. We'll see what the City Council says when the project goes there.

"Cruelty is the Greater Compassion"

Chico, California, is not Richardson, Texas. But recent events there have a lesson for us here. The story is in The Intercept. In 2018 the Camp Fire burned the neighboring town of Paradise to the ground. Residents of Chico welcomed thousands of evacuees, opening their homes and shelters and turning parks and even a Walmart parking lot into campgrounds, with the Chico residents donating tents and sleeping bags. But...there always has to be a but.

Richardson's Budget - Black or Red?

It's August and that means it's time for Richardson budget roulette. Will the proposed city budget be balanced? You'd think that would be a simple question. Isn't the city required by law to have a balanced budget? Well, yes, but it all depends on the meaning of "balanced".

When I looked at this question three years ago, I concluded that the city's 2017-2018 budget was indeed balanced and didn't require use of that sneaky asterisk ("plus reserved fund balance and other financing sources"). After watching this over a number of years, I found that the amount the budget is in the red or black each year is always small. Whether it happens in any given year seems to be a matter of chance.

COVID-19: Financial Impact on Richardson

Everyone's attention has been rightly focused on the health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the City of Richardson, which has put public health at the top of its list of priorities. The question of "Who's in Charge?" has gradually settled on the answer, Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The City of Richardson will not enforce any provision in the City's own March 23, 2020 Order that is inconsistent with the Governor's Executive Orders GA 15, 16 and 17. With the Governor in the driver's seat on the pandemic response, the City can start giving some attention to the impact COVID-19 will have on other City matters, particularly the City's finances.

Review: This is How You Lose Her

Amazon

From This is How You Lose Her, by Junot Díaz:

Your girl catches you cheating. (Well, actually she’s your fiancée, but hey, in a bit it so won’t matter.) She could have caught you with one sucia, she could have caught you with two, but as you’re a totally batshit cuero who didn’t ever empty his e­mail trash can, she caught you with fifty! Sure, over a six­-year period, but still. Fifty fucking girls? Goddamn. Maybe if you’d been engaged to a super open-minded blanquita you could have survived it—but you’re not engaged to a super open­minded blanquita. Your girl is a bad­ass salcedeña who doesn’t believe in open anything; in fact the one thing she warned you about, that she swore she would never forgive, was cheating. I’ll put a machete in you, she promised. And of course you swore you wouldn’t do it. You swore you wouldn’t. You swore you wouldn’t. And you did."

Review: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

Amazon

From Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, by Salman Rushdie

This is the story of a jinnia, a great princess of the jinn, known as the Lightning Princess on account of her mastery over the thunderbolt, who loved a mortal man long ago, in the twelfth century, as we would say, and of her many descendants, and of her return to the world, after a long absence, to fall in love again, at least for a moment, and then to go to war."

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights. Count 'em up. That's 1001 nights. Consider this Salman Rushdie's attempt at fan fiction for "1001 Arabian Nights." How does it hold up?

After the jump, my review.

Outdoor Lights Don't Deter Crime

There, I said it. Bear with me. I'll walk back that counter-intuitive statement in a bit. But only a little.

Regularly I read on Facebook or Nextdoor or in chain emails a call for everyone to keep their porch lights on overnight. Or for the city to install more street lights. The following is a typical example:

Some people regularly turn porch lights off when going to bed. I'm always amazed driving through neighborhoods and no exterior lights are on. It's one little thing we can do to maybe deter a crime. Having a well lit exterior just sends a signal that we care and are watching.

Source: Facebook.

This is repeated so often that most people just assume it must be good advice. I, on the other hand, have never been convinced of the logic of this. I've suspected that street lighting might even do more harm than good. But I didn't have the facts. Now I do.

Repeat Tweets: What Cecil the Lion Teaches Us About Health Reform

Repeat tweets from August, 2015:

• Aug 1 2015: Cecil the lion teaches us that "the ruling theory behind conservative notions of health reform is completely wrong." krugman.blogs.nytimes.com
• Aug 2 2015: Ironic, @DonMcLeroy accusing others of throwing gas on the fire. He is the arsonist. He and his revisionist history.
• Aug 2 2015: I don't know if Scott Walker is a sentient human being, but presume he is.
• Aug 3 2015: "GOP doesn't rush to defend Ken Paxton." Of course not. Paxton himself admitted guilt and paid a fine last year. abc13.com
• Aug 3 2015: Cruz: "Satellite data for last 18 years [shows] zero recorded warming." Obama: "2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record." One is right.
• Aug 3 2015: Jefferson Center Apt Homes: High-end, medium-density, single-use development near future Cotton Belt station. Meh. bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Not Lots Happening At LOTS

Speaking of LOTS, when I last checked in on the long-running saga surrounding the reconstruction of the trash transfer station on Lookout Drive in Richardson by the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD), it was to note that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had prepared a draft permit for the enlarged operation. That permit was being challenged by a neighborhood group and a hearing was scheduled in Plano on January 8 regarding that appeal.

