Radio geeks and the COR radio system

And I mean geeks in the most loving way.

Anyhow, they're expecting testing to start soon in the P25 (digital) system. See this thread.

I don't have any digital gear at the moment and my personal economic situation won't allow that anytime soon. Hopefully someone will put a stream up after it goes P25.

more spin/waste at $0.335 per household

As I said before, Mr. Mayor, stop sending us spin on our own dime.

Is there ANYTHING in this letter you couldn't have posted online or sent in your weekly email instead?


Note: only a rough scan of the front side uploaded. I assume we'll all have a copy soon enough, anyhow.

Destiny+Twitter: Slagel hangs it up

Destiny posted it here. Looks like she might have been one of the first to spot it in the Mayor's twitter post.

Looks legit to me. DMN reporting it, also.

Councilman Murphy not seeking re-election

DMN article online here.

{edit - DC beat me to it.}

I haven't heard any talk* about this decision. I wonder if it is an indication the incumbents sense a "throw everyone out and start fresh" vibe?

* won't use the word "chatter" because I know how it can upset the locals.

COR Best of... 2010

Just to prove I'm not (only) a grinch, here are some departments/people worthy of recognition in 2010.

Richardson Public Library
The RPL has been a lifeline for my family during this economic rough patch.

• DVDs and CDs to rent for entertainment. I haven't been to a multiplex in years.
• books (duh)
• Wifi. IMO the wifi is a tremendous value for taxpayer money. No additional hardware required for users; they bring their own. I wouldn't mind paying for a buildout of that infrastructure. Nothing fancy, just enough bandwidth to check email and do light browsing. The kind of stuff students, job seekers, and the retired might need.
• the new Six Flags-style waiting line seems to be an improvement
• Interested and interesting reference librarians stashed away in the basement. If you haven't been down there take a few minutes to poke around.
• RPL director Steve Benson is kicking butt, in every way I can think of.
• It's time to consider a separate slot on future bond votes just for the RPL; I believe they are doing great work with our collective tax monies.

COR Solid Waste

• Our guys are efficient, quiet, and don't make a mess. Thanks, guys!
• BABIC is Johnny-on-the-spot. An excellent program.

Don Magner @ COR Neighborhood Services

I can't tell if this guy is a robot, never sleeps, or is just exceptionally organized/dedicated. But he and his team win the "getting stuff done" award for 2010. I don't know how he does it, but I am grateful.

Dave Carter @ COR Traffic/Transportation

He handles resident concerns professionally and respectfully in situations that might make lesser men lose their temper. I actually enjoyed watching his presentations at the work meetings; he obviously knows his stuff.

Every RPD patrolman I have talked to this year

...or read about, or heard on the scanner. [No disrespect to female patrol officers; just had no contact with any this year. Same for RFD.]

The street cops are representing us well, making good decisions, doing the best with the resources and directives they have. I won't comment on leadership since I have no direct interaction with them. I keep hearing decent things about Chief Spivey, though, even from grouchier folks than me.

Staff @ COR Utilities office

The folks there are always friendly and helpful. I usually snailmail my bill but when I stop by in person these ladies are great.

So that's my list for 2010.

feathers in our cap

In Catch-22 there is a character who is obsessed with appearances/reputation. He obsesses over small details and decides which ones are "feathers in my cap" and which ones are "black eyes."

This is what immediately popped into mind when I read the "City Receives Two Awards from GFOA" article in the December issue of Richardson Today.

Now, before we go any further: if you have not read about the Wine Spectator fake award scandal please do so now. I promise it's relevant (and funny).

Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting
How to get certificate:

1. join GFOA ($840)
2. send in at least another $290 with your application (pdf) for the certificate
3. do your job reasonably well.*

*Note: even if you fail to meet the standards (but your check is still good at the bank) we might still give you the award and not tell anyone but you (pdf) that you really didn't deserve it. [Not making this stuff up, folks. Read it yourself.]

At most places I worked, doing one's job as expected resulted in a type of certificate called a paycheck, which could be used to buy food and such. Apparently city governments (like peewee football?) are teams where everyone who plays gets a trophy. Ok, maybe not everyone. Only 7,132 entities got the award in 2008.

