HELP NEEDED: Supplies for the SE Denton Back to School Fair
The MLK Center Advisory Board in partnership with the Denton Police Department, Fire Department, Parks and Recreation, and several others will host the annual Southeast Denton Back to School Fair on Saturday, August 23 at 10am at the MLK Center.
It is estimated that over 11,000 Denton kids are in need of some sort of assistance with beginning of the year school supplies: a backpack, pencils, notebooks, folders, crayons, and the like.
This is a problem we can solve. Bring a backpack and or supplies between now and Friday, August 22 to the MLK Center at 1300 Wilson Street and drop them off at the front desk. Thanks, Denton!
A Time to Lead: The Council’s Decision on the Proposed Convention Center
On Tuesday, the city council will likely take up a discussion of whether to put an item on the August 12th agenda calling an election to take the Convention Center project to the voters. I have long been scheduled for a work trip to Pittsburgh this week and will unfortunately miss the meeting. So in order to be crystal clear of my position to the public, my colleagues, our partners in this deal, and city staff, I write this.
Citizen engagement has been one of my top priorities during my time on council. I am known to host town hall and neighborhood meetings on all sorts of topics in all sorts of places: homes, restaurants, rec centers, bars, and even my own living room. I’ve brought engagement into the 21st century through weekly council updates on my website and through engaging the citizenry every day on Facebook and Twitter. When citizen involvement in the gas drilling issue looked slim, I initiated the formation of what is now known as the DAG group to seek more feedback and involvement. I initiated the creation of and now chair the Council Committee on Citizen Engagement where we monthly make improvements to the city’s outreach to and involvement of our citizens. I am a clear advocate of meaningful citizen involvement both through my words and my actions.
I also recognize when it is time for the council to stand up and lead. To make clear decisions, utilizing the feedback and ideas generated from among the citizenry and the hours of analyzing data and background information.
Make no mistake – people can and do use talk of citizen participation as a way to delay, slow down, or outright kill projects that they disagree with. We saw a clear example of this in the lead-up to the July 15 vote on the proposed fracking ban. The call to “send it to the voters” came most strongly from those opposing the ordinance. They knew they stood a better chance at batting down the initiative if this went to a city wide vote. On the surface were lofty claims of democratic ideals – behind the scenes it was pure political strategy.
It is surely not lost on many in our community that some of the biggest proponents to take this convention center project “to the voters” also argued just a couple weeks ago that taking the fracking ban to the voters was irresponsible – they wanted council to act. They wanted council to lead.
For some, calls for city-wide votes on important issues are simply strategic ways to take down an idea or project they don’t like. If they like something, they want council to act. If they don’t, they want council to put it before the voters. I submit this is an unhealthy standard for deciding how to implement direct democracy.
After three years of negotiations, planning, providing direction to move this project forward at every turn, making commitments to various partners (including the University of North Texas, a most important community partner), approving a developer’s agreement, and asking all partners to spend considerable money to develop these plans, it would now be a complete abdication of council leadership to skirt our citizen-given responsibility by failing to act and sending this to the November ballot.
This does not mean that we are required to ultimately approve this project – there are certainly reasonable arguments on all sides of this debate. What it does mean is that we must provide the leadership to debate this and provide clear council direction one way or another.
Sending this to the voters might be a convenient and politically easy way for some of us to avoid taking a public stance on this issue. But that is not leadership. Sending this to the voters would result in the following:
- The council and city staff, subsequent to calling the election, would be prevented by state law from advocating for or against this project. Here is a major economic development deal and one of the major partners must be silent for 3 months leading up to the election.
- This would leave the other two partners, including UNT, to carry the public argument for this project alone with no help from the city. I submit this is no way to foster positive relationships with important partners.
- Our partners, who have engaged with us in good faith over the last three years believing that the council was willing and able to make important decisions, who themselves are able to make important decisions, will be left questioning the resolve of the city on this issue and any future issues.
- The misinformation that has been circulating throughout the summer will likely win the day.
The future economic consequences of such a move are also worrisome. This signals to future economic development partners that the Denton City Council is unable to be a reliable partner on large, potentially long-term deals. When an issue gets controversial, they’ll fail to act, fail to vote, fail to take a stance, and fail to lead. It communicates that our city is not really interested in moving our city ahead economically, that we aren’t serious players.
