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All the
issues are important and there are many issues
that I stand for. This page has a few of
the issues that I was able to bring to vote (and
the status of them), and a few other important
ones too.
Please keep in mind that I am only one vote on the
Council and I depend on you to elect other
conservatives that share our values - here are
my core values. Together we can make a difference.
Here they are the important issues in no particular
order with a status at the end of each AND I will try to
update each of these topics as things change.
On this page:
- TERM LIMITS: (this topic updated
07-19-2010)
When I was running for Council in early 2009, I was
asked how I felt about term limits... I believe in term limits. I think one of the problems
with this Country is that politics has become some type of career for many. I
think George Washington was a great example when he refused to run a third term.
I understand the pros and cons but I think the pros outweigh the cons.
Since the last time terms were changed, it came from the Charter
Review committee, I decided to approach it through the 2009 Charter Review
Committee.
Highland village passed it recently and I like their wording but with two three year terms instead of three two year terms then take off a year with MAYBE no limit to the number of times they can do this. HV only
allows two of these cycles and that may be a good idea but I am not sure how I feel about that.
The Charter Review committee chose not to recommend term
limits. I think this was pressure from other council members as they did
not like the idea at all.
Note: Some comments that I made at these meetings were to try and make
my points and some to lighten the mood a little. They have been taken out of context. I
can assure you that I believe in term limits and government transparency.
Also, I was asked if I would resign after two terms
because of my recommendation for term limits. My answer
is, I will stay on the Council as long as the voters want me or until I can get enough support for term limits to be
on the ballot in order for the voters to vote on this issue.
The rest is up to the voters at our yearly city elections in May.
Let me be clear... Thank God for term limits for President! I personally think that term limits should mean a break. I think that if you are bad, then you get voted out. If you are good, then you get to serve at least one more term by being voted back in
(two or three terms max and no more than eight consecutive years.) Be gone a year and do it again. I think the long term affects of the long term office holders do more harm than good. We have many more examples of that than good ones in office.
Term Limits for every office??? No, I am talking about policy makers… Yes, there are some good office holders, BUT I think NOT limiting does more harm in the long run. I also think the limits should be more directed at policy makers like Presidents,
Congressmen, Representatives, and School Boards, & Council members. I want to make it clear that
elected Law Enforcement (like Constables and
Sheriffs) and Judges are different and are the Law
Enforcement authority they have is from the people as policy enforcers. I also believe that Judges should not be appointed for life either.
07-19-2010, City Council meeting. The topic of
removing term Limits for a TIRZ1 board was on the agenda.
I was the only one that voted against removing Term Limits.
I also stated that this decision was going the wrong direction
and that we should have term limits for council also.
CURRENT STATUS: This Item will most likely not return
unless other Council members change their mind or new members
want to do this. I will continue to promote this.
-
Addressing the problems caused by
Illegal Immigration
The biggest topic affecting Lewisville is
the problems caused by Illegal Immigration.
I have brought the issue to Council before
but had gained no support from the other
council members on the issue. Illegal
Immigration affects many other areas of
concern to the citizens: Schools, Gov’t
resources, insurance rates, etc… Regardless
what the Feds are not doing about this, we
can do many things to curb the problems.
Illegal Immigration continues to be a
growing problem and will be addressed when
the citizens of Lewisville elect those who
actually want to do something about it. I am
only one vote on the Council.
I am not saying that
to do something. Law enforcement is mainly at
the local level. We do not have a federal
police force roaming our streets so who else
is supposed to uphold the Rule of Law?
We need to take care of our piece of America
called Lewisville. Police and elected
officials use the same basic
Oath Of Office which contains, "and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and Laws of the United States and of this State and the Charter and Ordinances of this city."
Why would anyone want us to not preserve nor
defend?
