Sad sign of the times

Seen at the Exxon 2499/3040.

More on school calendars: Southlake's situation

A good article in the DMN (reg reqd) that describes how Southlake is ahead of the curve with regard to school calendars. (I shared my thoughts on this topic a couple of weeks ago.)

The reason Southlake is ahead of the curve, the article says, is that they already start their school year in compliance with the new state-mandated earliest-start-date. But here's the deal -- this year their kids don't get out of school until June 9th. June 9th???? Wow, that's almost East Coast scheduling, but they don't start school until mid-to-late September.

I went to the Southlake Carroll ISD to look at their calendar, thinking I would find it padded with extra breaks (like Plano's full-week fall break) and other schedule puffery. But no, their schedule is pretty much like our schedule in the Lewisville ISD. A long weekend in the fall, a few in-service days sprinkled here and there, the same time-off at Christmas.

The calendar-law doesn't go into effect until summer of 2007. This year, LISD starts school on Monday August 14th, about the same as previous years. It will be interesting to see how the LISD board will reset the calendar for 2007-08. Will our kids still be in school on June 9th?

If anyone has any direct insights into the LISD situation, please post them here or send me an e-mail.

More fire stations for Flower Mound?

Good article in The Messenger this weekend, recounting FM Fire Chief Eric Metzger's proclamation to a Master Plan meeting that we'll soon be needing more fire stations. Granted, the timeline is pretty long -- he's looking 25 years out, but read the article and you'll get a good sense at what's in store.

A warning to the trash collectors this week

If you read this site regularly, you know I love the really little slices of life here in Flower Mound. Here are a couple of posts on trash:

First, a little Memorial Day spring cleaning around the house this morning, and I just added about 10 pounds to my recycle bin.



In the bin are 3 years of old phone books that are being sent away. I saved all the current phone books, which still leaves me with 8 or 9. With both Verizon and AT&T (old SBC) throwing 3 or 4 books a year on the lawn, and with a handful of smaller publishers adding to the mix, that's a lot of paper.

Questions:

• Is the phone book business that lucrative to support all these different competitors?
  
  
• Are you still using phone books today, or are you looking up numbers on the web?
  
  

See, I told you some of these posts are really little.

Trash Days -- I'd like a change

More trash talking!

If you live in Flower Mound, you know pretty well how the trash system works. The town is divided up into five sections, and each section is assigned a specific day for their weekly pickup. I live south, and our pickup day is Friday. Let me tell you why Friday sucks, and why I want to change.

• First, if you do any weekend gardening or home improvement, you're left with the leftovers of your work all week long. There's nothing like 5 days of decomposing yard waste rotting in your trash bin.
  
• Second, whenever there's a holiday, everyone in town gets pushed back a week. No big deal, unless you're a Friday customer who's pushed back to Saturday, and then they miss your pickup, as sometimes is the case. Then you're stuck with all your trash until Monday, because you can't get anyone at Trinity to answer the phone.
  

I know this will go nowhere, but here's what I think is fair. Why don't we rotate trash days every year, or every 2 years? Those of us on Fridays would love to switch to Mondays, or at least earlier in the week. Seems only fair to me. How about you?

We need a bigger Welcome mat!

Isn't it nice to come home every night? When I see the Flower Mound sign on FM2499 near Old Gerault, coming up from Dallas, I feel like I'm back on hallowed ground. But I've lived here 10 years, and I know how great this place is.

But we don't sell it very well. In particular, we miss a great opportunity to welcome our visitors at our front door. A little green sign (Flower Mound pop 59,000) and an out-of-the-way, hard-to-see mounment sign (at some other Town entrance points) don't cut it.

You know those signs you see when you're blowing past a small town on a two-lane highway? You see the "Welcome to Springfield" (or wherever) sign, and then you see a lot of little signs that tell you about some of the institutions in that town - the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis, the Baptist Church, 3A state champs-1999. Sometimes they're tacky and rundown, but I still like them you get a sense really quickly what's important in that town.

I'd like us to consider something of the same sort that would look totally classy and polished, and would help us sell our Town at the point where our visitors first see us. Perhaps a message board with big events coming up. Perhaps some facts and figures about the Town. Perhaps instead of one sign, you employ the old BurmaShave sign strategy, with several mini-signs stretched out one after the other along the road.

We need to put our best foot forward at our Town entrances. Even if people are driving 55mph, we still want them to see and remember something special about this Town as they're driving in.

Update 5/29: Received this nice e-mail from friend and council member Paul Stone.

A sign? You got it!

A while back the Town received a beatification grant from TXDoT or from the COG (I forget which) that will be used to cover up the lift station that is on the west side of 2499 (near the golf course). A nice sign is included.

By copy of this email, I'm asking Town staff to give you the details.

Thanks Paul! I'll post more here when I hear more.

Update 5/31: Received this kind reply from a Town engineer.

A Flower Mound entry monument is planned to be installed at the southwest corner of FM 2499 and Enterprise. The monument sign will be accompanied by landscaping and a berm that will further serve to screen the Town's lift station and surrounding chain link fence. This project is funded through a Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program grant through TxDOT. I do not have an exact timeframe for completion, but the design plans are approximately 95% complete and have been submitted to TxDOT for their review. Please let me know if you have any additional questions about this project.

Dallas commuter alert: A tight squeeze on 114, but there's good to come

I'm one of the hordes of people fighting Flower Mound's rush hour traffic every morning. You know, the slow march south on 2499. I squeeze through the funnel, turn east on 114, past Texas Stadium and head straight to downtown Dallas. I don't have the worst commute in the world. In fact, I'd much rather go downtown than try to get to the High 5, or worse, to Frisco or McKinney.

114 is actually the easiest part of my commute. It's not speedway-smooth, but there's rarely a big delay. But there's construction now that's narrowing the lanes and slowing down the commute. I talked to a TxDOT engineer today. He says they're adding new lanes to the stretch of 114 from Freeport to 161/PGBT, which should speed things up when construction is completed late this year.

Even better, TxDOT is improving the suicide merge where eastbound 114 and 183 merge together. After they finish the work south of Texas Stadium, there will be 2 lanes of 114 and 3 lanes of 183, and not a one of them will have to squeeze into another lane. Expect this project to be complete in a couple of months.

Your turn: How long is your commute, and do you have any tips on how to get there and back faster?

Where are you going on vacation this summer?

Survey time. Where are the leading citizens of Flower Mound going on vacation this summer? We'll be in Canada for a few days -- looking forward to a few days of cooler weather in the middle of the hot Texas summer. We hear good things about Banff.

