Category Archives: local news

entertainment news, local news

State gives blessing to Amarillo cultural district

art

Amarillo has plenty of art. It has equal measures of culture. It also has an organization dedicated to bringing the city’s art and culture to those who otherwise just be passing through Amarillo on their way to points east, west, north and south.

The Texas Commission on the Arts has bestowed the city with a cultural district that, according to Center City of Amarillo, will enable the city to focus on the art and cultural offerings it has to lure travelers to stay awhile.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/33043683/amarillo-approved-for-cultural-district

Amarillo joins a number of other cities that have received this designation. One of them is Lubbock, where officials say they’ve enjoyed some success in planning events aimed at attracting folks to stay in the Hub City.

According to NewsChannel 10, “It literally puts Amarillo on the map and it shows that we have the quality and quantity of the art to make Amarillo a cultural destination,” said Beth Duke, Executive Director of Center City. “So, we intend to use this to promote tourism to bring more people to Amarillo and more importantly to the cultural district.”

What all this means in a tangible sense is that the cultural district becomes a lure for those who (a) are just passing through or (b) might be spending a night or two to see some of our more well-known sights.

The idea as I understand  the cultural district is to showcase the myriad art, entertainment and cultural events occurring around the city. The cultural district involves the downtown district — which is the midst of a major makeover — Historic Route 66, Sunset Center, and the neighborhood around Amarillo College.

And oh yes, we have that ballpark that’s about to begin sprouting up across from City Hall.

The city has received a 10-year cultural district designation. After that time, it will need to be renewed. I am going to send plenty of good vibes out to help ensure the city’s cultural district takes root, grows and proves to be the economic driver that Beth Duke and others envision.

The times are a-changin’ out here on the Caprock.

entertainment news, International news, local news

No motor vehicles allowed?

nuremberg street

NUREMBERG, Germany — Let’s think way, way, way outside the box for a moment … or maybe two.

Amarillo is trying to redesign, reconfigure and reinvent its downtown business district. City political and civic leaders have this idea of turning it into something of an entertainment district keyed in part to a couple of venues: the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts and the to-be-built multipurpose event venue.

The thought occurred to me today while strolling through a much older city than Amarillo: Why not try something really radical, something that has met with some success in a place such as, oh, Nuremberg?

This city known as much for a series of trials that occurred here after World War II as it is for its astounding beauty and ambience has developed a pedestrian area that is full of people on foot.

No cars allowed along many city blocks within this area. It’s, um, pretty damn quiet during the peak business hours. The serenity is almost palpable.

I haven’t even begun to think how Amarillo might pull this off. How does the city cordon off, say, Polk Street from 11th Avenue to 5th Avenue, turning it into essentially a pedestrian mall? What kind of storefronts would be developed there? Eateries, craft shops, after-hours watering holes? Where would we allow people to park their vehicles?

Ideas pop into my noggin constantly. They have done so here as my wife and I are enjoying time with friends.

I know what many of you are thinking. How does Amarillo pull something like that off? How do we ask Texans who love their pickups, SUVs and assorted gas-guzzlers to park their vehicles outside this zone?

I must assure you that Germans love heir motor vehicles, too. Trust me when I tell you that traveling along the no-speed-limit autobahn is a unique kind of “thrill.” Yes, it’s an acquired taste to be zipping along at roughly 80 mph only to passed as though we’re standing still by motorcyclists and automobiles going — oh, I don’t know — 110 or 120 mph!

“You get used to it,” my friend Martin told us. I asked about the speed of motor traffic and he thought I was unnerved to the point f wanting off the autobahn. “Do you want me to get off?” he asked. “No, it’s OK,” I said.

Still, the Germans here manage to park their cars and ride the train into this shopping and eating district. They manage to enjoy themselves just fine.

Do we impose a never-drive zone that it’s in effect 24/7?

Do we make it an after-hours zone, say, from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. daily?

I don’t know. I’m just tossing this one out there for you to consider.

If I’m all wet, full of buffalo bagels, living in a pipe-dream world, well, you are welcome to tell me so.

However, I am not yet willing to toss aside any ideas for what I believe can lead to an even better downtown district for Amarillo, a city I’ve grown to love.

International news, local news

A pleasant airport/flying story … finally!

8079727-the-metaphor-of-international-air-travel-around-the-world-travel-to-anywhere-on-the-planet-earth-and

We’ve all bemoaned how unpleasant air travel has become since 9/11.

Long lines at security checkpoints; having to virtually undress to get through the scanners; occasionally brusque treatment from Transportation Safety Administration personnel; old folks and babies being whisked away for more intense interrogation.

