feminine beard (blogging from Richardson, Texas)

She was when last I saw her five minutes ago. (Edit: okay, so you actually have to read through the linked article to get that. I hope that answers your question, J? If not, let me know.)

Are you feminine or masculine? I'm 60% feminine, 40% masculine according to this.

Bonnaroo (blogging in Richardson, TX)

Four day arts and music festival
Tickets start at over $200
100,000 people attend
camping, dirt, mud, heat
Tennessee

from the French "bon" meaning "good," and "rue" from the French "street"
the best on the streets
in the Louisiana musical tradition of many styles of live music.

Phoenix.

A million letters, they couldn't make me change my mind

Business calls me, trouble down the waterfront
You know, I tried to, now I'm running outta lies
It's a clear view, when all you are is gettin' paid
No more favors, I know what we can do about it

I think I'd better run, run, run, run
I think I'd better run, run, run, run
You didn't catch me fallin', fallin', fallin', fallin'
Fallin', fallin', fallin', fallin'

Contradictions get me everything I want
I'll let you know but I think it's gonna take a while
It's a clear view, noone's waiting at the door
A million letters, they couldn't make me change my mind

I think I'd better run, run, run, run
I think I'd better run, run, run, run
[You] didn't catch me fallin', fallin', fallin', fallin'
Fallin', fallin', fallin', fallin'

How you want it to be, sittin' by the waterfront
[I know] I should be drifting far enough to reach the shore
It's a clear view, don't you underestimate me
No more flavor I know that I can live without it

I think I'd better run, run, run, run and leave those things for someone else
But I liked it
I don't even care
If you got to play the game you got to do it well

Le Tour de France - One of Lance's short cuts (blogging from Richardson, Texas)

1 min 46 secs

Napoleon Dynamite. Luk34, Happy Birthday in Highland Terrace, Richardson, Texas. I want you to dance.

Some French sounding things I adore, others don't sound too good, like

developers with French sounding names who are being positioned to be le seat fillers on Richardson City Council de 4 ou 5, that don't sound too good.

This week is French week on the blog. French loanwords come in very handy. Naïve (just sang it), Déjà Vu, Marionettes,Vaudeville, Surveillance...

They are useful. Thanks, you French.

I taped the main part of the continuing Richardson Texas City Council Executive Offline Session at various times over the last three weeks. My tape isn't as good as the two or more tapes and descriptions being posted elsewhere about the public meetings, but it's instructional, at least, and summarizes what has been happening with The Council.

Diligent work was done by some to pre-tune language details of the City of Richardson Ordinance 1,1901.952-2010 concerning the K2-ban and Council Conduct but it was not foreseen by the person who placed it on the agenda that it would come down to the pot-bong-versus-ma'asel-hookah and The Council conduct.

(Caterpillar or man?)

The Council getting their ordinances to make sense is not as easy as it looks for them. One observer stated it (ambiguous) to trying to squeeze whiskey out of an empty jar. Another immediately related at hand commented, "it's (ambiguous) like the bag is mostly stems and seeds, dude." .



It should be noted that K2 is banned in France. And in Kansas. And some other places.
.

This week is French week. Juxtaposition. A Tale of Two Cities. And CHiPs I like.

juxtaposition
1660s, coined in Fr. 17c. from L. juxta "beside, near" + Fr. position (see position (n.)). Latin juxta is a contraction of *jugista (adv.), superlative of adj. *jugos "closely connected," from stem of jugum "yoke," from jungere "to join" (see jugular).

The nearness of objects with no delimiter.
(grammar) An absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed together.
Example: mother father instead of mother and father
(mathematics) An absence of operators in an expression...

The extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.
There was a poignant juxtaposition between the boys laughing in the street and the girl crying on the balcony above.
(art) Two or more contrasting sounds, colours, styles etc. placed together for stylistic effect.
The juxtaposition of the bright yellows on the dark background made the painting appear three dimensional.
(rhetoric) The close placement of two ideas to imply a link that may not exist.
Example: In 1965 the government was elected, in 1965 the economy took a dive.



