What is it with Communications Directors?

One of the first acts of Mike Miles, the new superintendent of the Dallas school district (DISD), is also the source of one of his first crises. It's the exorbitant salaries he's given to his top aides, including a $185,000 salary for the communications director he brought with him from his prior job, Jennifer Sprague.

There's no small amount of irony involved in a communications director finding herself at the center of a PR disaster. Her boss made things worse by saying the only reason Sprague's salary is an issue is because she isn't "an ugly, slightly older male." You'd think a $185,000 communications director would have known to get to the superintendent and brief him on what not to say. You know you're not living up to the job title when, instead of reporters asking you questions about your boss, they are asking him questions about you.

My reaction to this latest embarrassment from Dallas was to take smug satisfaction in thinking that my own suburban school district is immune to such embarrassments.

After the jump, rethinking my smug attitude.

Slicing and Dicing Richardson - An Update

Redrawing Richardson City Council district boundaries is required every ten years based on census results. Monday, the council will consider two alternatives from the Council District Boundary Commission. Following the presentation of the two maps, the council will schedule a public hearing. Official approval of new district boundaries has a July 30, 2012, deadline.

We've discussed this matter before in this space. After the jump, an update.

Of Mayors and Constitutions

As previously reported, there's a petition circulating demanding a referendum on a change to the Richardson city charter calling for the direct election of the mayor. I've already offered my opinion on this question from different angles.

After the jump, reviewing the viewpoints, and adding a new one.

Review: The Book of Nothing

Amazon

From The Book of Nothing, by John D. Barrow (2001):

When there is an infinite time to wait then anything that can happen, eventually will happen. Worse (or better) than that, it will happen infinitely often."

After the jump, my review and excerpts.

OTBR: Spring Flowers in Estonia

Latitude: N 58° 23.346
Longitude: E 022° 51.132

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".

Review: 1Q84

Amazon

From 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami:

If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation."

That quote sums up both the message and reading experience of 1Q84. This is a mystery story, but not a whodunnit. The question is not so much "who" dunnit as what the "it" is. The novel eventually gets around to answering that question, sort of, but only at the surface level. The deeper meaning, well, readers are going to have to figure that out for themselves. That's how it should be.

After the jump, my review.

Election of the Mayor: Rumors and Hearsay

A petition is circulating demanding that the City of Richardson call a referendum for changing the way the city chooses its mayor. Currently, at the beginning of each term, the city council elects one of their members to serve as mayor. The petition demands that the mayor be directly elected by the voters instead.

Rumors are also in circulation. After the jump, I fulfill my duty, not to check the truth of the rumors, but to give them legs by passing on what I've heard through the grapevine.

Late Spring in the Steger Garden (2012)

From Flowers

Another photo after the jump.

Repeat Tweets: Don't Believe Conventional Wisdom

Repeat tweets from May, 2012:

• 2012 05 01 - Forum for candidates for State Board of Education, District 12, Tuesday night. Be there to support our public schools. http://t.co/yBtrC8hB
  
• 2012 05 01 - Maybe I'm not following enough Twitter users, but the *only* candidate I see hyped for "One Man Dallas" is @amiromar. He must be a shoo-in.
  
• 2012 05 01 - Osama bin Laden is still dead. President Obama killed him. Just thought I'd say it. There seems to be some confusion about it.
  
• 2012 05 02 - China removes some highway tollgates. Traffic increases 20%. Some suggest leaving tolls in place to control traffic. http://t.co/iXsouGbO
  
• 2012 05 02 - Headline: "Coroner: UK spy found in sports bag likely killed." Have they ruled out suicide?
  
• 2012 05 02 - Don't believe conventional wisdom. US oil production is up; China trade surplus is down; Mexican immigration to US has reversed.
  
• 2012 05 03 - Headline: "Study finds dramatic drops in L.A. beach pollution since 1970s." Score: Gov't Regulation 1, Free Market 0. http://t.co/tQPLQdSi
  
• 2012 05 03 - Advice to new C-USA schools. Use Velcro to attach your new conference patches to your uniforms. If you're still in C-USA when they arrive.
  
• 2012 05 04 - RT Kevin: "MOVIE FANS, GEEKS REJOICE!! THE DFW ALAMO DROUGHT IS OVER !! SOO excited. Richardson is LUCKY!!!" http://t.co/IHuCc2nq
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

November 22, 2013: Still Not Classy

From 2012 05 Dallas

As usual, Unfair Park's Jim Schutze pretty much nails it. He reports how Dallas has created a committee to plan events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dealey Plaza. In Schutze's telling, the committee is made up of "rich, fancy-pantsy, old people determined to keep a lid on it." Schutze objects to the "money bags" trying to control the conversation.

I have a slightly different angle on the same objection. Schutze quotes Mayor Mike Rawlings as saying, "The objective is to send the simple message to all that are outside the city, throughout the world, that the citizens of Dallas honor the life and legacy of JFK."

After the jump, what's wrong with Rawlings's phrasing.