OTBR: Gus Grissom Road

Latitude: N 29° 30.726
Longitude: W 095° 08.682

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".

Charter Amendments: Three to Like

Previously, I took a first look at the Charter Review Commission's recommended changes to the Richardson City Charter. I found three changes that I'll oppose. But just to show you that I'm not reflexively negative, today I highlight three changes that I like.

Charter Amendments: First Look

The Charter Review Commission presented their recommendations to the Richardson City Council June 1, 2015. Now it's up to the council to decide which, if any, of the recommendations to adopt and place before the voters in November, 2015.

The commission made recommendations in about fifty areas, meaning that the ballot facing the voters could contain more than fifty propositions. Many of the propositions will be inconsequential (changing spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, etc.), but by the commission's own estimation, twelve of the changes are substantive, meaning they will have practical effect on the operation of government.

Unfortunately, while the commission explained *what* their recommended changes are, they didn't explain *why* the recommended changes are necessary. It's left to the voters to either put blind faith in the commission or attempt to divine the reasons behind the recommendations. I'm not inclined to the former, and I don't have the skill for the latter. Unless someone offers some compelling reasons otherwise, here are three changes that I'll oppose.

Repeat Tweets: Justice for All

Repeat tweets from May, 2015:

• May 1 2015: "None of us will know peace until we see justice for all, so it's time to take the blinders off." What she said. Destiny Herndon-DeLaRosa
  
• May 1 2015: To support his anti-gay bigotry, @DonMcLeroy pretty much says women are not created in the image of God. Just wow. TheEagle.com
  
• May 2 2015: Interstellar (2014): Wormhole shows humans way off dying Earth. Mishmash of ideas. Explains plot with dialog not action. Waste of talent. D+
  
• May 4 2015: "There is a pattern of the state leadership pandering to the fringe of Texas politics rather than the mainstream." texasmonthly.com
  
• May 4 2015: "It's possible to think both that this event was in bad taste, and that the response was utterly unacceptable." frontburner.dmagazine.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Changing the City Charter

Now that the city council election is behind us, now that Mayor Laura Maczka has left the building, it's time for Richardson to turn its attention to something that's been bubbling away on the back burner for months: the work by the charter review commission to amend Richardson's City Charter. If all goes as expected, the voters will be deciding whether to amend the city charter in the November, 2015, election.

But before we dive into just what changes the commission has come up with, let's first look at the process. There seems to be some charges circulating that the commission is illegitimate, that it's a tool to provide a smokescreen for the city to change the charter to its own advantage and to the disadvantage of the citizens. Is there truth to that?