A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it is the most printed original English book, and among the most famous works of fiction.[2]

The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

The novel was published in weekly installments (not monthly, as with most of his other novels). The first installment ran in the first issue of Dickens' literary periodical All the Year Round appearing on 30 April 1859; the thirty-first and last ran on 25 November of the same year.[1]


CHiPs I like. (78 secs)

Heard about this. In Richardson, Texas, TriQuint intends to add around 200 jobs through early 2011, making use of empty space to expand capacity.

as Portland Business Journal reports / confirms: Chip makers ramp up hiring.

Hot demand for chip-driven equipment — from industrial lasers to iPads — has been driving semiconductor demand far ahead of the halting overall economy, observers say.

Foxconn Rallies Workers, Leaves Suicide Nets in Place.

Foxconn Technology Group — the Taiwanese company that manufactures hardware for Apple, Dell, HP, Nokia and Sony and has been hit by a dozen suicides at its plants this year...

In case the rallies, slogans and pay increases don’t raise morale enough to stem the tide of suicides, Foxconn left suicide nets in place at its facilities that are designed to catch workers before they hit the ground...

Foxconn plans to expand its workforce 40 percent, while reducing the number of workers in its Shenzhen industrial park from 470,000 to 300,000 or so over the next five years, perhaps to take pressure off of workers at that plant.

Apple, believed to be Foxconn’s biggest customer, said conditions at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant were “not a sweatshop” and along with Dell and HP, investigated conditions at its manufacturer’s factories, leading to an earlier pay raise. This latest raise precisely mirrors the recommendation of the China Labor Union Bulletin, which asked Foxconn to pay Shenzhen factory workers at least 2,000 yuan per month (the equivalent of $293), up from 900 yuan.

Full story and photo at wired.com with the reader comments.

To the worst hugger. Richardson, Texas.

(to go full screen, click the four way arrow above)
(press Esc / Escape button to go away from full screen)

Naïve by The Kooks
Awesome artwork by Jeff Thomas, Azuzephre.net
Video compiled by Tiqqamaus.

For My Friend Sarah at UTD (Richardson, TX)

One of the best pop soul vocalists and artists around, Joan Osborne.
Sara Smile, a Hall and Oates cover. Turn it up.

A pending trial on ethics charges didn't stop Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) from celebrating his 80th birthday in style Wednesday night. Richardson, TX

38 seconds of the "Rangel Dance," from Washington Post.com.
I bet you can't dance the Rangel Dance like that, definitely not that fast.

If he lived in Richardson, Texas, you could promise to freeze his taxes (retroactively for the past fifteen years). He wouldn't vote for you though, probably.

Blagojevich scandal is no laughing matter author says. And More Waiting In Trial. Also, I don't want Gary Slagel to hold office again. Richardson TX

I am posting links and excerpts from these Chicago Tribune articles because Richardson, Texas, Mayor Gary Slagel, CEO/President Capitalsoft, had told the audience at a public event that the Board of Directors of CapitalSoft were told by a consultant that if they wanted to do business in Illinois that they needed to get involved in politics there. A $5,000 check was reported to have been given to Gov. Blagojevich's campaign efforts. Gary said the donation didn't have anything to do with CapitalSoft being decided the winner of the contract. Before the check, they were not winning, according to reports. My simple question was, then why was it done?

This explanation reply by Mayor Gary Slagel, doesn't wash, in my personal opinion. It just doesn't ring plausible and true to me personally.

His business was in the city tax payer supported incubator (building) and it was something that I seriously tried to reserve judgement on too, however, I never was given the proof I needed that he paid the going rent as he told me he did for all those years that he kept his own business in the city supported incubator. I did meet a guy at city hall who complained that he and his partner applied to have their technology business in the city supported incubator. He was quiet upset by his experience and called the decision makers who decide who gets into the incubator "vulchers."

I still do not know if that part of what Gary said is true or not about him paying the going rate for rent for his business to be in the city supported incubator year after year but on the face of it no elected official should be a part of having his business or a corporation that he is a part of in the city incubator when he is the mayor, or on the council, because to me it causes questions of conflict and it is poor judgement. A past council member and staunch supporter of his, at least once staunch, told him to remove his business from the incubator. He finally did, but not after holding out from doing so and giving amunition for city embarrassment. That same bad feeling comes about every time he, in my opinion, does something he should not do, and especially with his history.