Though I believe we should
avoid lawsuits where possible, we should not
cower in fear of one either. The
opposition will most likely file frivolous
lawsuits knowing that many will cower in
fear. There are
many things we can do legally and avoid
litigation. We can vote people on the
Council that are willing to actually do
something by following the rules. This is not narrow mindedness as I have been
accused of being. It is courage to do
what is right in the face of adversity.
The other choice is to let it continue
until we cannot do anything about it.
It is already costing us too much.
The
biggest topic affecting Lewisville is the
problems caused by Illegal Immigration. I
have brought the issue to Council before but
had gained no support from the other council
members on the issue (including from my
current opponent). It is evident to most
people that Illegal Immigration affects many
other areas of concern to the citizens:
Schools, Gov’t resources, insurance rates,
etc… Regardless what the Feds are not doing
about this, we can do many things to curb
the problems. Illegal Immigration continues
to be a growing problem.
We must be honest with the reasons there is a problem
and why people are leaving. I have asked
many people who have left or are leaving.
One category is the family unit with
children. Almost all of those I asked in
this category state the reason they are
leaving to another city is because of the
demographics. Further questions lead to
admitting that race is not the issue but the
amount of illegal aliens in the area. Many
move to Flower Mound because they do not
want their kids going to Lewisville High
School - keep in mind that this is the same
Lewisville Independent School District with
the same curriculum at both schools. Another
category is the group of people who do not
have children who move because of the low
income areas. After further questioning it
comes to the look and feel of properties or
businesses in the area. It also comes down
to demographics as the stores that they like
to visit are not in this town anymore
because the stores serve those that live in
the community.
OK, so here are the solutions and plans as blunt as I
can make it. If we enforce the laws of this
country demographics will change. Properties
will be kept up to a higher standard. Cars
will not line the streets parked in
neighborhoods. Property values will increase
and the schools will be better. Stores
owners are moving their business to where
their customers are living. Because the
population is changing culturally, the
stores have been changing also - again,
because they cater to their customers.
Businesses choose to open stores for the
demographics that they serve. The change is
really noticeable in the span of the last
fifteen years. The reason that those high
fashion stores are in University Park,
Plano, Frisco, is because the people they
serve live there. Shouldn’t we do the same?
-
Other Links:
-
Please see my
287g
Overview page on my blog. I have
received several questions about a biased
report referenced by opponents of the 287g
program. See the response from
Director of the Departmental GAO/OIG Liaison Office
- read more here.
-
Question about
revitalization verses
287g in Q&A.
CURRENT STATUS: This Item will most likely not return
unless other Council members change their mind or new members
want to do this. I will continue to promote this.
- E-Verify Requirement for Contractors:
(this topic updated 02-06-2010)
I introduced this to the
city council to discuss and vote on. I want to require companies that the City
awards contracts to be a participant in the
E-verify Program. This will
help companies be on a level playing field. Much like the federal
requirement that went into effect on 9-8-2009, the twelve states that currently
require it, along with the other various Counties and Cities (Mission Viejo, Ca
and Huntsville, AL are examples). I recommended that we model ours similar
to Mission Viejo ordinance which was implemented in 2007.
The council meeting was held on 01-04-2010. I
made a motion to have City staff develop a draft for the City Council to vote on
but it died do the lack of second on the motion. However, one council
member asked to discuss this at the retreat on
2-5-2010
and 2-4-2010. See the
01-04-2010 blog entry for
more information and links to articles about this topic.
At the Council Retreat on 02-05-2010: After discussion about E-verify… I was the only one that wanted e-verify as a requirement for our contracts and bids. I made the motion to have staff draw up an ordinance similar to Mission Viejo (California) or Huntsville (Alabama). I did not get a second on the motion and therefore it died.
However, the other Council members wanted staff to draw up wording for a future meeting to add a paragraph to the contracts that if a contractor has been found guilty of
violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA of 1986) then they MAY be banned for up to 5 years.
Again, the official wording will be in a future meeting. I
am not opposed to this but I think that this DOES NOTHING helpful as legal employers are not supposed to violate IRCA anyway. E-verify would help them prevent IRCA violations in the first place.
