Prohibiting Public Input

Ken Hutchenrider, chairman of the Richardson Vote YES Campaign Committee, explains why he thinks it's necessary to amend the city charter to prohibit public input at emergency city council meetings.

Another change grants the City Council the right to prohibit public input when it calls an emergency meeting. An emergency Council meeting has been called only once in recent history, and that was when the City agreed to house and offer services to refugees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It seems appropriate for the Council to keep its focus on the issue at hand when it is an emergency.

Source: Ken Hutchenrider.

He chose the wrong example. I can't think of an emergency more in need of public input than an offer by the city to house refugees in our community. Where? How many? How long? All questions for which public input could be critical in getting the answers right. Surely, Richardson's reaction to this emergency wouldn't have been negatively impacted due to a short delay to let Richardson residents speak to the council before the council acted.

CitizenTownHall.org

There's a new blog about Richardson politics: CitizenTownHall.org. (Kudos on the domain name. I'm surprised it was still available.) The blog claims to be "created by and for the fine people of Richardson, Texas." (OK, fine. Don't name names.)

What will the blog be about? It says, "Here we discuss issues that affect our quality of life, our pocketbooks, and our rights as citizens. What we have discovered has taken years of research, dogged determination in digging up the facts behind the stories, and collecting documented evidence that can help protect our lifestyle and the city we have come to love." (If that reads a little like someone who writes prolifically on Facebook, well, maybe yes, maybe no. She doesn't say.)

Will the new blog have something to say? Certainly. Will it add anything of value? That remains to be seen.

Aurora: Light, Video & Sound

From 2015 10 16 Dallas Aurora

Aurora, a one-night-every-two-years event in the Dallas Arts District, bills itself as "An Immersive Free Public Art Event of Light, Video & Sound." That really doesn't tell you what Aurora is all about but it's about as accurate a description as any I could give. It was certainly popular. Some people say it was too popular for its own good, which reminds me of the quote from the late, great Yogi Berra: "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

The city had traffic barricades aplenty. Perhaps a big map/sign in each block would have helped orient those who just stumbled upon this without knowing what was what. We had done some homework before going so we sort of knew what to expect and just kind of wandered the Arts District. Serendipity worked well for us.

We had a great time. We ate before we went. We rode DART. We strolled the whole Arts District without worrying too much about trying to see things with long lines. Instead, we found things like the young singers in the Booker T. Washington courtyard theater. Uncrowded, relaxing, beautiful.

Two thumbs up from us.

More photos after the jump.

State Fair of Texas (2015)

From 2015 10 15 State Fair of Texas

More photos after the jump.

City Charter Amendments: Upon Further Review

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The League of Women Voters of Richardson hosted a panel discussion on October 14 about the upcoming Richardson city charter amendments election. Dr. Robert Lowry of UT-Dallas and Dr Matthew Wilson of SMU discussed the pros and cons of many of the 83 propositions on November's ballot.

And, just to show I was listening, and just to show that old dogs are capable of learning new tricks, I actually changed my mind on a few of the propositions.

Outdoor Lights Don't Deter Crime

There, I said it. Bear with me. I'll walk back that counter-intuitive statement in a bit. But only a little.

Regularly I read on Facebook or Nextdoor or in chain emails a call for everyone to keep their porch lights on overnight. Or for the city to install more street lights. The following is a typical example:

Some people regularly turn porch lights off when going to bed. I'm always amazed driving through neighborhoods and no exterior lights are on. It's one little thing we can do to maybe deter a crime. Having a well lit exterior just sends a signal that we care and are watching.

Source: Facebook.

This is repeated so often that most people just assume it must be good advice. I, on the other hand, have never been convinced of the logic of this. I've suspected that street lighting might even do more harm than good. But I didn't have the facts. Now I do.

Rosewater (2014)

IMDB

Rosewater (2014): Jon Stewart's pet project. Shows Iran is evil and Stewart is the best of his class. Good movie. Important message. A-

POTD: Vietnamese Tombs

From 2015 03 26 Halong Bay

Today's photo-of-the-day is from northern Vietnam. It shows a farmer at work in his field. Behind him are family tombs. I'm no expert on Vietnamese burial practices, but from what I've read, when someone dies, their body is buried in their rice field for three years, after which it is exhumed and moved to a family cemetery. I heard two different reasons for this practice. One is religious. The time in the first tomb is used by the deceased to earn the right to be buried in the family cemetery. The other reason is more practical. The tomb in the family's rice field denotes clear ownership of the field. But the family doesn't want to take up too much of their rice field, so the burials are only temporary. If I've insulted anyone with a mistaken understanding of local culture, I apologize. Personally, I found the practice both moving and visually compelling.

Decoherence

In his great biography of Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson describes how Franklin fundamentally changed America, bringing Puritanism "into an Enlightenment era that exalted tolerance, individual merit, civic virtue, good deeds, and rationality." I used to think all Americans since Franklin shared those values. Used to. I changed my mind long ago.

I'm a go-along, get-along kind of guy. Cooperate. Compromise. Consensus. Win-win. It's the way I was raised. When I was young, I used to think it was the American way. One nation. E Pluribus Unum. Melting pot. I'm learning not to be so naive, but I'm still caught off guard when I run across people to whom a preference for compromise or tolerance is considered a character flaw.

Source: Mark Steger.

I wrote that in 2012. I'm back today with another realization that rocks my childhood understanding of the values that I just assumed all Americans shared.

Lake Highlands 37, Richardson 22

From 2015 10 09 Lake Highlands vs Richardson

The Lake Highlands Wildcats improved their District 10-6A record to 3-0 with a hard-fought 37-22 win over Richardson Friday night, spoiling Richardson's Homecoming. Richardson drops to 1-2.

All the action, including the game, cheerleaders, drill team, colorguard, marching band and all the rest that make high school football the best value in sports entertainment, can be seen on Google Photos. Remember, without the band, it's just a game.