Freedom of speech has been under attack in American cities and, Plano is now among them. This attack on the First Amendment came to a head when Plano City Council voted to censure and later voted to have a recall election for Councilman Tom Harrison. A liberal group got the required amount of signatures on a recall petition. There are some conflicting attorney opinions on whether or not the council broke the rules by voting on the recall before Tom Harrison could have a hearing. We also have disagreements on whether the petition itself is legal, but I will talk about those issues in another post. All of this craziness is because people were offended by a post that was on Tom Harrison's personal Facebook page. While the post was highly controversial, if Tom Harrison is fired for asserting his first amendment right, then free speech is truly dead in America. Freedom of speech has been under attack for years. Clergy cannot speak freely to their congregations out of fear of the government. Radio and TV hosts lose sponsors because people threaten to boycott. Colleges only allow students to speak freely in designated free speech zones. Students also don't want to have conservatives speak at College graduations. In fact, they don't want any conservative speakers on campus at all. Students even resort to rioting to prevent people like Ann Coulter and Ben Shapiro from being on campus. Even College professors bully conservative students. These attacks on speech have recently moved from Colleges to the internet. The Media Research Center has come out with a 50-page study proving tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Youtube, and Twitter partner with left-leaning groups that hate conservatives. The study found that Google aided Democrats by having search results for the 2016 presidential campaign favor Hillary Clinton. Youtube has shut down conservative channels and, they remove videos promoting Republican views. Facebook has taken conservative pages down. Tech companies also rely on anti-conservative fact-checkers. This is not an attack anymore; it's a global assault. People around the world are only allowed to see one view from one group of people. This is what some of the most brutal dictators in history did. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Castro, all banned speech they did not agree with. Only one view was allowed in the press, books, TV shows, film, and art. Today totalitarian governments prevent free speech just like the above leaders did; for example, they block internet sites they don't agree with. Now some Americans are acting just like those oppressive nations and dictators. Some have shut down speech they don't like. Others bully, harass and physically attack people. They condemn people who have a different point of view. This attitude is not what millions of Americas have fought and even died for. This attitude is the opposite of freedom and liberty. The anti-speech view is why freedom of speech is enshrined in the Bill of Rights. The authors of the Bill of Rights (who were not all rich slave owners) and other current wise people have had a few things to say about the freedom of speech. The following are some examples. One wise man said, "For the people to rule wisely, they have to be able to communicate with one another freely, without fear of reprisal." Freedom of speech is not just a God-given right, it is a precondition for self-government. A founder believed that people who seek to restrict speech revealed themselves to be opponents of republicanism. (The form of government, not the political party.) Another wise man said, "Our First Amendment freedoms give us the right to think what we like and say what we please. And if we the people are to govern ourselves, we must have these rights, even if they are misused by a minority." This should serve as a reminder that, while people say things that we might find personally offensive, we should never prevent people from speaking. As Roger Pilon explains: “In America, the legitimate power rests ultimately with the people. However, the people have no more right to tyrannize each other through democratic government, than the government itself has to tyrannize the people.” A wise President also said, “If there be any among us who would wish to change our republican form of government, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” The courts have also weighed in on speech that may be offensive. In an 8-0 decision, the court struck down a rule from the Patent and Trademark Office. This rule denied an Asian band a federal trademark registration for the name “The Slants,” a derogatory term for Asian-Americans. This case deals with the broader issue that speech should be silenced if someone, somewhere might be offended by it. The court ruled on the side of speech. Benjamin Franklin (a man who, at great risk to his own freedom, taught blacks how to read and write) wrote in The Pennsylvania Gazette, April 8, 1736, "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. This is one reason senators and representatives have the right to speak their minds in congressional debates and committee proceedings without fear of legal reprisal by persons who may be defamed. The Framers knew our representatives could not have free and robust debates if, they fear punishment for what they say. What everyone above understood was the First Amendment was not placed in our Bill of Rights to protect speech we like. It is there to protect the speech we don't like. The way to combat speech we don't like is with more speech, not less. A great general once said, "Meet me on the battlefield of ideas." We can't meet and debate ideas if we are too afraid to speak our minds. Therefore, we must all stand up for speech we don't like. If we don't, it may be you who says something someone else doesn't like and when that time comes, their won't be anyone left who will stand up for you. This is Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off.
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As many of you know, our water had a very powerful chlorine smell last month caused by the yearly chlorine burn they do to keep the pipes clean. This issue was discussed at a town hall meeting by Erin Brockovich and water expert, Robert Bowcock, on April 5, 2018. Hundreds of concerned residents attended the meeting, none of them being Plano City Council officials.