Note to self -- membership fee + app fee times 7,132 = $8,059,160. Quite a going concern. Here's a an offer: for $1130 a year I will issue anyone, anywhere a certificate that says you are KING OF THE WORLD or any other wording you prefer. (certificate issued when your check clears)

BN: if you are excellent but just can't get your application (and check) in on time, the deadline has been extended.

Distinguished Budget Presentation Award

More good stuff, and this one at the low price of $185, assuming you've already ante'd up for membership. Richardson has already won this one for 12 yrs (12 x $185 = $2,220).

This award puts us in an elite group of Texas municipalities like Abilene, Addison, Allen, Alvin, Amarillo, Arlington, Austin, Azle,

Baytown, Bedford, Belton, Benbrook, Brenham, Bryan, Burleson, Cedar Hill,

Cedar Park, Cleburne, College Station, Colleyville, Conroe, Coppell,

Copperas Cove, Corinth, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Denton, Edinburg, El Paso,

Euless, Farmers Branch, Flower Mound, Forney, Fort Worth, Friendswood,

Frisco, Gainesville, Garland , Georgetown, Glenn Heights, Granbury ,

Getting the idea?

Grapevine , Greenville, Haltom City, Harker Heights, Harlingen, Heath,

Hewitt, Highland Park, Highland Village, Houston, Huntsville, Hurst,

Hutto, Irving, Jacksboro, Kaufman, Keller, Kerrville, Kilgore, Killeen, La

Porte, Lake Jackson, Laredo, League City, Leander, Lewisville, Longview,

Lubbock, Lufkin, Mansfield, Marble Falls, McAllen, McKinney, Melissa,

Mesquite, Midlothian, Missouri City, Nacogdoches, New Braunfels, Odessa,

Ok, I have to admit at this point I almost stopped. But so close...

Pearland, Pflugerville, Pharr, Plano, Portland, [Richardson], Richland

Hills, Richmond, Rockport, Rosenberg, Round Rock, Rowlett, Saginaw,

San Angelo, San Antonio, San Marcos, Shavano Park, Southlake TX, Sugar

Land, Sweetwater, Taylor, Temple, The Colony, Tomball, Trophy Club,

Tyler, Uvalde, Victoria, Waco, Watauga, Webster, Weslaco, Westlake,

White Settlement, Woodway

Those were in 2009. 116 x $185 = $21,460, and that's just for Texas. A few states like that and you've got yourselves a real income. Get cities to do it year after year and it starts to look like an annuity.

I'm not saying GFOA awards are a strict quid pro quo. I am saying two things:

1. If you want to impress the populace, publish the stats on what percentage of applicants were rejected (including the "tell no one" exception above)
2. We, the taxpayers, are paying for memberships and app fees for some third party to give the city awards. Is this a wise use of your money? Who really benefits?

Maggie on 75@Renner

There's so much good in the recent Maggie May post that I wanted to chime in on a few points and simply repeat a few others.

The majority of people like, even love, excitement and prestige, not to mention convenience, and also wealth. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just not free. Neither is decay nor the dreaded "creeping blight."

The "not free" part is the crux of the matter. All decisions have opportunity costs, and many have direct costs. Our leadership would like us to believe we can have whatever they sell without actually having to pay for it (in taxes or otherwise).

I don't feel good about subsidizing other people's profit dreams to such a large extent these days.

Preach, sister, preach.

Business should mean competing and taking the risks (and reaping profits, if any). It should not be about crony deals, governmental PR blitzes, and fleecing the public tax cattle for all they can bear.

For the ones who do not want to use a vehicle or give up private transportation, I hope there is improved, viable travel options, like real bus service and rail and other things, that gets them where they need to go.

Bicycle-friendly would be cheap, and wouldn't hurt.

As you can tell, I am hopeful, but skeptical and I think I have very good reason to be.

I think this is the most productive stance. It would be nice if these ruby slippers worked as touted, but I'm not holding my breath.

If you haven't noticed, our taxes never go down...

Tex's position on this is: "the council can vote to reduce taxes at any time."
Wayne's position on that is: "Monkeys might fly out of my butt."

