Wait List for Packers Tickets Shrinks

Being an NFL team owner brings a responsibility to keep an eye on operations, so our trip to Wisconsin included a visit to Lambeau Field to check up on construction activity. Lambeau Field is adding 6,000 new seats to bring the total to 77,000, still not quite enough to hold the whole 106,000 population of Green Bay. The expansion means that about 5,000 people on the wait list, all of them waiting for at least 30 years, will finally get the opportunity to buy season tickets. Inside the stadium, those new decks in the south end zone will be hard to miss. Outside the stadium, the big new scoreboard is hard to miss. Approaching Green Bay from the south on US Highway 41, the big "G" on the back of the scoreboard is visible from miles away. Construction is expected to be complete this month, in time for the 2013 season. Go Pack!

OTBR: A Mill on a Pond in the Czech Republic

Latitude: N 49° 10.146
Longitude: E 015° 25.086

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

S2L77: Lahore, Pakistan

Lahore, Pakistan
March 15, 1977

Srinigar to Jammu. 200 miles. Nine hours. Delays due to army trucks blocking narrow mountain roads.
Jammu to India/Pakistan border. Three hours at the border.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From the Heaven on earth that is the Vale of Kashmir, it was back to the hot, dusty plains of the Punjab, across the India/Pakistan border (crossing took three hours, a sign of trouble in the region), and on to Punjab's largest city, Lahore, home to millions. Like much of northern India, Mughal architecture dominates tourism, from the ubiquitous Red Fort to the tomb of Mughal Emperor Jehangir to the gigantic Badshahi Mosque.

From 1977 03 17 Pakistan

More after the jump.

The Glorious Fourth

From 2012 07 04 Breckinridge

Richardson's Family 4th Celebration 2012
Photos from 2012's celebration can be viewed on Google Photos.

Django Unchained (2012)

IMDB

Django Unchained (2012): Quintessential Tarantino. Over the top, exaggerated violence, cartoonish spaghetti Western with an attitude. B+

Repeat Tweets: Reward Good Trustees, Voters

Repeat tweets from June, 2013:

• 1 Jun 2013: MT @aviselk: "Irving ISD has private investigator looking into board President." Richardson ISD is well run. Reward good trustees, voters.
  
• 1 Jun 2013: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Bipolar patient meets flipped out young widow. Somehow it works. Uncomfortable with a happy ending. B+
  
• 2 Jun 2013: Overheard: "I keep asking when they are going to hire a qualified person to run the Dyslexia program." And school board candidates. ;-)
  
• 2 Jun 2013: "We were put here on earth to help others. I'm not sure what others were put here for." -- W.H. Auden
  
• 2 Jun 2013: RT @SenTedCruz: "Obama Admin is using machinery of govt to target political enemies." Who needs evidence? Darrell Issa's "gut" is enough.
  
• 2 Jun 2013: Unfortunate choice of headline: "One-legged torso found floating in Venice lagoon has authorities stumped."
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Looking in the Kitchens of Richardson Restaurants

Did you know the City of Richardson's Health Department publishes restaurant inspection scores? Not on the front door of the restaurant, that's for sure (the city doesn't require restaurants to post them). Not on the city's "Dine Smart, Dine Local" promotional emails or website (the city doesn't include inspection scores with the tons of other information they helpfully provide on each restaurant).

The last time I looked at how the city handled this, I wasn't impressed. Hunting through the city's isolated restaurant inspection score website is the only way to find out what the health inspector thinks of your favorite restaurant's kitchen.

After the jump, technology comes to the rescue. If Richardson opens up its database, that is.

S2L77: Srinigar, Kashmir Valley

Srinigar, Kashmir
March 12, 1977

Staying on the houseboat Babar -- living in luxury, lounge room, dining room, bedrooms with private baths, roof deck, servants. Evening boat ride on Dal Lake!

The next afternoon a three and a half hour shikara boat ride to the Mughal gardens.

Trip to Gulmarg. Horse ride up to snow fields.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

The Vale of Kashmir is sometimes called Heaven on Earth for its natural beauty. Kashmir has lakes and snow-capped mountains, making it a prime vacation spot and a welcome break after my travels through the hot, dusty plains of northern India. We stayed on luxurious houseboats on Dal Lake.

