Oh, That Law Trumps My Law? Never Mind.

At Monday night's Richardson City Council meeting, attorney Richard Tanner spoke during the open-mic visitors section and accused the city council of illegally violating the city charter by issuing certificates of obligation (bonds) without first submitting the matter to the voters. Serious accusation. This wasn't your stereotypical "old man yells at cloud" rant. He's a lawyer. He must know what he's talking about, right?

After the jump, what the lawyer didn't know. Or at least what he didn't tell us.

Spring Valley Matrix: Be Afraid Of The Future

Movie franchise sequels tend to disappoint, then peter out altogether. Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, anyone? That's the same feeling I got watching the third briefing of the Richardson City Council on the West Spring Valley Corridor Reinvestment Study. I'd seen it all before. It wasn't really answering any of the questions I had from the first movie. And it wasn't going anywhere. My take on the first two briefings can be read here and here. After the jump, my take on the third briefing.

Twitter Tracks: Preserve Richardson, Breckenridge, Organ Donation

Twitter tracks from June, 2010:

• 2010 06 01 - There's a new non-profit dedicated to preserving artifacts and photographs from Richardson history: http://preservationrichardson.org/
• 2010 06 02 - Travel old Route 66 today and see all the towns that died when the Interstate bypassed them. Then you'll know why cities don't cut the cord.
• 2010 06 02 - Remember Breckenridge? When the railroad (the freeway of its day) bypassed the town, it died. Richardson replaced it. http://goo.gl/dFuf
• 2010 06 02 - Headline: "THEFT At The 'Tonight Show.'" Surprised? Don't be, the stolen items were from wardrobe, not Jay's jokes. No one wanted those.
• 2010 06 03 - Baseball doesn't need another asterisk. The call was the call. Sure, it sucked. Deal with it. Move on.
• 2010 06 03 - Pitcher Armando Galarraga to umpire Jim Joyce after the ump's bad call at first base: "Nobody's perfect."
• 2010 06 03 - Headline: "Kagan pays 'courtesy call' on Cornyn." Yep, that's all it was 'cause she knows she can't expect any courtesy in reciprocation.
• 2010 06 04 - Headline: "New Study Shows Arctic Ice at Lowest Point in Thousands of Years." Don't worry, don't listen, they're scientists.
• 2010 06 04 - The Big Short: Story of investors who foresaw the housing collapse and knew how to profit. Great explanation for economic meltdown. Read it.
• 2010 06 05 - Excellent case for organ donation by someone whose family faced the agonizing situation. A must read from Richardson. http://goo.gl/bGcr
• 2010 06 05 - An Education: a girl, smart and clever beyond her years, in a hurry to grow up, gains wisdom as she gets ... an education. See it.
• 2010 06 05 - Women's lacrosse Final Four ref's conflict of interest taints Maryland's championship. NCAA screwed up... again. http://goo.gl/SdtQ
• 2010 06 05 - Arizona school mural whitewashed. When you say, "I am not a racist individual, but..." you confirm that yes, you are. http://goo.gl/KFM7

After the jump, more Twitter tracks.

Summer Road Trip (2010)

Chicago

From 2010 0707 Chicago

We're back. Seven states. Ten cities. Thirteen days. 2,932 miles. Countless good times and memories. Click on the links below to see where we went and what we were up to.

• Photos from Hot Springs, Arkansas
  
• Photos from Little Rock, Arkansas
  
• Photos from Memphis, Tennessee
  
• Photos from St. Louis, Missouri
  
• Photos from Springfield, Illinois
  
• Photos from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  
• Photos from Appleton, Wisconsin
  
• Photos from Suamico, Wisconsin
  
• Photos from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
  

Schmoozing, Walking Forums And Open Meetings

Yesterday we had a pop quiz on civics. The two questions dealt with compensation for public employees. Today's question deals with government transparency. It is prompted by Jim Schutze's report of a Dallas City Council meeting.

"Before the council bit into [a contentious issue], [Mayor Tom] Leppert called a 10-minute recess. This is where the real stuff happens. The microphones are off; they've stepped away from the dais; and all we can see out here in the peanut gallery is who's shmoozing whom."

The Texas Open Meetings Act forbids government bodies from deliberating public business in private serial meetings of less than a quorum (so-called "walking quorums") then ratifying their actions as a quorum in a subsequent public meeting. The question is, why is the schmoozing described by Schutze not an illegal "walking quorum?"