...the developers make the sale, set up to make the profit, spread it around to just the right person or people to convince and sell it to well-meaning and enlightened people to be completely for it and not to ask too many questions and not to give too many answers.

Well put. I worry that the HOA/NA leaders are pawns in the developer-COR complex (to paraphrase Eisenhower). The Complex shows a few people some slides and then crows about "support of the neighborhood." This is a real problem. I've got some ideas about it and may post some ideas on it later.

The crime doesn't go down when dense apartments move into an area. Traffic doesn't reduce in the area. Air pollution doesn't get better. Education levels do not go up and the dropout rate doesn't decrease. Local schools don't seem to get better because of dense apartments even though the schools get more money with increased head count (so far) ... Apartments are not any more dream-like than anything else.

Nothing to add. Just thought it was worth repeating.

Well managed apartments have a place in most communities ... Apartments are not evil. It is what comes with poorly thought out plans that could be called that.

True. There are even oases of tranquility and beauty in the much-maligned SV corridor barrio. I lived in one for a few years and ran into the manager at one of the SVC consultant-clicker fests; this manager was unamused by the broad painting of "blight" across the whole SVC. I agree, but that's a different topic altogether. Sorry. Back to Mags...

...the politicians even pretend to blame the developers who they say they have no control over to get them to do certain beneficial things, when that's just not true. But naive people believe it and repeat it, not holding them accountable and pointing fingers at only developers and commissions under the politicians. The anti's turn on each other and favor the smooth tongue politicians who won't level with them and the top politicians are free to move about the cabin.

Holy crap. If you are not reading MMUSA on a daily basis, this is the kind of writing you're missing.

Maggie and msteger on density

Maggie on density:

"I like my [suburban] life. If I wanted to live in a much more dense place I would have moved directly into the big city."

This is a straightforward, compelling argument. Makes me pine away for a comment function on Maggie's site. At least 1x/week I find myself wanting to chime in on MMUSA, but I respect MM's decision not to enable them.

msteger has a different view:

"Banning apartments is not the key to that success. Limiting density is not the key to success. The key to success is setting high quality building standards and strict and continuous inspections, not just during construction but for years and decades afterward.

Richardson residents should resist the urge to stop the project..."

I am sympathetic to the idea of mixed use, urban living. I've seen it work in France, Italy, Germany, and a few cities in the US that have a cosmopolitan, worldly feel. I am concerned that the model, as Bloom remarks about continental philosophy, "does not travel well" to areas that lack an existing sense of place.

You can build it, but you can't make it succeed. Eastside appears to be holding together for the meantime but Brick Row may be stillborn. Perhaps we make any new developments contingent on the success of the old? It'd keep us from ending up with a bunch of boarded-up, never-occupied property development projects.

RC: "Misconceptions of the Past"

In the RC editorial "Richardson's Restaurant Scene, A Whole New (and tasty!) Experience," they say:

It is time to rethink any misconceptions of the past, and rejoice in the gastronomic diversity that is now available in Richardson.

I don't get it. What were the former misconceptions? Has Richardson historically been some kind of culinary laughingstock and I didn't know it?

I know the String Bean moved, but can we really call it a "new restaurant that [has] opened recently"? I mean, it'd been next to the patio furniture place just across the Dallas border since fire was invented.

BTW, it's palate not pallet.

the publicity nature of transparency

Just doing this off my low-quality recording from Ch16, so I am not sure who the first voice was. I think the speaker was recognized as Bob before he spoke, so this would mean Macy or Townshend.

The following exchange suggests that Old School ways of governance have a certain amount of inertia. The CM was quick with the damage control. I don't think it's scandalous or evidence of shady doings, but it does reveal a partiular style of thinking.

Bob: I wonder about the, uh, publicity nature of those organizations we do business with. You know, people will get on there and just... you know, all this "the city does business with so-and-so." Are there effects [unintelligible] get in any trouble with that kind of thing...

Keffler [cuts in quickly]: Uh. Uh. I wouldn't know what that would be, but... uh, we, uh, I mean, we, you know, we, award bids all the time and so it's... it's a very public process. [CM pivots and changes the redirects the conversation].

