Council Recap: A Lone Vote for Good Urban Design

Source: h/t DALL-E.

April 28, 2025, was the night that the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Bob Dubey, officially abandoned our century-old downtown compact street grid in favor of a 580-ft superblock on which to build a 279-unit apartment building on property controlled by Manasseh Durkin, who just so happens to be a repeat donor to Mayor Dubey's election campaign. Also the same Manasseh Durkin whose limited partnership is being sued by the City of Richardson for breach of contract on another downtown project. These guys are getting brazen.

2073 (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

2073 (2025): Mostly clips of various kinds of catastrophes strung together for 90 minutes with brief breaks to see a woman living in apocalyptic end times of 2073. No plot. No characters. Mind-numbing and pessimistic. D-

Max

Dubey Gets Cash. Durkin Gets EDA. City Gets Screwed.

Source: Happy Hippie Brewing Co..

We've been getting down in the muck examining the hypocrisy hidden in plain sight in Mayor Bob Dubey's campaign finance reports. Manasseh Durkin, a big property owner in Richardson, gave money to Dubey's campaign for mayor, then sent out a mailer to voters smearing Dubey's opponent for having some lawsuits in his past, with neither mentioning the serious lawsuit Durkin himself is facing.

Diving into Dubey's Campaign Finance Report

Source: Adobe Firefly.

You know how, when you turn the light on in the kitchen, cockroaches scatter? Well, maybe not in my kitchen or yours, but let's say in the break room at City Hall. And let's say it's not cockroaches feeding in the public pantry, it's developers...and the Mayor is opening the food packages for the roaches, er, developers. Enough with the strained metaphor, let's get to the story.

Dubey Faces Ethics and Transparency Questions

Mayor Bob Dubey has close ties with a major developer with questionable ethics. Their cozy relationship raises ethical questions about Dubey himself. You won't find this developer listed among Dubey's endorsements. That raises transparency questions about Dubey as well. The supporter I'm referring to is Manasseh Durkin, whose self-named Durkin Properties says they are the "largest land holder in CORE District" in Richardson, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Following the Money behind Dubey's Mudslinging

Source: Pro-Dubey mailer.

Bob Dubey and his supporters have unleashed a barrage of mudslinging against Amir Omar using Dubey's advantage in fundraising, largely from sources outside the City of Richardson. Dubey might portray himself as a good old boy, but he's got big money backing him, including developer money, which is often the biggest money in local elections. Funny how that works. They are not holding back on mudslinging. Because we're already into early voting, it might be too late to properly sort out the truths from the half truths and lies.

The hypocrisy in this is that the attacks carry headlines like "Ethics and Transparency," but the authors of the attack ads don't reveal their names. One is a text message from "Larry with Right 4 Richardson." The other a mailer from "R2MFR, LLC." They force you to hunt down who is behind the attacks, if you can.

"This just got dirty. Disappointed in Mayor Dubey"

Source: Reddit.

After running a generally unobjectionable campaign (read "boring") for the first two months, Mayor Bob Dubey turned negative in a mailer during the first week of open voting. Why? Maybe he always planned to go negative at this point in the election or maybe he has some new polling that suggests Amir Omar's message of positive change is resonating with voters whereas Dubey's status quo message is not.

Still Plenty of Room for More Trees

Source: Washington Post.

Amir Omar is running for Mayor of Richardson. His campaign website biography says, "Amir is most closely tied to the creation of Tree the Town, which was the largest tree-planting initiative in North Texas history powered by donations from commercial and residential community members vs the City." That program was discontinued by the City of Richardson soon after Omar left office in 2013. He later resumed his tree-planting efforts, "personally buying and planting trees across Richardson, starting with planting trees for individuals who lost countless mature trees in the tornado that damaged hundreds of homes in southeast Richardson in 2019."

That led me to wonder, just how many more trees are needed, or even possible? A lot, it turns out. Mayor Amir Omar will have plenty to do.

Charter Review: Article 4

Artist: John Trumbull.

On April 17, 2025, the Richardson Charter Review Commission continued their review of the Richardson Charter, covering Article 4 (Nomination and Election of City Council Members). The Commission had planned to review Article 3 (City Council) as well, but decided to postpone that until the May 1 meeting to give them time to study the material prepared by staff (history of Richardson's City Council turnover, and surveys of other cities and the terms of city councils, compensation, and length of terms). I still expect major changes to Richardson's form of governance to come out of that meeting. Everything from longer terms to staggered terms to, who knows, ranked-choice-voting and other unlikely, but not necessarily crazy, changes. If anyone wants a say, submit your inputs or come speak in person.

Still no video by the City to link you to. To paraphrase City policy: "Move along. There's nothing to see here."

Paradise - S01 (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Paradise - S01 (TV 2025): After an apocalyptic event causes the government to evacuate to an underground city in Colorado, the President is murdered. His bodyguard has to solve the murder while trying to rescue his own wife, who was left behind and may be dead. The episode 7 flashback is thrilling and answers so many questions. B+

Hulu