I was able to listen to their discussion online and want to mention a few things that were said. (You can watch the whole meeting on the Safer Water, North TX Facebook page.) 1. Robert Bowcock stressed the importance of maintaining the water distribution center properly. 2. He also said that the NTMWD used the highest levels of chlorine he had ever seen and such high levels are not necessary. 3. The chlorine burns are used to clean the water by ridding the pipes of biofilm. 4. Two reasons our water and pipes get so dirty are Texas’ warm temperatures and low water usage. Apparently, saving water is not good for us. 5. The town can put in biological filters now, to help clean the water, but they are waiting until 2021. Plano made over $38 million dollars in water usage fees last year. That profit could go to buy the biofilters. (The city buys the water from NTWMD at wholesale prices and, sells it to us at retail.) 6. A doctor has made a correlation between the yearly chlorine burn and an increase in skin problems. Every March, Dr. Lauren Stewart, a dermatologist, has more people visiting her office with skin rashes and eczema. 7. Erin has a website called, " www.communityhealthbook.com " where people can report any illness they think is connected to the water supply. 8. Towns can implement higher water standards. 9. We don't test for Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs). 10. A highly toxic water pollutant, known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is a problem throughout the world. Last year, it caused a number of U.S. communities to close their drinking water supplies. PFOA has been found to cause increased cholesterol levels and is related to low infant birth weights, effects on the immune system, cancer (for PFOA), and thyroid hormone disruption (for PFOS). We don't know if PFOA is in our own water. To find out more about PFOAs, you can go to https://www.epa.gov/pfas 11. NTMWD has bought up domain names that are similar to Safer Water North TX. 12. Safer Water North TX has asked the NTMWD for documents. They got some, however, NTMWD is asking the TX Attorney General to keep some flies secret due to attorney-client privilege. The NTMWD got this attorney recently. Our Attorney General is from Collin County. His family still lives here. His wife, Angela, is running for TX State Senate. Contact him to let him know that the public should have all the documents. What I took away from the town hall is, The NTMWD maintains its water and meets all EPA standards. If this is true... Why does our water suck? If this water was being sold in the free market, no one would buy it. We are the customer, the city is the seller. Even though the city of Plano and the residents can't return the NTMWD's water, Plano can demand a better product or make the product better. But... That will only happen if the residents demand it. This is Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off Many residents have had concerns about the water in Collin County. This year when the North Texas Municipal Water District did its yearly chlorine burn residents noticed a strong chlorine smell. I am not an expert on water safety, so I am not going to comment about the safety of the water. I did not even know anything was different about the water in Plano, since I have a water filter and soften for my whole house. Only when we had to turn our filter off, did I smell the chlorine. For those who are very worried about the water, there is a group, Safer Water North TX, that you can join on Facebook. I also recommend going to the NTMWD website www.ntmwd.com . The NTMWD has stated that the water meets EPA safety standards. This is Plano's Political Pitbull signing off. After listening to the Mayor's cheer-leading Chamber of Commerce speech at the "State of the City" Lecture last Thursday night...we though everything was really cool here in the "City of Excellence". What with all the (10!) national surveys the P.R. staff has arranged for Mayor Harry's deplorables to bask in the glory of.... Today we got a city newsletter at 1:06 PM informing us that the lovable folks at KC/Southern Railway are just going to stop cold(!) all traffic on Coit for 3 days 3/12-14. How about if "Mayor of Excellence" pick up a phone and tell the railroad boys they don't close all 6 lanes of a very major city artery all at once and, instead alternate the closing and work at night. This is not the way to run a city Mr. Mayor! Police, Fire, Schools and Traffic count, oh wait, the Mayor's in Washington D.C. this week with the sanctuary city mayors for the second time in a month. If you love the thump of driving over the railroad crossing at Coit Road between Plano Parkway and Mapleshade Lane, you'll need to find a new thrill soon. Monday, March 12 through Wednesday, March 14, the Kansas City Southern Railway Company is reconstructing this at-grade railroad crossing. Follow signs to alternate routes, but be aware no through traffic from north or south is permitted at the crossing. Written by a Friend of Plano's Polical Pitbull At the City Council Meeting on February 26, 2018, the Mayor verbally attacked former Commissioner Mark Reid, after he spoke during comments of the public interest period.