More after the jump.

Mother (2009)

IMDB

Mother (2009): Korean murder mystery. Mother desperately seeks to clear her mentally challenged son. Tense, tragic, heart-breaking. B-

Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Amazon

From The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami:

When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta."

Thus the mystery begins for Toru Okada, an easy-going young man in Tokyo who recently quit his unfulfilling job without knowing exactly what he was going to do next. On the phone is a mysterious woman with a sexy voice. Before long, Okada is in search of his lost cat, then his missing wife, then explanations for all the odd characters and implausible coincidences that complicate his simple life.

After the jump, my review.

The Turin Horse (2011)

IMDB

The Turin Horse (2011): Farmer, daughter and Nietzsche's horse in a post-apocalyptic barren landscape, a la Bergman. Dry as a dust storm. C-

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

DFW Airport has been serving north Texas since 1974, yet still has no direct mass transit connections serving it. DART brags that from its Belt Line Station on the Orange Line, it's just a "short, 4-mile ride over to Terminal A via a DART bus."

To be fair, this might be the last year I can badmouth DART's lack of light rail service to DFW Airport. DART says it's "hard at work building a state-of-the-art light rail facility at Terminal A. The DART Light Rail service will arrive at its permanent, Terminal A station in 2014."

That's still just the Orange Line. Which is fine if you're coming from downtown Dallas. But what if you're coming from, say, Richardson? You'll be waiting a while longer than 2014. After the jump, the dismal outlook.

First Day of Summer in the Steger Garden (2013)

From Flowers

Who Needs the NSA to Erode Privacy?

Ernestine: What's that Mr. Veedle? Privileged information?... that's so cute. You're dealing with the phone company, Mr. Veedle. We are not bound by city, state, or federal regulations. We are omnipotent.

Source: Lily Tomlin as Ernestine.

A lot of people are apoplectic over the NSA's surveillance program that captures metadata from phone calls (which numbers are calling which numbers). In the past, courts have ruled that persons have no expectation of privacy about this data, which seems to be a surprise to many. Look folks, this isn't news.

After the jump, privacy from the days of Ernestine to Twitter.

Indie Game (2012)

IMDB

Indie Game (2012): Nerds hope to get rich writing video games. Maybe if you're into Super Meat Boy or Fez. Even then, play, don't watch. D+

Who Is Encroaching on Nature Now?

In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World.

Source: Henry David Thoreau.

"My dream of a greater Spring Creek Nature Area may be over. My dream of a greater Richardson isn't." That's what I wrote back in April, 2011, when I saw bulldozers and construction cranes encroaching on the biggest, best chunk of natural area left in Richardson. Blue Cross plunked down a huge office building to the south. The City of Richardson accommodated it by cutting a wide gash through the forest for the Routh Creek Parkway. That big empty lot north of Renner Rd was rezoned for development (and now, two years later, major development is finally underway). The Spring Creek Nature Area was getting sliced up and hemmed in on all sides. Didn't anyone see what Richardson was losing?

In that blog post from two years ago, I conceded that my dream of preserving wildness was just another quixotic dream of mine. Sigh. But I challenged the city to think long and carefully before they allowed more development of the land surrounding the Spring Creek Nature Area. It has to be done right, I said, in a way that organically transitions between nature and neighborhood, in a way that enhances both park and commerce.

After the jump, so who's encroaching on Spring Creek Nature Area now?

Richardson: Suburb or City?

Off and on for a long time, I've blogged about what I call my quixotic dream to rip up Central Expressway through Richardson and replace it with a people-scaled grand boulevard or central park. I call it quixotic because I know it will never come true. Dallas and Plano and Allen and McKinney would never, ever, allow it. So, my calls to tear out Central in Richardson are mainly aimed at provoking thought. I'm playing devil's advocate in an attempt to get people not to reflexively think that adding lanes is the solution to all traffic problems. And when they do add lanes anyway, I want to get them to do it in a way that's least disruptive to the street networks and community the freeway passes through.

Last week, Rodger Jones, editorial writer of The Dallas Morning News, wrote about my quixotic dream on the News' transportation blog. He paired my attention to Central Expressway in Richardson with the attention that is being given to tearing out IH-345 in downtown Dallas. Patrick Kennedy, the CarFreeInBigD guy behind the calls for the IH-345 tear-out, ripped Rodger Jones but left me alone (I think -- Kennedy rambles a lot).