Where are you going? Post a comment.

Two weeks, two drownings

This is not a good start to the summer lake season.

Last night, Flower Mound police and fire assisted Grapevine and Texas Parks & Wildlife on a call of a missing (and presumed drowned) jet skier.

High winds, choppy water, no life jacket, questionable swimming skills - not a good recipe for safety.

Two weeks ago, a similar situation cost a life on Lewisville Lake.

We love our lakes. Please be smart, use safety gear, and show your kids the ways to stay safe.

Don't forget -- Nominate for the Power Poll

Scroll down the page for both posts on the new Flower Mound Power (and Influence) Poll, and post your nominations now.

Meantime, let's get on with the news.

The school start-date dilemma

It's been widely reported (including today's Dallas Morning News) that the recent legislative special session produced not only new tax schemes and spending/sharing formulas, but also a statewide mandated school-start date.

I'm conflicted about this:

1) I've always thought it ridiculous that schools around here started so early. August 12th or thereabouts for LISD each year. August 1st or thereabouts for Keller, and a couple of days later for Plano. The summers are sooo short this way, and I don't buy the argument that the kids do better with all the extra break-time inside the school year. My son goes to a big summer camp, (Camp Stewart, down in the Texas Hill Country. That takes up most of July. Combine that with a family vacation and VBS and/or Scout Camp in June, and that's pretty much the whole summer. I've always felt that August should also be a month off too, at least until the end of the month.

2) As much as I'm happy with the end-result (a later start-of-school date, no earlier than the last Monday in August), I'm not happy the state legislator took this decision out of the hands of the local school boards. In the multi-layered government we have in this country, there's a strong principle that the best decisions are made by those governments closest to the people (town, ISD in our case). Why is it that the state felt it neceesary to create a single start-date? Well, we all know why that is, because our state tourism industry is a very strong lobby in Austin, and they persuaded the legislators to vote for the later start date in order to extend the summer travel season (longer summer = more business). Even my beloved Camp Stewart (it was my camp growing up, too) has been a big force in lobbying for this statewide law.

I've kept my mouth shut so far. I'm happy about the end result, but I don't like the means used to achieve the end.

What do you think?

It's Appraisal Protest Season -- we need The News Connection!

Remember that really provocative series of stories The News Connection did a few months ago about the Denton County Appraisal District? Now's the time, guys, to pick that story up again. Are there any follow-ups to the stories you did back then? How about following some folks to their appraisal protest hearings that will start up in the next week or two?

Does anyone here have stories to tell about their experiences with the DCAD? Post them here by clicking on the Comments link.

2499 eyesore soon gone?

I don't waste your time with news from out-of-town, unless it has a direct impact on you, the time-discriminating Flower Mounder. But this news from Grapevine should please the FM-living 2499-commuting reader.



You know that former KFC-Taco Bell-Pizza Hut combo fast-food joint next to Magic Mike's on 2499 at Grapevine Mills Mall? The "For Sale" sign is down, and I saw a couple of guys with tools working around the building today. Perhaps the building with the very prominent location will soon get new life. Even if it's not something I'll use, it will be good to see something open there. Across the street, the former Grandys appears to be doing just fine as a Starbucks.

Now, if they could just find a new tenant for the closed KFC behind Walgreens at 2499 and 3040? How about another KFC? We could still use one of those around here.

1171 signals: It's about time!

Cribbed from the Town's website:

Staff recently received authorization from TxDOT to install traffic signals at the intersections of FM 1171 at High Road and Flower Mound Road. TxDOT has offered to include the signals with the FM 1171 project, but this option would delay the installation of the signals. The current plan is to design and install temporary traffic signals at these locations as soon as possible with Town funds. A temporary design includes wood poles with the signals hanging on span wires, which allows for adjustment of the signal heads when FM 1171 goes under construction. Permanent signals will be installed as part of the FM 1171 project.

The Town website also reports TxDOT construction work on FM 1171 will begin late this year or early next, and it will take 2 1/2 years to build the new road.

More thoughts on the Power Poll - your nominations still needed!

Thanks to those of you who posted some very good nominations for our first-ever Power Poll. And as you can read in the comments of the original post just below, this is really a "Power and/or Influence Poll".

How about any of Flower Mound's old-timers, the ones with the great names we see on street signs or park signs around town? Or perhaps more recent old-timers, those that emerged before Voters United? Perhaps they've given up their power, but could they still have influence?

Just trying to get you thinking -- there's got to be more names out there!

Home Depot vs Lowes - why I'm crossing the line, this one time

These two giant stores are the giants in their industry. In Flower Mound, one is north, the other south. If town, if people take sides and choose a favorite, chances are it's because one is closer than the other.

So I'm a Home Depot guy, all things being equal. I shop in the store at 2499 and Lakeside, close to my house. When I need a gizmo or a widget or a dozen doodads to fix something around the house, Home Depot is where I'll start and finish my shopping.

I'm buying a new grill. I'm not spending a fortune, but I'll drop $400 or so for this once-every-decade purchase. Why am I buying at cross-town Lowes instead of nearby Home Depot? Here's a simple lesson in merchandising.



This is the grill section at Home Depot in southern Flower Mound. Many of the grills are wedged in tight on a shelve that's taller than me. A few others are pushed together, front-to-back, front-to-back, on the floor.

I don't yet have a photo of the Lowes grill section, but I'll get one when I go to buy the grill. All their grills are laid out in a big square -- lower-priced units at one end moving up to the upper-end models at the other end. You can walk from grill to grill, checking all the moving parts, read the literature, shop and compare side by side.

Do you have a favorite store in town? Is there a store that "gets it", with regard to showcasing its merchandise or treating its customers? Or on the flip side, is there a store that needs a customer check-up? I'm not trying to be mean here, but I think where a store falls short of expectations, we should let them know. And when they exceed our expectations, we should absolutely let them know that too.

The 2006 Flower Mound Power Poll: Nominations are Open!

Here's something new, and something you won't find in any of the newspapers. And I'm going to need your help.

Now that the elections are over, and the winners have been revealed, we're going to create the first-ever Flower Mound Power Poll.

Question: Who has the most power, or the most influence, in our Town right now? Is there a center around which this Town revolves, and who is it? Is it a person, an organization, a position that someone holds?

Three years ago, #1 would have been Lori DeLuca, #2 Voters United, and everyone else would have been ranked out of the Top 20. At the top of their game, they had power and influence, pure and simple.

But that's not the case now. So where is the power now?

Here's what I need. You can post a comment, or send me an e-mail. You can send me one nomination or send me 20. Actually, the more the merrier. In addition to the names, tell me why you think they should be on the list.

