Election Wrap: Bankruptcy

Now that Richardson's mayoral election is over, there are a few loose ends to tie up.

When the race started, I didn't detect any negative feelings towards Laura Maczka. She was considered to be talented, accomplished, and likable. She probably could have won a positive campaign built around her own many positive attributes. But the Richardson Coalition PAC decided to make the race a referendum on Amir Omar, or at least the image of Amir Omar they could paint for the electorate.

The unadorned court documents from Omar's bankruptcy and divorce would probably have been decisive in the election, but the negative interpretations by the Richardson Coalition PAC made them devastating to Omar's chances. It's a defensible argument that court documents are a legitimate campaign issue. They are pertinent to assessing a candidate's character. But half-truths and unsupported insinuations about those documents are not defensible. In fact, no one made an attempt to defend them. The PAC just dumped their allegations about the documents out there and let them work their toxic effect on the public. Maczka stirred the pot by linking to them.

Fair or not, Laura Maczka got blamed for the PAC's voters guide and now has to live with the consequences. The consequences are not good for her reputation. She won. She won big. But at the expense of turning those universal good feelings at the start of the campaign into hostile feelings among many of the 30 percent of the electorate who favored Amir Omar, and at least feelings of disappointment among many who voted for her. If she cares about being mayor for *all* of Richardson, she's got some healing to do.

Election Wrap: Over Before It Began

Congratulations to Laura Maczka, Richardson's next mayor.

Now that Richardson's mayoral election is over, there are a few loose ends to tie up.

Amir Omar was warned that if he supported direct election of the mayor, then he wouldn't win re-election. Well, he did and he didn't. He was probably doomed in January, 2012, when he stood alone, among seven council members, in not going along with killing talk of a charter change. He was certainly doomed when Alan North gathered enough petition signatures to get a charter change on the November ballot. Fair or not, Omar got tied to that, too.

Omar was probably doomed whether he sought the newly-created mayor's seat or if instead he tried to find an open seat in the game of musical chairs that resulted from the charter change. It really didn't matter. It's just that hard to win election in Richardson without the support of the establishment, a.k.a. the Richardson Coalition PAC, which has gone 15 for 15 in city council election campaigns in Richardson since 2009. Omar went for the gold ring, not because it was reachable, but because he had no viable options. In for a dime, in for a dollar.

Now, I could be wrong here. There were rumors that the Richardson Coalition PAC was willing to let bygones be bygones and support Omar for another council seat, if Omar would agree not to challenge Laura Maczka for mayor. If that rumor is true, then Omar badly misjudged the electorate and shares the blame for being on the outside looking in now. In any case, Mayor Amir Omar wasn't meant to be. It was over before it began.

The above explains when the race was over. It doesn't explain how it went down. More on that in future posts.

Night of Drumming at BHS

The Berkner Percussion put on the 5th Annual "Night of Drumming" at Berkner High School Saturday evening. If you've never attended one of these, you don't know what you're missing. Besides the beat of the drums, there's melody and visual entertainment as well. Berkner has one of the best high school bands in the nation (no kidding) and its percussion section is one of the reasons why. I can't recommend this too highly. Don't miss it next year.

As for the other beat down that happened today, a.k.a the Richardson mayoral election, I'll have more to say on that in the morning. For now, congratulations to Laura Maczka, Richardson's next mayor.

S2L77: Fatehpur Sikri

Agra, India
March 8, 1977

The hotel reception desk lost my room key. I was locked out for an hour while attempts were made (unsuccessful) to unlock the door with various "master" keys. My key was finally located in the room next door.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

Why I thought it significant to comment on a lost room key, but not say a word about Fatehpur Sikri, I'll never know. As bewitching as the Taj Mahal is under the light of a full moon, Fatehpur Sikir is, for me, the most haunting site in India. Twenty three miles west of Agra, it was the capital of the Mughal Empire in the late 1500s. It was a planned city, built and abandoned all within a couple of decades, leaving this haunting red sandstone ghost town for tourists to wander and imagine what life must have been like in the imperial court of the Mughal Empire of Akbar the Great.

More photos after the jump.

Politics is Not Here to Please You

Politics is not here to please you.

Source: Ezra Klein.

By that, Ezra Klein was referring to the dysfunction in government in Washington, with one side insisting that all would be well if the President would just lead and the other side insisting all would be well if Republicans in Congress would just compromise. Klein says the polarized state of politics in Washington is not difficult to understand; it's just difficult to fix. That may not please those who demand simple, immediate solutions, but then, politics is not here to please you.

After the jump, applying that lesson to Richardson politics.

Review: The Book Thief

Amazon

From The Book Thief, by Marcus Zuzak:

She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."

Life in Nazi Germany for a young girl. Ugly and glorious, a story each generation needs to relearn.

After the jump, my review.

Richardson's Concrete River

A story in the Atlantic, "L.A. Wants to Turn Its Concrete 'River' Into a Real River," tells about efforts in California to remove most of the concrete from the river channel of the Los Angeles River (poured in the 1930s for flood control) and restore the natural habitat of the river. This story gives me an opportunity to correct a misconception I had about Richardson's own concrete 'river.'

After the jump, an update on the construction in downtown Richardson on the Floyd Branch of Cottonwood Creek.

OTBR: An American-Themed Diner in the UK

Latitude: N 52° 20.778
Longitude: W 000° 10.602

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".

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

IMDB

Zero Dark Thirty (2012): Torture porn. Controversial history. Little dramatic tension. I thought death of UBL would be more satisfying. C+

Protecting Richardson From More Apartments

Junior:
Tell me a story, tell me a story
Tell me a story, remember what you said
You promised me you said you would
You got to give in so I'll be good
Tell me a story, then I'll go to bed

Father:
Once upon a time I remember long ago

Junior:
Don't go back in history your memory's kinda slow

Source: Lyrics by Terry Gilkyson.

"Protecting Richardson From More Apartments." Uh huh. That's the story that we're being told. Not from a PAC but directly from the candidate himself, Amir Omar. Who wants to be mayor. Who has hired a high-priced political consultant to achieve that for him. Who has said he conducted telephone polls to determine the issues that are relevant to our residents. So protecting Richardson from more apartments must be one of those issues that plays well with voters. So, that's our story. But does the story match the history?

Let's go back in history to find out. After the jump.