Fact Checking the Trash Talk

Monday night the NTMWD addressed the Richardson City Council about plans to replace the Lookout Trash Transfer Station. Neighbors of the transfer station are objecting to the project. There are some bogus claims making the rounds. Not in what the NTMWD presented, but in what's being said by the public. The longer such claims go uncorrected, the more deeply they take root as established "facts". After the jump, two examples.

Trash in the Spotlight

It may not generate the excitement and anticipation of, say, the opening of a new Harry Potter movie, but Monday night's Richardson City Council work session had an agenda item that some residents have been waiting months for. Trash and how to move it from here to there.

"NTMWD staff will update City Council regarding progress to date concerning the construction of a new Transfer Station at Lookout Drive's terminus point east of Plano Road. District staff will address various neighborhood concerns and present a regional solid waste system need relative to construction of a new Lookout Dr. Transfer Station. Lastly, NTMWD staff will present/explain the new station's necessary 'throughput' amount, which is of significant interest to all parties involved in these station improvements."

After the jump, my own assessment of whether the work session lived up to expectations.

Sick? State Formula Says Go To School

In November, in a blog item about organ donation, I blogged about what's known as misaligned incentives in economics. An example was offered from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's SuperFreakonomics from the ambulance business in mid-20th century America.

"Ambulances were often run by the local mortuary. It is hard to think of a better example of misaligned incentives: a funeral director who is put in charge of helping a patient not die!"

Now we have another example much closer to home. After the jump, how the state of Texas encourages local school districts to get sick children to drag their sorry butts out of bed and get to school.

And the Chairman's Award Goes To ...

Richardson Christmas Parade Chairman's Award

From 2009 12 Santas Village

The Chairman's Award for the Richardson Christmas Parade goes to the RISD combined high school marching bands from Berkner, Lake Highlands, Pearce and Richardson High Schools. Santa's Village opened in Richardson Saturday evening with the awards ceremony for the Christmas parade held earlier in the day. Based on points awarded to each unit in the parade, the RISD combined high school marching band received the highest total points for the youth entrants (or maybe it was the junior/senior high entrants), earning it the Chairman's Award. Seen above is Ellen accepting the award from the ... Chairman? ... on behalf of the RISD Fine Arts Department.

OK, I don't fully understand the award criteria or exactly who it was making the presentation, but that's not the point. I'm a blogger, not a reporter. Go find Ian McCann if you want the facts. The point is that it was a frigid sunny day, perfect for a Christmas parade, a lot of money was raised for charity and the awards ceremony was a lot of fun to kick off another Santa's Village, which keeps getting better and better. It's open every weekend between now and Christmas. It's free. It's great fun for kids from 1 to 92. Check it out.

More photos can be seen here.

OTBR: Off The Blue Roads

Latitude: 38.405° N
Longitude: 91.083° W

From GD101

There's a story I like about a family on a car trip. A child 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".