Him getting the City of Richardson to sign up with a consortium his business was a vendor partner in called Choice Facility Partners is a third thing that immediately comes to mind that I feel should have not happened and it would not have been learned of except that a member of council walked in on Gary, Bill Keffler and COR Purchasing Manager having an offline meeting on it. COR was on the list, then off the list (because of complaints), back on the list (when Gary got back in the Mayor's seat), now is not on the list/web site at least. Gary told me that he did not stand to benefit from the agreement when I asked him about it later after the commotion over the circumstances came to light, but it would be best if he did not get COR to sign with a consortium where he or CapitalSoft or any of his business (or businesses) that he may have as a vendor or member, even if the City was not going to directly use his services. This is particularly true given his history. I told Bill that it should not happen. In my opinion, Gary does benefit if at the minimum by raising the prestige of any consortium or his status in any consortium by signing COR (backed by tax payers), a municipality, up as a member, user or subscriber. The rationale was that COR would be the only real beneficiary. Really? The added problem is that it places any employee potentially in a difficult or in a leveraging position, in my opinion, especially since it should have never been a closed door meeting outside the other decision makers. (More about that later.) It should not be re-agreed to after it was un-agreed the first time once he got back in the mayoral position.

There are a dozen or more things, time after time, several of them published, many of them not as of today, that have happened that are very disconcerting and ongoing or influence what is happening. I sincerely hope at this point that Gary does not hold office again.

The fall, by December, was the time when the last two incumbents let it be known that they were not seeking re-election. That seemed to be a good time to let everyone know. I hope Gary will say he is not seeking another term soon.

Someone equally or more talented but who has a higher level of standards toward several things, especially toward separation between their business and campaign in regards to city resources (like separation of church and state), can become the mayor and represent more of the people and not be a (self-begging) lightening rod for ethics questioning.

I feel that way more strongly than ever because I support the judgement of some people who could not and cannot agree to his behavior and did not vote to keep him "in charge as Mayor."

My personal opinion is that he has been given many chances to act as above reproach as he can as the top elected and selected leader of the City and he doesn't seem to care to. My opinion of him is that he would rather see all those who cannot agree with all of his behavior to be treated very spitefully than for him to just behave. He spurs others on. It is contageous. He and all his nonsense is just not worth it, in my opinion.

Gary walked up to me and leaned over and whispered to me one time, out of the blue (at least to me), that he learned that a certain person who had been disagreeing with him, had been married a certain number of times before. I let it pass because the two of them were always at each other but I never mentioned it to anyone until right here. I do not wonder at all how he knew about it because as I posted previously, I came to see that investigating services were used by "the team" who did not like it that anything should be disagreed with or questioned, and not just by the unliked fellow, but by anyone who should dare not agree.

Some people will decide finally and have decided to not just take attacks just because they cannot go along to get along with unethical behavior that directly involves city tax payer resources. In fact, a year was given following the last severe outburst from "the team" to see if they "the team" would stop needling and saying hatefilled, grating things about good people and cut out the funny business at city hall. They continue to do all of it.

If that is the way they want it... It is contageous then. Just because someone is above average in age (constantly grating and taking jabs when no one is bothering him) or just because somebody else considers himself to be a lifetime appointee, as two examples, doesn't mean they can keep attacking and get free passes. Not any more.

I do wonder if they considered calling Gary Slagel, CapitalSoft Board Members and their consultant to testify in the Blagojevich trial.

More waiting in Blagojevich case

By Jeff Coen, Bob Secter and Stacy St. Clair, Tribune reporters
9:22 p.m. CDT, August 12, 2010

Excerpts

...array of alleged bad behavior — from trying to sell the Senate seat to siphoning money off a rigged state bond deal to shaking down a hospital executive, a racetrack owner, a road building executive and a U.S. congressman for campaign cash.