I will leave it to the reader to decide if the leadership wants transparency or just the appearance of transparency. I hope for the former.

I am reminded, however, of most city "art" museums. They unintentionally give evidence that the city was less interested in art than they were about being seen as the kind of city that has an art museum.


I have heard a possibly-related beltway joke --

There are two things you must do to be a Senator:
1. get elected
2. get re-elected

July 12th council meeting - West Spring Valley Corridor Reinvestment Study

Part of the recent emailed annoucement:

"The consulting team is scheduled to make the final presentation related to this phase of the study at a meeting of the City Council on Monday, July 12, 2010, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers at the City Hall/Civic Center, 411 W. Arapaho Road (southwest corner, Central Expressway at Arapaho Road). The presentation will include the recommendations that have been developed with the community and market-tested by the consultants, along with an implementation strategy and a computer animation depicting the redeveloped corridor. You are welcome to join the Council for this briefing. No RSVP is necessary."

Monica Heid, AICP

Community Projects Manager

City of Richardson

Preparedness display up in City Hall

Went to go pay the water bill today and noticed a KnowWhat2Do preparedness display out in the hallway.  DVDs, pamplets, and a small booklet for kids.

KnowWhat2Do is a north central Texas regional emergency response effort for citizens.  The DVD mentioned above is streamable online.

IMO the most important takeaway is the emergency kit planner (pdf).  You may also hear these referred to as 72-hr kits or, if easily portable, bug out bags (BOBs).   I have found that this kind of kit is conveniently storable in a a 5gal "homer" or "pickle" bucket.   One per person.  Stack'em up in the corner, tape the contents list (with expiration dates) to the outside, and remember to rotate food stocks in/out.  A $3 bucket opener will save your fingernails and cussing.

There's also an online emergency planner that you can populate with your specifics, but I am cognizant that not everyone feels comfortable submitting their personal data to quasi-governmental sites.  I got about 3 pages into it and went, "nahhh, I'll do that in OpenOffice instead."

If you need a little bit of motivation, consider these non-paranoid scenarios:

• A run of 100F days cause massive increase in load on the electrical grid, causing rolling blackouts in DFW.    Your house is without power for 48hrs.  Can you get around?  Cook?  Feed your kids?
• Trucker's strike causes infrastructure slowdown.  Grocery stores keep about 3 days of rolling inventory on hand.  Can you feed your family?
• Gas line break disrupts natural gas to your home for 48hrs.  Do you have a way to cook or enough food that can be eaten without cooking?
• Some kind of water main problem disrupts water to your home for 24hrs.  Do you have a bit for hydration, cooking, and hygiene?
• Some kind of algal or other contaminant gets in our water supply from Lavon.  Water flows but is not safe to drink untreated.  Do you have water for hydration?   Have a way to boil or otherwise treat water?  What if there is a simultaneous electrical or gas outage?  

Just like we wear seatbelts but don't plan to get in a wreck, we plan for emergencies we hope never happen.  I humbly suggest that duty to one's family can require more than providing iPhones and Xbox games.  Our fantastically high and thoroughly enjoyable standard of living is a precarious balancing act.  A three legged stool is stable so long as all three legs are present...

Dissent, physical threats, and city government

This is an interesting situation in Plano.

If the guy really did make a physical threat then he got what he deserved. This is a practical reminder to keep arguments civil and reasonable. More light than heat.

If the guy did not make a physical threat then the city is misusing the legal system to stifle resident dissent. Question: are there citizens that COR leadership would prefer to keep at a 500' distance for whatever reason? While answering this question for yourself you may want to think back on COR hiring an expensive new PR flack to deal with blog posts.

I found this piece interesting:

It also bars Lagos from going near Plano Mayor Phil Dyer and City Manager Tom Muehlenbeck. The order excludes public events, such as City Council meetings, in which Dyer and Muehlenbeck are acting in their official capacities.

I think interaction with public officials about city matters should be handled in public, official events. This helps keep the interaction official (literally related to the public office) rather than personal. It may also assist transparency as it will have a greater chance of being recorded/transcribed.

