Cheers and Jeers: Tornado Edition

"Jeers: To CBS 11's chief weather guy, Larry Mowry, for being the new 'Chicken Little.' He keeps interrupting the TV programs to bring us a weather update every time a clap of thunder occurs."
-- Harlan Wood, Grapevine, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 14, 2011

Just ten days ago, Fort Worth Star-Telegram panned Channel 11 for taking thunderstorms in Tornado Alley seriously, worthy of informing its viewers about. Since then, at least 120 people were killed in a tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Just Tuesday night, 8 more people were killed in a tornado in Oklahoma City and several more in Kansas and Arkansas. Let's never get blasé about them, OK?

After the jump, north Texas's turn to duck and cover!

Build the Wall. Not that Wall.

From 2011 03 16 Xian

Let's build a wall. Not at the Mexican border. Around Dallas. At Loop 12. Or maybe at IH635. I dunno. Ask Jim Schutze.

First, it was Patrick Kennedy lobbying to tear out the downtown freeways in Dallas. He still tolerates freeways between cities and mass transit solutions like DART inside cities. Just not freeways inside cities. A daring suggestion, but not without precedent.

After the jump, The Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze raises the bet.

Richardson Selects a Mayor

Last night, while most Richardson residents were home watching the Dallas Mavericks play the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of their NBA Western Conference Championship series, a large number of civic-minded citizens were waiting in the Richardson City Council chambers like expectant fathers. They passed the time by relaying the basketball score while waiting for news of the arrival of Richardson's next mayor.

Richardson has an unusual way of choosing its Mayor. The voters don't do it. The voters elect seven members of the City Council. After being sworn in, the first act of the new council is to elect one of themselves Mayor and another Mayor Pro Tem. The official vote is done in open session, but it's preceded by a closed executive session during which the new council deliberates.

Earlier, I discussed the pros and cons of having the City Council select the Mayor as opposed of having the voters do it. Here, I want to discuss the pros and cons of the City Council doing it in a closed, executive session.

After the jump, is this a good idea?

Direct Election of Richardson's Mayor

Each council term, Richardson's mayor is selected by the seven council members from among their own ranks. The mayor for the 2011-2013 term will be selected Monday night, May 23, 2011. Earlier, I offered The Wheel's betting line on which council member will end up mayor.

Today, I want to look at a bigger question. Should Richardson voters directly elect the mayor? You might think that property taxes and city services might command voters' attention instead, but this process issue keeps cropping up in city council elections. Some of the interest can be attributed to the dislike of the long-serving, soon-to-be former mayor by a vocal minority of residents. They haven't been able to dislodge the mayor through the current system, so they look to change the system. Regardless of the source of the desire to change the system, let's look at the issue on its merits.

After the jump, should Richardson change its charter to have direct election of the mayor?

Betting Line On Richardson's Next Mayor

Richardson's City Council election is over, but the selection of the next mayor is still ahead. That's because Richardson's system of government has the mayor selected from among the seven council members by the council members themselves. After being sworn into office Monday evening, the new council's first order of business will be to select the next mayor from among their own ranks.

After the jump, The Wheel's betting line.