CURRENT STATUS: This Item will most likely not return
unless other Council members change their mind or new members
want to do this. I will continue to promote this.
- 287g
Trained Officers: (this topic
updated 02-13-2012)
The 287g related
ICE ACCESS programs:
Secure Communities,
Immigration
Cross-Designation (Title 8) - 287g Program,
Operation Community Shield are a few
programs that are part of the fourteen
programs under ICE ACCESS. Currently
the Obama Administration is not enforcing
the law as written nor supporting the 287g
program.
The 287(g) program cross-designates local
officers to enforce immigration law as
authorized through section 287(g) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act. NOTE:
The 287g program has been changing even more
in 2009. The 287g program of 2010 will
be quite different than the program has been
in the past few years. New programs
that are basically sections and abilities
available from the original 287g are easier
for communities to adopt. For now, we
need to look at
ICE programs and use as many as we can.
Secure Communities: A Comprehensive Plan
to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens is a
Department of Homeland Security initiative
that improves public safety by implementing
a comprehensive, integrated approach to
identify and remove criminal aliens from the
United States.
Operation Community Shield: In
February 2005, ICE began Operation Community
Shield, a national law enforcement
initiative that targets violent
transnational street gangs through the use
of ICE's broad law enforcement powers,
including the unique and powerful authority
to remove (deport) criminal aliens,
including illegal aliens and legal permanent
resident aliens.
Our Police chief is working to get Secure
Communities and Operation Community Shield
programs in our City. This is a large
majority of the options desired from the
287g program. One main option is
getting access to the national databases of
DHS and ICE.
Learn
more about 287g click here.
Since our City participates in a regional
DEA task force and we have one officer that
participates in that task force, I would
like to see Lewisville get a 287g trained
officer and participate in a regional ICE
task force. At the City Council
meeting on
01-04-2010, our police chief stated that
if we wanted him to get involved in the 287g
program that he wanted to train 16 men to do
so. Though that would be nice, I do
not think that this is practical
financially. I would like to grow to
that number if practical. All I have
been asking for is to be involved in a
regional ICE task force.
01-04-2010, At the
Council meeting for 01-04-2010, I made the
motion to get one or two officers trained
and participate in the 287g regional task
force a few days a week. The motion
failed for lack of a second.
So why do I think it is a good
tool to add to our abilities?
Simple answer that takes some explanation.
Take any crime and don't enforce the law.
What happens? For Example,
Drugs: We send our officers to
drug training so that they will know what it
looks like, smells like, ability to run
field tests (chemical color tests, etc...).
They look for drugs actively and arrest
those who have them in their possession (for
sale or use). If we do not enforce
then we have more people using, overdosing,
losing their jobs because they are messed up
by drugs, stealing to get more drugs.
You can understand where I am going with the
drug example but you can look at any other
crime and know what would happen if we do
not enforce laws. Now apply it to
illegal immigration... The program
to train our officers is now called 287g
Program created to appease the racial and
open border organizations. It is
basically four weeks of sensitivity training
and how to ask for identification.
(OK, I am poking fun at it but it is about
four weeks long before they can ask for
official identification of legal status -
not so funny, huh?) If you do not
enforce it, then we have people hiring them
illegally, they do not pay taxes like
citizens, they do not have a driver's
license or training to drive or testing to
drive, most do not have any insurance to
drive, health, etc... Many are abused,
human trafficking, work in conditions
that OSHA would protect normal citizens.
Then our citizens in the lower economic
income levels have to compete with those who
are here illegally that will work for less
than a decent income. Then our
citizens do not get hired because the
illegal employer will hire someone illegal
that will not complain about working
conditions, etc... Then citizens are
unemployed. They are not buying the
merchandise your company
makes/sells/services, then you do not make
as much anymore, etc... Trickle up
economic depression... Also, much of
the money that illegal aliens make is sent
out of our economy and back to their
Country. I could go on but you should
understand the point.
