Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 1410 into law on Friday. I have always lived by a rule that I won’t let one issue by itself control who I vote for. However Gov. Perry’s veto is such an assault on local control that I can’t vote for Gov. Perry again. Why have a city council if the State of Texas is going to write our building codes?

See story in InstantNewsWestU

Another story in InstantNewsWestU

Tomorrow, the city council is going to decide if it makes sense to speed up demolishing the Colonial Park pool to right after Labor Day. This will allow both the new indoor fitness pool found at the site of the old YMCA and the Colonial Park recreation pool to be open and fully operational by next summer. Also, it will save mucho money. The total possible savings cannot be quantified. But at a minimum we will save at least five months of construction management fees at more than 60K monthly, or $300K. The downside is that we historically have some residents (30-60) that use our pool for fitness swimming even during the coldest months. We will be four or five months without a pool. I think we need to do everything practicable to find these residents alternative places to swim during this downtime.

But in my view, the arguments for speeding up the construction schedule are overwhelming.

Come to the meeting and offer your comments. Here is a link to the agenda:

http://www.westu.org/default.asp?menuid=10396&sub1menuid=10413&sub2menuid=11077

We have a city council meeting on Monday, June 22. We will have a goals planning session at 5pm. A top priority is to make sure we don’t go over budget on the park bond project.

But of equal importance is upgrading our public safety technology and infrastructure. Our 991 services and Direct Link are running out of a gerbil cage powered by an 8-track tape player.  In my view, we need to modernize our police department to provide the service and safety West U residents deserve and expect.

Come to the meeting and offer your comments. Here is a link to the agenda:

http://www.westu.org/default.asp?menuid=10396&sub1menuid=10413&sub2menuid=11077

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6480256.html

Here is an opinion piece on residential fire sprinklers in the Chronicle on June 11. The author is State Rep. John Otto from Dayton. I know Otto offers the information in good faith. But his pertinent facts are all wrong. That’s the risk you run when you have someone else write your material. Read his opinion piece linked here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6469687.html

Then I will have an opinion piece on the Chronicle on Tuesday that will clear up what the real facts are.

From the West U Examiner

By STEVE MARK

June 10th, 2009  |  by Jamie Mock |

Rick Casey has a great column today at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/6461732.html

It talks about the fire sprinkler issue in West U. It is appalling that a state legislator from Dayton, Texas, in Liberty County, thinks he has the right to make building codes in West University Place.

I’ll make a deal with Rep. John Otto; If he will keep his nose out of West University Place business, I will stay out of Dayton business.

I went to my HCAD valuation challenge meeting with low expectations. The appraiser assigned to my case was friendly and helpful. By agreement, without a full hearing he reduced the taxable value $30K. It was an hour well-spent. HCAD had assigned a value of $2,600 to a “woodshed” on the vacant lot we own behind our house. The appraiser pulled up the photo they used to appraise on his computer. The “woodshed” was my hammock