Jurors signaled that despite 12 days of deliberations, they had agreed on just two of the 24 counts faced by Blagojevich — without hinting at which ones or how they voted — and had yet to take up half of the remaining 22 counts.The result was a cloud of confusion hanging over a showcase trial that had captivated the nation with testimony and wiretaps portraying the twice-elected Illinois leader as a vain, profanity-spewing, responsibility-shirking politician who allegedly tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.



full article here in Chicago Tribune



Blagojevich scandal is no laughing matter, author says

August 11, 2010By John Keilman, Tribune reporter

Rod Blagojevich has done his best to wring laughs out of his legal trouble, mugging for the cameras, blabbing on any talk show that would have him and yukking it up every chance he gets. But Laura Kipnis, a professor in Northwestern University's School of Communication, said the real joke might be on the rest of us. Her forthcoming book, "How To Become a Scandal: Adventures in Bad Behavior," (Metropolitan Books; $24) examines the strange relationship between those who fall from grace and those who watch the plunge, and concludes that both parties are dysfunctional.

"The necessary element in a scandal is us in the audience," she said. "We're the ones who are fascinated by these stories and addicted to them. We get to punish the transgressors. We get to be the villagers throwing the stones. We take a perverse pleasure in that."

Yet while we're having a good chuckle at their misfortune, she said, we fail to note some unflattering things about ourselves. We're eager for distraction. We're quick to find scapegoats. And we'd much rather laugh at a scandal than consider its tragic elements or larger implications. The Blagojevich ruckus is distinguished by the former governor's eagerness to draw mockery, Kipnis said. But with every snicker, the important issues underlining the case slip further from view.

Chicago Tribune article

To The Unsuspecting City, To The Unsuspecting Candidates, Everyone, be careful of a Mr. ... (Richardson, Texas)

Delightful, theatrical and sagacious. Performance by Dame Shirley Bassey, live at Royal Albert Hall.

Letterbox: The Letterbox was dry until two interesting tips: a few COR employees worried about TMRS and Retiree Health benefits funding by COR are

said to be quietly meeting for discussion of matters "offline."


The second is that
the gadfly is returned.
(cartoon posted on Internet by Don Moyer)

An underground blog has popped up. One of the posts is a drawing of a City of Richardson fleet vehicle (based on a

fleet vehicle being parked in West Plano in front of a house... are employees allowed to drive the fleet vehicles to non work sites? How much has that been costing us?). The fleet vehicle in the drawing has "COR" written on it but on the antenna is a little banner that says "Kefflers" with a flying "K." A young looking person is driving with other happy looking people in the vehicle. There is a bumper sticker on the front bumper that says "fully insured by you" and the license plate reads, "BIG-TEX."

It is editorial commentary on the past discovered use and in some cases felt to be abuse (non authorized use) of the City of Richardson vehicles insured and paid for by tax payers, a matter that drew attention and concern about liability issues and of course cost (fuel, maintenance, trust).

Fun With Council how councilmen play games, 1st Mark Solomon. So when Keffler brought forward the request for Churchill to apply on behalf of the City

for Federal grant/loan for a low income project, it was said, and in writing, that them agreeing to do so was not to be seen as a commitment to approve any future request, but Mark Solomon on Monday said in a follow-up to Murphy and Mitchell that everyone knew what it would be, the vote "was unanimous," as if all the Council had already agreed to the independent living low income project zoning request itself. No, they had not already agreed to it by giving permission to seek a grant in February and Mitchell even clarified that in February. In fact, Mitchell and Murphy voted against that subsequent request. I could agree that they should not have voted yes in February, only to vote no in August, except that it was clearly stated to not be a commitment to approve any future request. It was even more certainly not an agreement for any certain location.

Congrats. Mark Solomon fit right in.

He was very mayoral when he pulled the resolution, resolving to something already resolved (passed by the council after considerable work, before his arrival), to resolve it again after some shout outs. It was more like he is a state legislature than any mayor we have had. It was stinky but I can see how impressive it was to a few. He very adroitly set the mini event up. Gosh, without him, it never would have happened. That's not nearly as sly as the game he played against or with Mitchell. I wonder how that will pan out come next election.

Gary shouldn't smart off about HOA Larry M., especially to his face. Did he confuse him with HOA Northern George (the one he called the dirty name)? We are beginning to think that not only does Gary think he is better than those east side people but also those real-real east side people (the gasp panhandle people).