CURRENT STATUS: This
Item will most likely not return unless
other Council members change their mind or
new members want to do this. I will
continue to promote our involvement in the
enforcement of the laws of our Country,
State, and City.
02-13-2012:
The Obama administration is proposing to cut
the measly $17 million for training for next
year's 287g budget..
Read
more...
-
Continuing to Provide the best
police and fire
protection
With
increasing crime rates in Lewisville, we should look at
how we can assist our police department in fighting
crime. As citizens, My Wife and I chose to help by
taking the Lewisville Citizens Police Course
and we help as we can though the Alumni
Association.
I already think that we have the best police and fire
personnel but they could use more help. I
think these departments need more personnel
and equipment. I supported the Voter
approved five year sales tax increase
(11-2011) for fire and police to get the
equipment, training, and other assets that
they need. I believe we need at least 20 new
officers (at least 5 on each of the four
shifts) and reassess if more is needed. As I
listen to police radio traffic (on my
personally purchased scanner), I am always
hearing a request for police to clear to
come assist another officer. This labor cost
should come from the regular budget and not
from the five year sales tax increase. If
the voters in 2016 do not approve of the
continued sales tax increase for fire and
police, what will happen to those hired with
that temporary sales tax increase? The sales
tax increase was intended to be limited
and temporary in order to buy those tangible
items like equipment, buildings, etc...
- More Police Officers: (this topic updated
02-06-2010)
I have always advocated that we need more
police officers. My personal opinion that I have stated publicly is that
we need, to start, at least 5 more patrol officers per shift (4 shifts makes that 20
officers). Then reassess our needs again. I have spoken to our
police chief many times about this and the outstanding officers that we have in
this City. I have ridden out with officers on various shifts
and I can assure our citizens that our officers are very good at what they do.
I have encouraged our Police Chief to look into increasing the staffing of our police
department. He has stated that he had been planning on doing just that.
The Police Chief gave his
presentation at the Council retreat 02-04-2010. He requested that the Council consider
hiring 13 Patrol officers and 11 other positions for the Budget
of 2010/2011. This amount will be inline with basic
minimal staffing (as compared to higher levels of medium and
optimal staffing) based on statistics and figures and a bunch of
formulas that were impressively presented.
(November 2011) The sales tax increase for
Fire and Police went to the ballot on the
November 2011 Election and was approved.
It will be back in 2016 to be approved by
the voters. I also believe this should
not be used for salaries as the vote in 2016
may result in the loss of this tax.
This should be used for those things that are
needed such as equipment, vehicles, etc...
CURRENT STATUS:
Always a concern... As of Jan 2013,
still have not hired the extra officers I
would like to see hired. I do not want
to hire with that sales tax increase that I
mentioned above. The others on the
council do. I guess we will see what
the citizens say in 2016 if they extend the
sales tax or not.
-
Stop Spending Tax dollars on what should be
private transactions. Should the tax payers be spending public
money (tax dollars) to fix up privately owned homes? 2011-2012
alone… Up to $185,000 total for up to $30,000 on selected homes.
Shouldn’t this be spent on Tax payer funded projects? Then another
$150,000 of public money for first time home buyers to get up to
$11,000 for their down payments? Again, should this money be spent
on private transactions?
CURRENT STATUS: This
Item will most likely not return unless
other Council members change their mind or
new members want to not do this. I will
continue to try and cut unnecessary spending.
-
Maintaining or reducing
our property tax rate. Lewisville
property tax rate is below the average
(second lowest) for the area but that has a
direct correlation to the appraised property
values. I hear people say, "I wish I
could sell my property for the appraised
value." They say this knowing that
they could not. I would like to work
with the County to appraise properties more
accurately. This will keep citizens
from having to waste time going to the
County office to appeal the overly appraised
values.
