That Other Election: RISD Place 4

While most people's attention was distracted by the mayoral election in Richardson, there was another election taking place: for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees. On April 16, the League of Women Voters of Richardson and the Richardson ISD Council of PTAs co-sponsored a forum for Lanet Greenhaw (incumbent), Rachel Chumney and Bonnie Abadee.

I was one of about 75 people in the audience of that forum. My judgment at the time? You can read the whole thing or just this summary: "If this were a prize fight, it would have been called by the third round."

Well, of course, it wasn't a prize fight. The election was held weeks after the forum, with a different audience. In the election itself, 11,659 people voted, about 11,584 more than attended that forum to, you know, actually listen to the candidates address the issues face to face. All those additional voters gave Rachel Chumney a plurality of the vote, not enough to win, but enough to force a runoff on June 15 with incumbent Lanet Greenhaw.

After the jump, did I miss something? Or did the voters who skipped the forum miss something?

S2L77: Qutub Minar of Delhi

From 1977 03 02 India

Qutub Minar (English: The Qutub Tower) is the tallest minaret in India, originally an ancient Islamic Monument, inscribed with Arabic inscriptions, though the iron pillar has some Brahmi inscriptions, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in Delhi, the Qutub Minar is made of red sandstone and marble. The tower has 379 stairs, is 72.5 metres (237.8 ft) high, and has a base diameter of 14.3 metres, which narrows to 2.7 metres at the top storey. Construction was started in 1192 by Qutub-ud-din Aibak and was completed by Iltutmish. It is surrounded by several other ancient and medieval structures and ruins, collectively known as the Qutub complex. Tradition assigns the erection of the pillar to Anang Pal, whose name it bears, with the date 1052 C.E.

Source: Wikipedia.

More photos after the jump.

Election Wrap: Promises, Promises

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

The most important loose end is a need to document the promises Laura Maczka made in her campaign for mayor. Here are the promises made at just one candidate forum, the one held on April 2, 2013, at RISD's MST Magnet School, sponsored by the Highland Terrace NA.

Selection of Mayor pro tem: Maczka promised to support the selection of the next mayor pro tem in open session, versus the prior practice of doing this in closed, executive session. (This promise has already been fulfilled ... kind of. The council did not use executive session to privately deliberate their choice for Mayor Pro Tem. But they didn't deliberate in public, either. There was one nomination, no discussion and a quick unanimous vote.)

City Charter Review: Laura Maczka promised to support a full city charter review in the next term.

Changes to council agendas: Maczka promised to add a regular agenda item at the end of each council meeting for the council to discuss and propose future agenda items.

Zero-based budgeting: Maczka expressed support for the idea of zero-based budgeting and a top-to-bottom departmental financial review. Maczka fudged her answer enough to give herself wriggle room later as to exactly what that means.

Less trash collection: Maczka gave trash collection as an example of an expense in the city budget that she would look at to save money. She says Richardson residents enjoy four separate collections on a weekly basis: two for trash, one for recyclables, one for bulky items. She promised to look at this, perhaps reducing the number of collections or adding a fee for some collections.

Less tree planting: Maczka gave the cost of watering the trees planted as part of the "Tree the Town" program as an example of an expense in the city budget that might not be the best use of Richardson tax money.

Change pensions to 401k: Maczka expressed a willingness to look at the possibility of converting the defined benefit pension system for city employees to a defined contribution 401k-type system. She did not promise to make the change, only to look at it. Maczka promised that any changes would apply only to future employees, not current employees.

Crackdown on speeding: Maczka promised to crack down on speeding on Grove Rd. "Absolutely," Maczka said. Lucky you if you live on Grove Rd., or not so lucky, depending on your driving habits.

What Maczka will *not* do:

Narcotics squad: Maczka opposed fund and staffing a narcotics squad within the Richardson Police Department.

RISD Natatorium: Maczka opposed partnering with the RISD in sharing facilities like natatoria. In a different forum, she expressed interest in a public/private partnership to provide such facilities.

Election Wrap: Omar's Future

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

Monday night, Amir Omar made a gracious exit after serving four years on Richardson's City Council. But in losing the Richardson mayor's race, he has made it very hard on himself to have a future in Richardson politics. The establishment turned its back on him. In return, he turned his back on them. The standing ovation he received after his farewell doesn't change that history.

During the campaign, Omar gravitated to becoming the de facto candidate of the tea party, whether any group going by that name officially endorsed him or not, whether he himself embraced the notion or not. Unfortunately for him and his future, the tea party hasn't been able to elect dog catcher in this town. Omar was their best candidate by far in three elections and even he came up far short.

Maybe the city council will be magnanimous and offer him a seat on a board or commission, and he'd probably be humble and dedicated enough to accept, but somehow I don't see that happening. The attacks on his character were too vicious, too personal, for a "let bygones be bygones" attitude to prevail after this election. Still, stranger things have happened.

Is there an opening up the ladder? He didn't help himself with the country club Republicans in this election. As for the tea party Republicans, he could recreate himself as a full-fledged tea party candidate, then challenge an existing officeholder from the right in a GOP primary. But think of that. Is it even possible to imagine anyone getting to the right of, say, Stefani Carter? Or outfundraising Pete Sessions? Or attacking Tiger Mother Angie Chen Button?

Is there an opening elsewhere? Is Omar young enough to pack his bags and move away from Richardson to work his way up through the ranks again in another city? Regardless here or there, he would need to clean up his biography and business résumé, which was picked on to devastating effect by the Richardson Coalition PAC and not just them. Rodger Jones of The Dallas Morning News expressed doubts about Omar's claimed business experience. Omar has some damage control to do if he wants a future in politics anywhere.

If he can put aside electoral ambitions on his own behalf, he would probably be both welcomed and excellent working for another officeholder. A stint in Austin or even Washington, D.C., working on a politician's staff or for a lobbying group could do wonders for his own next run for public office. Will Omar be satisfied leaving politics and throwing himself fully into his work with charities and non-profits? Who knows? He himself may not be sure what he wants to do next. But any organization that can recruit him is getting a dynamo.

All that's certain is that there will be another act for Amir Omar. He has too much talent and energy to just fade away. I just don't have the crystal ball that can give me any confidence in predicting just what his future might hold.

Election Wrap: An Independent View

I received an email from a long-time Richardson resident, which contained a thoughtful analysis of Richardson's recent mayoral election. I am publishing the email in full, with the author's permission, after the jump.

Selecting a Mayor Pro Tem

It's that time again. Now that Richardson's city council election is over, now that the sturm und drang of an election campaign has abated, now that the voters themselves have elected their next mayor, it's time to seat the new council and have them choose from among themselves, with no say from the voters, who should be their mayor -- mayor pro tem, anyway. What?!? If that sounds like maybe we haven't made as much change as we thought we were making, it's because it's true.

It's even less of a change when you consider just who we are swearing in as mayor. The voters ratified the preferred candidate of the establishment group that has backed every winning city council member in the last three elections. So, instead of the voters picking the establishment-backed council candidates who then pick the mayor, the voters pick the establishment-backed mayor themselves. Ironically, the anti-establishment forces that succeeded in getting direct election of the mayor into Richardson's city charter just ended up giving the establishment pick more legitimacy. The Richardson Coalition PAC owes Alan North a big thank you.

But enough hindsight. The time has come to pick a Mayor Pro Tem. Who should it be? After the jump, my thoughts.

Lincoln (2012)

IMDB

Lincoln (2012): Why Lincoln was our greatest president. More true now, 150 years on, than ever. Great storytelling. Deserved the Oscar. A+