Choices are widening

Americans are facing a critical decision that by all rights should be a no-brainer, one that requires hardly more than a scintilla of thought.

It is this: Do Americans want to elect a certifiable overfed, overhyped and over-publicized juvenile fu**ing delinquent to the presidency or do we re-elect a known grownup, someone with years of public service under his belt, someone who has a clear priority list of beliefs and principles?

In a normal context, there would be no debate. We wouldn’t allow our children to behave in the manner displayed by the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee. But here is, standing on the precipice of an astonishing political comeback, on the verge of securing the GOP presidential nomination for the third election cycle in a row!

The former Moron in Chief authorized the distribution of a video showing President Biden hogtied in a rope. What the hell?

He continues to foment the Big Lie about electoral theft in 2020 that did not occur. Didn’t we teach our children to take their lumps when they lose, dust themselves off and go about their next task? My wife and I taught our sons those lessons in life.

The misdeeds are too many to enumerate here. You get my drift.

Joe Biden is the grownup in this contest. The other guy is a petulant little dipsh**.

Dreaded task … done!

This post is aimed at anyone who has lost a loved one — namely a spouse — after spending decades melding your life with him or her.

As many of you know, I lost my dear bride to cancer a little more than a year ago. Kathy Anne received a glioblastoma diagnosis and six weeks later she was gone. Her oncologist called it the “most aggressive brain cancer I have seen in all my years practicing medicine.”

But then came my emotional journey on which I embarked. Today, a major part of that journey ended for me. After agonizing since the worst day of my life, I finally gathered up Kathy Anne’s clothes and delivered them to a shelter in McKinney for women who need them.

I had been told there are many ways to approach this task. One friend of mine told me she donated her late husband’s clothes two weeks after she lost him. One of my dearest friends on Earth hired someone to empty his late wife’s closet after she passed from cancer about four years ago. Others have waited even longer than I did, while others have completed the task quickly.

I chose to wait. It was too large a leap to make. We had shared a home for 51 years. We became like one. Kathy Anne had been the embodiment of good health … until she wasn’t.

My journey has been a long one, to be sure. I have cleared many emotional hurdles. My friends have told me I have made great strides. My family has been strong, too. My sons, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter have endured the pain of losing the pillar of our family. Their strength has sustained me.

Today, I am happy to report, is a good day. I believe I have cleared the final hurdle on my journey through the darkness.

The gentleman who received the clothing spoke the truth beautifully to me this morning. “Your wife would want us to put these items to good use,” he said, “and we will.”

Homebuilding ban? For now … yes!

Princeton Mayor Brianna Chacon has planted the seed of an idea that needs to germinate and grow into a verified municipal policy.

She wants the city she governs to enact a moratorium on new home construction. Details are scant. Indeed, they don’t seem to exist in any fashion.

But I think the mayor is onto something the city council should consider and should consult heavily with its legal counsel on how to make it happen.

Princeton’s growth has been spectacular over the course of the past decade. The 2010 Census pegged the city population at just shy of 7,000 residents; the 2020 Census lists the population at 17,027 people; the current estimated population stands at around 28,000, according to city officials. 

The city has grown too rapidly, Chacon told the council at the end of its regular Monday evening meeting. It needs to stop building residential units at the breakneck pace under which it has been operating. 

I am going to report more on this idea in a later blog post. For now I am going to stick with what has been reported.

The city clearly must honor the building permits it has issued. It cannot face any possible litigation from aggrieved builders and real estate agents. And as I drive around the areas near my home, I see many acres of land that have been platted and prepared for construction. The city has installed hundreds of utility outlets on the properties, which suggests to me the city has many building permits that need to be honored before it pulls the plug on future construction.

Chacon reminded council members that the city has limited resources and it must spend that money on developing infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with the home construction. “We grew too fast,” Chacon told the council.

Streets need improvement, Chacon said, apparently acknowledging the complaints she likely has heard from residents about the condition of streets in some of our older neighborhoods.

I am one Princeton resident who is interested in the details of this proposal that must come soon. How soon will it be enacted? How long does the city expect it to last? Will the city continue its push to bring more commercial development to Princeton? 

I am all ears, Mme. Mayor. So, I will bet, is the rest of this city.

Mustache stays … period!

This post is for those I haven’t known since The Flood. It is for relatively recent acquaintances and friends, some of whom ask me this question at this time of year:

Is the mustache coming off, too, along with the rest of your facial hair? Answer: nope; not even.

The mustache has been part of my face since 1970. Except for a brief period in 1980 when I decided to shave it off. Big mistake.