It was wild the other week when Murphy said they should find someone else to market the land. Then this week, after insulting the quality of the development (again), he remembered to say he wasn't talking about Ferrara (trying to throw out a save). Murphy is like that, slaps, stabs, hugs and kisses (you never know when or where). Ask Mitchell, who will never give up on him. He needs to keep his one fair weather friend on the CC. Does he promise not to help run Davis against Murphy? Does Murphy promise not to say that Mitchell accomplished little and vote against him? I heard on Monday that Murphy, Stewart, Mitchell are aligning. Does Gary know?

Oh, Omar, the umh, pander umh bear. Sorry that Stew showed up and made him nervous and he yacked more than he has since the budget retreat when he got onto the staff.

Stewart, what are you doing rounding up all those angry panhandlers (who were finally pried away from their backyard spas, pools and far flung Spanish vacations, just kidding)? And you, snuggling up to Murph. Really. They thought they got rid of all the real-real east side people and then you go showing up. Can you please tell Omar that you are not running against him. Make sure your law enforcement friend R Roland doesn't get heard over any not hung'd up phone where you both insult Mitch and the rest of the politikians in town. I doubt most of them have forgotten that. Has Eisemann offered again to pay for Roland to run for Council? If so, who against this time since the target jumped out of the way and since there's no real-real east siders there any more? Well, maybe next time, no? Too bad about him not making the finalist category and being cut out of the COR po chief position.

Mitchell, you are getting better at GS'ing (grand standing). Picking up pointers from the Murph. It was funny when you pointed out that there were about ten parcels around west Arapaho that needed to be looked at (for visioning). Now what could you have been talking about. That was almost Shepherdesque. Did you mean to let Solomon and Macy run away with the remarks about check cashing places and apartment inspections. Those were your babies. They didn't know anything about that when you, Hand, Davis and your council posse were hatching those. Thanks, by the way.

Oh the plantive intermittant whirl of the Mace. I get a kick out of all the times he goes like, "I agree with Gary." "I agree with Gary." "I agree with Gary." I love all the grating and extra clumsy things he says, especially about others, like he is just spoiling for a fight when no one was bothering him (he should not count on that now since he won't let up) and how he rides Gary's angry coat tails, to distraction and bother. My opinion is that he doesn't want the open checkbook for at least one reason.

Par for the course behavior. His daughter, soon after Macy gets on council, is helped along by DaddyMacy and Amir Omar (she acted as his campaign treasurer), and Gary (who rounded up endorsements, help, invitations and advice for Omar, like some of the same for Solomon) into getting that cool $30K embroidery contract (of a $65K embroidery budget. Wow). What a co inkydink! That's a sweet chunk for a little shop. Macy fits right in, perfectly. So do his daughter's defending words into the neighborhood. In my opinion, his words indicate worry about company names and company business hanging out there on the city checkbook. It is true that people will be eyeing the checkbook and all the entries. A little blip is one thing, but payments on the city checkbook is another.

Contracts run over the authorized amount and you would normally never really notice it hardly. Smaller contracts are written and if they do not exceed a certain amount, you would never know (Ask Gary and his some-say-nemisis, one of many he has made over the years, Commissioner Dickey regarding that CapitalSoft deal that nearly slipped by the Commissioners' Court in Dallas County. It did not fly. Maybe they heard of the Collin County trouble with a bigger deal and that cancellation. Or the Chicago deal, and that contract fiasco firing). Someone may go out and look and see that "so-and-so" company or whoever is getting money from the City and that's a concern because it was brought up. In my personal opinion, the second reason he is not keen on it, is, well, you guessed it. He is trying to agree with what he thought Gary wanted. Things got a little confusing for him trying to play double defense, in my opinion. Gary's political cues are hedgey when he is annoyed, while trying to play dumb, in my opinion.

I can't help but wonder what is next. An incubator sew n sew shop inside a leased jet parked on the cleared lots cross from the libary? Will there be an exclusive franchise agreement required for construction debris haulers involved in preparing for a bridge and watch tower operation from City Hall with catering and a golf course inside, used for private COR executive, elusive liquor "congratulation" parties, complete with a resident high dollar paid pro? Have you ever wondered who all has the keys to the golf clubhouse? It's just down the street, you know.

