The Directors and Candidates Committee of the Associated Republicans of Texas (ART) has passed a resolution endorsing spending restraint on the part of both state and local governments. The Associated Republicans of Texas was founded in 1975 by the late U.S. Sen. John Tower to "recruit and elect Republican candidates who share our common values." It focuses on down-ballot races and helped elect many of the current Republicans in the House and Senate.

The resolution makes the following recommendations:

"THAT the additional surplus government revenues certified as 3 billion dollars above those previously certified and any additional surplus revenues certified during the current biennium be distributed by legislative action to local property tax- supported governmental agencies and that those recipients be mandated to reduce their respective property tax collections by equal amounts; and further

THAT the unsustainable rate of increase in local property taxes be abated by legislative action mandating a cap on the annual increase by local property tax- supported governmental agencies in their taxable assessed property valuations of not more than the sum of the increase in population and inflation or 5% per year, whichever is less."

Larry says that “Good Night and Good Luck” is a well-produced film that does an excellent job of recreating the pioneering days of TV journalism.  It also features a tour-de-force performance by David Strathairn as Murrow.  It also presents producer George Clooney's view of who was good and who was evil and excludes any inconvenient facts that cast doubt on his view.

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The Plano Independent School District will have none of this Christmas stuff.  It is the "Winter Break Holiday" in the northern suburb.  Bill Murchison wonders if the school fathers and mothers realize the word "holidays" derives from "holy days."  No, if so it would surely be banned.  But Bill wishes to wish the good folks of Plano a "Merry Christmas" anyway.

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During a meeting of the Dallas City Council Qulaity of Life Committe the committee heard from a group from the University of Texas at Arlington grad students on how better to organize neighborhoods. There were suggestions on forming neighborhood watch committees and so forth.

They even had an example: They had practised on the Skyline Heights neighborhood recently. At one point, they had held a "Home Repair Workshop" for the neighborhood. How nice that these kindly UTA grad students would take the time to instruct a neighborhood on the finer points of fixing leaky faucets, repairing loose shingles, and so forth?  Alas, the student went on to explain what she meant by "Home Repair Workshop": Instructing the residents on how to apply for grants from their municipal government to pay for home repairs.

The City of Dallas’ proposed Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay process makes launching a petition drive easier and ignores large homes in a neighborhood. The NSO plan was passed by the City Council last month, and is meant to reduce the development of so-called “McMansions”.

At a briefing on Monday for the City of Dallas’ Quality of Life committee, Theresa O’Donnell, the Director of Development Services, confirmed that the petitioning process will allow for duplicate signatures. She also confirmed that the determination by the City of the nature of a “typical” house in a neighborhood would be based on median measurements rather than average measurements.

The petitioning process for launching and accepting an overlay will be property-oriented rather than owner-oriented. As a result, an individual who owns more than one property in an affected neighborhood could sign a petition more than once, one time for each property he owns. In theory, one person could supply all 10 signatures necessary to launch the overlay process, if he owns 10 properties in the neighborhood.

O’Donnell also explained that the City would be responsible for surveying the neighborhood to determine the nature of a “typical” house. In calculating figures such as setbacks and building heights, the City will use the median figure for the neighborhood, rather than the average.

“Median” is a mathematical concept much like a mathematical average. A mathematical average is computed by adding up a set of numbers and then dividing by the number of numbers. A median is computed by placing the figures in ascending order and then finding the central figure in the list. For example: if the set of numbers is (90, 10, 20), then the average is (90+10+20) divided by 3 = 40. To calculate the median, the figures are first arranged in order: (10, 20, and 90). The central figure is the median: 20. If the highest figure in the set is increased from 90 to 180, the average will increase to 70. But the median will remain 20, since 20 remains the central figure in the new list (10, 20, and 180).

For homeowners, this means that a few particularly large homes (or, for that matter, a few particularly small homes) in a neighborhood might not affect the calculation of a “typical” home at all. O’Donnell also confirmed that an NSO could be reversed and an overlay removed by going through the process in reverse, and petitioning for the removal of an overlay.

It was actually pretty neat.  A crowd of maybe 200 showed up and the speeches made sense.  When the switch was thrown the old Mercantile Bank Building was lit for Christmas for the first time in nearly two decades.  The lighting was, of course, just the beginning.  Cleveland's Forrest City Enterprises is about to begin converstion of the clock tower building into 225 apartments.  That is only the beginning as an entire section of downtown usually resembling a black hole is about to be converted into an urban center.

The project is a tribute to the Mayor whose tenacity in pursuing what was at one time a dead project brought it back from the dead.  Indeed, it is one downtown project the Mayor was more than willing to provide a tax abatement - to the tune of $70 million.  Of course, as with other projects, the City doesn't write Forrest City a check it simply allows it to forgoe that amount in taxation over a period of years.  Without the abatement all parties agree the black hole would have remained a black hole.

It is just possible that the development will be largely complete by Christmas of 2007.  That will mean the Merc itself, the adjacent Continental Building, and a brand new structure with 150 condos.  Now that will be something to celebrate indeed.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has one foot planted with those attacking Bush on the war in Iraq but the other planted among those who say the U.S. cannot leave Iraq too soon. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz, in a story today, describes Hillary as staying steadfastly on a centrist path. However, he quotes others who criticize her for taking a “political” approach to the issue.

According to Balz, Sen. Clinton offered backroom advice on language when Senate Democrats called on the president last month to establish a schedule for withdrawing U.S. forces but let others take the lead on the floor. When Rep. Murtha called for removing all U.S. troops from Iraq over the next six months, the New York senator told reporters she was opposed.

Sen. Clinton, who voted for the 2002 war resolution and has had a pro-defense posture as a member of the Armed Services Committee, is drawing some criticism from liberal activists for refusing to embrace the early troop withdrawal options that are gaining favor in her party, Balz writes. Others, however, say she sticking with her convictions. One colleague said she's been measured and thoughtful and consistent with her criticisms.

The Texas Rangers finally acquired a pitcher today.  His is righthander Vincente Padilla and he appears to be a clone of Juan Dominguez:  an erratic pitcher loaded with talent and potential but who lacks focus and discipline.  He has four good pitches including a 96 mph fast ball.  But often struggles to get it to the high 80s and often refuses to throw anything but fastballs.  Padilla looked good in 2002 and 2003 winning 15 games each year.  But with a case of tendonitis he slipped to 7 and 7 in 2004 and last year was an abysmal 9 and 12.  In other words like Dominguez he represents a lot of unfulfilled potential.  At 28 and with seven years in the majors the potential is likely to remain just that: potential.  The Rangers will name the player they traded for Padilla later.  Let's hope it a 28-year old with unfulfilled potential.