After the jump, an update.

In Real Estate, Is Garbage a Selling Point?

When I said goodbye to Spring Creek Farm and speculated on what might go there in its place, I focused on the potential impact on the nearby Spring Creek Nature Area. But I overlooked another nearby feature that might be even more important to this site's future, the Lookout Trash Transfer Station (LOTS). Face palm.

After the jump, the challenge of selling real estate along a garbage expressway.

Survey Says: Recycle

The City of Richardson says it is committed to increasing recycling and wants residents' input to identify ways to improve the current recycling program. So, it's conducting a survey. Well, OK. The "survey" reads a little more like an advertising campaign to increase awareness of the existing recycling program, with questions like this:

Where do you currently get your blue bags? (Select all that apply.)

• Purchase them at Heights Recreation Center
  
• Purchase them at Huffhines Recreation Center
  
• Purchase them at the Senior Center
  
• Purchase them from City Hall
  
• Purchase them from the Municipal Service Center
  
• Redeem free offer listed in the Mayor's yearly residential recycling letter
  
• Picked up free bags at the Trash Bash
  
• Picked up free bags at the Cottonwood Art Festival
  
• Picked up free bags at the Wildflower! Arts & Musical Festival
  
• Picked up free bags at the Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) Recycling Day
  
• Picked up free bags at Huffhines Art Trails event
  
• Picked up free bags at City Wide Pet Day
  
• Picked up free bags at the America Recycles Day
  
• I purchase them from the grocery store
  

The city doesn't need the survey to find out the answer to this question. Surely, the city has better information about how many rolls of blue bags are distributed through each of these outlets than any information this unscientific survey is going to collect. But maybe some people taking the survey will learn about a different, more convenient outlet, so OK, I get it. (Not only do I get it, I did it myself -- I used my blog post to spread useful information. You're welcome, City of Richardson. ;-)

Where the city just might learn something from its survey is from the open ended questions, the fill-in-the-blank for what the city could do to make recycling easier. After the jump, my own answer.

Lookout, TCEQ is Coming to Plano

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the new Lookout Trash Transfer Station (LOTS) must operate. The TCEQ has made a preliminary decision that this permit meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. Naturally, dissatisfaction with this decision is directly proportional to proximity to the site.

After the jump, the next act in this long-running drama.

Duck and Cover

Recap: in an interview with GQ, Phil Robertson, star of A&E's reality TV series "Duck Dynasty," compared homosexuality with raping barnyard animals. A&E, not keen on being associated with that sentiment, suspended Robertson. Some thought that was a violation of free speech and attacked A&E for, I dunno, exercising their own freedom to choose whom to give TV time to or something. The critics of A&E find themselves in the (I hope) uncomfortable company of the Westboro Baptist Church: "A&E suspended Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty 4EVER for telling you fags won't go to heaven. Hello?! GOD HATES FAGS."

Anyway, Phil Robertson's backwards views on sexual orientation are not what I wanted to talk about today. After the jump, his backwards views on race.

Lookout! Farm, Fire, Filth

Lots of news from Lookout Drive recently. First was the announcement that Owens Spring Creek Farm was closing. Then was the ribbon cutting for Richardson's new fire training center. This week, down in Austin, the rebuilding of the Lookout Drive Transfer Station (LOTS) gets one more step closer to reality.

That trash transfer station has been a regular topic here on The Wheel. Most recently was last November, after a public hearing on the project, when the neighborhood learned that the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) had made all the concessions they were going to make to address the concerns of the neighborhood. Next week in Austin the neighborhood makes its last (?) ditch effort to stop the project as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) holds a review of a request for reconsideration of the TCEQ's decision that the NTMWD project application meets the requirements of applicable law.

After the jump, the TCEQ's response to the neighborhood complaints.