I’m going to impart to you a pleasant airport tale that, frankly, caught my wife and I by surprise as we traveled to Germany.

We arrived at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport well in advance of our departure. We checked out luggage at the American Airlines ticket counter. We then proceeded to the security area expecting to be all but frisked and body searched by an overzealous TSA agent.

The fellow who greeted us checked out boarding passes and then handed us each a shiny card and said we could present it to the other agent standing by the body scanner. It would enable us to proceed through an “expedited” scanning process, meaning we didn’t have to take off our shoes and go through all the other normal nonsense.

Zoom! We were through slick as a whistle.

We proceeded to the gate area, where we purchased a hot drink and a bagel. The young woman asked us a bit later if we wanted coffee refills. “Well … yes. That would be nice,” my wife said. So, she gave us a refill and wished us safe travels.

We flew to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport aboard a brand new Embraer jet; a flight attendant told us it was brought online just this past spring. The flight was smoooooth, man!

We then went looking for where to eat at D/FW. We found a sandwich joint. The waitress could not possibly have been nicer, more courteous and efficient. She, too, wished us well as went to our gate.

Then we boarded a Boeing 777-200 jumbo jet for the nine-hour flight to Frankfurt. We departed at precisely the scheduled time and took off.

To top it all off, we arrived at our destination 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

So … there you have it. Traveling by air can be a pleasant experience.

Now, if only I could learn to sleep on an airplane.

local news

Public safety: it’s important at many levels

13578011

“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $20,080,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  acquiring, constructing, improving, renovating, expanding and equipping public safety facilities; such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal election ballot

I don’t know this to be a stone-cold fact, but it’s probably true.

Ask any resident of any city of significant size about the issue that concerns them the most, they well might answer it has something to do with police and fire protection.

If the city is going to provide top-flight law enforcement and fire protection services, then it falls on the residents who demand it to pay for it.

Makes sense, yes?

Sure it does!

Proposition 2 proposes to spend $20 million on improvements to police and fire services.

It seeks to add new fire stations, replacing current stations that no longer are functional. It seeks to spend nearly $500,000 on assorted “police service improvements.”

This proposition likely will get voters’ endorsement when they go to the polls on Nov. 8. The city has pitched seven ballot measures at residents, asking them to support them all at a cost of more than $340 million. The public safety element is but a fraction of the total cost.

However, public safety always remains at the top of voters’ concerns about the level of government they get from City Hall.

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

My hope is that this proposition gets the voters’ wholehearted approval in November.

If we are going to insist on top-of-the-line public safety services, we have to be ready to pay for it.

local news

Streets need work all over Amarillo

Amarillo_Tx_-_Brick_Streets

“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $89,495,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  acquiring, constructing, improving and maintaining streets, thoroughfares, alleyways and sidewalks within the City including related storm drainage improvements, traffic signalization and signage, street lighting, traffic management equipment, creek erosion, bridge and culvert improvements and utility relocations and the acquisition of land therefor, such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

Proposition 1 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal ballot

Those of us who drive motor vehicles need streets that don’t rattle us as we make our way across our city.

Am I overstating the importance of this issue? I don’t think so.

Proposition 1 on the city’s municipal ballot on Nov. 8 is the most expensive single item to be decided by the city’s voters.

The price tag exceeds $89 million.

Streets have become a significant gripe among many of the city’s 200,000 residents. Proposition 1 seeks to repair the city streets.

Major arterials will be repaved. Streets in every quadrant will be repaired. The city plans to advance construction along Helium Road as the state transportation department plans to extend Loop 335 beyond Soncy Road.

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

The city also plans improvements to its street signalization. I totally and wholeheartedly endorse this idea, given the nonsensical delays motorists often face at intersections. I have one specific request: Remove the traffic signal coming out of the driveway at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, which often turns red on Buchanan Street, stopping motorists for no reason.

The city is putting seven of these propositions on the ballot. Voters will be asked to vote on them individually. If they all pass, then the city will do all the projects.

Street repair and rehabilitation are vital to our city’s health and well-being. This proposition puts forward a significant investment toward that end.

It is my hope that Proposition 1 gets the voters’ wholehearted endorsement.

local news, national news, political news

Hey, maybe Trump will come to the Panhandle after all

trump-campaign-signals-possible-shift-on-immigration-stance-1471865686-3208

I’m beginning to harbor a bit of hope that the Texas Panhandle might get a chance after all to see Donald J. Trump before this election campaign comes to a conclusion.