Some obvious ideas: the mayor and council members, the town manager or senior staff, key business leaders, organizations and their leaders, school leaders, volunteer leaders, state and national political figures, people who lobby Town Council a lot, the newspapers or other media, a local realtor (they get all that face exposure).

I bet you can think of lots of people I missed here. Remember, this is all about who holds power and/or influence in Flower Mound, but that doesn't mean you have to nominate only Flower Mound residents. As long as they have an overwhelming influence here that affects many people's daily lives, they should be on the list.

Nominations are open. I need your help, because I can't do this without you. You know much more than me.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of the wonderful Moms in Flower Mound, I hope this is a special day for you.

To my mom, Lou Ann, you've been a loving teacher, leader and caregiver for me for 42 years now. Thank you for being there for me.

To my wife, Susan, I love you more than ever, sweetheart. Our kids Andrew and Sarah, our dogs Linus and Minnie, and the fish and I are blessed to have you as our Mom.

Church this morning, then table of 6 at the Grotto. See you there!

Election 2006: Same ol' same ol'

And that's obviously what the voters wanted yesterday. Jody Smith won re-election by a 70-30 vote. Given how her first term played out, and given how the world's quietest mayoral campaign went, the outcome of this race really wasn't a surprise.

Of more interest, at least from the final numbers, was the competitiveness of the LISD Board place 2 race. Vernell Gregg beat Chris Young 2357 to 2196, to Bobby Fowler's 3rd-place 799. Gregg won 44%, Young 41%. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no runoff in Lewisville ISD races (I don't think they're required in school board races, though some districts do anyway.)

Some notes:

• I enjoyed my brief visit to Town Hall yesterday afternoon. Jody was holding one end of a banner (Jan Balekian the other) and waving to people driving by on 1171. She was in her usual good spirits, but her mental focus was quite appropriately divided between getting re-elected and helping her oldest son get ready for Flower Mound's prom (his first) later in the evening. In fact, she was planning to attend the big FMHS after-party, the all-nighter after the prom. I'm sure she'll sleep late this morning, so no calls til afternoon, OK? By the way, when you see Jody, ask her about "three's a crowd" at Bari's the other day. I'll let her tell that story, but it's a good one about a mother and her son who's growing into a young man.
  
  
• Spent a few moments with Paul Stone. I'm sure he's thrilled to serve another two years, but he lamented the fact he didn't face a challenger this year. For some candidates, that would be mere lip service -- after all, who wouldn't want a free ride to re-election? But for Paul, whose service to this town goes back so many years before his first election, I know its a true sentiment. Our government, at every level, is stronger when there are people who will stand up and run.
  
  
• Didn't see Laurie Long in my brief visit. I'm told I hadn't missed her by much, that she had been out for quite a while that day.
  
  
• Met Jim Lang for the first time. Like he's been in our few e-mail exchanges, he seems like quite an affable fellow. He's a credible candidate with the right heart for public service, and he's got a lot of good ideas. I hope he'll continue to find ways to serve the Town, and I hope he'll run again, next time working alongside an experienced campaign manager who'll help him refine his message and get his name out there more. You cannot oust an incumbent mayor (a well-liked one at that) by running a campaign all by yourself.
  
  
• Vernell Gregg's camp had the Town Hall parking lot surrounded with vehicles and supporters at every corner. In a close race, this last show of strength may have given Vernell the edge to pull off a close victory.
  
  
• No surprises in Grapevine or Lewisville. In L-town, Gene Carey won easily over his can-vote-but-can't-drink challenger. In Grapevine, another stop in Victory Lane for Bill Tate. I guess most of the people there just love the man -- good for him!
  

Finally, I want to thank all the Flower Mound-area candidates for running a clean race. Even though I would have wished a more active campaign, I'm glad this one was fought primarily on the issues and qualifications of each candidate. All the candidates should be applauded.

Back to work, everyone!

Look at all these comments!

I haven't gotten my website stats yesterday for Saturday, though I'm sure the nice article in the The News Connection brought a lot of new visitors to the site. One thing I can tell is that yesterday was a record day for people to post comments here, and there were some good ones. So take a moment to scroll down this page, and check the Archive pages too, and you'll find lots of wisdom and some good questions being shared by new readers. I'll respond to some of those comments directly later today or tonight. Thank you all for stopping by.

Go. Vote. Today.

It's going to be 90 degrees outside, perfect for a day at the pool, the park, the golf course, the backyard. There are a thousand things you could be doing. But please take 15 minutes to go to Town Hall and vote.

This campaign season has come and gone with little fanfare, but that doesn't decrease the importance of these elections, and it doesn't mean we need fewer people to vote. Flower Mound needs you now. Please make it a part of your day today

For those of you who haven't voted here before, Town Election Day is a lot of fun. All the candidates will likely be spread around the Town Hall parking lot. Go meet them all and ask questions if you still have them. Then go inside and vote.

I voted last week, but I'll stop by midday or early afternoon to say hi.

Go vote.

==

Tonight, watch the Town website for the results of the races. I'll post some thoughts late tonight or early tomorrow.

The FMRoad Follow-Up File

Within about an hour of each other this morning, I got official responses to two questions I had posted separately on this site:

Karen from the Town of Flower Mound replied with a very thoughtful and detailed reply to my question about Flower Mound's readiness for severe weather.

And Keith from American Airlines provided a personal and honest reply to my question about the severe lack of seat room on a recent American Airlines flight.

Early voting numbers

I guess this is no surprise.

The Town Secretary reports about 1200 people voted early in the Town/LISD elections. That's better than last year's non-mayor elections, but far off the mark set in 2004, the year of Jody vs Stephanie, and Lori vs Laurie.

2006 = about 1200 early ballots
2005 = about 775 early ballots
2004 = about 2800 early ballots

Does a relatively low turnout favor one candidate over another? Post a comment.

The secret's out

Thanks to a thoughtful article in tomorrow's News Connection, I'm afraid the days of this blog being one of Flower Mound's exclusive insider secrets are over. I appreciate reporter Janene Nielsen coming over to the flowermoundroad.com headquarters (my living room) to ask me good questions about this site, and then faithfully writing a story that's quite in perspective to what this blog aspires to be. Which is not to be a replacement for our good neighborhood newspapers and the larger Dallas media, but to be a little site that fills in the blanks, drills down for deeper content, and starts a conversation about the things that matter most to us.

Turns out, Janene has lived in Flower Mound twice as long as I have. She remembers the time before even the Kroger was built -- I think she said that spot is where the police station used to be.