Townshend, you did well, as often you do in public. I see you are trying to make up for some of your past sins by promoting a type of person (to fill your spot when you step down) that you and your college fraternity kept out, as you tell it. I am also really glad to see you are trying by cutting down on the flipping and snearing. I applaud anyone for trying to do the right things, finally. I won't get into who you gave tax payer abatements to and what you purposefully overlook that goes on. You continue to fit in well, but don't change too much or you won't.

Keffler was funny when he stressed the stability of the council and succession planning (really? Don't tell Angie Chen Button who crowned Gary "Lifetime Mayor" in front of then mayor Steve Mitchell and got the community bus loads of Chinese from the retirement home to vote for candidates who would vote for Gary for Mayor the next time... oopsy, you forgot to destroy the list written down. (They keep messing up, drats).

Angie benefitted from Gary, Eisemann and Coalition Company and vice versa but boy did she blow a gasket when Gary pushed to hire Fred Hill when she was supposed to be the representative. But all is well.

Remember when Angie and Gary got Keffler to ask the council to let her have a Richardson (LD 112) political office in City Hall but the non team players said "no." So everything isn't completely perfect (at least one of them is still left to pay back for that one, right).

Anyway, how much bond rating agencies rate that "continuity" is odd because they didn't care if Mitch or Slag was mayor, and my opinion is that they won't care when Mark S. or A. Omar is the mayor, but it sounded good, as in it sounded like buttering up to Gary. From what I have seen, Gary would throw Keffler under the bus and has, but Keffler is definitely loyal and defends him at seemingly all costs, and is well compensated (sometimes seemingly setting his own compensation with Gary behind the scenes, but with no contract covering the full actions because when one was requested concerning that big chunk of money to Keffler and later to some of his posse and how was it that the tax payers were supposed to pay for his personal financial advising, nothing was produced that covered all the action).

I also liked when Keffler said let's "call a spade a spade." I have doubts if that is really what will happened when he speaks of salaries (increasing benefits), or of geneouros golf contracts, a jet lease, and what have them, at the city. It seems to just be a phrase to pass out more lucre in my opinion. But nice spades if you can play them.

Fun With Council.

Taxes are too high if you are proposing to freeze property taxes for 30% of the home owners or you are shielding by a 30% amount. (Richardson, TX)

So your solution? Raise taxes by 10% and then try to freeze taxes for a subset comprising 30% of homeowners. That isn't good fiscal or long range sustainable planning.

If you freeze someone's taxes, then their rights to vote to raise other people's taxes should be frozen. It is wrong on the face of it to eliminate responsibility while maintaining rights that enable others to then vote up the taxes for those whose taxes are not likewise frozen, no matter what scheme you could come up with to "pay for it" or justify it.

What if we just freeze everyone over 65 from running for and holding City of Richardson Council Office? I would never agree to that (I feel many able people are retiring too early as it is and it harms people and society and puts a stigma on us), but I also can't agree with any scheme as someone is proposing to freeze taxes for some which will wind up raising them even more on others. Obviously I do not agree with the 30% shielding either.

Taxes are too high for everyone because of waste and tax money not going where the money was intended to go, but no senior subset of the population, no senior person, has lost their home in Richardson, Texas, by not being able to pay city property taxes unless they failed to realize or utilize Texas law. The Texas Tax Code Section 33.06 allows taxpayers 65 of age or older to defer their property taxes until their estates are settled after death. For those trying to convince seniors to demand a senior tax freeze outright, I ask them to name senior citizens in Richardson who have been put out of their home by the City of Richardson for their failure to pay their city property tax bill.

Now, people, no matter what age, do sometimes have to move to be able to live within their means, or changing lifestyle. If you can only afford a $180,000 home, then you can't afford to live in a $395,000 house. If you can only afford a $135,000 home, then you can't afford to live in a two million dollar house. But that is reality. I would like to live in a certain 1.2 million dollar home, but because I can't and don't want to afford it right now, I do not do so. If taxes are too high in Richardson for 30% of the population, then they are too high.