My preference for this approach is why it bothers me when officials want to take a citizen's concerns to a private venue: phone, meeting, email. It's public business and needs to be handled in public. No drama, no he said / she said, and much less opportunity for misunderstanding.

Bond vote results

I am ok with the voting results.

The Yes win was narrow enough that I hope the council/manager will be more aware of their responsibilities toward all residents and to their official duties. I hope we get a leaner, more fiscally responsible city govt. I hope for more transparency.

I hope that neighbors continue the broader discussion and bloggers keep writing about their home city.

"100% of these projects were requested by you..."

Received a postcard from Neighborhoods for Richardson today; I assume everyone else did, too.

"100% of these projects were requested by you, , the residents of Richardson.
Your city leadership listened."

Uh, no. Some of the more vocal residents screamed for pet projects the same way baby birds scream for worms.

Doesn't anyone remember the quote about how the council didn't want a bond package now and had to be strongarmed by Tex?

"Invest wisely". Indeed. I already cast my vote.

COR and AAA bond ratings

When I was listening to Tex Keffler at the HTNA neighbor meeting earlier this month something chafed me a bit. He mentioned our AAA bond rating and added something like "the bond rating people know what they are talking about."

What chafed me was I remembered that bond rating agencies, including Moodys and Standard and Poors, had been involved in conflict of interest and unwarranted optimism exacerbating the current economic crisis. A somewhat spicier write-up is online here.

The situation is so jacked up that rating agencies actually started claiming immunity from liability for their ratings by claiming they had free speech rights like (and no more responsibility than) a movie reviewer. Unfortunately for them (WSJ):

Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin dealt a blow to ratings firms, rejecting a free-speech defense asserted by Moody’s Investors Services and Standard & Poor’s.

Do those names sound familiar?

I am not claiming that COR's AAA ratings are fraudulent. I do think they are unlikely to stay AAA if we keep up the profligate spending, including elective project spending and overpayment of top officials. My suspicion has been that COR wanted to shoehorn in a huge bond because they know/fear/suspect that the AAA bubble will burst sooner rather than later. I sure would like to be wrong about this.

Early Voting

There was no line in the civic center; I was in/out in about 3 minutes. There were no other voters while I was there.

To be fair, there were projects I would have considered funding on a bond if they were line items and not bundled with other non-essential stuff. If I were the the director of the Dog Pound or Library I would pressure The Powers That Be to put my projects on seperate lines next time around.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: pro-bond folks are probably not amused that the DMN published an article about Keffler's sick/vacation pay bonanza today. There's no straight line to be drawn between Keffler's benefit package and the bond, but seeing non-trivial amounts of citizen treasure spent that way might irritate some residents who were otherwise on the fence about the bond.

COR employees used to pull Vote No signs?

I'm hearing chatter that COR employees may be:

1. contacting households with the Vote No signs on their property and/or
2. removing the signs based on that contact

Can anyone confirm/clarify? FOIA request on a police report may be productive shortly. Trying to pull some RPD audio.

COR library's new system

From (I assume) Cheri Duncan-Hubert in the comments on this C&P blog post:

"Library RFID upgrade is a Multi Bin System from TechLogic at a cost of $450k. But the reported amount of 724,500 is almost double the cost with markups and the lovely 5% capital improvement cost (sweeping, sweeping, sweeping)."

I was in the Library a couple of weeks ago and noticed the self-checkout stand was gone. You know, the one with the "a new printer has been ordered" sign on it that's been dead for at least a year.

I asked a staffer if they'd given up on the station and she said "yes, but we're getting a new system in the Spring." I wonder if there is, coincidentally, a new [self-]checkout system coming in the spring or if the worker bees are metaphysically certain that the bond will pass.

City bond video on cable access

From the recent COR email update:

2010 Bond Election Video Available Online In an effort to provide information to voters about the upcoming May 8, 2010 Bond Election, our Citizens Information Television Department has produced a video overview of the $66 million proposal. The video is available online at www.cor.net and will also be aired on the City's cable channel.

I wonder if video from last night's Just Say No meetup will get free play on the cable access? It's worth thinking about. Equal time and all that.