It will be interesting to see how many people will sample this site after reading the article, which is not separately linkable online but can be downloaded as part of the entire week's issue via thenewsconnection.com. Right now, this site is getting each day about 150 visitors and just under 100 unique visitors. We'll see where it goes from here.

Anyone been to Culver's yet?

I gave a short preview of the new Culver's restaurant a couple of weeks ago. Now they're open, and each day I drive by I see they're pitching another flavor of ice cream (which I think is part of their routine).

Has anyone eaten here yet? Post a review if you have. We may check it out this weekend.

Tornadoes in Collin County, but are we StormReady?

Watching FOX 4's coverage of the Anna tornado in northern Collin County has me wondering if Flower Mound will ever take the necessary steps to become an official StormReady community.

StormReady is a program established by the National Weather Service to help communities better prepare to act in the event of severe weather. Highland Village, Plano, Southlake, Coppell, Frisco are among several North Texas cities who have taken the necessary steps to get certified. Why not Flower Mound?

I e-mailed the Town's emergency management coordinator, and here's the thoughtful reply I received a few days later:

Flower Mound has met many of the criteria of becoming a StormReady Community. We still need to purchase some weather radios for the fire stations and some hydrometerological monitors. Unfortunately, my budget last year would not allow for those purchases but if things continue on track I hope to be able to purchase them at the end of this budget cycle. We are also working with the county to pursue a federal grant to purchase a reverse 911 system for the entire county.

We work closely with the National Weather Service and Gary Woodall comes out once or twice a year to teach the Storm Spotters and Severe Weather Awareness class. If you are interested I can contact you the next time we have one scheduled.

We also have a very active Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program in Flower Mound and just recently graduated our fifth team with another training session starting in September. If you are not familiar with the CERT program I would be more than happy to send you some more information.

Thanks Karen! This is very good news for the Town, and yes, please let me know how I can help the Town with severe weather preparations. I know Gary Woodall, and he's a terrific resource. I know quite a bit about North Texas severe weather, from 30 years of living here, plus 10 years of working with severe weather at the TV station, and doing a lot of research on the side.

Here's a link to the Town's Emergency Management Department web page -- there's good information here that you should check out.

I'd like to take the CERT training. Have any of you taken the class? What do you learn? Post a comment.

Another shot at "What If?"

I know you folks are reading these pages, and that's very gratifying. But so far I haven't gotten you to bite much on the comments. A few days ago I threw out a "What If" question to try to start a conversation. I'll try it again tonight.

Answer this question by clicking the Comments link, and remember you can choose to post anonymously if you choose.

"What if in 2004 Lori DeLuca had not lost her voice, and had chosen to run for re-election as mayor? Would she still be mayor today?"

To seed the conversation, I've posted my hypothesis as the first comment. Click the "comments" link to see what I wrote, and to see how easy it is to post your answer.

Best Places: FM is #5 in the country

From the e-mail box, this news release from the Town brings good news:

FLOWER MOUND – Flower Mound was recently recognized for what residents already know: the Town is one of the Top 10 communities in the country. Flower Mound ranked No. 5 among the best of the best in the new book “Best Places to Raise Your Family: The Top 100 Affordable Communities in the U.S.” Written by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander and published by Frommer’s, the book grades communities based on demographics, standard of living, education, lifestyle, health, and safety.

Rankings like these come out every week, and some are junk. But Sperling's group and the website bestplaces.net is a long-standing effort to rank cities on different criteria. If they say Flower Mound's one of the best places to live, I believe it. Of course, I knew that anyway, and I'm sure you did too.

Always follow the money!

It's an old investigative reporter's maxim. If you follow the money, that's where you'll find the story.

Only in 2006, in the Flower Mound mayor's race, there's not much money to follow. Both candidates were required to file two campaign-finance disclosure reports - one on the 30th day before the election, the other on the 8th day before the election. Both reports have now been filed, and thanks to the lightning-quick service of Ginger at the Town Secretary's office, I've got both candidates' reports in hand now.

Totalling the 30-day and 8-day reports, here's the spending totals for this race:

Jody Smith = $5677.89
Jim Lang = $7528.74

I'm trying to remember how much Jody and Stephanie Spruill spent in 2004. Wasn't it $15,000, $20,000, perhaps $25,000 per candidate? Different times, huh?

A couple of years ago, I asked the Town to post these reports to their website. They do tell you a lot about who's contributing to these campaigns, and how the candidates are spending their campaign cash. They haven't done that yet, but since Ginger was able to e-mail these PDFs to me tonight, I'll post them on this site. (Reminder: these become PUBLIC documents the moment they are filed, ready for inspection at the Town Secretary's office, so there should be no expectation of privacy.) You should take a moment to read them. I didn't see any smoking gun in these 4 reports (though you never know until you look, do you?).

Here's Jody Smith's 30 day report and her 8 day report.

Here's Jim Lang's 30 day report and his 8 day report.

You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view these files, but you probably knew that already.

Candidate podcasts on the TNC blog!

Good job to the folks at The News Connection for putting up podcast interviews of Jody Smith and Jim Lang. They're posted in the TNC Electronic Town Hall. Check them out before you vote!

By the way, reminder that early voting is 7a-7p Monday and Tuesday at Town Hall, or you can vote 7a-7p on Election Day, this Saturday. I voted yesterday right before closing time. Town secretary Paula Paschal was putting in overtime, working with the poll workers. You always know if Paula's in charge of something, it's going to be well-managed.

How to stop traffic on 2499 on a dime ... legally!

Talk about power! My son and I were riding bikes, and we had to cross 2499. The safest intersection on the south side of town is the little traffic light at Aberdeen (south of 3040, north of Spinks). Today I learned that when you push the button to let the signal know you're there ... it immediately drops a yellow light on the speedway traffic zooming by. (Sorry folks!) It worked on both sides of the road.

Until they make it legal for me to possess one of those emergency traffic-signal switching devices that fire trucks and ambulances carry ... this may be the next best thing.

Grapevine, Lewisville mayors' races -- much different from Flower Mound's

Whereas our Town election season has been pretty dry (compared to previous years), there's more interesting races going on in our neighbors in Lewisville and Grapevine.

To the east, Mayor Gene Carey is seeking a fourth term as Lewisville mayor. His opponent is Brandon Cooper, 18 years old and still in high school.

