City Council Preview – March 19, 2013
It’s election season, Denton – time to start paying attention to the big issues defining the discourse of our city government. If you haven’t yet already, check out votedenton.org, a site a bunch of smart people put together to make local election information more accessible for all. It will help you determine which council district you live in and give you the most up-to-date information on all the candidates.
Related to that topic, while my first year term is up in May, I am running unopposed for the District 1 council seat this year. So like it or not, you are stuck with me for another two years!
Tuesday’s council meeting begins with a Work Session at 3pm at the main City Hall on East McKinney Street. This will be followed by a 6:30pm Regular Session in the same building. Go here for an agenda of the meeting, complete with all the pdf backup material you can handle.
Here are some items of interest…
PAYDAY and TITLE LOAN REGULATIONS
Other than in the comment section of the local newspaper, where all manner of strange opinions are found, I have yet to find anyone willing to go public in support of the predatory lending practices exhibited among the growing number of payday and title loan businesses in Denton. 15 states have banned them outright and many others have rigid regulations. Texas, on the other hand, welcomes this industry with open arms. Be weary of the economic development claims of our state leaders. When they tout our low taxes and loose regulations as a reason for businesses choosing Texas, they far too often mean: “We’ll take all those industries that no one else wants – you know, the ones that don’t want the burden of social and environmental responsibility.”
Every conservative defender of capitalism should take note: the number one contributor to socialist tendencies among the younger generations is the blind ideological free-market defense of businesses like these. The best defense of capitalism long term is a willingness to regulate its own abuses. Texas dangerously misunderstands this as we boast in our apparent economic prosperity. I digress…
Several concerned citizens have helped advocate for greater awareness of this issue. Check out a recap from our December 18 meeting where members from Denton for Fair Lending presented to the council. That has ultimately led to where we are today. We’ll be considering an ordinance aimed at requiring such businesses to register with the city and curbing some of their more harmful practices.
You can find out more info on the ordinance, including the full text of the proposed ordinance right here. This ordinance won’t do away with these type of businesses, but it will require them to implement fairer lending practices. We are also exploring the possibility of a zoning ordinance which will realign our zoning categories to give the city more control of where such businesses can be located in the city.
RESOLUTION TO PRESERVE LOCAL AUTHORITY FOR GAS DRILLING
Many people have contacted me expressing concern over Texas Legislature House Bill 1496 – a bill that seeks to limit local authority over the regulation of gas drilling. We will be considering a resolution supporting the rejection of this bill.
We’ll also be discussing in Work Session a bunch of other bills from the current Legislative Session which are relevant to the city of Denton.
CONVENTION CENTER DISCUSSION
The city has been discussing for some time a proposal from a private developer for a privately owned and operated hotel and a city-funded convention center on the site of the old Radisson Hotel on the campus of UNT. A possible developer’s agreement could be coming forward for council approval in the near future, so we will be receiving an update on the project during the Work Session. Last year about this time, I posted this defense of the concept and the city process related to this issue. Here’s a sneak preview of the power point presentation we will see on Tuesday.
PUBLIC ART POLICY and FUNDING
Denton is committed to the arts – it is what makes us who we are as a city. You might recall an issue that came about when we were ramping up for our recent November bond election for street reconstruction. Because of a 2006 council resolution, we felt obligated to commit 2% of the total bond package to the funding of public art. At the time, this raised important questions about the nature of this policy and whether or not it had unintended consequences. Still committed to discovering a funding source for public art, council has already had a discussion on how to modify this policy. We’ll be hearing more about proposed changes to how public art is funded in Denton. I look forward to this discussion.
SPEAKING OF STREETS
Now that the street bond program passed, you might be wondering, “which streets will be done first?” I have that info for you - check out this list of first year projects. You might also check out the data I crunched of all the recommended street projects throughout the five years of this $20 million bond program.
As always if you have comments or questions, please contact me at kevin.roden@cityofdenton.com or 940-206-5239.
One Comment
Just saw this through your twitter. Thanks for posting this. I’ve been trying to find ways to keep up with what is going on in the city, and this is a great resource.