I started growing it as I was preparing to exit the Army. I had returned from Vietnam and was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., just up the highway from my Portland, Ore., hometown. 

It was July 1970. I was a month from shucking the uniform forever and returning to civilian life. I grew the mustache. I liked it. It quickly became part of me.

Then a decade later, I decided to shave it off. I had two small boys at home with me. I came out of the bathroom and presented my clean-shaven face to my family. My bride, Kathy Anne, approved. The boys? They couldn’t stop laughing.

They were six and five. They had never seen Dad without facial hair. For that matter, neither had Kathy Anne … but she was cool with the “new” me.

My sons’ laughter never let up. After less than a week of it, I surrendered. The stubble returned. Soon it blossomed into a full-grown mustache. It has stayed.

The beard comes and goes. I usually shave it off every spring. This year it came off about a month early. Which is OK. Kathy Anne preferred I keep it year-round. We would “fight” good naturedly when the time came to shave it off. I no longer have to wage that fake fight. So, it came off.

But come this autumn, the beard will return as it does every year.

I just wanted to share this bit of useless info. You are now free to pursue more important matters.

Journey gets brighter

Many of you — those who follow this blog — know about the journey I have taken for the past year.

It started out painfully. It got better over time as I jumped into my pickup and — with Toby the Puppy riding shotgun — traveled to both coasts of this great nation. 

We bid a good fu**ing riddance to 2023. My sons and I burned calendars in my back yard the evening of Dec. 31. I had just bid farewell to my puppy on Dec. 1, ending the year with nearly the pain I felt when I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer near the beginning of the year.

But now a new year has arrived. We’re three weeks into 2024 and I am happy — no, thrilled and delighted — to report that the pain has all but subsided. I have laid the foundation for a new life in North Texas.

I am committing to some worthwhile projects. I am socializing more. I vowed to find the light at the end of that dark journey and I am going to declare that the light is shining brightly on me. I hope it shines on my sons, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter.

We have been through a lot together. I hope they all know how indebted I am for the strength they have shown and demonstrated and I am hoping they have received some strength and encouragement from their old man. They know I love them with every beat of my heart.

My friends all have said that I always will have those moments when emotion takes control of my senses. I get it. Honestly, I truly do. But I will be damned forever if I let it control me as I soldier on with the rest of my life.

I am looking forward to a year of adventure, I hope a surprise or three, and one that produces plenty of additional cherished memories.

Whether to nominate a felon

So help me I keep tilting in all directions ruminating over whether a once-great political party should nominate an indicted former POTUS for the job he wants to reclaim.

At the moment, I am inclined to just shrug and say: go ahead and nominate this clown, who well might be a convicted felon by the time the GOP nominating convention sends the ex-POTUS off to be defeated — once again — by President Joe Biden.

The former Liar in Chief keeps insulting judges who are presiding over his pending trials. He keeps hurling epithets at Jack Smith, the special counsel hired by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate allegations of criminal activity.

The one-time BS Artist in Chief will not be elected. All that is left is for President Biden to send him packing once again and have the two-time election loser ponder how he intends to spend his time while fending off the hounds of justice.

These quandaries are difficult to shake. I might wake up in the morning feeling differently … but I doubt it.

Are we better off?

What in the world is it going to take to persuade Americans to shed their gloomy-Gus outlook on the U.S. economy?

You don’t need to answer that one. Just hear me out for a brief moment while I vent a bit of my frustration.

Here we are now officially in an election year. President Joe Biden is seeking another term, but he is facing headwinds that befuddle me. He is unable to persuade Americans that we are better off now than we were when he took office in January 2021. 

Joblessness is down; employers are hiring tens of thousands of employees each month; inflation is down; interest rates are beginning to inch downward as well; retirement accounts are healthy; the stock market is setting records.

OK, I am going to set aside commenting on the border crisis and the phony investigations into alleged corruption involving the president.

Joe Biden has plenty of goods to sell Americans as he seeks re-election. He cannot seem to shake loose from Republicans who continue to feed the lie about the state of our economy.

They said we would plunge into recession. That the Dow would plummet. That inflation would gobble up Americans’ hard-earned savings accounts. 

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am doing far better economically today than I was doing in 2020. 

Should the president re-purpose the query that Ronald Reagan posed during the 1980 campaign against President Carter? He shouldn’t even consider it. I am certain that a similar question can be presented this year that would produce a far different response than the one Reagan used to devastating effect.

