Movin On Up On The East Side

With the grand opening of ALDI in Richardson scheduled for April 22, we finally got a piece of the pie. Literally.

"Smarter shoppers go to smarter stores. Smarter shoppers know better than to pay extra at stores where baggers bag groceries and employees chase carts in the parking lot, or the cost of national brand marketing raises prices. So smarter shoppers shop where select-assortment inventory increases buying power and lowers prices, saving them up to 50% over supermarket prices. Smarter shoppers just 'get it.' And they get it at ALDI."

After the jump, how ALDI is just the latest in a series of redevelopments for an aging neighborhood in east Richardson.

Telling Stories With Tax Data

"Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything."
-- Gregg Easterbrook

Did you just finish wrestling with your income tax forms April 15? Don't take too much time to catch your breath. Richardson has a bond election coming up May 8. Various claims about the impact on your property taxes are making the rounds in the blogosphere. Let's try to wrestle some of them to the ground.

After the jump, how the same data can tell two different stories.

Not Much Evolution In The Creationism Debate

Suppose you're a candidate for school board in Texas. Suppose further that a reporter for the local newspaper asks you this question, "Are you in favor or opposed to the teaching of Creationism in science classes?"

The question sounds like a simple yes/no question, but it's anything but simple. Importantly, the question is not equivalent to asking, "Do you believe in Creationism?" Also, it's not equivalent to asking, "Will you attempt to include Creationism in the curriculum for science classes?" To do the question justice, it's important to provide both a yes/no answer and answers to the questions, "Why?" and "How will your beliefs influence your behavior as a school board trustee?"

So, how would you answer? After the jump, I examine the different tacks that might be taken.

A Tale Of Two Cities: City Bond Edition

Future Allen Stadium

What makes politics endlessly fascinating and intractably difficult is how two sides can look at the same objective facts and reach diametrically opposite positions. Or how one side can effortlessly forget its argument on one issue as it moves onto debating a related issue. Or how one body politic can deal with an issue without controversy while another body politic is hopelessly divided over similar issues.

After the jump, examples from Richardson's upcoming bond election.

The Big Book Of Buzz

Mark's Stylebook: When reporting threats to controversial plays about gay Jesus, don't use the words "terrorist" or "jihad" or even "yahoo".

The Dallas Morning News' Jacquielynn Floyd broke that stylebook rule big time this week in her column about a student production of the controversial play Corpus Christi that presents Jesus as gay. She starts off breaking the rule in her column headline, "North Texas zealots score in jihad on 'gay Jesus' play" and the infractions only rack up from there.

After the jump, the other rule that caused Floyd to break Mark's Stylebook rule.

The Naked Truth

Whatever happened to the online checkbook that all the candidates running for Richardson City Council in 2009 were in favor of, at least in principle? Maybe it's coming, maybe it isn't, but judging by council meeting and worksession agendas, after the election this issue dropped completely off the council's radar screen as far as I can tell.

After the jump, the same issue as it relates to state government.

Purity Pledge For Texas GOP

Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) announced the formation of a new political action committee, the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas. Most of the Republicans in the state senate and over half in the house were invited and joined the PAC. Notable names absent include Richardson legislators Sen. John Carona (District 16) and Rep. Angie Chen Button (District 112). GOP candidate Stefani Carter, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Carol Kent (District 102), is not among the list of five GOP primary winners who joined the PAC.

The press release announcing the PAC's formation begins:

"On the eve of the 'Tea Party' movement's anniversary, conservative legislators in Texas have banded together to form a new organization -- the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas. With conservative voters organizing like never before to protest the unprecedented overreaching intrusion of the federal government, voters need to know there are Republican legislators who share their beliefs and will uphold their principals [sic]."

After the jump, my initial impressions of the new PAC.