DENTON WATCHDOG BLOG

to pullout or not to pullout, that is the question

2005-07-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an insightful link, it's refreshing to hear a different point of view. It seems the stuff coming out of the media over here is a lot more watered down.

though I've never been a fan of the pullout method, I think what is happening in Iraq is a civil war, and it is not our job to stop them from having a civil war. Just imagine if England had policed our civil war, they would not have solved the problems we had only put a band-aid on them.

Iraqis are going to have to figure it out for themselves, the only reason the U.S. is still there is to protect the investments of rich corporations and their stockholders (can you say Halliburton?)

It's sad that most of the sacrifices are made by the lower and middle classes but the super-rich are the ones who call the shots because they make all the campaign contributions.

Ara James

'Sí votamos', dicen líderes hispanos

2005-05-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

Un día después de que Al Día y The Dallas Morning News publicaran un análisis que muestra que los latinos tuvieron una participación inferior a la de los negros y los blancos en la elección municipal del 7 de mayo en Dallas, líderes latinos se mostraban renuentes a aceptar la realidad de los números. link here

mi primer "post" en spanish, mas o menos.

Get custom Texas plates and make a difference.

2005-05-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

These custom plates are kind of expensive but most of the money goes to a good cause. If you get the plates, it’s 30 or 40 dollars a year depending on which one, with 22 or 32 dollars going straight to the sponsoring organization, respectively. The 40 dollar plates are the God Bless America or God Bless Texas ones and they benefit the 4-H, Keep Texas Beautiful, March of Dimes, Texas Reads, and of course my favorite Share The Road.

Wagging the Blog

2005-03-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

So I just sent an email action to my representatives via bikeleague.org

It was the least I could do, after all, a dog is a man's best friend and I don't want my owner getting run over out there. Watchdoggie out.

"Oregonizing" Texas

2005-03-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

This is exactly what I'm talking about people, let's all get a Bicycle Bill passed in Texas! Here is the bill itself, it looks good to me, all we have to do now is get it passed in Texas. I wasn't planning on going statewide with this but a dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do. A quick search turned up this link , which lists Texas, California, Florida, and New York as the states where most bicycle accident fatalities occur.

I'm not going to bother with the pollution statistics right now, most people know Texas is not known for it's outstanding air quality, I think it's obvious that we need to curb our toxic emissions. Less smog would mean healthier kids, less lung cancer, it's hard to argue against that.

Bikes aren't the whole solution, of course, other things I would like to see is more electric or hybrid cars. Biodiesel for all the long haulers and biodiesel hybrid cars for those that want a vehicle that can go the distance (electric cars have a very limited range.) The reason for biodiesel is that we already have the infrastructure, we don't have to wait ten or twenty years for hydrogen fuel cells to be affordable/practical. All we have to do is use the infrastructure we already have for gasoline/diesel fuel. Here is a link on where to get biodiesel in Texas. Also here is a link about Denton's biodiesel plant, which was going to be the largest in Texas until this one came down the pike. Since that link sucks let me just put it out here.

Biodiesel plant headed for Houston - 2/2/2005
A Boston developer of renewable energy products is expected to break ground on a biodiesel plant at the Houston Ship Channel in mid-2005. Natural Fuel & Energy president and chief executive Ronald Reilly said the $60 million facility, with a capacity of 36 million gallons a year, will be the biggest biodiesel plant in the country. Biodiesel is a renewable alternative fuel made from soybeans or other natural fats or oils. Reilly said the new Houston plant will be located at an existing storage tank terminal along the channel and should be operational in the second quarter of 2006. [Houston Chronicle]

Biggest in the U.S. baby! Kind of funny they're putting it in Houston, which is usually number one or two worst cities for air pullution (L.A. and Houston have been trading off number one for a few years.) It kind of renews one's faith in humanity if you ask me. Dare we hope? Us environmentalists need some good news today after hearing about the Arctic wildlife refuge being opened up to drilling.

Peace out.