To the south, Grapevine mayor William D. Tate faces two challengers. What's the big story? The fact that anyone would run against him. Mayor Tate has been Grapevine's mayor for 30 of the past 33 years. I was 9 when he was first elected. Tate's name is on a major road, and it's a freeway exit at that (do those big green signs count as campaign signs?). By all accounts I've heard, Grapevine is a well-run city, and they've certainly flourished in commercial growth under his leadership, taking great advantage of Hwys 26, 114 and 121, and its proximity to DFW Airport. The only negative about Grapevine -- it's not Flower Mound.

From the weekend papers

Culled from the rush of the local papers this weekend, these headlines:

Updated Sunday morning May 7

The Dallas Morning News' Jay Parsons puts together the paper's obligatory short profile of this suburban race. The article doesn't get into all the issues that have been covered on this site or in the other papers, but Jay does a good job finding the essence of the race and letting the candidates explain it for themselves.

Originally posted Saturday May 6

The Dallas Morning News surveys the vehicles that our North Texas U.S. Representatives and Senators drive. (registration req'd) I was not surprised to see our Dr. Burgess forgoing the more traditional Suburban or Town Car with the much more practical Toyota Prius hybrid. I had the opportunity to spend about 2 hours with the Congressman (and aides Barry Brown and Michelle Stein) when they visited the TV station a few weeks ago. He is smart, personable, and well informed on the issues of the day. But one thing he is not is flashy.

Also in the News, word that Highland Village's locally-famous DoubleTree Ranch may be converted into a retirement community. I know the seniors moving in will love the food, but I wonder how they'll like sharing the one bathroom in the main hall.

The Messenger has a "In Their Own Words" pair of profiles of Flower Mound mayor candidates Jody Smith and Jim Lang. There's a hitch though. The editor's note on top of the article says the candidates' answers were edited "for newspaper style, space and personal attacks". Whoa - I wonder what they took out? Probably the really good stuff. No link online yet.

The Leader introduces you to the candidates running for LISD Place 2 - a race that's really flown under the radar.

I mentioned The News Connection's recap of last week's FM mayoral debate two posts below. Both The News Connection and the Leader have several good Letters to the Editor supporting one candidate or another this week.

Weekend rainfall - 1.83" (Friday-Saturday)

Happy Birthday, Little Pete's!

Tonight was our family's first visit to Little Pete's since it re-opened as Little Pete's. As it turned out, we happened upon their 1st birthday weekend, and they were having a lot of fun. The joint was hopping, with Dive Bombers playing on the outdoor stage in the perfect 75-degree no-wind weather. There's no place like this in Flower Mound, and it will definitely make Flower Mound Road's 2006 Top-10 list of best restaurants, coming this summer (Here's the 2005 list).

It begs the question, what took us so long to get here? We can't wait to come back. Oh yeah, they serve food there too, and it's pretty good.


Dive Bombers are the band, and the little girl in front is my daughter Sarah, tearing up the dance floor.


Sarah loves Little Pete's!

By the way, when cruising through Little Pete's website, I came across a link for the Flower Mound Social Club, something I was heretofore unfamiliar with. They look like a fun bunch of folks.

FM elections - a list of links

Can't decide who to vote for? Here's a quick list of links to recent articles from local papers and on this blog:


From other sources:

The News Connection voters guide

The News Connection article on the April 28 Mayoral Candidates Forum.

The News Connection article on LISD Place 2

The Messengers' Voters Guide

Dallas News: FM Mayor Candidates in their own words"

FM Leader profile of Jim Lang

FM Leader profile of Jody Smith (printed May 10, but not online May 11 AM) ... check the Leader's website to see if they posted online.

Elsewhere on Flower Mound Road:

A play-by-play account of the April 28 FM candidates forum

When/Where to Vote

How to listen to the April 28 candidates forum online

Just for fun, a 10-year history of Flower Mound elections

Jim Lang's race and self-financed candidates

Who's on the Ballot


Did I miss a link? Post it here by adding a comment, please.

Your turn: Time to play "what if?"

Here's something to think about, and then write about. It only works if you post.

Answer the following question:

What if ... in 1996 and 1997 Lori DeLuca and a few like-minded allies hadn't stepped forward to protest the people and policies that led to Flower Mound's years-long growth spurt, and what if they hadn't found the political strength to muster what turned out to be a bloodless coup d'etat?

What would Flower Mound look like today? The best answers will include specific examples.

Click the comment button. Even "anonymous" replies are welcome.

Coram Deo Controversy

Monday afternoon during the reception for new Town Manager Harlan Jefferson, one council member told me the meeting to follow Monday night would be full of fireworks. Even at 5:45pm, the chamber was filling up. For those expecting a show, the meeting didn't disappoint. After hours of debate, the council approved the school's application for two temporary buildings on their existing property. Council voted unanimously 5-0 to approve, overruling a unanimous denial by P&Z just a few days before.

The conflict pitted church/school versus neighborhoods along and near Wichita Trail. The conflict had political, legal and religious implications. It affected grown-ups and kids. There were traffic and land-use concerns. It had a little bit of everything that we tend to fight about, when we do fight in Flower Mound.

The Leader has a good recap here.

Were you there Monday night? What happened? What do you think about the council's decision? Click the comment button right below.

How I bought my new car, and which dealers played ball (Chapter 3)

Reference Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Most people will tell you I'm a great talker. I'm a volume talker, much to the chagrin of many people I'm close to. :) But I'm not a skilled negotiator, and I don't like being put into those situations. I don't look forward to negotiating a price on a new car. I've read several books with lots of dealer/salesman tricks, so I think I know how things work. But still, it's not a fun situation for me.

So once I had test-driven a Pilot and decided to buy it, I decided to try doing the rest of the business via e-mail.

I searched the 10 local Honda dealerships for the specific car I wanted to buy. I found a 2WD Pilot in blue at Bankston Honda in Lewisville - the same place we had visited before. We struck up an e-mail conversation with a rep who had initially replied to our inquiry via their website several days earlier. After he confirmed the vehicle was on the lot, he sent me a VIN, and I sent him the offer for $29,100. (See the previous entry for how we came up with the price.) Since we were going in so low, we thought we might have to come up $500 to meet the dealer, but we were surprised by the Bankston's response.

Just to let you know that we put what is called a protection package (wheel locks, mud guards and cargo tray) which cost the dealership $419 on all of our EX models. Add that to our $500 loss on the vehicle itself and we will be lossing $919 on your offer. I would like to earn your business but we are a profit making organization and therefore will have to respectifully decline your offer. If you decide you can offer an amount that will give us a fair profit, then please contact me.

Ah, so now you tell me about your add-ons - despite our previous e-mail exchanges there was nothing mentioned about additional equipment I had to buy. Ugh. And what's even more strange, there was no counter-offer by the dealership. I couldn't have been that far off -- of course not.