(I won't even get into the exclusivity that allows those on the government payroll to live in exclusive communities when us working schmoes don't "qualify" but yet we help foot the bill.)

I do agree to finding a way to cut the nonsense and roll taxes back for every one, say as much as 30% because I believe that is how much waste and nonsense can be cut out, and still achieve more, for more people.

And certainly not raise taxes (padding bonds and the budget and having to now pay for all the deferred employee retirement plan and health benefits obligations).

"Savings" are being found in the budget, but what do you know, they are being absorbed by regrowing the just reduced city budget.

How slyly COR & Council "recycles" and reclaims and takes credit and (re)nominations, (re)awards, etc. of initiatives of others.

They fail to mention certain key things. Also, how many times do we pay for the same project. Twice is one time too many. And, you can't claim you have talked to a neighborhood or group of people and come to an agreement when you COR/Council simply have done no such thing. It is also very amusing (as in not really amusing) how you pretend total ignorance of things ("oh, I didn't realize that was /wasn't happening," but those are fibs) then you take credit for it if/when it "turns out swell" or didn't go over so well (thanks to your sabotaging). You can't have it all ways, not forever. If you are worrying about your legacy, you sure are mucking it up.

And anytime you find "savings" you blow the budget back up to be able to spend those "savings."

COR and Council thinks that no one notices, but we do. More and more of us are watching you. You need to be more honest about your "news," "nominations," "awards," "projects" and non-existent "agreements" (and "quiet arrangements" with city resources). It very much detracts from what good work and ideas some of you actually do have and do yourselves.

Dear City of Richardson TX and Council, why hide our solar panels, tucking them away, making them less effective and less visible, costing us more?

Saving us less?

I am just asking for the rationale on why you want to muck up our solar demonstration project that will pay for itself that we have been planning for three years now. Please don't muck it up. Don't hide it, celebrate it. You are completely changing the economics of it by hiding the panels. Please don't get in the way of them being in the correct location as recommended, where the sun can shine on them. This particular set is agreed to go in at the rec center (although it isn't the only good location), but don't hide them for gosh sake, for the sake of hiding them. You defeat the purpose of them in at least two ways. Functionally (making them less effective and making for less cost savings, and they cost more putting them "out of the way"). And demonstratively (part of the idea is that people are supposed to see them).

(I can tell you right now, they are way less obnoxious than say a giant thick 195 foot DART monopole. You might consider making that monopole a wind generator or slap some of those solar panels on it too. It would look better that way too.)

You have all attacked some very good people, so I haven't been holding back, that much, so I'll say you people are some of the most inconsistent, unbalanced, and at times grating and insulting to residents, business owners and city workers, I've ever seen (in addition to your mixed acting abilities). You are okay to slap a giant pole, downtown, with such minimal mitigation (less than would be typically required), but you try to nearly ban our solar panels for the rec center because you are afraid that someone may see these reflective rectangles on the roof line. (Let the acting begin from you.)

I think the (overpriced) rec center looks okay (except for the dated looking 1970's brick zig zag design on the top half, yuck, and that brick color, yuck), but our solar panels are not going to detract from your perfect non-solar panel architectural vision. Just put them up, okay (and don't hide them "back there"). The building was meant to be energy efficient and solar panels make it more so, if installed correctly. They could make it look better actually.

I ask that you rethink this and do right by it since you have the location agreed to and since the panels are funded (out of our Federal bucket) and will pay for themselves.

Even J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) admits he knows how to place solar panels correctly. (Boy, does he.)

"Shine, Baby, Shine!"

"Check this out now. Watch these boys sing for real-real" For D in Yale Park, Richardson, Texas

Richardson City Council took a step (were led by certain non-council members) in the right direction last night (the public part, not the closed door part, minus the council's self appreciation remarks), in agreeing that finally our city's checkbook (and credit card) spending or accounts would be online.

And no, we do not know why they still set each week's public agendas, and private agendas as they relate to our public business, in private. Well, we do know why they do that, but they should know it is not good for them to rove about so.

I've got the world on a string. Visit Michael Bublé