Who Thinks Like This?

I've said the "visitors" section of the Richardson city council meeting sometimes makes for rollicking good theater. Sometimes pathos. Sometimes bathos. The council meeting of December 14 provided one such moment that stunned me, leaving me shaking my head in wonderment. Did he just say what I think he did?

"I thought I'd add a little levity to tonight and tell you about riding the DART train. I ride the DART train every once in a while down into downtown. When I am surrounded by the derelicts and the mental cases and the troublemakers, I try to be a good Caucasian ambassador."

Levity? I didn't laugh. The audio recording didn't capture any laughter from the audience, either. What in the world was this speaker thinking? Whatever it is, we don't need it in Richardson.

Richardson Accounting Practice Fairly Common

Not much of a headline, I'm afraid. But that's the conclusion of a news story by Ian McCann in The Dallas Morning News headlined "Richardson officials defend use of bond vote money for project salaries". The word "defend" in McCann's headline certainly suggests we have a conflict, with someone on offense and someone on defense. Yet, I can't find anything in the story to indicate who is making a charge, nor what that charge might be, that anyone needs to "defend" against. In fact, in the second to last paragraph, McCann tells us,

"Robert Bland, a professor and chairman of the public administration department at University of North Texas, said using bonds to pay for project management staff is fairly common."

So there you have it. Richardson's accounting practice is fairly common. No one is quoted as saying it isn't. No one is identified as criticizing the city's practice in any way. McCann doesn't tell us why he's even writing this story.

Did you ever read a news story that left you feeling like you are picking up the thread in the middle? Today's story is like that. I'm left scratching my head, thinking I must have walked into this play at the start of the second act.

Assuming Facts Not In Evidence

Recently, I was accused of making light of various Richardson residents' concerns expressed during the "visitors" section of City Council meetings. (By the way, the speakers are quaintly called "visitors," a descriptive term only if, at your house or office or event, visitors typically come and yell at you for five minutes before you shoo them away.) After the jump, where my critic says I erred.

Win/Win Solution for Trash?

My blog topics recently have tended towards two topics: the Richardson Lookout Transfer Station and the tone of politics at city council meetings (for example, see here and here). Those two topics intersect in a Twitter "tweet" from council member Amir Omar:

"Just had a very positive meeting w/ HOA Pres & stakeholder re the Richardson LOTS. Working towards a win/win solution."

I've called for the Richardson City Council to conduct more outreach to the neighborhood associations, so this news from council member Amir Omar is good news. I don't like the fact that Omar didn't tell us the name of the HOA president he met with, leaving the impression that it's sensitive information. (And, as before, I'm dissatisfied that he tells us that he's getting good ideas without ever telling us what those ideas are.) But, just hearing that someone from the council is talking to any HOA president is welcome news. The news is more welcome than the claim by someone else (anonymously) that city council members deliberately steered clear of a recent meeting of HOA presidents on the Lookout Transfer Station. If true, that would go counter to the need for more outreach. Maybe the city council can afford to limit engagement with the chronic malcontents. But it can't afford to lose the neighborhood assocations.

Holy Bill of Rights, Batman

Richardson is not Gotham, but we've got our own little tales of citizen crime-fighters standing up to villains, even when the corruption reaches into the heart of city hall itself. Monday night is when our local heroes answer the bat-call of open mike night at the Richardson City Council meeting. This past Monday night was no exception. After the jump, five heroes' stories.

Richardson: Dialog or Pitchforks - An Update

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a disturbing development in Richardson politics. The title was "Richardson at the Crossroads: Dialog or Pitchforks?" This is an update. The good news is that the ranks of the pitchfork-wielding villagers is still limited to a handful of bloggers and commenters on Internet forums. The bad news is that there's no evidence of outreach on the part of the city council to engage the moderate members of the public. After the jump, what you are not missing by steering clear of the blogs.

Who Is Amir Schmoozing With Now?

In its own words, Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What's happening?

After the jump, Twitter and politics.

Things I Was Against Before I Was For

Is it time to geoengineer the Earth?

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

I keep this John Kerry quote handy to remind myself how convoluted our explanations can become when trying to explain our flip-flops. It's timely because I might be in the process of making some major flip-flops myself and I don't want my own thinking to become convoluted. After the jump, four things I was against that I now just might be for.

Fact Checking the Trash Talk

Monday night the NTMWD addressed the Richardson City Council about plans to replace the Lookout Trash Transfer Station. Neighbors of the transfer station are objecting to the project. There are some bogus claims making the rounds. Not in what the NTMWD presented, but in what's being said by the public. The longer such claims go uncorrected, the more deeply they take root as established "facts". After the jump, two examples.

Trash in the Spotlight

It may not generate the excitement and anticipation of, say, the opening of a new Harry Potter movie, but Monday night's Richardson City Council work session had an agenda item that some residents have been waiting months for. Trash and how to move it from here to there.

"NTMWD staff will update City Council regarding progress to date concerning the construction of a new Transfer Station at Lookout Drive's terminus point east of Plano Road. District staff will address various neighborhood concerns and present a regional solid waste system need relative to construction of a new Lookout Dr. Transfer Station. Lastly, NTMWD staff will present/explain the new station's necessary 'throughput' amount, which is of significant interest to all parties involved in these station improvements."

After the jump, my own assessment of whether the work session lived up to expectations.