I'm going to overlook most of what Kennedy said because he focused on IH-345, but I do want to respond to one thing he said about suburban freeways. After the jump.

Listen Up, RISD

June 15, 2013, Joint Run-off Election
Richardson ISD Place 4 Board of Trustees:
Lanet Greenhaw - 76% (3,463)
Rachel Chumney - 24% (1,100)

You just had a close escape, RISD. Now, listen up. After the jump.

Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget

Question: What qualifications and experience do you have to oversee the RISD's $250 million budget?

Rachel Chumney: The best thing that I can do in this role is the fact that I'm a good researcher, I'm wise, and I'm fiscally conservative, and I'll research the dickens out of something.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 51:00).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone whose qualification for managing a $250 million budget is that she will "research the dickens out of something" might not be ready to be put in charge of the RISD budget, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 51:00). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 49:45). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  

Advocacy for Public Schools

Question: An important role for a board member is legislative advocacy on behalf of all of the children of RISD. Give an example of your efforts over the past year or two.

Rachel Chumney: The first thing I do is I vote. I have voted since I was eighteen years old. I stay on top of things. I am committed to using my vote.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 40:43).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone whose resume of legislative advocacy highlights the filler "I vote" might not be ready to be school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 40:43). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 39:33). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?

Question: Do you support or oppose moving sixth grade out of the elementary schools and into a more traditional middle school environment?

Rachel Chumney: I oppose it. Middle school is awful and children need to be in middle school as little as possible.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 35:12).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who thinks middle schools are "awful," whatever that means, might not be a good fit for school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 35:12). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer explaining why she opposes moving sixth graders into junior high (starting 37:06). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Review: 86: A Collection of Poetry

Amazon

From 86: A Collection of Poetry, by William Gordon:

Hart  
I've much too much to ever tell --
My feet have chilled on steps from hell,
My lips are blue and frozen shut --
I now carefully skate when I used to strut,
Working my way out of a very dark place --
Step by step with the wind to my face,
I walk on ice in fear but soundly --
A deep cold frost on those around me,
Trudging onward in spite of my doubt --
A relentless search for the one way out,
In pursuit of the warmth of the setting sun --
Lost on a journey I should have never begun"

Poetry by Richardson's own William Gordon. My review, after the jump.

5 Broken Cameras (2012)

IMDB

5 Broken Cameras (2012): Documentary of Palestinian village resisting Israeli settlements. Important history. Not compelling filmmaking. C+

North Central Expressway: Feed Me

Feed me, Seymour
Feed me all night long.
That's right, boy!
You can do it!
Feed me, Seymour
Feed me all night long.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Cause if you feed me, Seymour
I can grow up big and strong.

Source: Audrey II, Little Shop of Horrors.

Richardson has its own giant man-eating plant that demands to be fed so it can grow ever bigger: North Central Expressway. Like any good movie monster, it hides in wait before eventually attacking despite all the good intentions of our protagonists.

Recently, in a blog post titled, "Punching Through Central at Palisades," I was encouraged in my quest to tame North Central Expressway for the benefit of neighborhoods on both sides. The vision for development of the Palisades business park was a sight for sore eyes. Besides mixed-use architecture, the developer envisions a pedestrian bridge across North Central Expressway to the Galatyn DART station.

I was further encouraged by talk from Richardson City Council members. They are saying that "East/west, intra-city permeability through the US 75 Corridor must be meaningfully improved by providing for safer, more attractive and comfortable pedestrian and bicycle mobility." And they plan on telling TxDOT that very thing, in no uncertain terms, right?

The City Council on Monday [April 1, 2013] discussed updates to a vision statement draft for the US-75 corridor to present to the Texas Department of Transportation as it conducts a study on the corridor from I-635 to SH 121. The study is expected to be complete in September 2015, with several major milestones in 2014.

Source: City of Richardson.

TxDOT gets it, right? After the jump, a look to our north and what TxDOT is up to there.