The former Commissioner was introduced by the secretary as "Mark Reid", not as a former commissioner. Mr. Reid went up to the podium and he began by naming every council member and the Mayor. Mr. Reid called the Sunday afternoon special council meeting a "charade" and the city council is an "affront to representative government". He talked about how the ERO and Plano Tomorrow Plan were passed against the will of a majority of the people. Mr. Reid also brought up the fact that the Mayor sided with sanctuary city Mayors by boycotting a White House meeting on infrastructure. Mr. Reid viewed the Mayor and council's response to Tom Harrison's controversial Facebook post as, "Trying to score political points by organizing a public flogging of Tom Harrison for his Facebook post, which he later apologized for." Mr. Reid also said to the Mayor, "You call for tolerance and understanding but you offer none yourself. Before you could talk to Tom Harrison you called a press conference to stir up hatred and divide citizens against one another. You manipulated the council to further berate and criticize Tom Harrison, again showing none of the tolerance and understanding that he was so vehemently criticized for... " As soon as the timer beeped the Mayor said, "Your time is up." Mr. Reid tried to finish his sentence but the Mayor yelled NO! NO! NO! Then he turned off the microphone, even though he let everyone else complete their sentences after the timer beeped. The Mayor then began to talk, "For the purpose of factual content, maybe former Commissioner Reid, if he showed that much due diligence he'd have more then the six months he spent on the Commissioner Court." That statement was not factual, grammatically correct, or coherent. It was clearly meant to humiliate Mr. Reid. According to one religion, public humiliation is tantamount to murder. Remember, Mr. Reid was not introduced by his former title. Most of the people in the room probably had no idea Mr. Reid ever served on the Commissioners Court. Most people don't even know who their Congressman is. The statement by the Mayor to Mr. Reid was not allowed. According to the city council agenda, "This portion of the meeting is to allow items of interest or concern and not on items that are on the current agenda. The Council may not discuss these items but may respond with factual or policy information." The rule is clear. The Mayor may not have liked or agreed with what Mr. Reid said, but the Mayor was not allowed to respond the way he did. The Mayor also said, "I am going to ask again when you come up to speak, you speak on facts and you be respectful." The Mayor broke the rules; he gave an opinion and humiliated a resident, but asks others to only talk about facts and be respectful. That is what we call a hypocrite folks. I wonder if anyone on the council will be calling for the Mayor to resign or be censured. This is Plano's Political Pitbull signing off. To see Mark Reed and the Mayor's comments in full go to http://planotx.swagit.com/play/02262018-1921 and fast forward to about 20 minutes and 5 seconds. I usually post about the city council however, I thought residents would want to see this PISD report. The report is the PISD housing activity and future student population. It talks about how much new housing is going up in the PISD area. The new housing means an increase in the school population. Right now, Plano ISD has more than 13,570 students in roughly 55,840 multi-family units. With more multi-family units being built, the 2022/23 enrollment projection is 53,408 students. Plano ISD is also projected to enroll 53,628 students for the 2027/28 school year. They also list projections for each grade and school. All PISD parents should read this report.
The Mayor cannot seem to make up his mind on why he boycotted the White House Mayors meeting. The Dallas Morning News wrote the following,
"LaRosliere, the Plano mayor, said by text that, "Key members of our USCM leadership team chose not to attend in light of the subpoena issued to a number of mayors regarding sanctuary cities and I chose to join them in their decision." In his written statement that was read in my last video, he said he did not go to the meeting to stay neutral. In the text above he is clearly taking the side of sanctuary city Mayors. That is not staying neutral. That is the total opposite of neutral. At the Monday, Feb 12, 2018, preliminary meeting Councilmen Ron Kelly, Anthony Ricciardelli, and Rick Smith all said how disappointed they were at the mayor's decision not to attend the White House meeting. Plano residents are also upset with the Mayor's actions. The Mayor said he has no regrets about not going to the White House. He would do it all again. He also stated that he felt it was not right and broke decorum for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue subpoenas to the sanctuary city mayors before the white house meeting. News flash Mayor, the DOJ has every right to issue subpoenas to people they want to question. The agents could have physically brought them into the DOJ for questioning if they wanted to. The bottom line is, this issue was none of your business. Plano is not a sanctuary city. However, you made us look like one. You should have stayed out of this issue. It is your job to represent the city of Plano at all government meetings, which this was. If you cannot do that, send someone else or step down. Your actions have lumped Plano with cities that have chosen to defy federal law. If Plano loses federal money because you decided to side with law-breaking mayors, you should reimburse Plano or resign. This is Plano's Political Pitbull signing off. On December 11, 2017, the Plano City Council will vote on a new noise ordinance. Originally, the ordinance was placed on the consent agenda at the June City Council meeting. The consent agenda is a list of items to be voted on in one motion; the items of which are supposed to be non-controversial. These items cannot be publicly debated unless removed by a council member or resident. If you are like me, you are probably thinking, "Who thought a new noise ordinance would be non-controversial?" According to a city staffer, the legal department, which is headed by Page Mims, recommended the ordinance be placed on the consent agenda. At the June Meeting, the ordinance was removed from the consent agenda by a resident of Plano. After public comment, the City Council delayed the vote until Dec. 11, 2017, because new council members wanted time to do research. The city scheduled two public input meetings; one on October 23 at 10 a.m, and the other on October 26 at 1 p.m. They did not schedule a nighttime meeting, and people inquired about the reason for this. The staff claimed it was an oversight. “An oversight my tuchus!” At one meeting, most people were concerned with Plano getting louder. The proposed ordinance is... Residential Day: 65 dB or 5 dB above background noise level, whichever is greater. Residential Night: 55 dB or 5 dB above background noise level, whichever is greater. Non-residential Day: 75 dB or 5 dB above background noise level, whichever is greater. Non-residential Night: 65 dB or 5 dB above background noise level, whichever is greater... There are two problems with these numbers. One, the city did not put a level for mixed-use areas. These areas have both homes, restaurants, and retail. There is going to be more noise in these areas than in an area with only houses. The second problem with these numbers is they are too high. Research has been done on the effects of noise on a person's health. The following is a small sample of the research done: “About two-thirds of the residents in the study lived in the areas that regularly