I find a similar 2WD at John Eagle Honda in Dallas. After a couple of preliminary e-mail exchanges, I offer $29,250 -- a slightly higher price, but still in the ballpark, I figured. A similar response this time, mentioning extra equipment (backup sensors, window tinting and several other items), and this is what they said.

Thank you for the offer. This particular Pilot have backup sensors, window tint and Honda protection package added i.e. mud guards, wheel locks and trunk tray. The best I can do is $30,588.81+ TT&L. If you are interested please let me know and I will secure this vehicle for you.

Hmm. In both cases, I e-mailed the dealers to request VIN numbers, so I could make a specific offer. In both cases, the dealers neglected to say they had added extra stuff to the vehicle. Why not mention it up front? Anyway, we were about $1,300 apart, and I don't want all the additional equipment. I'll keep looking.

Huggins Honda in North Richland Hills has a car with the right specs. I send an e-mail through their website and got an immediate auto-reply that said someone would call soon. I waited a couple of days, but no personal response followed. Instead, I got a couple of advertising e-mails from Huggins, with generic pitches for cars I didn't want. I replied to one of them imploring them to provide a personal reply to my inquiry, but I never ever heard from them.

Still another vehicle (this one an All-Wheel-Drive) showed up on a search at Lute Riley Honda in Richardson. After my initial e-mail inquiry, I got this nice response from Marla on their Internet sales team:

Chip,
I do have the 2006 Pilot, EX-L AWD w/DVD in Steel Blue Metallic in stock! It only has Propack added which includes wheel locks, mudflaps, cargo tray and a handpainted pinstripe. I would not expect you to pay for any of these additional items if you do not want them.

Wow, that's promising! After having my first two offers rejected, I decide to raise my offer to $30,700 (remember we're adding an extra $1,000 to go from 2WD to AWD). It's a straight invoice *minus* $1,000 deal. I leave the holdback in place. Moments later, I get this from Marla.

I will be happy to accept the numbers you are offering on the below mentioned Pilot.

Victory! We gave her a $500 credit card deposit over the phone since we had to wait a few days for a pre-scheduled business trip. When we visited the dealership on the agreed-upon date, we test-drove the car and signed all the paperwork.

Nice job, Lute Riley Honda. Thanks for making a fast and fair deal without a lot of hassle, and thanks for letting me do all the hard work via e-mail. I like e-mail because it gets everything "on the record", and it removes all the pressure from in-store negotiations. Whether you can get a better deal for yourself (either via e-mail or at the dealership) is entirely up to your own negotiation skills, current market conditions and the dealer's appetite for moving inventory that day. Compared to what I saw on Edmunds, I think I did pretty good. I suppose I could have offered $200 or $300 less (and dipped back in the holdback), but I'm happy they said "yes" on the first try.

What *local* car-buying experiences do you have? What advice can you share? Post a comment here -- you'll help us all be better car shoppers.

How I bought my new car, and which dealers played ball (Chapter 2)

Reference this post for Chapter 1.

After visiting these dealerships and driving a few cars, we decided the Honda Pilot was our number-one choice. So the next thing was figuring out a price. If you've bought a new car without checking out the community forums on edmunds.com, I bet you've left money on the table. The forums are near-real-time discussions and on all things regarding cars. A key component of these forums are the discussions on what other people are paying *right now* for the car you want. Want to know how low you can go on a car price? You can find out there what others have paid in recent days and weeks.

From my Edmunds search on the Honda Pilot, I learned that a few others on the board were paying a total of invoice-price (not MSRP) *minus* $1,000. The $1,000 is an unannounced factory-to-dealer incentive. Outside of even-more-hidden incentives, I figured the only money left in play is the dealer holdback, which is about $900 on a Pilot. On the Pilot I wanted, an top-line model with a DVD player and all-wheel drive, the invoice price was $31,718. (MSRP was $35,195)

Based on what I read on Edmunds, and based on the fact that we weren't in a huge hurry, I decided to go in low, offering $30,200. If we could only find a 2-wheel-drive vehicle we liked, we'd offer $29,100. For both flavors of the Pilot, the price represented Invoice minus the $1,000 incentive minus almost all of the holdback. We thought we'd give it a shot.

Next chapter:How the deal was done, and what we paid in the end.

Replay: The Flower Mound Candidates Forum

Sofa, check.
Diet Coke, check.
Kids asleep, check.

Looks like I'm ready to watch a videotape of the FM candidates' forum I missed last Friday. Roll tape! By the way, I'll confess up front that my writing style here is deliberately loose -- blog style more than newspaper style. One more disclosure -- I logged all the questions and answers from the debate, but for space reasons, I edited out some of those Q's and A's that ultimately didn't make a difference in this discussion.

SCENE SETTER:

Candidates are seated on the right 2/3 of the council bench. The News Connection, sponsoring this event, gets good logo/product placement with a banner across the front of the council bench. Bob Weir, TNC editor, is standing at the podium to the right where people stand to address the council during meetings. The rules are simple. Each candidate gets opening and closing statements. In between Bob will read questions submitted in advance by the audience, and screened.


THE PRELUDE:

Bob Weir thanks Carol Kohankie for organizing the refreshments in the lobby. 10 points for Carol, who wins the prelude round.


THE OPENING:

Bob welcomes everyone to the forum, gives a plug to his paper. Thanks to Angie Cox for screening questions and Sylvia Imboden for serving as timekeeper.


OPENING STATEMENTS:

Jody welcomes first candidate, Jody Smith, for a 2-minute introduction. The Mayor mentions road projects, including 3040, that are completed or underway. Says that growing neighboring cities are what's adding to traffic woes. Notes that FM Town reserve fund is up to 20%, almost double what she inherited two years ago. Proud of the new hotel project coming to Flower Mound, businesses and retail in Lakeside. Slimmed and trimmed government. Says she's proud of new Town Manager Harlan Jefferson.

Jim Lang introduced. He says he's visiting the top 1,000 voting households in Flower Mound -- he's about halfway there. He too congratulates Harlan Jefferson. While Jody is not a loud speaker, Jim is even more quiet in his demeanor. Focuses on his personal background, says he'll save issues for the questions to follow.

Councilwoman Laurie Long announced, and applause. Says she's not here to promote herself, because she doesn't have to (a luxury of running unopposed), but says she's here to answer questions. She says to call or e-mail her, and she gives out her phone number.

Applause for Paul Stone. Paul says the computer ate his opening remarks, and says that's bad for us, because without something written, he'll ramble.

SCORING UPDATE: No points for the candidates so far. Carol Kohankie's refreshments still in the lead.