S2L77: Golden Temple of Amritsar

From 1977 03 02 India

It is Amritsar that I mark as the start of my route through the lands of troubles to come, troubles that affect the region and the world to this day. Fortunately for me, my travels were in 1977, before there was a hint (at least to this naive Western traveler) that storms were just over the horizon. During my visit to Amritsar, the Golden Temple of the Sikhs, built in 1604, was resplendent, open to all, and peaceful. The peace was not to last.

In 1983, [Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale] and his militant followers headquartered themselves in the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, and started accumulating weapons. After several futile negotiations, Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army to enter the Golden temple in order to subdue Bhindranwale and his followers. In the resulting Operation Blue Star, the shrine was damaged and many civilians were killed. The State of Punjab was closed to international media, its phone and communication lines shut. To this day the events remain controversial with a disputed number of victims; Sikhs seeing the attack as unjustified and Bhindrawale being declared the greatest Sikh martyr of the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia.

One of a continuing series.
Start: Around the World in 800 Days
Previous: Delhi
Next: Srinigar, Kashmir Valley

OTBR: A Field of Snapdragons in California

Latitude: N 34° 39.288
Longitude: W 120° 26.160

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

"Full-Fledged, Boot-Licking, Lackeydom"

Offered without comment.

Kevin Chumney, husband of the candidate for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD board of trustees, Rachel Chumney, in a public comment elsewhere on this blog:

Mark: thank you for being so brave in standing up for these poor, defenseless politicians. How dare these parents and kids fight for their legal rights and question their elected officials. It's downright un-American! I have always chalked up your nonsense to the fact that your not very bright, but you've now crossed over to full-fledged, boot-licking, lackeydom.

Source: Kevin Chumney.

Attendance at School Board Meetings

Question: How many school board meetings have you attended in the past two years?

Rachel Chumney: I have attended about three or four board meetings, most of which have been attended since I have filed for office. I have to say I don't think I have been missing much. The board meetings are not very interesting.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 25:57).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who doesn't think school board meetings are interesting, who didn't even attend any school board meetings before deciding to run for school board herself, if you think such a person might not be a good fit for school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 25:57). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 27:15). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Mahatma Chumney

Kevin Chumney: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." M. Gandhi

I'm not comparing Rachel to Gandhi (though she has lost a bunch of weight during this campaign), but that quote pretty much sums up our experience with this campaign. We have had several reports of similar personal attacks that would appear to be coordinated. Rachel and her supporters have never made any kind of personal attack on her opponent and have run a positive campaign solely on issues. I think this kind of personal attack speaks for itself.

Source: Facebook.

"Never made any kind of personal attack."
"Have run a positive campaign."
As Seth and Amy might say, Really!?!

Let's have a look, shall we? After the jump.

Technology in our Schools

Question: What are your thoughts concerning how to provide technology upgrades to the schools for classroom instruction?

Rachel Chumney: This is something that I have to admit I need to learn more about. I'm not sure we're lacking in this area. I feel that like on the elementary level which I'm most familiar, we're doing ok. I'm not sure about the junior high level and the high school level.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 16:30).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who admits to not knowing what's happening in junior highs and high schools might not be ready to be school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 16:30). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 18:31). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

Previously:

• That Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Repeat Tweets: NPR Liberal Know-it-all

Repeat tweets from May, 2013:

• 1 May 2013: Overheard: "Mark reminds me of an NPR liberal know it all. You can argue with a know-it-idiot, but it is best not to."
  
• 1 May 2013: RT @SenTedCruz: "In my short tenure, my focus has been on fighting for conservative principles." Conservatives, he's making you look #wacko
  
• 1 May 2013: .@amiromar's latest mailer is the worst. Says @lauramaczka's "apartment policy" envisions Richardson becoming an "inner city." Disgusting.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

IMDB

Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Bipolar patient meets flipped out young widow. Somehow it works. Uncomfortable with a happy ending. B+

S2L77: Delhi

From 1977 03 02 India

Finally, Delhi. Usually, when Westerners arrive in Delhi, it's by way of a long flight from somewhere like Frankfurt. Culture shock is huge. The new arrivals are stunned by the exotic sights, sounds and smells, the crowds and chaos of the streets, the poverty, the utter strangeness of everything.

More after the jump.

Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities

Question: What specific experiences have you had with RISD's racial, religious and/or non-English speaking minority communities?