What's in store

2005-03-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Well, so far the blog has been pretty lame, and I haven’t even put any pretty pictures up yet. It’s not easy to blog when you have no PC at home. Anyways, I was all fired up to raise hell down at City Hall but now I’m finding out that they are already doing some very good things, such as putting in a light rail and that tree ordinance thing I put up a week or two ago. So here’s a link about the new light rail if you want to check it. I still want to push for more bike paths in Denton. I am going to research bike path to cyclist fatality ratios around the country and try and sell the bike paths to the city council mostly as a safety issue. Also, I am going to circulate flyers for my blog to all the cycling clubs in Denton and maybe organize a Critical Mass/bike path rally that would end at city hall. Finally, I will modify this blog to be a resource for voter registration. I had a heck of a time trying to vote once in Denton because there was not a decent website where one could find out where to vote.
Denton doesn’t have a voters’ pamphlet like Portland, OR (my hometown) either, so it’s not easy to learn about issues and voting locations. I had to literally drive to the voting site, where they told me to drive across town to another site because I was at the wrong one. It was a Sunday and even though it was a mayoral race there was no one answering the phone at the mayor’s office and I could find no way to call the polling stations directly. It was a pain in the you know what and it made me wonder how all of the people without internet and automobiles were expected to vote. So if there is something else this city needs very badly it’s a good voters’ pamphlet that outlines the issues (spanish and english,) provides info on when and where to vote and register, and a hotline that one can call to arrange for rides to the polls. I think I could probably pull off most of this fairly easily so there’s that. I should mention that the city council ballots have been finalized, read more about that at dentonrc.com. I’m not taking sides as far as candidates go I’m not up to snuff on them yet. Until next blog, peace out.

Master plan outlines downtown transformation

2005-02-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

The first story in a three part series about denton’s master plan for development. It looks like the other reporters are doing all my work for me. It also looks like our city council is doing a good job regarding developing downtown, we'll see how it works out. I hope they make a pedestrian downtown because it would be safer and cleaner. Ironic that they're already getting a company from my hometown to consult on it, which is probably exactly what I would do. Stay tuned for parts two and three, actual link here.

Jamaal O’Neal, Intern
NT Daily News (UNT's student paper

If we build it, they will come.
That is the theory Denton city planners hope will hold true in efforts to make the downtown area a thriving regional commercial hub by 2025.
Fregonese Calthorpe Associates of Portland, Ore., a firm specializing in city planning, has developed a master plan to transform downtown.
On Tuesday night, city council members approved $138,500 to hire consultant Paris Rutherford of RTKL Associates to research new transportation routes and decide what types of buildings and developers suit the downtown area.
“The time is now,” said Rutherford as he addressed the city council. “Denton is fortunate to have two major universities surrounding downtown, and I think that is going to be a huge asset when trying to draw developers.”
Along with being the educational center of North Texas because of NT and Texas Woman’s University, the city has established itself as a regional destination for health-care with two large medical centers, Denton Regional Medical Center and Denton Presbyterian Hospital.
These amenities have fueled the economic engine of the city and kept officials busy with prospective clients. However, prospective clients underestimate Denton’s economic stability due to the lack of facilities to house more commercialized businesses and industry.
“People are calling and are interested,” Julie Glover, Main Street Manager, said. “But I think one nice, big thing needs to happen to pop us out of the rug.”
City planners think a booming downtown is that big thing.
In recent years, Denton’s Main Street Association has worked to revitalize downtown. The area sustains 24-hour coffee shops, bars, and restaurants as a result of the association’s effort. However, city officials deem hiring Rutherford necessary, saying downtown Denton sits at a critical stage for this type of development.
“This is the next step,” Glover said. “We’re bringing people back downtown and…this will drive that future development that we want.” Rutherford’s resume includes large-scale developments such as Uptown Dallas, as well as numerous other projects in Los Angeles, Houston, and Denver.
Now that the city council has approved Rutherford, Glover and Denton mayor Euline Brock hope to see new large-scale development plans for the area, much like Addison Circle and Plano’s new Transit Village. Both developments feature upscale housing and retail near major transit lines.
“I’m really excited about this project,” Brock said. “So much has changed in Denton over the past few years… this really is a push in the right direction for our city economically.”
Denton took the first steps in bringing a light rail service to the city when residents approved a one-half percent sales and use tax increase on Sept. 13, 2003. The estimated completion date for the service is 2010. Glover believes a train station will be built in downtown Denton, which she feels is crucial for the area’s growth.
“The general consensus is that there needs to be a stop in downtown Denton,” said Glover. “Once we know where the stop will be placed, I think that we will see a lot of development, much like Addison and Plano, occur in Denton.”
With a new transit line on the way to downtown, planners are trying to constrain growth to the downtown area by constructing taller buildings and refurbishing pre-existing structures. Glover estimates “high-rises” constructed near the square will be limited to three stories. Along the Eagle Drive corridor, buildings could be five or six stories tall.
“I think that the courthouse is part of our identity, and we don’t want to cover that up with a bunch of tall buildings,” Glover said.
According to Glover, 80 percent of downtown is commercialized businesses and 20 percent is residential. The master plan for downtown calls for 40 percent commercial space, 60 percent residential.
City planners hope zoning the downtown area denser with taller buildings will provide more residential housing for people wanting to live and work downtown.
“That is going to require a lot of high density development, much like Addison and Plano have, to bring that [residential figure] up,” Glover said.
Glover hopes construction on new buildings begins in three to five years. She admits that may be optimistic, but because of Denton’s phenomenal growth over the last decade, realizes the potential.
According to Denton’s Comprehensive plan, the city’s residential population could easily soar over 100,000 by the end of this year, and 185,000 by 2020.
“What we are currently experiencing is exactly what happened in Addison,” Glover said. “That [developer] had to go out and take a risk and build Addison Circle and everyone thought he was insane….now it’s the biggest thing in Addison.”