experienced noise at the 50- to 60-decibel level, and almost half of them had high blood pressure when the study began. Over the next 10 years, there were 71 newly diagnosed cases of hypertension. A study, in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that for each 10-decibel increase in noise at night, the risk of developing hypertension more than doubled. Cardiac arrhythmia was also associated with nighttime exposure.” (The NY Times) “A growing body of evidence links noise from a variety of sources, including air, rail, road traffic, and industrial activity to adverse health outcomes. Studies have found that kids attending school in louder areas have more behavioral problems and perform worse on exams. Adults exposed to higher noise levels report higher levels of annoyance and sleep disturbances. Scientists theorize that since evolution programmed the human body to respond to noises as threats, noise exposures activate our natural flight-or-fight response. Noise exposure triggers the release of stress hormones, which can raise our heart rates and blood pressure even during sleep. Long-term consequences of these reactions include high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and lower birth weight. In 2009 the World Health Organization released a report detailing nighttime noise guidelines for Europe. The report shows that cognitive impacts, sleep disturbance, mental health and cardiovascular effects could occur at noise levels commonly experienced in urban environments. They recommended reducing noise levels when possible, and reducing the impact of noise when levels could not be moderated. For example, the guidelines recommended locating bedrooms on the quiet sides of houses, away from street traffic, and keeping nighttime noise levels below 40 decibels to protect human health.” (phys.org) The Toronto Public Health has reviewed the evidence that it has accumulated since the WHO evaluation. They have found,"Newer evidence confirms that health impacts can occur at levels between 42 and 60 dBA outdoors. The Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has recommendations for road-related noise thresholds: for sensitive land uses, such as residential uses, mitigation measures are required if outdoor levels at the center of a window or door opening exceed 55 dBA daytime or 50 dBA nighttime." The city's ordinance levels are way too high. The levels should be between 40-55 dBA in residential areas. We should not continue to build multi-use developments. It is just not possible for those areas to be within the healthy decibel rage for residents. An exception should be made for AC units which run louder than 70 dBA if you are standing next to them. If you care about your health, I recommend you write to the city and council members to reduce the decibel levels. Also, go to the City Council meeting on Dec. 11th and speak against the ordinance the way it is written. You can read the ordinance by clicking on the following links. The Proposed Noise Ordinance https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27160 Summary of changes to the existing noise ordinance https://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27159 This is The Plano Political Pit Bull signing off. This was put out on Nextdoor. The City Council wants to vote on it in November.
The City of Plano is requesting input from the public on the proposed revisions to the City’s noise ordinance. We want you to attend if you are a Plano resident, business owner or stakeholder as this ordinance will apply city-wide. There will be two opportunities to input meetings: October 26: 1 p.m. at the Building Inspections Training Room, Municipal Center, 1520 K Ave., Plano, TX 75074 So far they are not having a night time meeting. It is that time of year again. It is time to work on the cities budget. The following dates are important in the budget process.
Aug 14, 2017, Presentation of the proposed CIP to the city council. Public Hearing on the Operating Budget and Community Investment Program Approval of Appraisal Roll and Determine Proposed Tax Rate. The preliminary meeting starts at 5 and regular city council meeting at 7 pm Aug 19, 2017, Council Work session on the budget begins at 8 am Aug 28, 2017, First public hearing on the new tax rate (Your tax bill will go up if the rate is passed) 7 pm Sept 5, 2017, Second public hearing on the new tax rate 5 pm Sept 11, 2017, Council votes on the budget and sets the tax rate 7 pm You can find the budget at http://www.plano.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/25918 http://budget.finances.plano.gov/#!/year/default Anthony Ricciardelli for place 2 9,676 votes 53.08%
Rick Smith for place 8 9,417 votes 53.20% 163,037 registered voters, 18,300 voted, 11.22% Congratulations to the winners. Today, Saturday, June 10, 2017, is the last day to vote in the City Council runoff election. If you have not voted yet, go to the polls and vote. If you still don't know who is running continue reading.
Place 2 Anthony Ricciardelli: He is a conservative Republican. He grew up in Plano and is a lawyer. Anthony wants to cut property taxes to the effective tax rate. That means our city tax bill would stay the same. Anthony wants to fix the Plano Tomorrow Plan. He wants more transparency in the budget and limited government. He will work to keep Plano a suburb. Lastly, he will listen to the people. Anthony has been endorsed by Plano Future, Collin County State representatives, and conservative groups. For more information, you can visit his website http://anthonyforplano.com/ Ann Bacchus: Ann is a Democrat. She works for the Democrat party as the precinct chair for 116. The party is working to turn Collin County blue. She doses not want to cut taxes. Her website says she wants to increase revenue. She is fine with more apartments. Ann is endorsed by the Collin County Democrats, The State Democrat party, the mayor, and unions. For more information, you can visit her website http://www.annforplano.com/ Place 8 Rick Smith: He is a Republican. He is a precinct chair for the Collin County GOP. He wants to.... "Be responsive to the TAXPAYERS of Plano. Modify Plano Tomorrow Plan to ensure neighborhood friendly developments – not massive high-density apartment projects that increase traffic congestion and response times for our public safety providers. Give unwavering support for our Police, Fire and First Responders. Ensure financial transparency to make it easy for taxpayers to know where their tax dollars are being spent. Reduce our Effective Tax Rate to provide property tax relief to the citizens of Plano, especially our Senior Citizens." He is endorsed by Plano Future and conservative groups. For more information go to his website http://www.rickforplano.org/ David Downs: David is the incumbent. He votes in Republican primaries but, he is working with Ann's team to get re-elected. Some Republicans feel this is a betrail and they want to take away his Republican "card". They are free to do that, as they are a private organization. During David's first term property taxes went up every year. He was willing to vote against the small rate decrease for 2017 saying it was just a "token". He has voted for lots of new apartment buildings. He also voted for the Plano Tomorrow Plan. He is endorsed by big developers from Dallas and unions. For more information go to his website http://www.voteplano.com Now go vote. This is Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off. It is the night before the Plano Elections. The good news is 19,461 people early voted. That is a record turnout for a local election. The bad news is 163,775 people are registered to vote. Therefore, 144,314 people still need to vote.