The
rates have been lowered in the past to the
point where they might need to be raised in
the next budget cycle (it is noted in annual
Budget meeting held in August). The
last thing I want to do is raise taxes.
I think we can stop wasteful spending and I
vote against those things that I think are
wasteful. We should move money to
areas where we need it.
CURRENT STATUS: I
will continue to promote this.
-
Neighborhood and Retail
Revitalization (includes keeping areas from
becoming dilapidated). The City should
be concentrating on creating an environment
for Citizens to live
and where Businesses want to be. Special
deals with abatements (grants and rebates) at tax
payer expense should not be the normal way to do
things. I think everybody should pay
their fair share. Businesses, Private
Homes, and Rental Properties all have their
issues. Ordinances and associated
permits are the
foundation to create this environment for
stability and growth.
-
Neighborhood
Revitalization: I do not like HOAs
in the general sense. There have been
too many examples of abuse of power.
Therefore the City Council passes ordinances
concerning building standards and the types
of permits for modifying structures. I do believe permits are necessary to keep things up to code but there should be a point where normal repairs and maintenance do not need a permit.
Unnecessary permits are the ones that seem
to just cost the citizen more money and
offers no real benefit. Others are an
intrusion to the privacy of your home.
I would like to see some of these rules
removed or adjusted to appeal to the
majority of the population but keep a good
standard for Lewisville.
See more about the
permits issue..
-
Retail Revitalization:: To be clear, I believe that businesses should be
developed and maintained without being directly subsidized with tax payer money. Property owners build shopping centers, office buildings, and other business establishments as investments and to create income. In a
Free Enterprise economy, that is the risk they take. They have the freedom to succeed or fail. Tax payers should not subsidize businesses.
The City should create and maintain an environment so that they want to move to Lewisville to have a business. Also, the City should continue to work with new and current businesses to get inspections and permits completed as painless as possible. For the most part, the ordinances that we have insure that businesses follow building codes, have adequate parking in their designs, etc... Businesses should be treated fairly and equally so that they can compete fairly. I do not like making special deals like tax abatements
(grants and rebates) in order to get private commercial property owners a renter for their properties. -
Other:
-
Economic stability and growth
Capitalism works best when everyone follows the
rules/law and they are applied evenly (a
level playing field). There are many
companies doing everything according to the
law. They pay employees fair wages,
pay
unemployment tax, FICA, pay required taxes, fees,
follow ordinances, hire legal employees,
etc... They run a legal business and
follow the rules. Yet they have to
compete with companies that get special
allowances or even cheat the system by not
paying these things.
Some companies
have been granted
real property
abatements and variances to
permits. Some of these
companies are no
longer here either. Is
this fair to the companies that do not get
these privileges? Also some companies
hire illegal aliens (employees are a huge
expense to a business) to get a larger
profit margin. The Legal business on
the other hand has to lower their prices to
compete with those that get allowances or do
illegal things to get a larger profit
margin.
How does this affect Lewisville? In several ways…
Legal businesses can go out of business
because they are not profitable enough as
they have to compete in an unfair playing
field. In many cases, the money is not
being spent in the economy, etc… We
should treat businesses the same. Why
does the council give some
real property
abatements and variances on
ordinances (permits) granted for some and not others.
I do not find this fair. The point is,
in order to have a stable economy everyone
should follow the same rules. It
cannot be based on cheating or unfair
allowances (bailouts at the taxpayer
expense). Legal Capitalism works,
Savage Capitalism uses
people and hurts the economy in the long
run. We should find ways to help but
do it fairly.
- Permits need to be
adjusted:
I
try to be knowledgeable on everything I can
about the city. However, contrary to
what some people believe, getting elected
does not automatically give you all the
knowledge of every department or that of
every employee of the City. Seriously,
some people believe that..... I was surprised as to the amount of intrusion from City permits and
their requirements…
At a workshop presentation about Outdoor Accessory
buildings (on
01-07-2013): To
replace an old shed (yes, replace basically
the same size shed) that is larger than 120
Sq Ft ... This should be considered
maintenance since there was one there
already.