The very future of our nation depends on whether President Biden can find a way to vanquish forever the forces that keep lying to us about our nation’s economic health.

No arguing with MAGAites

Command decisions come easily for me these days as a lone wolf who runs his own blog.

So … I am proud to announce that beginning this very moment I no longer am going to argue with the MAGA cultists who continue to back the idiocy preached by Donald Trump.

I just visited with a West Texas friend, who is far from a MAGA adherent, and we determined that there is no avenue of reason available when we engage a MAGA moron on policy matters.

They have swilled the Kool-Aid offered by Trump. It has seeped into their brain’s soft tissue. They are contaminated by the lies, the absolute lack of authenticity, the distortions blathered by Trump.

What, then, is the point of even trying to persuade them that their guy is a crook, who likely will be convicted (eventually!) of felonies relating to his denial of the 2020 presidential election, his theft of classified documents and the conspiracy to “find 11,780 votes” that would enable him to steal the electoral result in Georgia.

Does anyone see the irony? Trump accuses Democrats of trying to steal the 2020 election, but the only thievery taking place comes from Republicans!

From this moment forward, I no longer am going to debate with the MAGA morons. See y’all in the next life.

City manager hire: Is it the perfect choice?

If one is to accept the views expressed in an op-ed column published in the Dallas Morning News, then Princeton City Council could have hired the perfect individual to be the new city manager.

Whether manager-designate Mike Mashburn achieves perfection, of course, remains to be determined.

Why the early optimism?

Arun Agarwal writes in today’s DMN that “urban parks” form a shield of serenity in a bustling environment. The tagline at the end of his column describes Agarwal thusly: Arun Agarwal is president of the Dallas Park and Recreation Board and vice chair of the Texas Economic Development Corporation.

OK, he’s got some street cred on the subject. What about Mike Mashburn? He comes to Princeton after serving as an assistant city manager in Farmers Branch, where he emphasized park development in that community.

Meanwhile, Princeton voters have approved a city bond issue with funds dedicated to park expansion and improvement. It’s a match made in heaven, yes? Hmm. Could be.

Agarwal writes: Regardless of socio-economic status, age or ethnicity, urban parks provide a neutral ground where individuals can come together in an environment of belonging and shared identity. Picnic tables, playgrounds and sports fields become platforms for interaction, dialogue and the forging of meaningful communal relationships.

Agarwal cites a park study aimed at finding the benefits of park development. He writes: Furthermore, this study established that Dallas parks advance equity by helping to build intergenerational wealth, and that our parks generate real estate value through property value premiums and park-oriented development.

I met Mashburn on Friday after the council approved his hiring, and he mentioned he liked the “small-town feel” that Princeton provided. I reminded him that Princeton is still a small-ish town, but it stay that way for much longer, as it is in the midst of a growth explosion.

Which makes the benefit of “urban park” development more critical for the residents of this city.

What’s more, parks can improve our health, according to another study that Agarwal cites. A more recent study, presented last year, found that 78% of repeat visitors to Buffalo Bayou in Houston reported a decrease in physical ailments such as stress, asthma and general poor health since beginning to come to the park, and 90% said it contributes to improved quality of life and sense of well-being.

Parks promote community, equity and economic growth (dallasnews.com)

So, are we on the verge of a park-related improvement in our collective physical, emotional and spiritual health?

I look forward to seeing if our city manager can stir up the elixir.

Where is transparency?

Princeton’s city council had a marvelous opportunity to demonstrate the transparency it promised when the city moved into its new municipal complex a couple of years ago.

I believe, though, the city has work to do to achieve what the mayor and the former city manager pledged.

Council is going to meet Friday to select a city manager to succeed Derek Borg, who resigned suddenly at the end of this past year. He was forced out by a council unhappy with the way he was guiding the municipal apparatus.

I had hoped the council would announce the process it would use to find the new manager. I urged the council to go big, to hire a national search firm to spread a wide net. It didn’t heed my advice … but I don’t care about that.

I do care, though, that the city kept its search process a secret. It advertised quietly through the Texas Municipal League. The decision on who to hire was made — also quietly — by the mayor and the interim city manager. The rest of the council reportedly will meet the individual they chose on Friday.

Borg and Mayor Brianna Chacon had said the new city complex, which features plenty of glass as a metaphor for openness and transparency, said the City Hall design would provide an example of how the city planned to govern.

Where, though, was the transparency in the search for the city manager?

It is my own belief that the city fell short in keeping that pledge as it hunted for a city manager. Let us hope this isn’t a harbinger of what lies ahead at Princeton City Hall.