One Step Closer to Restaurant Row

Source: Hermansen Land Development, Inc.

Richardson appears to be getting one step closer to building a row of 1980s-style suburban restaurants at Central Expressway and Floyd Rd where the demolished Continental Inn used to be. So much for any dream of mixed-use development between the freeway and the single family homes in the Heights Park Richardson Heights neighborhood.

Three years ago, the city held a series of meetings to gather stakeholders' inputs on the aims of redevelopment of the West Spring Valley Corridor, which includes the land in question here. What rated highest with the stakeholders were the pretty pictures of sidewalk cafes and strolling shoppers. The city had other ideas. It purchased the old Continental Inn, demolished it, and is now (presumably) in the process of acquiring the other parcels of land on the block. Once all the land is in hand, Richardson will likely sell its stake to Hermansen Land Development, Inc., for construction of, not sidewalk cafes with strolling shoppers, but a 1980s-style restaurant row.

After the jump, why that unimaginative development may be one step closer.

Plano East 34, Berkner 13

From 2013 09 13 Berkner vs Plano East

Plano East is the largest high school in Texas. Official UIL enrollment: Plano East 6,015. Berkner 2,654. I'm just saying. I'm not making excuses (yes, I am).

Back to football. The Plano East Panthers beat the Berkner Rams convincingly Friday night at Tom Kimbrough Stadium. The Rams kept it close early, tying the score at 7 early in the second quarter, but from then on, it was all Panthers. A 57-yard fumble return by Berkner gave Rams fans something to cheer late in the fourth quarter, making the final score 34-13.

More photos after the jump.

Pete Sessions Draws a Challenger

I never understood how Pete Sessions keeps getting re-elected to the U.S. Congress term after term without drawing any serious opposition. I couldn't understand the nature of his support. Oh, he gets top ratings from groups like the NRA and National Right to Life, but he's just so... sleazy -- he also gets top ratings from the payday lenders and Vegas strip clubs.

Sessions usually draws a Democratic challenger and maybe a Libertarian challenger, but in his safe Republican district (safe thanks in part to gerrymandering), his re-election is never in doubt. Big business Republicans can count on him and he's always been good enough at pandering to the Tea Party types to keep them in line. He promises to repeal Obamacare, but he never does anything really crazy like shut down the federal government or default on the federal debt, which would be disastrous for business.

More and more, the Tea Party is not content with lip service crazy; they want the real thing. Sessions should be way too establishment for them. I never understood why he didn't draw a Tea Party challenger in the GOP primary. After the jump, why that might be about to change.

A Bad Reason for Voter Photo ID

Jared Patterson, candidate for Texas House District 112 (challenging incumbent Angie Chen Button) posted this on Facebook:

In an attempt to purchase a roll of stamps this afternoon, I was asked to show two forms of photo identification (because I hadn’t endorsed the back of the credit card I was using). How is it rational to determine that purchasing stamps must be more protected than our election process? #VoterID #CommonSense

Source: Facebook.

After the jump, why #VoterID is not #CommonSense.

Kon-Tiki (2012)

IMDB

Kon-Tiki (2012): Drama, not documentary, but what a story. Cross between Columbus and Survivor. Inspiring adventure. Fine filmmaking. B-