Thursday, January 17, 2008

Scattershooting About Public Works Projects

Scatter shooting while Musing about some large public works projects and those dang Cowboys...

I drive east and west on Red Oak Road daily en route to and from my job. I've seen more and more survey, gas, water and fiber optic paths getting ready to widen Red Oak Road. It's moving forward steadily and should be a boon to the community. We also have city water and sewer and frankly the water tastes like dung on a good day and another adjective on a bad day. We are supposed to see a large water main that brings "Dallas water" to Red Oak. Don't know if the costs will go down (I doubt it since we have to pay for the main construction through user taxes) but anything that reduces our purchase of bottled watter would be welcome.

The raison d' etre of this posting is wondering where the progress reports actually reside? The Red Oak Record is "the official newspaper of the city" but a monthly/quarterly synopsis of public works project performance is not there. The city website is pretty but current information on these projects just isn't there.

The Council and mayor were elected to improve communication. Communication is easily accomplished via the website, email broadcasts, RSS feeds, podcast by the City Manager, etc. I don't know what the issue is but we need a better venue to receive news. I thought there was a communications director but communication with the constituents are late 20th century at best.

I'm not complaining about the lack of action but the Council, Mayor and City Manager are missing some great opportunities to put "coming together" into action by not touting these and other city projects at every opportunity. Perhaps the City needs an informal RSS site or a blog by the City Manager? I welcome and would host the blog if the City Manager would be amenable.

Ok...I'm done....here's something else....all the Republicans running for President sound like Democrats and all the Democrats sound like Lenin before the 1917 Revolution. It's a pretty lame year for statesmen in our country. I've not seen any. Hillary Clinton in consultation with ANY Middle Eastern "impotentate"? What a joke! John McCain citing policy with ANY world leader. What a squish! Where are the statesmen? They're certainly not here this election year!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the "shout out" against the awful water and other major city shortfalls. I think if they want to continue their mission of positive thinking along with positive growth they need to remove a certain big-egoe'd someone from the Economic Development dept. Then maybe we can get someone instated in the E.D.C who cares less about personal "power trips" and more about this city.

Steve Miller said...

Since we're all friends here, whom has the "Maudi Gras head" on the EDC? One would think that's a prerequisite :)in order to consistently compete and lose for business opportunities in Ellis County.
If personalities or a lack thereof is getting in the way, it's time to dump the EDC and rebuild it into a "headhunter" (business-wise)type of organization and put in folks that understand business dynamics, are able to communicate the value adds that come with resiting businesses here and a mind-set that thinks beyond the vision of the little town center surrounded by service businesses.

Anonymous said...

Let's just say he has a very "full" ego. For starters let's get more refined businesses here. We do not need 12 whataburgers. Next, "mr. big head" needs to help the businesses that are already here to grow. instead he discourages them by playing games instead of giving them the needed support. Secondly he has not only been discouraging current businesses from growing, he has discouraged new potential businesses from buying property etc. He is so busy shifting his weight around to show everyone how important he is, that this city suffers. Particuarly the economy suffers. Lastly, I highly question his integrity for he is not a straight shooter, and makes his secrataries do his dirty work while he jerks everybody around.