Most people think local elections are not important. Those people could not be more wrong. The Plano City Council and School Board affect our everyday life more than the federal or state government. Did your property taxes go up? You can blame the City Council and School Board for it. Do you sit in traffic every day? You can thank the city council for it. If you want these issues to change, go vote. Plano is at a fork in the road. We get to decide which way Plano will go. Some people want Plano to stay a suburb. They want to keep the farms and green land that Plano still has. Others want Plano to become an urban city. They want to build skyscrapers over the farms that give us food. They want to jam as many apartments as they can into Plano. That is the choice we face in this election. So, I have some questions for you. What kind of town do you want to live in? Do you want to live in a suburb or an urban city? When I moved to Texas, I could of pick any town to live in. I picked Plano. I wanted to live in a suburb. I still want to live in a suburb. I voted for people who want to keep Plano a suburban town. I researched all the candidates. In my opinion Lily Bao (Mayor), Anthony Ricciardelli (Place 2), Ed Acklin (Place 4) and Rick Smith (Place 8) are the best people for city council. All of them want to keep Plano a suburb. They want to reduce the debt and taxes. Our current Mayor and David Downs have proven they want to make Plano an urban city. They have voted for almost every new apartment building. Taxes have gone up while they have been on the council. So have traffic and crime. Kayci Prince voted for the Tomorrow Plan when she was on the zoning board. She ignored all the residents who did not want the plan. Al Valente also supported the Plano Tomorrow plan. He signed a letter from the Chamber of Commerce that fully support the plan. Ann Bacchus said she would not lower taxes. She also supports the Plano Tomorrow Plan. Bill Lisle III supports more apartments. Douglas Reeves does not like the Plano Tomorrow Plan. He does not want more apartments. Stirling Morris would not lower taxes. For Plano School Board Trustees I voted for Nathan Rylander, Tammy Richards, Greg Myer, and Angela Powell. For Collin College Trustee I pick Fred Moses, Nacy Wurzman, Larry Wainwright, and Dr. Raj Menson. I voted no on the bond for Collin College. I also voted no on Prop 3, 4, and 5. I voted yes for Prop 1, 2, and 6. I talked about these bonds in an earlier post. Those were my picks. You need to decide who you will vote for. After you decide, go vote. Polls are open tomorrow (Saturday, May 6th) for Election Day from 7 am - 7 pm. The city will post returns and results on the City's Facebook page tomorrow evening, as well as the website plano.gov/elections. 2017 BOND FOR THE MAY 6TH ELECTION
If the people of Plano vote yes on all the propositions, our taxes will go up. In May, Plano voters will cast their vote for City Council, Mayor, School Board, and Bonds. Plano city government is asking the people to give the green light to borrow $224,120,000. What is so important that we must go into a massive amount of debt? The city's needs of course, but mostly, the city's needless wants. The following is a list of things the city needs. Proposition 1 $90,270,000 for Street Improvements - Our roads are in need of repair. Some of this is just normal wear and tear. Other improvements listed in the bond is a result of our growing population. Proposition 2 $29 million for a Fire Training Center, a new Northwest Plano Police Substation, and Fleet Service Center renovation: Right now, our firefighters train in small groups in McKinney. Plano's fire chief said, "It's just not practical to send your resources that far away. You don't send your fire companies to train one at a time because that's not how we fight a fire." The Chief also wants to do training for our vertically growing city. The operating and maintenance costs will be $631,794. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. Northwest Plano Police Substation - Since the city approved thousands of apartments, our population is growing. A larger population requires more police and another substation. The operating and maintenance costs will be $1,632,414. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. Fleet Service Center renovation - The Fleet Center is where the city maintains its motor vehicles. The building is in desperate need of repairs. The following is a list of things the city wants. Proposition 3 $78,850,000 for Park Improvements and Land Acquisitions- The operating and maintenance costs will be $2,561,000. This money would be used to buy land for new parks and improve old ones. Proposition 4 $12,500,000 to improve rec centers: $10 million for Oak Point Rec Center Pools- The operating and maintenance costs will be $710,000. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. $2,500,000 for High Point Tennis Center renovation. Proposition 5 $10 million for improvements to Davis and Harrington Library: $5 million for Davis Library Expansion - The operating and maintenance costs of $301,662. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. $5 million for Harrington Library Expansion - The operating and maintenance costs will be $199,858. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. ( Honestly, is library use up among Plano citizens? The only time I go to the library is when I vote.) Proposition 6 $3,500,000 for Collinwood House and Historic Preservation - The operating and maintenance costs will be $71,692. This is not included in the bond. So, that will be added to the budget. The Collinwood House is the oldest home in Plano. It might have been part of the underground railroad. People think there is a family grave site there. This house is something the city government wants to destroy. Residents want to save this historic house. People have offered to take the house off of Plano's hands. The city council declined those financial offers. If someone wants to use their own money to restore the Collinwood House, the city should let them. At the December 12, 2016, city council meeting Karen Rhodes-Whitley, Director of Budget & Research said, "If the bond goes above $202 million the property tax rate will go up." The bond package totals $224,120,000. Residents are already suffering under the weight of rising property taxes. Now is not the time to raise them. Propositions 1 and 2 are necessary. The parks, rec centers, and libraries (props 3, 4, and 5) are not. These things could be done with private funds. Additionally, the city does not have to do all of these projects at once. For example, the Parkway & Fleet Service Center needs major repairs. One person who toured the place said that his first reaction was to tear it down and start over. That is an urgent need. Library expansions, a new pro shop for the High Point Tennis Center, and $18 million to buy land... not so urgent. We should not have to go into massive debt and get a tax increase for items that are unnecessary. As for the Collinwood House and Historic Preservation (prop 6), the city has said it will not cost $3,500,000 to save the house. Also, the city does not have to take the loan. If the voters kick out the present city council members up for re-election and pass this prop, the new council does not have to take this loan, and let someone privately restore the house. If someone wants to use their own money to restore the Collinwood House, the city should let them. If this prop fails the city will destroy the home ASAP. So, I am going to vote yes on this prop and vote for the candidates who will let private funds restore the home. If we only vote yes on props 1, 2, and 6, the total bond cost would be $122,770,000. That number will not raise our taxes. That is why I will be voting YES on Propositions 1, 2, 6, and NO on 3, 4, and 5. How you vote is up to you. This is Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off. Plano Announces Big New Win?A marketer's dreamJust in time for the election, Plano announces a big new win - Boeing Global Services Division is leasing space in Legacy West. It was blasted over all the news outlets in Dallas and even nationally.
This is big news? NOT really. The business will occupy 1 floor of an office building. Maybe 40 or 50 people in the office. Many of them already located in the Dallas area, currently working with the primary businesses that make up this division of Boeing - e.g., the long time Dallas operations of Aviall and Jeppeson that Boeing acquired years ago. If you look closely at the caption to the picture in the story it says, "A few dozen professionals are expected to be working there by year end" Our city PR folks are really great at making it sound like its a big deal, the press release only says that the division has 20,000 employees globally. Did you know Plano spends millions of tax dollars for a large marketing staff and on outside agencies to create buzz stories like this? The City Council is going to give Boeing an economic development grant to lure all these jobs to Plano. Next, my neighbor is applying for an economic development grant. She's getting a new dog. She'll be buying lots of food and supplies, keeping the veterinarian and his staff employed and hiring a dog sitter when she goes out of town. We are glad to have Boeing here, but are we really going to give them big incentives to have 40 or 50-person office here? Why? Their employees will be driving from their houses in Dallas, Frisco and Prosper, adding to our traffic. But we should give poor Boeing a cash economic development grant from the property taxes we all pay so that we can say a few people from Boeing are working in Plano? Our mayor will brag, however, that it's a big win only he could bring home. And because they are leasing an office here, we need another 2,000 high density apartments on Plano Parkway to accommodate them. This is the justification we get? Pitbull followers, this post is not about Plano Government. I am posting this as a warning to you. I don't want what happened to me today, to happen to you.
