Keep Richardson Weird

Teresa Gubbons and Pegasus News have the big news:

The City of Richardson's planning commission gave the go-ahead to a plan from Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse to open its first branch in Dallas-Fort Worth in the Richardson Heights Shopping Center.

Source: Pegasus News.

This announcement of a movie theater coming to Richardson, and not just any movie theatre, is exactly the kind of catalyst that could spark a renaissance for Richardson's old downtown ... if Richardson seizes the opportunity.

After the jump, imagining what this might mean.

SBOE Faceoff in District 12

Recently, I offered my opinions on the four candidates for the GOP nomination for the State Board of Education (SBOE) District 12 seat.

• Gail Spurlock
  
• Tincy Miller
  
• George Clayton
  
• Pam Little
  

George Clayton, the incumbent, received my (reluctant) nod.

Tuesday night, all four candidates, plus Lois Parrott, who is uncontested in seeking the Democrat-ic nomination, had a chance to impress me in person at a forum jointly sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters of Plano/Collin County, Dallas and Richardson, the Greater Dallas Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Women's Council of Dallas County.

After the jump, how the candidates fared in changing my mind.

Repeat Tweets: A Slack Month, Only One Amazing Thing

Repeat tweets from April, 2012:

• 2012 04 06 - Headline: "Texas Voter ID: State Tries To Keep Info Secret." State leg doesn't want open mtgs law to apply to them. http://t.co/DfDZ7Aqx
  
• 2012 04 06 - 50/50 (2011): Comedy about cancer. Not funny ha ha; not weepy either. Succeeds in walking a fine line on a touchy subject. B-
  
• 2012 04 10 - One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni: Nine melodramatic stories. Platitudinous. Interchangeable. Pick one. Flesh it out. C+
  
• 2012 04 13 - Headline: "RISD’s Bob Dubey named Athletics Director of the Year." Congratulations! http://t.co/aHk2mMm5
  
• 2012 04 13 - Headline: "Treasury predicts all federal bailouts likely will turn profit." Reason to not trust conventional wisdom. http://t.co/EbTVB7Fn
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Slicing and Dicing Richardson

This is the most passionate I've seen people. My email is blowing up, my phone is blowing up.

Source: Public Hearing, City of Richardson.

What could be causing such a commotion? It was a public hearing of Richardson's Council District Boundary Commission (aka the City Planning Commission, or CPC). Every ten years, with the new census, Richardson redraws its council district boundaries to ensure balance in the population of each district. This public hearing was for receiving comments related to the three district boundary options under consideration by the CPC.

After the jump, what the passion is all about.

Everybody Should Go to College

Really? Who says? Well, when you try to answer that question, you have to dig some. At most, it appears that some school districts wanted every high school graduate to be college-ready, some going as far as the Los Angeles school district to require all students to take college-prep classes to graduate. But wanting all high school graduates to be college-ready is not really the same thing as saying everybody should go to college. Just that they should be ready to go if they decide to choose that path.

So, who says everybody should go to college? Often, the charge is that the President says so. Either President Barack Obama or maybe going back to President George W. Bush. Did either one really say that?

After the jump, hunting down the origin of conventional wisdom.

Richardson's Finest

A sight you definitely don't want to see when you look out your front door.
Unless you need help. Then you want to see 'em all there.
Experiencing mixed emotions on a Saturday afternoon.
That's all I know. Don't ask me any more.

All of which reminds me of this story...

When Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London, he occupied himself with writing a history of the world. He had finished the first volume and was at work on the second when there was a scuffle between some workmen beneath the window of his cell, and one of the men was killed. In spite of diligent enquiries, and in spite of the fact that he had actually seen the thing happen, Sir Walter was never able to discover what the quarrel was about; whereupon, so it is said -- and if the story is not true it certainly ought to be -- he burned what he had written and abandoned his project.

Source: George Orwell.

Delete my blog? Don't you wish!

SBOE: Pam Little, Standing Firm

This week, I've reviewed three GOP candidates for the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) -- Gail Spurlock, Tincy Miller, and George Clayton -- and found all of their candidacies wanting, either deal breakers or issues that make me reluctant to endorse them.

There's a fourth candidate in the GOP primary for State Board of Education (SBOE) District 12, Pam Little. After the jump, my first impressions.