City Council alters tree rules to allow for planting more

2005-02-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Kudos to the city council and Euline Brock on this, I think I'll go plant a tree.
For the article, you can click here but they make you register and I hate that so that's why I'm posting the whole article.

07:18 AM CST on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
By Cliff Despres / Staff Writer
The space between a curb and sidewalk along Denton streets now can accommodate more trees.
The City Council decided to stop requiring one tree every 30 feet along street frontages and will allow trees at varying street distances in different types of developments.
The change means more trees can be planted on the land justoff city streets, city officials say, because it resolves a developer problem of finding it "physically impossible" to plant a street tree every 30 feet on small lots while also distancing trees
from power lines, driveways, mailboxes and fire hydrants.
"The development code was doing the opposite of what we wanted. It was preventing trees from going in at all," said council member Pete Kamp.
So the city amended the code to require one tree per single-family lot with less than 60 feet of street frontage, and two trees per single-family lot with more than 60 feet of street frontage. Corner lots would require two or more trees.
Estate-style residences, those with more than 100 feet of street frontage, are exempt.
Multifamily developments, townhouses and nonresidential developments would be required to install trees at 45-foot intervals along street frontages.
"The new regulations are a lot more flexible and it allows for separation distances from utilities and driveways," said Stephen Cook, the city’s planning policy coordinator.
The new rules also require developments to have a master street tree plan.
That would allow different builders who build in the same subdivision to coordinate street tree plantings while accounting for minimum spacing requirements from driveways, fire hydrants and utility lines, city officials say.
The rules also specify that the types of street trees used be taken from the city’s tree list of medium and large varieties. The same species must be used on an individual block.
In the end, city officials hope the changes improve the look of the land along city streets.
"These street trees make all the difference," said Mayor Euline Brock.
CLIFF DESPRES can be reached at 940-566-6876.

Redistricting by the 78th Texas legislature

2005-02-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

I did this for my government class, although not a strictly local issue, it affects everyone in the state and also reflects some of my beliefs so I'm posting it.