Today I went for a breast MRI at Baylor Scott and White, The Elizabeth Jekot MD Breast Imaging Center, 3301 East Renner Rd. Suite 100, Richardson, TX www.Baylorhealth.com/breastimaging . I have been going to Dr. Jekot for about eight years now. She is wonderful, but a few years ago Baylor bought her center. She just works there now. When I made the appointment for an MRI, I told Baylor I had new health insurance. They called me back and said, "We do not take your insurance." So, I told them to put me down as self-pay. They called me multiple times about my insurance information. I am not sure why, because I was now self-pay. I spoke to a woman named Terry multiple times, and she asked me if I still had Blue Cross Blue Sheild. I still had it and my new insurance; however, the BCBS is ending at the end of March. If I used BCBS I would have to pay $2773.13 out of pocket. I talked with the Baylor billing department. They told me self-pay would be $2133.17. My new insurance lets me go wherever I want. If the provider does not take it, I can self-pay and file a claim to get money back. So, of course, I decided to do self-pay. Why would I pay almost $600 extra, and not be able to file a claim with my new insurance? When I got to the center today, the women at the front desk told me, I would have to pay over $3,000 for the MRI. They told me that because I did not want to use my BCBS, I would have to pay more than $3,000. I said, "I will reschedule for April since I won't have BCBS anymore." The women went on to tell me, I would still have to pay over $3,000. Why? Because I have insurance but, they don't take it. They went on to say, If I did not have any health insurance I would pay $2133.17. So, they are gouging and punishing me for having insurance they don't like. I left without getting my MRI and they got $0. Punishing people who have insurance, Baylor does not like, cannot be legal. If it is legal, it is immoral. How dare Baylor penalize people who don't have insurance they don't want to take! Also, I cannot go to any Baylor Hospital because they don't take my insurance and will penalize me. So, I had to put a post-it note in my wallet by my license for the EMS. It says, "If I have to go to the ER, DON'T take me to Baylor." The people who made this penalty policy should be ashamed of themselves. They should not treat people who don't have any insurance better than people who have insurance that Baylor refuses to take. Shame on you Baylor!! Plano's Political Pitbull Signing Off The Plano Republican Women had their City Council Forum on March 21, 2017. PRW invited all the candidates running for council. Mayor Harry LaRosiliere and Stirling Morris did not reply to the invitation. It was sent to them by email and Facebook. The Mayor and Mr. Morris could of at least had the decency to RSVP. All the other candidates sent an RSVP and were in attendance.
The candidates answered the monitored questions very well. At one point a candidate had a low blood sugar episode. All of the other candidates rushed to his aide. He was given something to raise his blood sugar, and he was fine. It warms this pitbull's heart, that people put their differences aside when a person was in need of help. Plano Republican Women will have a forum for those running for Plano School Board at their April meeting: Tuesday, April 18, 2017. For more information go to www.planorepublicanwomen.org This is Plano's Political Pitbull signing off. PRW has made some changes to the City Council Forum it is hosting. Plano Republican Women is having a forum/debate for candidates running for Plano City Council. Location: Reflections on Spring Creek 1901 East Spring Creek Parkway, Plano TX Time: Check in 11:15 AM. Details: Lunch and the business part of the meeting starts at 11:30 am. The candidate forum begins at noon followed by a candidate meet and greet. Information on the candidates is on the PRW website. To RSVP, please go to the PRW website at www.planorepublicanwomen.org The deadline for lunch reservations is March 16; to RSVP without lunch the deadline is March 20. Include your name in your RSVP, and say if you will/will not be having lunch. Lunch is available with RSVP by March 16 for $20 in cash or check payable to PRW. Lunch is non-refundable PRW membership is not required to attend our meeting The City Council Race is non-partisan. Therefore PRW does not and will not endorse any candidate. These are the people who are running for City Council in Plano. To date, these are the only candidates I could find. I hope to do full articles on each of them in the near future. If more candidates surface, I will add them to this post. Place 2 Anthony Ricciardelli (www.anthonyforplano.com) Al Valente (www.alforplano.com) Ann Bacchus (https://www.facebook.com/ann.bacchus1?pnref=lhc.friends) Place 4 Kayci Prince (www.kayciprince.net) Ed Acklin (www.edacklincampaign.com) Place 8 David Downs (incumbent www.voteplano.com) Rick Smith (www.rickforplano.org) Stirling Morris (https://www.facebook.com/stirlingmorris) Place 6 Mayor Harry LaRosiliere (incumbent www.harry4mayor.com) Lilly Bao (www.lily4plano.org) Bill Lisle III (email: bill@bl3formayor) Douglas Reeves (email: douglasreevesaffh@yahoo.com) On October 30, 2016, the Plano Star Courier reported on The Plano Tomorrow Plan. The article states, "The Plano Tomorrow Plan has received silver-level recognition for its proposal to improve the community's sustainability." Plano received the award from the American Planning Association (APA). The paper and Plano's Mayor are happy with the award. They also love the Plano Tomorrow Plan (PTP), but the residents of Plano feel differently. Before commenting on the award, and talking about resident opinions of PTP, I have a few questions. What is the APA? Who gave it authority? Who created the APA? Why should we care if it likes the PTP? To find out what APA is, I went to their website www.planning.org. APA's mission statement is, "The development of vital communities by advocating excellence in planning, promoting education and citizen empowerment, and providing our members with the tools and support necessary to meet the challenges of growth and change." One way APA does this is by, "Advocating for planning at the national level, support chapters, divisions, and members' efforts at the state and local levels." In other words, APA is a lobbyist group for bureaucratic planners. It has forty-seven chapters in the USA, and the membership fee ranges from $160-$385. For additional fees, APA offers education, forums, publications, and specialized sessions at the annual National Planning Conference. APA has two offices; one in Chicago and one in DC. Since APA is a private lobby group, they don't have any authority. APA's