Rachel Chumney: Well, um, that's kind of a challenging question because, um, well I am of a race and I am of a religion, so I have experience there. As far as different races and different religions and I don't know if you can remind me of the other specific categories or not. But I haven't had a whole lot of experience. We live in a little bubble.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 6:08).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who describes herself as living in a "little bubble" inside the largest, most diverse school district in the state might not be ready to be school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 6:08). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 8:31). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• That Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Liftoff of Rocket Gateway Opening

The Heights Recreation Center in Richardson celebrated its Grand Opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday night. Thank you, Richardson taxpayers, for approving the 2010 bond package. Because of your willingness to reinvest in our city, Richardson will remain a great city to live, work and play.

The most visually striking feature of the new Heights Recreation Center is the old, beloved playground rocket ship now repurposed into the sculpture, "Rocket Gateway." I have to admit it far exceeds my original low expectations. I was wrong. I actually like it. I especially like how its crescent shape evokes an Islamic influence, celebrating the religious diversity in Richardson. ;-)

Preparation for School Board

Question: How have you prepared yourself to serve on the Board of Trustees?

Rachel Chumney: For the past ten and a half years I've been a mom and I think that this has been the best preparation for this.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo (starting 2:28).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

Rachel Chumney is not the only mom in the race. She is, however, the only mom with little other experience and no RISD-wide experience. If you think that school board trustee is maybe not the place to start for someone who has never served as a PTA officer, member of an RISD council or committee for budget review, bond program development, calendar selection, textbook adoption, etc., then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 2:28). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 1:24). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• That Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Memorial Day in the Steger Garden (2013)

From Flowers

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Source: Abraham Lincoln.

Les Misérables (2012)

IMDB

Les Misérables (2012): Classic literature, French history, opera. Blood, sweat and tears. You either love it or you hate it. I loved it. B+

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+

Late Spring in the Steger Garden (2013)

From Flowers

Election Wrap: Petition

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

Richardson Citizens For A More Democratic Government: That's the name of the PAC behind the petition drive that put direct election of the mayor on the November, 2012, ballot. The petition was not a factor in the outcome of the recent mayoral election, but it was the sole reason we even had an election in the first place. So, it deserves a little post-election review.

There is still more than little mystery surrounding the PAC behind the petition. The public story is that the PAC was created by Alan North, who hired Austin political consultant Chris Cutrone to organize and run the petition drive. But the financial statements I've seen don't explain where all the money came from and where it all went. Call my interest less a conspiracy theory than just plain curiosity. I'd like to know just how it all went down.

For the better part of a year, Amir Omar denied rumors that he had anything to do with the petition drive. Then, in the last weeks of the mayoral election campaign, he gave a radio interview to Alan North's brother, Larry North, and revealed that Alan North had called him after the Richardson City Council voted in January, 2012, to drop discussion of direct election of the mayor. Omar said he advised North that the only thing North could do to change things would be to organize a petition. And that's just what North did. What else Omar and North talk about in that phone call? Were there any contacts before or after that? Again, call my interest less a conspiracy theory than just plain curiosity. I'd like to know just how it all went down.

I hope someday Alan North writes a memoir. An open and transparent telling of the story would make for fascinating reading, selling several copies I'm sure. He could title it "Petition: Spending Thousands of Dollars to Get Laura Maczka Elected Rather Than Selected Mayor."

Election Wrap: Money

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

Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
Get a little money money money
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
That clinking clanking clanking sound
Is all that makes the world go around
It makes the world go around!

Source: Cabaret.

It turns out that money didn't make Richardson's mayoral election go around.

Some people tried to make something of which candidate collected more money from outside Richardson or outside Texas or whatever, but I personally didn't see that as a factor in the election. I saw that as mostly a proxy attack on Amir Omar's religion, which I covered earlier.