How do I know that? I don’t. I just feel it.

For years I’ve lamented how we get snubbed by the major-party candidates for president. Trump, the Republican nominee, is showing that he doesn’t take sure-fire regions for granted. He’s come to Texas a couple of times already. He’s likely to win the state’s 38 electoral votes, which makes many of us wonder: What the heck is he doing here?

What’s more, Trump is showing up in states he has no prayer of winning. An example: He’s going this week to Everett, Wash., a city near Seattle. He’ll lose Washington state huge to Hillary Clinton.

Sure, he’s spending a bit of time in those battleground states.

But then he veers off into places where — by any conventional measure — he has no business visiting.

Which makes me wonder if he’s going to follow the GOP modus operandi, which is to take us Red State residents for granted.

Would I go to a Trump rally? I believe I would. It’s not that I have any particular interest in hearing what the candidate has to say. I’ve heard enough already.

No, my interest would be in looking at those who cheer his screaming mantra. I no doubt would know many of those folks personally. Many of them are friends — at the very least friendly acquaintances — of mine.

I’m telling you, this bizarre and totally unconventional campaign is no longer able to surprise me.

Donald Trump ought to stop in Amarillo on his way to a rally at Berkeley, Calif., or perhaps on his way back east to another rally in, say, Biloxi, Miss.

local news

‘Quality of life’ at stake with parks proposition

thompson park

“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $22,250,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  acquiring, constructing, improving, expanding, renovating and equipping neighborhood park and recreation facilities of the City and the acquisition of land therefor; such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

* Proposition 4 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal ballot

It’s called “quality of life.”

The term usually describes occasionally hard-to-define public infrastructure needs.

Although communities do not require parks, or recreational venues to function, residents become used to having them available and being able to use them whenever they wish.

Amarillo voters are going to decide this November whether to spend nearly $22.3 million to improve parks and recreation infrastructure throughout the city.

Is this one worth supporting? I believe it is.

The city is putting seven propositions on the ballot. This is the second in a series of commentaries I’d like to offer on the propositions.

The largest single expenditure will occur with construction of a recreation center in the North Heights neighborhood. The city has identified that center as a major need in a neighborhood where residents occasionally have expressed the belief that City Hall doesn’t care as much about them as it does about residents in other parts of the city.

The list of all the projects can be found on the link here:

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

Parks matter for a city’s quality of life. Amarillo has a population now of about 200,000 residents. We have enjoyed steady, moderate growth for decades. New residents are still coming to Amarillo to take jobs, to build lives for themselves and their families and to enjoy the amenities the city has to offer.

We don’t cry out for good parks and recreational opportunities the way we do, say, for police officers to respond quickly or for firefighters to arrive immediately to protect us.

If we’re going to let parks go to seed, or not support the community centers that become the lifeblood of neighborhoods, then ponder this: What would Amarillo be like without any of them?

We might not always be able to define issues that give us a good “quality of life,” but most of us know when those things aren’t available for us to enjoy.

local news

Expand and improve Civic Center? Absolutely!

ama civic center

“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $83,430,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  constructing, improving, expanding, renovating and equipping civic center facilities and the acquisition of land therefor; such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

* Proposition 5 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal ballot

That might be the longest sentence ever written in English. Ever!

But it speaks directly to an issue that has been on the top of Amarillo residents’ minds ever since, oh, we began talking about building the multipurpose event venue across the street from City Hall.

Amarillo City Council has put forward seven ballot propositions. This one, No. 5, deals directly with the Civic Center.

This is the first in a series of blog posts — as I promised earlier — commenting on the propositions coming to us this November.

The city asks residents to spend $83 million and change to improve, rehabilitate and “expand” the Civic Center.

Those who objected to the MPEV said the Civic Center ought to be a higher priority for the city than building a new ballpark. They cited the city’s lack of convention meeting space. Meanwhile, pro-MPEV forces argued that the new venue would be a great attraction for people to venture downtown for an evening of entertainment — which doesn’t argue directly against Civic Center improvements.

The Civic Center is a decent venue for conventions. Sure, it could stand some improvements. The Cal Farley Coliseum isn’t exactly a first-rate sports venue. It’s cramped, with limited seating for hockey and indoor football, although fairness requires me to say that neither the hockey team or the football team play to many sellout crowds during their respective seasons.

Still, an $83 million price tag would seem to do quite a bit for the Civic Center, which has been standing along Buchanan Street since the late 1960s.

Here’s our chance, then, to improve this venue to make it an even better draw for convention business.