Texas Congressional Redistricting
To me, the redistricting of Texas by the 78th legislature was a blatant power grab by the republicans that costed the taxpayers millions of dollars for which they got nothing in return. The redistricting that took place was costly, unnecessary, and possibly illegal.
The issue seems to be pretty cut and dried. Republicans wanted to change the way the districts are drawn up to make republicans more competitive in the few districts that they have in the past lost to democrats. You see, Texas is mostly republican, so if you carve up the districts just so, there wouldn’t be any democrats in office at all. It seems that though there are less democrats than republicans, there are enough in some districts to have elected democrats like Austin's Lloyd Doggett, Waco's Chet Edwards and Dallas' Martin Frost. Tom Delay, the republican majority leader, was the main proponent of the redistricting. His lobbyist, Jim Ellis, stated that any redistricting map that did not get these three democrats out of Congress was not acceptable.
In order to accomplish this, some very creative district boundaries had to be installed. Some examples are a district that runs all the way from Austin to the Rio Grande Valley and another one that stretches from the Oklahoma border to south Ft. Worth. The Democrats stance is that Republicans are trying to disenfranchise minority voters, who tend to vote democratically. It seems that this would deter a lot of poor people from getting involved in the political process, too. Only people that are willing and able to drive half way across the state for the district meetings could attend. If one wanted to go door to door canvassing the district it would be almost impossible. These issues are obvious enough that the only conclusion I can come to is that the Republicans knew about them but they shoved the redistricting through because they are intentionally trying to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.
Seeing as though a redistricting had already taken place two years before and they normally only happen every ten years, one would think that there must have been some special emergency for another redistricting to take place so soon after the last. Although I would love to think that this redistricting was necessary, I have found no evidence to that effect. Rick Perry has actually set a new precedent by succeeding in the redistricting, because this was the first time that any state had done so without a court order.
To demonstrate how this pet issue was attended to at the expense of important legislation, let’s look at this quote from governor Rick Perry. "Once legislators have begun their work on this important issue, I will consider expanding the call to other unfinished business from the 78th regular session, such as funding for the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) and Texas Tech medical school, and other matters." This from his announcement of one of the special sessions. So let me get this straight, their main priority is to redistrict even though it was just done two years ago, but if they have time they might look at issues like health care and education?
Even more insulting to the taxpaying public is the sheer amount of time and money that has been wasted to force this legislation through. According to a release from House Democrat Jim Dunnam in August 2003, the special sessions cost at least 3.4 million dollars.
Though the redistricting was not judged illegal by federal law, it seems to be defined perfectly by the word gerrymandering, which means to divide a geographic area into voting districts to give unfair advantage to one political party. I’m still not sure how they got away with this one, because gerrymandering is illegal. The only explanation I can think of is that the wolves are guarding the chicken coop. My opinion is that there needs to be better safeguards put in place to prevent this kind of systemic abuse.

References:

House.state.tx.us
“HOUSE DEMOCRATS TALLY COST OF REDISTRICTING SPECIAL SESSIONS”
23 February, 2005 pub 8/26/03 author office of Garnett Coleman
http://www.house.state.tx.us/news/release.php?id=543

Texasobserver.org “Roll Over George Wallace”
pub 7/4/2003 author JB
23 February, 2005 ” pub 7/4/2003 author JB
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1390

Austin American-Statesman
”DeLay's involvement in Texas redistricting: pure partisan politics”
published December 12, 2003 author unknown
23 February, 2005 http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/txnews.htm

Whatever happened to deregulation?

2005-02-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

well, I haven't done much in the politically active category but there's stuff on the denton municipal utilities website about deregulation. It sounds like they just don't want to give up the revenue from it more than anything else. I admit it might be a pain to deregulate but seeing as though the city isn't really that great at managing utilities (especially the Denton Municipal Utilies billing) I think they should go ahead and do it.

There was one point a couple of years ago where many of my friends didn't recieve bills for months at a time, then they finally got their bill and it was for like a thousand dollars. It seems that the billing department has sorted that out, but they still are lacking in a couple of ways. Usually I only recieve my bill with about a week to pay it. I would switch to the auto pay but it doesn't seem like it's set up very well either. I think you actually have to register by slow mail for the auto pay, which is something I've never seen before, usually one can just do that on the website. The other thing I don't like is that I want to switch to Green Mt. Energy because they buy only green energy but I can't.

anyways, this might not be getting as much attention from me as other things like putting in bike paths and pushing for a light rail system and a pedestrian downtown. I know I have to pick my fights so I want to pick the ones that I can win. Peace

The birth of the Watchdog.

2005-02-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, why not do a web site devoted to changing the face of politics and media, starting in my home town of denton, Tx?

I want to catalog my attempts at making a difference in my community. Some of my pet issues are bike paths, anti-idling laws, deregulation of the electric company, (even though deregulation already happened a lot of municipalities are choosing not to allow the other electric companies to compete with them. This might be because they don't want to lose a source of revenue.) I will attempt to copy some of the policies of other cities like Portland Oregon where I am from and cut/paste them into denton's policies.

I also want to serve as a corporate and media watchdog that reports on the reporters. Basically, I want everyone in the world to know how sorry our media coverage can sometimes be here in the good ol' U.S. of A.