As for the total amount of money raised, that wasn't a factor in the outcome either. Sure, the Richardson Coalition PAC paid something like $25,000 to mail their noxious voters guide to probably every registered voter in Richardson. No scrimping there. Overkill. But Amir Omar wasn't hard up for money, either. In the last weeks of the campaign, it seemed like every day there was another mailer from Omar in the mailbox, even more insistent than the last in its allegation that a gaffe at a tea party forum revealed a secret plan that Laura Maczka has for covering Richardson in cheap apartments. (I'm surprised he overlooked the idea of reusing a photo of Maczka in a hard hat -- taken in front of the soon-to-be-demolished Continental Inn -- to imply that she was out there building those cheap apartments herself.) I don't need to know the exact amount spent by both candidates. It was a lot. Something like $150,000 or $250,000 will have been spent on Richardson's first direct election of the mayor in a half century. (Belated tip of the hat to Richardson's founding fathers for saving us from that for at least a half century.)

Maybe I should correct myself. Money *did* make the Richardson mayoral election go around, but like a carnival ride that goes around and around and never gets anywhere. And here's the irony: for the backers of direct election who thought this would increase democracy, know that the cost of entry into electoral politics in Richardson just went up big time. Electoral politics in Richardson are likely to get less democratic in future, not more. Who has the deep pockets who can pay that cost of entry? Land developers, for one.

That brings me to the one money angle to this election that, had I noticed in time, I just might have made something of. Laura Maczka collected $5,000 from a developer who has come before the City Council seeking zoning approval for development projects in Richardson, and may do so again in future. That's sketchy, especially when it's this guy. It may not be illegal, but it just looks bad. Really bad.

Election Wrap: Endorsements

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

In my opinion (without polling data to back it up), the Richardson Coalition PAC's voters guide, with its bankruptcy/divorce allegations, was the decisive issue in the campaign. The second biggest factor (my rankings are my wild-ass guesses) was religious prejudice, which is hard to measure, especially as public displays of prejudice are outnumbered by privately-held prejudices. The third biggest factor in deciding this election was the list of endorsements Laura Maczka assembled.

There's a school of thought that argues that endorsements shouldn't matter. Sometimes endorsements even have a perverse opposite effect, like the commenter who rejected my own endorsement, saying, "Thanks, I needed help eliminating a choice." But I'm not here to argue whether endorsements *should* matter. In my opinion, they *do* matter, whether you like it or not.

Maczka had the influential Richardson Coalition PAC behind her, as I discussed in earlier blog posts. She had all the incumbent council members in her camp. She had Mayor Bob Townsend and former mayors Gary Slagel, Steve Mitchell and Martha Ritter as well as numerous former council members. She had The Dallas Morning News. Full disclosure: she even had my endorsement, explicitly because of those endorsements by returning council members (I felt the council's own preference for who should be their council leader deserves respect). She had so many endorsements she was able to send a mailer geo-customized for each neighborhood, featuring a nearby prominent civic leader (council member, former council member or mayor, HOA president, etc.) saying something nice about Maczka.

On the other side, Amir Omar had the fire fighters, the police, and the realtors. Not too shabby there, but Maczka dismissed those as "unions" and "special interests" (despite welcoming those same endorsements in 2011). In the end, Omar's endorsements were no match for Maczka's.

She had such an impressive array of endorsements that, even if the Richardson Coalition PAC had put out a fair and balanced voters guide, even if there hadn't been a whisper campaign about religion poisoning the atmosphere, I think it can be argued that Maczka could still have won the election based solely on her endorsements. Instead the Richardson Coalition PAC adopted a campaign of overkill. Not satisfied with just playing up Maczka's positives, not satisfied with just winning, it was as if they were out to destroy Amir Omar personally. I know it's been said that politics is a blood sport, but I always thought of that as meaning people will do anything to win. Now, I have to expand the definition to people going beyond what's needed to win solely in order to destroy others. That's one behavior that I cannot endorse.

Election Wrap: Religion

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

The elephant in the room was religion. Neither of the candidates raised the subject of religion in any forum or in any email or mailer. That's not to say rumors about religion weren't raised in whisper campaigns. I am hopeful that the public silence is a sign of social progress and that one day bigotry won't be tolerated even in private conversations.

Still, I believe that religion was a deciding factor in at least some voters' minds. Were there enough such voters to be a factor in the outcome? It's hard to answer that. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, unless one of the candidates did some polling on the issue and shares the results now that the election is over. I'm not counting on that happening.

So, I'll just have to be grateful that religion was not considered a legitimate issue for either candidate to raise in public. Not verbally, anyway. Peace! ;-)

(Photo: Laura Maczka greets early voters at the Civic Center.)