Lewisville is
becoming the city of
permits. I think the permits are becoming
ridiculous. Paying for them is another form
of tax. But let me be clear, I do believe permits are
necessary to keep things up to code but
there should be a point where normal repairs,
replacement,
and maintenance do not need a permit!
It is an unnecessary tax.
For Example, If you want to replace your
water heater? Even if you get a
licensed plumber to do the work, you need to pay for a
permit (and the City wants you to allow a
city inspector to come in house for an inspection - another person in the
house - more missed time from your job for
the inspector.) Lowes or Home
Depot can show any person how to change
a water heater. It is easy! Just about anyone can
install a water heater. It is much like a clothes washer installation:
water line in, wire the plug, turn on the
water - easy. BUT
you need a permit??? Before people
start spouting silly things like gas water
heaters are dangerous.. It is not much different than a
gas clothes dryer installation... Or a gas
kitchen stove installation.
Another
example, an Electrician is going to fix some
wiring? You need to pay for a permit -
and probably an inspection too??? And
the list goes on....
I wonder if you need a permit to change your
bathroom light fixture? I am afraid to ask,
the answer might be yes. In any case, this
over reaching of permits is ridiculous. I did
not ask about fines and penalties if you get caught
without a permit
but I bet that is another money maker.
Now, replace your shed? If it is over 120 sq ft,
you are going to need a permit and pay for
that too. {Before anyone starts
spouting about people living in sheds, there
is an ordinance against using a shed as a
dwelling.} I took a printout from
Lowes on sheds and listed them by most
popular sales. The first page of six
sheds showed one at 124 Sq ft, and 139 sq
ft. These two sheds have probably been
sold to a few of you. Did you get a
permit? I do not think you should have
needed to get a permit. Since none of
the first fifteen sheds were over 150 sq ft,
I suggested that we make it 150 sq ft be the
cut off before getting a permit. I was
alone in this thinking. CURRENT STATUS: I
will continue to vote against over reaching
permits, however, nothing is going to change
unless you vote more conservatives on the
City Council to make the changes. The topic of accessory building permits should be on the Agenda
sometime in 2013.
- Oil and Gas Drilling:
I do not believe in going
to war for oil - that is basically why we are at war. We need to drill here.
Our soldiers are dying because we are at war for oil. We
need to do whatever it takes to get off the dependency of
foreign oil. Our Country needs to strive to be independent and self sufficient
- it can be done safely! We need to stop buying
oil from Countries that support terrorism -
thus supporting terrorism. Drill
here and let's stop the war for oil.
I understand the concerns
from both sides of this issue. I worked in the oil field in 1981 for about 9 months (needed money for college), I know that the gas drilling in Lewisville is a little different but the process of drilling is very similar.
As good as it was back then, it is a lot better now. The
industry has a lot of regulations and we need to make sure they
are followed.
Safety is a high priority and this includes the effects on Air/Water/Land around these drill sites. I am for monitoring the drilling sites and our ordinances are continually being reviewed and modified to assure the safety for our citizens.
- On 02-15-2010,
we voted to hire a consultant to help with the inspections of these sites in Lewisville. The costs are billed to the Drill Site.
- On 08-01-2011, I had to recuse myself from the vote on
drilling because I am in a pool on a lease
that I signed for before I was on Council.
I am for drilling but I felt that I could
not vote clearly. I could vote as
there was no law against me voting but I
felt it would be viewed as unethical. It failed and
drilling was denied in some areas of
Lewisville. The properties in each of
the pool areas that signed their gas leases
and took the money ranged about 90% of the
properties. To me that is a clear
indication that the people wanted drilling -
specially in the pool areas. The vote
clearly had people against it but they were
not all from the affected dill pool
properties.
