TxDOT plans: 2499 section 3

Not much fuss at the TxDOT hearing last night -- at least from the part that I saw. TxDOT plans to expand the section of 2499 from 1171 north to 407, starting next year. I think we're all agreed this is a long time coming. The only scuttle I heard was a request for some detail changes to the plan -- a curb cut here, a left-turn lane there. I didn't stay for all the meeting though.

There were more TxDOT reps and elected officials there than regular citizens. A far cry from the outcry over Section 4, but stay tuned for more on that in 2006.

House District 63 - the race is on!

Pretty fast turn of events this week with regard to next spring's Republican primary. After Ricky Grunden from Denton announced he would file to challenge Mary Denny (R-Incumbent), Anne Lakusta from Flower Mound did the same. And now Denny's saying she'll run again too.

Here's what's important:

District 63 is shaped like a C (see PDF map). It runs from Flower Mound and Highland Village west to the Wise county line, up north around the west side of Denton, and across the top of the county, ending at the Collin County line. It's pretty much everything except Denton, Lewisville, The Colony and Carrollton.

Mary Denny has represented District 63 ever since I've lived here, but only recently has the district included Flower Mound. She lives in Aubrey, northeast of Denton, though she opened an office in Flower Mound a couple of years ago. Rep. Denny chairs the Elections Committee, which gained a little higher stature after the 2000 election controversy, but it's still a second-tier assignment. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have never seen her stand out among her colleagues in the House. Am I wrong to think she's a perennial backbencher?

District 63 needs a leader to make the House (and its Republican leadership) more aware of, and responsive to, Denton County's needs. Further, I think the District 63 representative needs to be a bigger advocate for southern Denton County, notably Flower Mound.

Flower Mound has a population of 60,000. That's about half the total population of District 63. Flower Mound votes, better than almost any other place around.

CONCLUSION:

The next elected representative from District 63 needs to come from Flower Mound. We have the power to make that happen.

Meet the Mayor

Props to Mayor Smith and our lovely town secretary Paula Paschal for hosting our son's Webelo troop for a Town Hall visit Monday morning. They spent 30 minutes talking about government and how the Town works. I was very grateful for their time and enthusiasm.

How's your cell phone coverage in Flower Mound?

I'm two months away from the end of my cell phone contract, and I'm looking to change. We live in a low area, 2/3 of the way on the slope down from the Flower Mound to the shores of Grapevine Lake. I'm now a Cingular customer, but only by marriage. My original contract was with AT&T, and Cingular absorbed them.

My issues with Cingular are these:

1) There's an enormous dead spot on FM2499 at Lakeside Pkwy. and south near the Home Depot. I can't carry a conversation there without getting dropped.

2) I can't take a call in my house unless I'm on the second floor.

Right now, I'm putting together a map of the cell towers in Flower Mound. I've gotten a list of the towers from the Town, based on existing Special Use Permits (cell towers have to get a permit approved by Town Council). I'll try to post the map soon. If you know of dead spots in the Town, send them to me at chip@fm2020.com, and I'll post them here. Perhaps we can get better coverage here.

There's a new tower near Fire Station #3, off McKamy Creek Rd. It's a Verizon tower, and it's less than a mile from my house. I think that's who I'll be taking a hard look at, come contract time.

Peeve: The machine-gun letter to the editor

I wish the local newspapers would insist that the letters-to-the-editor they receive be original and unique to that paper. It gets really old reading the same exact letter four times in the same week. Case in point this week. Former council member Jim Cook wrote all the papers to congratulate the council for holding down costs at annual budget time. Certainly a worthy letter to write, but did he have to send the same letter to all four papers? Shoot, the local Messenger even headlined his letter on the front page this week. C'mon papers - insist on some originality, rather than printing the same letter everyone else has already printed.

Star-T: Inconsistent coverage

In all my 9 years of living in Flower Mound, I've had subscriptions to the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Leader and whatever other papers were ought there to buy. I'm a local news junkie -- good thing since it's my full-time job.

In all these years, the Star-Telegram has provided the most inconsistent level of coverage. Some weeks it feels like they've opened a newsroom right in the middle of town. Lots of stories, lots of angles.

But just as often, there's coverage like what I found in yesterday's paper. You know that big Flower Mound H.S. win over The Colony? Homecoming? 31-0? FMHS now 4-1? That big Flower Mound win scored only one paragraph of coverage in the Saturday morning Star-Telegram.

Pretty weak. I sent them a quick note to remind them we're up here. I'll be interested to see if they respond.

The News Connection grows up, gets stuck in a rut

I like the way the News Connection has looked lately. Better layout, better use of color (and more of it, even in the back sections). Lots of ads, multiple sections -- times must be good.

I see now they've hired an investigative reporter, who's picking up their crusade against the Denton Appraisal District. I've read most of the stories in their now 9-part series, although I usually tail off on interest around the 5th or 6th graf. There's a difference between investigative reporting and crusading for a cause. Both are useful, but when you try to do both at the same time, in the same story, it really hurts your credibility at either pursuit.

Here's some free advice. Save the front page for unbiased reporting. Put your point-of-view on the editorial page.