Hey, we’ve got that five-star Embassy Suites hotel going up across the street. The folks staying there ought to be able to do their business in a first-cabin convention center as well.

local news, media news

Anniversary reminds me of how things can work out

retirement.pic_

This is another in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

Everything happens for a reason. Is that too cliché to repeat here? Probably, but I just did it anyway.

An anniversary is fast approaching that reminds me of how life can throw you curve balls. You just have to be patient, keep the faith, rely on the love of others — and by golly, things can have this way of working out.

Later this week marks the fourth year since my full-time journalism career came to a sudden end. I wasn’t quite ready for it to conclude in that manner. It did, though.

I won’t belabor you again with the particulars, except to say that at the moment I learned that the job I’d been doing at the Amarillo Globe-News for nearly 18 years would be handed over to someone else was like being punched in the gut — and the face — at the same time.

I collected myself, went home, decided in the car on the way to the house that I would quit, came back the next day, cleared out my office, had an awkward conversation with my soon-to-be former employer and then left.

My wife and I departed Amarillo that very day for an eight-day vacation back east. We had a wonderful time seeing friends in Charlotte, N.C., and in Roanoke, Va.

We came home and started thinking about what we would do next.

I was too old — 63 years of age at the time — to seriously consider going back to work full time. I knew I couldn’t get hired because of my age.

Oh, sure, employers said they didn’t consider that. I know better. Ageism exists, man.

I decided to start the transition into retirement.

I’ve been working a number of part-time jobs in the four years since my departure from the craft that in many ways had defined me over the span of nearly 37 years. I was able to keep my hand in the profession I love so much: writing news features for KFDA News Channel 10, blogs (until recently) for Panhandle PBS and helping produce the Quay County Sun weekly newspaper in Tucumcari, N.M.

Along the way I made a startling discovery.

It was that while I didn’t want my career to end when it did and in the manner that it did — I am now happy that it did end.

We’re continuing that transition into full-time retirement. We plan to travel more. We plan to be our own bosses. We intend to see this continent of ours up close. All of those plans are proceeding.

We’ll have some more major changes in our life coming up. I won’t divulge them here. Our family and closest friends know what they are … so I’ll leave it at that.

My wife has told me I seem less stressed out these days. Hmmm. Imagine that.

The Associated Press and United Press International style books always instructed us to “avoid clichés like the plague.”

Thus, the cliché about things happening for a reason seems so trite.

Except that in this case, it’s flat-out true.

local news

Meanwhile, City Hall asks for some tough decisions, too

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So, perhaps you thought your tough decisions begin and end with the vote for president of the United States.

Hmm. Wrong!

Amarillo City Hall has put forward a package of seven ballot propositions. They total nearly $340 million. If we approve them all, our municipal property tax rate will increase a few cents per $100 assessed valuation on our property.

What we’ve got here is a comprehensive list of projects covering a multitude of areas involving the service that our city provides.

Here’s the link that summarizes them:

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

The package of measures represents a significant change in the process of governing at City Hall. The list is almost mind-numbing.

The list includes projects set for streets, public safety, municipal facilities, parks, the Civic Center, athletic facilities and the vehicle fleet.

My guess would be that every single one of Amarillo’s 200,000 residents partakes in at least one of those municipal services. Thus, we have a vested and tangible interest in ensuring we get the most of them.

This is a fascinating method of securing public support for these services. If voters approve all of them, they all get done — over time.

Voters, though, have the chance to decide which of these projects are the most important. If they don’t want to improve the city’s park network, they can vote no on that proposition. If voters think they’re safe enough and do not want to improve police and fire protection, well, you can say “no” to that one, too. Hey, if you like the condition of the streets, you can reject that one, too.

Here are the proposals as presented by the City Council:

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/Resolution_Callilng_November_Election_16.pdf

The total price tag, I should add, was winnowed down from an original wish list of nearly a billion bucks.

Amarillo’s elected and senior administrative leadership have boasted for as long as I can remember — and I’ve been observing City Hall for more than 21 years — about the city’s famously low municipal tax rate.

The city also carries relatively little debt, unlike other cities of comparable size around the state.

City Hall has done a thorough job of examining areas that need improvement. It has asked us — the taxpayers — to dig a little deeper to pay for them. It’s reasonable to ask those of us who partake of the services offered to pay for them.

Those agents of change who took office in the spring of 2015 promised to do things differently than what has happened before. I’ve been critical of some of the changes brought by the City Council.

This one, though, represents a positive — and proactive — new direction.

***

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be looking at some of these individual propositions and offering a comment or two on them. Until then, study up.