- 03-15-2013: For those who want
drilling and your rights protected, there is
some legislation proposed at the State level
(HB 1496) that may come to vote in the Texas
legislature. From the summary that I read on
HB 1496, it seems fair to me. But to be
clear, this is not a City Council vote, I am
Pro-Drilling to stop this war and get off
the dependency of other Countries for our
energy. I also support the Rights of
Citizens including their Property Rights. In
order to have Liberty and Freedom, it means
that people will have to accept and allow
people to do legal things that they might
not like. There are those that are against
drilling and tend to ignore the Liberties
and Rights of others in order to get what
they want. If we are legally allowed to
lease our mineral rights, then we should be
allowed to do so or be compensated.
- 03-28-2013: I am running for
another term and my opponent criticizes
my support for drilling, accuses me of
not listening to Citizens, and discusses
how someone else's property should be
used. [Note: This is
not a relevant issue since the vote to
stop the drilling has already been
passed and the property owners have
started processes to move onto other
projects with their property.] This
is not the same as supporting an
ordinance that inhibits drilling. Our
ordinance is a strong ordinance but it
does allow some drilling and in some
areas with Council approval.
Regardless, I will address this...
First, I do support drilling but let's put it in the
correct perspective. We are at war in
the Middle East for oil/gas. We went
in to Kuwait because Iraq invaded Kuwait and
threatened a source for our Oil/Gas supply.
Hussein used a scorched earth policy when he
was forced out and USA based firms had
to put the oil well fires out.
Since we are at war for oil and our
soldiers are dying for our oil, then if
we can get off of foreign dependency for
their oil in order to save soldiers
lives, then yes, Drill. Soldiers are dying for Oil and
it can easily be stopped by drilling in our
Country - wherever we can find it. It
really is that simple. I think we
can put up with a little inconvenience
with a view of a rig on the horizon for the drilling period.
Second, the drilling companies by law had to offer
those land owners an opportunity to lease
their mineral rights. These pool
groups had a lease rate of 90%. That
is, 90% of the land owners signed the lease
and took the money. The company presented
where the wells would be and how they do the
drilling. I should know, I was one of
the people that signed a lease. Since
I signed the lease, I also recused myself
from the discussion on the topic and on the
vote when it was on the agenda in August
2011. Anyway, the last time I
looked, 90% is a pretty good majority.
Those who did not want any drilling were
actually few in number compared to those who
signed their leases. I did listen to
those who opposed, however, I also listened
to those who wanted the leases. Many
that were opposed to drilling were not even
in the Pool area that they were complaining
about. In the places that actually
drilled, the towers were up and gone in a
relatively short time.
Third, the person's private property that wanted
drilling would be
paying taxes. Hopefully a lot of
taxes. The thing is, it was private property that met the requirements
to drill. The city had a
drilling ordinance and the property was
zoned. The
proposed drilling areas came to
council because of the distance required a hearing and final approval.
Since I recused myself because of the lease
I signed, I did not vote - not that it would
have made a difference. I did not
legally have to recuse myself from the
vote. I did so because it would
appear inappropriate unless the majority
of those on the council also signed a
lease. If I voted, I would not support
variances on distance and safety. For
those who wanted more green space, the
site would have been reduced after
drilling and it
would be surrounded by trees and other
vegetation. These areas may become
more multifamily housing locations or something else you do not want to see there – but then again it does belong to somebody else..
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Quotable Quotes
"Tis our
true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any
portion of the foreign world.."
-
George Washington (1796)
"Commerce
with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto."
-
Thomas Jefferson (1799)
"The
ongoing migration of persons to the United States in violation
of our laws is a serious national problem detrimental to the
interests of the United States." -
Ronald Reagan, 1981
"Honor never
grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and
worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high
cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public
scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself.
The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth
dying for? What is worth living for?" -
William J. Bennett in a lecture
to the U. S. Naval Academy, Nov 24, 1997 |
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