Fellow council members, let’s have this debate. Argue against if you don’t like it. Argue for it if you do. But, for goodness sake, let’s be willing to make a decision. Let’s lead. It is what we were elected to do.
Denton PD Releases Internal Affairs Investigation of Excessive Force
The Denton Police Department released this news release today regarding an unfortunate incident many of you have inquired about.
Public trust in our law enforcement community is essential in a democracy. I am proud of our police department for acting swiftly and decisively to respond, investigate, and ultimately hold accountable those who acted unjustly and inappropriately.
On Fracking, Boycotts, and Democracy: A Lesson From Ainsley Hayes
After less than 2 hours of sleep following last Tuesday’s unforgettable council meeting, I got my kids in the car and hopped on a plane to Cleveland to visit my family. Still there, but just now getting to the social media aftermath. And it’s ugly.
I understand why people are frustrated. But calling some of my colleagues spineless, cowards, corrupt, and bought by the oil industry because you disagreed with their vote is unfortunate. A vote, by the way, that I find wholly reasonable and defensible – even though, at the end of the night I disagreed. And now there are calls for boycotts of businesses and recall elections?
Why do we insist on importing such ways of reacting and talking from the poisonous political rhetoric of DC?
Disagree. Get mad. Be passionate. But channel that into democratic civic virtues: debate, form an argument, sit down with your council member, write a letter, vote against someone, run for office, or maybe even dare to learn from someone you vehemently disagree with.
But the thought that we only want to do commerce and hang around in the same businesses with those who hold the same political opinions as us appears to me to be the furthest thing from the democratic spirit. In fact, it’s the most dangerous thing to a vibrant democracy.
I have the utmost respect for my council colleagues, even and especially when I wholly disagree with them. They work hard, they love Denton, and we all found ourselves faced with a difficult decision on an enormously complex issue with far-reaching consequences on either side.
I warned of the problem of political fundamentalism in this post just before Thanksgiving. I continue to think its presence in a city is much more toxic than a 100 gas wells.
I leave you with a scene from the second season of West Wing. Ainsley Hayes, a Republican talking head, was just invited to join the Democratic Bartlett White House, in part because of her stunning performance dressing down Senior White House Advisor Sam Seaborn on a recent cable talk show. After spending a day inside the White House with an administration that she was earlier hired to criticize at every turn, she returned to her Republican friends who were eager to hear about just how bad her political enemies were. Check out her response and consider our’s…
Fracking and Denton’s Economy: A Quick Response to the Perryman Study
The oil and gas industry is well funded and they are certainly pros when it comes to messaging, media relations, and politics. Which is why they perfectly timed the release of an economic study on the impacts of a proposed fracking ban just when the local, regional, and national media frenzy began. They know that means there won’t be enough time for anyone talking about this issue to digest and properly analyze their data, yet they’ll get every reporter leading off with their claims taken right off the front page of their 69 page report.
The report claims that Denton will lose millions if this ban goes through. Whatever you think about the wisdom of adopting a fracking ban in Denton, let’s make sure we are all aware of the facts here.
To begin with, it should be notable that the study was funded my the oil and gas industry and commissioned by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. If it is true, as the report claims, that $251.4 million in gross product and 2077 person-years of employment would result from the continuation of Denton fracking over the next 10 years, we know that the vast majority of that money and the jobs will go to OUT OF TOWN companies and their workers. Hence, the concern of the Fort Worth Chamber – they are home to a bunch of major oil and gas companies as the map below shows.
Here are some economic facts that show the real economic impact of natural gas operations in Denton:
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Out of $6,979,224,274 in total property values across the city, only $81,463,434 come from minerals – that’s only 1.17%.
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From that, the city gets only $561,894 in property tax revenue. That amounts to only 1.1% of all our property tax revenue and only 0.5% of all the revenue going into our General Fund.
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Realize that Mineral Property Values are assessed regardless of any real plans to develop them. It’s likely that this revenue would continue with or without a ban on fracking.
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Only 0.27% of Denton jobs come from oil and gas operations. And these numbers have gone down 2.2% between 2012 and 2013.
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The Airport Gas Fund gets about $900,000 a year in royalties. That money comes from existing wells that are in production and would continue to produce with or without a ban on fracking in Denton.
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Likewise, the Park Gas Well Fund gets about $150,000 a year in royalties. That money comes from existing wells that are in production and would continue to produce with or without a ban on fracking in Denton.