QUESTION/ANSWER TIME

QUESTION: To the Mayor, what has been your role in attracting quality commercial development for Flower Mound? Answer: Taking leadership. Says starting with the Stryker deal, leading the charge that Flower Mound is open for business.


QUESTION: To Jim Lang, in your past position, what has been your role in attracting quality commercial development? Answer: Working with commercial real estate community, marketing, advertising, incentive agreements etc. Keeping up with data from day to day. Says he's an ombudsman for facilitating development process.


QUESTION: To all candidates, "Do you have your candidate signs on any property that you have been told you may not put signs on, and if so, will you remove them?"

***** WHISTLE BLOWS: THE VIDEOTAPE REFEREE STOPS THE ACTION

>>You gotta be kidding me. This is what people are really asking in a candidates' forum? We get 90 minutes this whole campaign to find out which candidate might be a better match for our vote, and this is what we're going to have to base our vote on?

***** DIATRIBE OVER. PLAY RESUMES.

For some reason we start with Laurie Long, an uncontested candidate. (I think Bob's just trying to fair.) She says she's legal. Paul says he's legal. Same with the Mayor, who asks her supporters to let her know if they see a sign of her that doesn't have the "re-elect" sticker on it. So noted. Lang says he's legal, and adds a clarification about some disputed but otherwise insignificant sign near Salernos. I ask myself, how is this important in the big scheme of things?


QUESTION: For Paul Stone, state some of your history in the town, and are any of the membership fees of the organizations you belong to, paid for by the Town? (Another "huh?" question.) Paul can't fit all his past and current associations into the alloted time. Says he pays membership fees for everything he does.

Same question for Mayor Smith. Proudly served without pay on many organizations.

Mr. Lang. Rotary. Currently serves as VP-elect, working on sponsors for Cross Timbers Classic. Notes that he represented Town on Rotary. Served on Chamber Board of Directors. Law firms pays some dues. Plugs his church, Valley Creek.

Mrs. Long opens her time by saying that the Town paid for Mr. Lang's Rotary membership at one time. (Ahhh, so that's the reason for the question in the first place -- we're trying to stick it to someone.) Says she paid her own way at Rotary and Chamber. Many other organizations -- she pays her own dues.


SCORING UPDATE: Still no plus-points for any candidates. Negative points for the lame questions asked so far.


QUESTION: For mayoral candidates. Please describe your past business experience and whether you've been successful.

Mayor Smith: spells out a long resume, then rolls out the fact that the company she and her husband founded, Smith Temporaries/Cornerstone Staffing, will bring in $60 million in sales this year, via their 8 offices. I had no idea. $60 million is a pretty good number.

Jim Lang credits the Mayor with a very good answer. He says he's a lawyer, former Economic Development Town of Flower Mound, real estate developer.

SCORING UPDATE: Five points for the Mayor, or one point for every $12 million in sales. But she still trails Carol by 5. Refreshments trump sales. My blog, my scoring rules.


QUESTION: To all candidates, do we need additional taxes?

Mrs. Long. No. One-word answer, a big smile, and then applause.

Paul Stone gives a more thoughtful answer. He says he doesn't see a need now for more taxes, but acknowledges that voters will sometimes demand more services and more facilities, things that cost money. If the voters want these services and facilities (capital improvements), he'll respect their opinion and support those additional taxes. (added 5/8: "as authorized by the voters")

Mayor Smith: No, but everything that we might consider needs to go before voters.

Mr. Lang: Says the key to keep taxes even is to attract more commercial development to Lakeside. Industrial part of this equation is building up just fine. The office part is slow, thanks to large vacancy rates throughout Dallas. Supports a quarter-cent sales tax to fund high-tech businesses. Voters would have to vote on it. Thinks it's a good idea.

SCORING: Five points for Lang and Stone for the most thoughtful answers.


QUESTION: Trails system. Yawn. Moving on. I love our trails, but seriously, is this a big issue in this campaign? No.


QUESTION: For Mr. Lang, while you were EconDev director, why did you never make a public appearance at council? Lang offers an inconsequential answer from an inconsequential question.


QUESTION: Ahh, now we get some meat. Some people want to change SmartGrowth and the Master Plan to allow more development in the Cross Timbers Conservation District. What do you think?

Mrs. Long says this is all being discussed in the public hearings -- waiting to hear feedback from those hearings. Will not support additional density though. Mr. Stone says the large landowners felt like they were being kept away from the discussion during previous Master Plan updates (with VU in charge, that's no surprise). The Mayor says that news media reports(?), the Council hasn't done anything to act on the Master Plan, other than to get the Steering Committee up and running. Mr. Lang says landowners out west are uncertain about property values, because a council vote can change requirements between 1-acre and 2-acre lots. We need to bring this for a vote of the citizens, and then stick with it.


QUESTION: Another gotcha try against Mr. Lang. Does his old company still operate, and did he operate it during his term on staff? Mr. Lang says it's a shell company only, and it doesn't currently do business. Check his books, if you like, he says.


***** TIME FOR A CONFESSION

About one hour after this last paragraph, I wake myself up on the couch. Somehow I've fallen asleep. Seriously. It's late (11:30 or so). Meekly, I say "sorry" to all of you participating in the debate. But you gotta admit, this has been pretty dry so far.

***** RESUMING LOGGING THE NEXT MORNING


QUESTION: Why doesn't Flower Mound play nicer with its neighbors, like DCTA or Upper Trinity? Does this perception hurt economic development?

(A much better question -- thank YOU! -- this might have kept me awake had it played 10 minutes earlier in the program.)

Mr. Stone says we need to do better, but notes that DCTA twice went before Flower Mound voters, and we need to respect that. Also notes that we have an FM representative on the DCTA board, which is remarkable considering we don't pay tax money into DCTA.

Mrs. Smith says "we have gone where no other mayors or councils" have gone, in meeting with neighboring mayors and councils.

Mr. Lang seconds the mayor's comments, but then notes that the town filed its original petition against Upper Trinity three days after the Mayor took office two years ago. He says that the money we've spent fighting Upper Trinity coulda/shoulda been spent on economic development instead.

Mrs. Long says that Upper Trinity was basically dropped in the mayor's lap two years ago, based on staff recommendations, and that the energy behind that initial complaint was provided by the previous mayoral administration. She says that, even so, we're now doing the right thing. And she says this council is aggressively trying to change perception and outcome, by reaching out to neighboring citizens and going to meetings that people never used to go to, and that "we're being well received". (This is Mrs. Long's best answer of the night -- detailed information with gusto -- 5 points!)


