2016 Bond: Listen Up, RISD

The Richardson school district (RISD) is conducting a "listening tour" to get community feedback on a proposed 2016 bond package. Meetings are being held this week at each of the four high schools. The first was Monday night at JJ Pearce High School. Nothing is finalized yet (hence the listening tour), but here are the wish list numbers and how much debt RISD can carry without a tax rate increase.

Wish List:

• Maintenance: $216 million
• Capacity expansion: $59 million
• Enrichment options:
• Multipurpose facilities: $82 million
• Career and Technical Education, JROTC: $10 million
• Library transformation: $23 million
• Technology enrichment: $23 million
• Total: $417 million

Bond capacity

• No tax rate increase: $235 million
• Raise tax rate by 10 cents: $460 million

First, I'll give my impressions of the feedback of the JJ Pearce community. Then I'll discuss the elephant in the room.

POTD: Quintessential Texas

From 2015 08 09 TX and OK Panhandles

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Quanah, Texas, northwest of Wichita Falls and on the road to the Texas panhandle. Quintessential Texas.

Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

IMDB

Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015): Too many storylines. Romance at heart not compelling. Star-studded cast but Jaipur is the star. C+

POTD: Love Vietnamese Style

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

One last photo from Vietnam. Today's photo-of-the-day is from central Hanoi. It shows a wedding couple posing for photos by Hoan Kiem Lake in the historical center of the city. It's a fitting photo to end on, symbolizing the love and joy, friendliness and happiness that we experienced in our tour of this ancient and diverse country. Times change, indeed.

Locke (2014)

IMDB

Locke (2014): Man with a job, home, family and a big problem gets in a car and deals with all in 90 minutes. High concept that works. B+

"Food-Only" is the new "Mixed-Use"

"Food-Only Project". That's what The Dallas Morning News called the construction of a row of up to seven restaurants on Central Expressway just north of Spring Valley Rd. There was no hint whether or not that was meant ironically.

The original vision for this property was a mixed-use environment with ground floor retail and office with residential uses above, perhaps including a boutique hotel. Instead of that, developer Kirk Hermansen told The Dallas Morning News what we're really getting: "We’re all restaurants, no retail by design."

Who deserves the credit/blame for this?

POTD: Ellen and Her Vietnamese Peeps

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from central Hanoi. It shows five college women who saw Ellen and me sitting on a park bench by the lake and decided that we looked like a good couple they could practice their English on. We ended up spending an hour chatting with them. A great way to wind up our stay in Vietnam.