A Tale of Two Cities: Plano and Richardson

My inbox contained one of those civic booster stories that reads like something the real estate business is always generating: "Downtown Plano recognized as one of 'Great Places in America'". You read that right. Plano. It turns out that, beneath the hype, there are some secrets to success worth emulating. The story highlights the downtown DART station (public transit), the 1,000 residential units nearby (density), and streets redesigned to be cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly (walkability). Saying it's one of the "Great Places in America" might be over the top, but Richardson would be foolish not to recognize the good things happening just to our north.

Voters Guide: City Charter Amendments 61-70

Seventh in a series:

• City Charter Amendments Nos. 1-10
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 11-20
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 21-30
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 31-40
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 41-50
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 51-60
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 61-70
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 71-83

There are 83 propositions for amending the Richardson City Charter on the November ballot. I'm here with a voter's guide to tell you how to vote. You're welcome.

POTD: Sampan Races

From 2015 03 24 Hue

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Huong (Perfume) River in Hué, Vietnam. It shows a sampan race during the Spring Festival. Dozens of boats compete and thousands of spectators crowd the shore or watch from dragon boats in the river.

Explaining Your Water Bill

In today's edition of "Who's Not Listening To Me Now?" I return to something I wrote last month. It seems that my three graphs didn't convince everyone that recent high water bills are due to two things: dry weather and lawn watering.

Some people are still adamantly convinced that something is crooked. Facebook is full of horror stories of high bills that just have to be wrong. Kristin Takeda of The Dallas Morning News seems to publish something on the subject every day or two. WFAA did an investigation into "skyrocketing water bills." And now the Dallas Observer reports on the phenomenon in the city of Dallas, not just once but twice.

Voters Guide: City Charter Amendments 51-60

Sixth in a series:

• City Charter Amendments Nos. 1-10
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 11-20
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 21-30
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 31-40
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 41-50
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 51-60
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 61-70
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 71-83

There are 83 propositions for amending the Richardson City Charter on the November ballot. I'm here with a voter's guide to tell you how to vote. You're welcome.

Dancing in Jaffa (2013)

IMDB

Dancing in Jaffa (2013): Teaching ballroom dancing to kids in Israel. Boys/girls, yuck. Jews/Arabs, oh my! Sad and uplifting at once. A-

POTD: Sampan on the Perfume River

From 2015 03 24 Hue

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Huong (Perfume) River in Hué, Vietnam. I don't know where this woman is coming from. I don't know where she's going to. I don't know her story. I wish I did. That is all.