QUESTION: If (re-)elected, will you vote for a sales tax rebate for any retail operation that comes to Flower Mound, as an incentive? Another good question, because the answers differ among the candidates. Pay attention, voters! Points of differentiation are hard to come by this year.

Mrs. Smith says she would attempt not to. We haven't before. Why start it now? But if it were something spectacular, and if there was no other way to get it done, and if the citizens were saying "yes", then perhaps.

Mr. Lang says it's a common and effective tool for generating economic growth that shouldn't be put aside just for political purposes. Says the JCPenney deal (recently announced) would have been helped along with a sales tax rebate, but then congratulates the council for getting JCPenney here without the incentive. (note to Mr. Lang: don't use examples that go against your argument). He does make a very good point in differentiating between commercial development and retail. Commercial development can locate anywhere, so sometimes there's a need for property tax rebates. Less so with retail development because they'll always go where they need to go to be near their customers.

Mrs. Long says we need to offer incentives for businesses to come here, but not to "give away the farm", if it's not necessary. Takes another blunted stab at Mr. Lang for saying that a tax rebate for JCPenney was never an option blessed by the council, and that the council had to work hard to overcome a perception that such an incentive was available for this project.

Mr. Stone says "never say never", but says retail will follow rooftops. Says a sales tax rebate is a good tool, but generally not needed in retail recruiting.


QUESTION: To Mr. Lang only, did you dangle sales tax rebate incentives before JCPenney? He says "yes", with blessing of the council. Given that this has been disputed between Mr. Lang and the council and mayor, it's odd that no one steps up to challenge him. We move on.


QUESTION: To Mr. Lang, you have made seven legal statements concerning Upper Trinity lawsuit that have been challenged as factually incorrect by town staff? Answer: Jim gives good information about the history of the two-year battle with UTWD, but he's merely rolling out a list of the facts. He's not making eye contact with the moderator (or more important, the audience). And despite his apparently deep understanding of the UTWD issues that bolster his beef that the whole Upper Trinity mess could have been prevented by the current administration, he's not winning any points because he's simply stating history and not trying to turn it into a persuasive argument.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! The mayor says she has lots of facts to share with voters, presumably facts that will counter Lang's facts. Then she turns to Lang, looks him in the eye and says "I wish while you were a town employee, that knowledge would have been shared with us". Ouch! Uncomfortable moment, but I think it hurts the mayor more than Mr. Lang. Pretty petty, so far after the fact. Too bad the camera can't show us Mr. Lang's reaction.


QUESTION: What do you feel is the biggest issue the Town faces in the next 2 years?

Mr. Stone: Getting the master plan update. Getting roads done. Resolving Upper Trinity. Can't pick just one. He's kinda waffling here, but then delivers a solid answer. The biggest priority, he says, is for citizens to know they have a Town Council that listens to them, work for them and with them to accomplish the goals.

Mayor Smith: A continuation of the leadership we've had on the Council and the staff. Keep momentum, meet your needs, don't raise taxes. On the one hand, this answer may seem a little self-serving, but on the other, given where this Town was 2 years ago in the wake of the Voters United implosion, I can see where she's coming from.

Mr. Lang: Town staff continuity and turnover. 20% the past two years. 80 of a 400-person staff. That's too high.

Mrs. Long: Credits the new Town Manager. Says that some of the people (the 20%) who have left have not been replaced, so that means we've gotten more efficient.


QUESTION: For the Mayor, Mr. Lang was a candidate for Town Manager but he did not get the job? Why do you think the Council rejected his application? She says Mr. Lang's qualifications did not meet what was posted in the job description. Not challenged -- again we move on.


QUESTION: For everyone. Totally bizarre phrasing. "Will you protect the residents' quality of life, health, safety and welfare over that of a developer?" Duh! Everyone says "yes". Mr. Lang says he thinks this is where the Mayor is weak -- that she appeared to show favoritism to a landowner who wanted to put a Racetrack gas station on his property. He says the application failed, but that the mayor could have saved everyone time and money if she stepped in early to head it off.


QUESTION: For everyone, is there anything you heard said tonight that you'd like to respond to? The Mayor and Mr. Lang trade jabs on Racetrack, Lakeside development, and other who-said-what's. Way too "inside politics" for the average voter watching this debate. Mrs. Long inexplicably goes back to the campaign signs again - like really, who cares about the signs?


TIMECHECK: ABOUT 8:10


FINAL STATEMENTS:
Mr. Stone: Thanks again to the refreshments. Reminds voters that this level of government is the most responsive to the voters. Reminds voters to not believe all they read, but rather to ask candidates and elected leaders directly. Safe answer, best said by an unchallenged incumbent. Paul did a good job with his answers tonight, but he and Laurie were bit players in tonight's drama. I know Paul a little bit, I'm glad he's getting two more years.

Mrs. Long: Applauds Mr. Lang for sitting in the hot seat. Then tells voters to do their own digging, and they'll always make the right choice. Safe answer, best said by an unchallenged incumbent. Go get 'em, Laurie. Two more years for you too.

Mr. Lang: Says he's very proud of his work at Town's economic director. Says we need vision and leadership and accountability. He speaks well, but he's still speaking very quietly, and not looking at anyone in particular. He loses this last-chance opportunity to connect with the voters.

Mayor Smith: "I ask you today is Flower Mound not a better place to live today than two years ago? If your answer is yes, vote for Jody Smith." She goes on, but she's already hit the 3-2 pitch hard, if not for a home run, then at least for a stand-up double. She looks the audience straight in the eye, and speaks forcefully. It is her best moment of the night, and she saves it for her last.



FINAL ANALYSIS: If we're scoring on a points system, the refreshments still win out. So congratulations Carol. I don't have a trophy, but perhaps we could have a reception. Will you bring more refreshments?

In a campaign that could have been held entirely in the Town Library without drawing a single "hush" from the librarian, Jim Lang needed this hour to boldly state his case for change, and to persuade Flower Mound voters that he would make a better mayor than Jody Smith, who already has established name-recognition and credibility, and who already has one landslide victory under her belt. Mr. Lang has a terrific grasp of issues and key details -- perhaps a better technical grasp in some areas than the Mayor. But his lack of on-stage awareness, the lack of coaching in making presentations before voters, and the lack of a "smoking-gun" issue against the Mayor, hurt his chances of winning voters in this forum. I don't think he changed anyone's mind, and therefore the Mayor wins.

Ultimately, however, you decide who wins. Go vote!

Who do you think won the debate? Who had the best answers? Do you agree or disagree with what I wrote? Post a comment here to share your views.