April Surprise, Richardson Edition

In American political jargon, an October surprise is a news event deliberately created to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the U.S. presidency. The reference to the month of October is because the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections) occurs between November 2 and 8, and therefore events that take place in late October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters.

Source: Wikipedia.

For springtime local elections in Richardson, the "October surprise" comes in April. Right on schedule, this year's April surprise has dropped, in the form of a Richardson Coalition PAC "2013 Voters Guide -- Senior Citizen Edition."

The surprise is not that the Richardson Coalition PAC has published a "Senior Citizen Edition" of its voters guide for the first time, although there's nothing in it that appears to address issues that are of particular interest to seniors instead of voters at large. That's a curious matter, but irrelevant to our surprise.

The surprise is not the usual innuendo and half-truths. Richardson voters have come to expect that from the Richardson Coalition PAC's "Voters Guide." The surprise is not even that the Richardson Coalition PAC would stoop to springing April surprises. Maybe, in the end, there's nothing surprising about how Richardson politics are playing out this year. I had hoped that our city was better than this, but I can't really say I'm surprised.

After the jump, the April surprise.

Still No Popcorn in the RISD Election

There are three places on the Richardson (RISD) school board on the ballot in the May 11, 2013, election.

• Place 3: Kris Oliver (incumbent)
  
• Place 4:
  
  • Bonnie Abadie
    
  • Lanet Greenhaw (incumbent)
    
  • Rachel Chumney
    
• Place 5: Karen Holburn (incumbent)
  

Only Place 4 is contested, with the incumbent trustee facing two challengers. When I last looked in on this election, I said the two challengers for Place 4 "have to be considered extreme long shots. The election campaign might have a surprise in store, but I'm not popping any corn." On April 17, those three faced off before an audience of about 75 people in the RISD Administration Building auditorium in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Richardson and the Richardson ISD Council of PTAs. After listening to the candidates make their case to the voters, is it time to start popping that corn? After the jump, an update.

Punching Through Central at Palisades

Source: Palisades Village.

There's a glimmer of hope for my quixotic dream of punching through Central Expressway to help end the divide between east and west Richardson. Does the name Palisades ring a bell? It's the office park on the west side of US 75 across from Galatyn Park. I use the term office park loosely, as it's mostly vacant land with one big office tower (perhaps the tallest in Richardson, but who's measuring?), another smaller office building and an ugly parking garage facing Central Expressway. Otherwise, there's a lot of grass. And streets that go around and around but end up nowhere.

I don't know the history of that property. It was laid out as if some developer had big plans that never came to fruition. After the jump, is the time right for an even bigger and better plan?

"Ladies First"

I love Richardson's diversity. And the various candidate forums for the mayor's race strongly highlight that diversity while also showing common interests across the city. But it's the diversity that keeps me coming back. It's the unique questions I listen for, as much as the answers.

The first forum, sponsored by the GOP, was held at Richardson's country club. The unique questions were about Agenda 21 and fluoride in our drinking water. The next forum was at a public school, sponsored by a neighborhood association. Someone wanted to know where the candidates live in relation to their neighborhood. Someone else asked the candidates to do something about speeding on Grove Rd. The third forum (which I missed) was at a BBQ joint, sponsored by the tea party. They wanted to know how much a natatorium was going to cost Richardson taxpayers. The most recent forum was in Richardson's Chinatown, sponsored by the Dallas Chinese Community Center. The moderator set the unique tone with her polite explanation of how it was decided which candidate would speak first: "Ladies first."

After the jump, a progress report on the campaigning skills of Laura Maczka and Amir Omar.

Push Polling for Mayor

A push poll is an interactive marketing technique, most commonly employed during political campaigning, in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll.

Source: Wikipedia.

I've heard, secondhand, of accounts of Richardson residents receiving push polls of the mayoral election. The callers fail to identify who is paying for the telephone campaign. One such report wasn't even secondhand. I received a push poll myself. When I asked who was paying for the political advertisement disguised as a public opinion survey, I was told that information wouldn't be revealed.

After the jump, my proclamation and pledge to the candidates.

S2L77: Red Fort of Agra

Agra, India
March 7, 1977

At night we attended a Sound and Light show at the Red Fort - a very good way to present history.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

More photos after the jump.

Review: The Time Keeper

Amazon

From The Time Keeper, by Mitch Albom:

A man sits alone in a cave. His hair is long. His beard reaches his knees. He holds his chin in the cup of his hands. He closes his eyes. He is listening to something. Voices. Endless voices. They rise from a pool in the corner of the cave. They are the voices of people on Earth. They want one thing only. Time."

After the jump, my review.

How to Revitalize Collin Creek Mall

And, at the same time, how downtown Richardson can learn from our northern neighbor.

The Dallas Morning News endorses Harry LaRosiliere for Plano mayor. Several sentences in the News' editorial are relevant to Richardson, too, but I'll focus on just one:

To counteract loss of retail to northern suburbs, [LaRosiliere] says, the stagnating Collin Creek Mall area needs a makeover and should be re-established as a destination, perhaps through a bond vote and a public-private partnership that opens up the creek and connects with downtown.

Source: The Dallas Morning News.

Does that sound familiar? It should. After the jump, a flashback to a blog post here from last October.

OTBR: An Ice Road over the Baltic Sea

Latitude: N 58° 37.716
Longitude: E 023° 02.076
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".

Who Killed D.E.? A Richardson Whodunnit

One question is guaranteed to come up at every Richardson mayoral debate. It's worded something like this: Who killed direct election of the mayor? OK, maybe not as dramatic as that. Maybe more like this: Did you support direct election of the mayor?

Amir Omar makes his answer the centerpiece of his campaign. He says not only did he support direct election of the mayor, but he took a principled stand in favor of it despite being warned that he would have difficulty winning re-election if he did so. Further, he accuses Laura Maczka of "leading the charge" against putting the matter before the voters in a charter amendment election.

Maczka denies Omar's charge, saying "it simply isn't true." She says she recognized that the city council votes weren't there to call a referendum on the question. There was no point to continue discussion and so she moved to end it. She says she has confirmed her account of what happened by going back and listening to the January 30, 2012, council meeting at which the issue was deliberated. She encourages voters to do the same.

I remember watching this drama play out in its first release. I reviewed it in "Campaign Promise? That Was Then". Here was my appraisal then:

Frankly, I was shocked with how cavalierly the council dismissed what I had considered to be a campaign promise. Not a promise as firm as, say, "Read my lips, no new taxes" but still, a consensus expressed during the campaign forums that it was time, after 25 years, to look into cleaning up our city charter and bringing it up to date. In one meeting, with no call for public input, with little or no homework evident on their own part, with no wrestling with conscience, the council quickly and decisively disposed of any further discussion of a charter review for this council term.

Source: The Wheel.

Still, in case my memory was faulty, in case the benefit of time might have me see things differently now, I took Maczka up on her call for voters to go back and watch it themselves. After the jump, what I learned from a second viewing.