Richardson City Charter Program: LWV

The League of Women Voters of Richardson plans to hold a public program to provide information to the public about the City of Richardson's charter. The announcement below is taken from the LWV of Richardson's website. If you have a question you want the panelists to answer at the meeting, email program@lwvrichardson.org.

---

Richardson City Charter Program

Is the city's current charter right for Richardson?

---

Charter Program

On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, the League of Women Voters of Richardson will present a program entitled "Is the City's Current Charter Right for Richardson?" in the Richardson Room of the Richardson Civic Center.

A reception celebrating the League's 50th year in Richardson will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the program will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Panelists will be:

• Raymond D. Noah, Presiding Judge, Richardson Municipal Court, Speaking on the background of Home-rule Charter; and
  
• Robert C. Lowry, PhD, Professor & Program Head of Political Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Speaking on issues that might be considered in a review of the charter.
  

DART to Fair Park - An Update

From 2011 10 State Fair

Two years ago, DART opened a short section of the DART Green Line from downtown to Fair Park. Football fans from UT and OU overcrowded the trains for the ride to the Cotton Bowl and the annual Red River Rivalry game. Anger overflowed. DART's image suffered.

Last year, DART added trains and rerouted the Red Line to eliminate the need to change trains downtown. And, likely, many fans, burned once, decided to drive, reducing demand. The result? A better balance of capacity and demand. Less anger. No headlines featuring DART.

This year, DART faced a new challenge. The Green Line has been extended to Carrollton. Would the influx of new passengers again overcrowd the service? DART was ready once again. Riding DART to Fair Park was a non-story. Good for DART.

How is DART handling the State Fair traffic on days other than the day of a big game? After the jump, my experience this week.

First Impressions of GOP Economics Debate

Eight Republicans gathered around a table at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire for the seventh GOP presidential candidates' debate. My quick scorecard:

• Romney won. Hands down.
  
• Perry lost. No doubt.
  
• Cain might have helped himself by sounding bold but hurt himself by sounding simplistic.
  
• No one else distinguished himself or herself to change the dynamics of the race.
  

After the jump, deeper impressions.

The Fair in Photos

From 2011 10 State Fair

More photos from our day at the 125th State Fair of Texas can be found here.

No Exemption for Home, Sweet, Home

City, county, and school property tax statements were mailed out to homeowners last week. The only new wrinkle this year is that the City of Richardson's tax statement is now combined with the county's tax statement. Combining the two saves money. Good, smart move.

Combining the two also makes it easier to compare the taxes paid to support city services versus county services. The numbers are right there, side by side. Now, if we could only get more momentum behind movements like Taxpayer Receipt, taxpayers would know even more about how their tax dollars are being spent.

What stood out for me in this year's local tax statement is that the city doesn't give homeowners a homestead exemption. It's hard to avoid that big, fat "0" in the column headed "Homestead Exemption." This shouldn't be news to anyone. The lack of a homestead exemption was always listed on the city's tax statement in the past. It's just more prominent now. I'm curious whether residents will notice and lobby for the city to revisit this policy. Odder things have happened. If so, it'll be another example of the law of unintended consequences.

Homecoming: Lake Highlands 37, Sunset 6

From 2011 Football

In perfect weather, with a large home crowd, Lake Highlands celebrated homecoming with a big win over Sunset High School, 37-6.

More photos from this game, and all of the 2011 season, including the bands and color guards and drill teams and cheerleaders and everything else that goes into making high school football the best value in Friday night entertainment, can be found here.

Big Plans for US75/PGBT. Now, How to Pay.

Last February, the Richardson city council rezoned 300 acres of undeveloped land around the DART station at US75/PGBT as the first step in developing this prime real estate. The rezoning was, to say the least, controversial, at least among a vocal minority of Richardson residents.

That was then. After the jump, an update.

Excerpts: The Island of Lost Maps

Amazon

From "The Island of Lost Maps," by Miles Harvey:


At first, Bland had seemed to me an exotic and intriguing figure - but, as is often the case with familiarity, the more I learned about him, the less interesting he became. He was, I ultimately determined, a fairly unexceptional person who had happened to commit a fascinating crime."

After the jump, my review and more excerpts.

OTBR: An Old Barn in Italy

Latitude 45.640600° N
Longitude 12.704900° E


A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Tick, Tock, the Game is Locked

The late, lamented The Dallas Morning News religion blog has been reduced to a weekly "Texas Faith" posting in which a panel of local religious leaders are asked to comment on a provocative question, such as this week's, "Is it ever right to divorce a spouse with Alzheimers?" Unfortunately, the answers are seldom as provocative as the questions. Something seems to be missing.

Thanks to Unfair Park, we learn that the panel used by the News deliberately excludes a secular viewpoint. Zachary Moore, a coordinator for the DFW Coalition of Reason, has been lobbying the News for months to include a secular viewpoint on the panel, to no effect. Moore says one panelist told him that the other members of the panel voted down the request. Blog moderator Bill McKenzie told Unfair Park, "He's welcome to be a part of the discussion in the comments. I don't think he's being excluded."

After the jump, my thoughts.