website does not say who started it. On their website, it says, "On October 1, 1978, the American Planning Association emerged from the consolidation of the American Institute of Planners and the American Society of Planning Officials." "We trace our roots even further back to 1909 and the first National Conference on City Planning in Washington D.C. From that and subsequent conferences, the organized planning movement emerged." In other words, this group's founders help to create the Progressive idea of central planning. Should we care about receiving an award from APA? In my opinion, NO! APA is just like the National Restaurant Association, the American Medical Association, or the National Association of Realtors. Would any of you care if those groups gave out an award? I am going to guess the answer is, no. Unlike residents, the Mayor wants the APA's award. Therefore, the city sent the Plano Tomorrow Plan to APA. According to the Star Courier, "A team of planners scored the plans' principles of a livable environment, resilient economy, interwoven equity, healthy community, and responsible regionalism." The paper never said what defined any of those things, or what any of them look like in the real world. While bureaucratic planners love the PTP, residents hate it. If you talk to the Mayor, you will get the same opinion as bureaucrats. In response to the award, the Mayor said, "This recognition is an acknowledgment of a thoughtful and thorough process led by our Planning Department. By working closely with the community, they were able to design an excellent plan that meets the needs of all our stakeholders and enhances our status as a regional leader." Either the Mayor has come down with a case of amnesia or, he is lying to us. It is the only way to explain how he could "forget" all the resident opposition to the PTP. If you remember, hundreds of residents attended the Planning and Zoning meeting to oppose PTP when it was first voted on. A Planing and Zoning meeting rarely has more than a few residents in attendance; the board should have realized something was wrong. Still, the board ignored the people and passed the plan. Next, the PTP went to the City Council for a vote. Again, hundreds of people went to oppose the plan, and again, the people were ignored and the plan passed. The grass roots group, Plano Future, organized a petition drive to get the PTP on the election ballot. Citizens wanted to vote on the PTP themselves, so thousands of residents signed the petition. However, the City Council would not bring the petition up for a vote. The City, once again, disregarded the people. As a result, residents sued the City Council. The case is currently in court. (For more information about the lawsuit and PTP go to http://planofuture.org/. You can also read the PTP on the City's website.). This proves the Mayor lied when he said, "They worked closely with the community." I would also like to know who the Mayor was talking about when he said, "The plan meets the needs of all our stakeholders."? Since he ignored the residents, he clearly was not talking about them. The most disturbing part of the article was at the end. David Rouse, from APA, said, "The plans recognized through this program are guiding communities toward a more sustainable, enduring, and equitable future." In other words, unelected bureaucrats are deciding what is best for Plano. That is not their job! People in ivory towers should not be deciding what is best for Plano or any town. That is the job of the residents. In my opinion, this award is meaningless. The Mayor is trying to use it to make the Plano Tomorrow Plan look great, but an award from a lobby group does not make it look good at all. In reality, it makes the plan look terrible. If a bureaucrat likes something, it cannot be a good thing. The Mayor and Council need to remember the residents of Plano vote for them! Plano's elected officials need to stop making lobbyists happy and, start doing what the residents want. If the politicians don't, they will be kicked out of office in 2017. This is The Plano Political Pit Bull signing off. The Tax Cut That Isn't Plano's Property Tax Rate for 2016-2017 On Monday, September 12, 2016, the Plano City Council unanimously passed a new property tax rate. The Mayor said that residents got a tax cut, but the dollar amount on our bill went up. How can this be? If we got a tax cut, then our bill should have gone down. Unfortunately, in the political world, a "tax cut" can be a tax increase. Allow me to explain. The 2015-2016 tax rate was 48.46 cents per $100 of taxable value. Home values for 2016-2017 went up. If the city wanted to collect the same amount of money for next year as they did in this one, the tax rate would be 45.80 cents. That number is called the effective tax rate. With a rate of 45.80 cents our tax bill for next year would be the same amount as this year. Anything below 45.80 cents would be a tax cut. The tax rate the city council approved for 2016-2017 was 47.86 cents. That is a one-cent decrease from the original tax rate of 48.46 cents; however, it is a two-cent increase from the effective tax rate. That means the city will collect $7,076,621 more. It also means residents will pay a bigger property tax bill. The Mayor is being dishonest when he says the city council cut our taxes. The city council cut the amount our bill would have gone up, had they reinstated the original rate of 48.46 cents. In the political world, this is a tax cut. In the real world, this is a tax increase. Please don't be fooled, we did not get a tax cut. People who try to tell you otherwise are trying to trick you. Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off September 28, 2016 On Monday, Sept 12, 2016 the Plano City Council unanimously passed the 2016-2017 proposed budget. The Mayor thinks the budget is a wonderful example of fiscal responsibility; however, the city will be spending more money next year then last year. The city is already 41 million dollars in debt, and if the budget is fiscally responsible, we should not spend more then we take in. These would be logical conclusions, but we are talking about the language of a politician. We need to remember that politicians' language is very different from our own. For 2016-2017 the revenue is projected to be $317 million; that is up from last year. The operating budget is $317 million, which is also higher than last year. If you only saw that, you would think we have a balanced budget. The problem with that, is our debt is part of the operating budget. The following are a list of things in the budget that caught my attention. The words in brackets are my thoughts about the item.
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