Tag Archives: Amarillo City Hall

Uncategorized

Amarillo logo snafu has familiar look to it

Amarillo City Hall perhaps can find some comfort — although it is small comfort indeed — in knowing it isn’t the only government entity to struggle with a form of identity crisis.

The city has unveiled a new official logo that looks almost identical to a logo used by a Dubai company. The city is rightfully embarrassed by the mixup, which reportedly occurred when it went with a design submitted by a city employee instead of using a company it had sought to produce the new logo.

There seems to be a copyright infringement issue in play here. City Hall needs to fix this problem in a hurry.

Ah, but this might sound a bit familiar to long-time area residents.

There once was a day when Potter County ran a flag up the flagpole at the County Courthouse. They thought they were unfurling the Texas flag that day. Instead of the Lone Star banner, it turns out they were flying the Chilean national flag, which also features a single star on a red, white and blue banner.

http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1994/Potter-County-Mistakenly-Flies-Chilean-Flag-Instead-of-Texas-Banner/id-a8b851f0061247dacbafd192e6139adf

The two flags look quite similar, although not as nearly identical as the newly minted Amarillo logo and the insignia representing the Dubai company.

The Chilean flag was run up the courthouse pole in April 1994. It flew over the courthouse for a full day before anyone noticed it. Turns out a sharp-eyed assistant district attorney, Paul Hermann, noticed the discrepancy.

”We thought we had been invaded, overthrown, and didn’t know about it,” Hermann said at the time.

The Chilean flag boo-boo occurred because someone crated the wrong flag in a box marked for Potter County. At least the county didn’t commit any potential copyright offenses.

In Potter County’s case, one can say simply that “These things happen.” Regarding the city’s embarrassment, some serious repair is in order.

Uncategorized

When did state impose property tax?

State Sen. Dan Patrick is making some grand promises as he runs for Texas lieutenant governor.

One of them involves his vow to cut property taxes for homeowners if he gets elected next year. Thanks for making the promise, senator. How are you going to deliver on it?

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/23/in-new-tv-spot-patrick-says-hellcut-property-taxes/

His new TV ad doesn’t spell out how the lieutenant governor — who presides over the Texas Senate — can cut property taxes.

I watched the ad and pulled out my latest property tax statement from the Randall County Tax Collector-Assessor’s Office. Here’s what I noticed:

I pay taxes to the City of Amarillo, Amarillo College, Randall County, the Canyon Independent School District and the Randall High Plains Water District. Locally elected boards and commissions set every one of those rates. State law allows me to exempt $15,000 of my home value from CISD taxes, for which I am grateful. I’ll be able to freeze my property taxes when I turn 65, which is just around the corner. I thank the state for that, too.

Patrick, one of four major Republicans seeking the lieutenant governor’s job, offers a tantalizing sound bite in his latest ad. I’m waiting, though, to hear just how he intends to usurp local governing authorities’ power to reduce my property taxes.

Maybe he believes the lieutenant governor’s is even more powerful than everyone thought.

Uncategorized

Downtown Amarillo’s rebirth taking shape

Maybe it’s just me — and perhaps I’ll include my wife, as she’s noticed the same thing — but downtown Amarillo is looking quite a bit more pulled together than it did when we first arrived way back when.

I don’t get downtown as often as I used to. I average about one visit per week. But I’m noticing something as I make the drive into the central business district.

I’m noticing fewer gutted-out building hulks; fewer vacant lots strewn with trash and weeds; and a decidedly more appealing appearances to existing structures, blocks and street corners.

I usually enter downtown around noon from the Canyon Expressway. I drive to Eighth Avenue and then turn left. I have noticed that the corner of Eighth and Taylor Street is cleaned up. I look toward the Marriott Hotel and see considerable pedestrian traffic along Polk Street. Eating establishments are quite busy with lunchtime activity. I look south and continue to marvel at the Santa Fe Building, which Potter County purchased for a song and turned it into a fabulous office complex.

To what should we credit all this? It’s not yet clear. Of course, I am aware of all the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone activity and pledges to start busting up pavement to build a ballpark, a parking garage and a hotel downtown. It hasn’t happened yet. The old Coca-Cola distribution center will be moving out to make room for some of that activity.

The Potter County Courthouse Square is complete and the city has installed those fancy curbs along the corners that jut into the streets. I haven’t heard of a rash of accidents that some critics claimed would occur when the city installed those new curb designs.

I’ve heard about investment firms buying up commercial property, vowing to turn them into commercial successes.

Is it all rosy and bright downtown? Well, not really. The city still has that hideous Barfield Building at the corner of Sixth and Polk. The developer who owns that building cannot secure the money to do anything with it. It sits there, languishing and rotting more by the week. I will choose to look away from that eyesore whenever I travel past that corner.

But all in all, the years since our arrival in Amarillo in early 1995 have been good for the city’s downtown business district.

I’ve said all along that virtually all cities’ success can be measured by how it treats its downtown district. Amarillo is moving slowly — and I hope inexorably — toward that success.

Uncategorized

Amarillo seeks to build an ARC

Something has gotten into Amarillo’s leadership.

It’s gotten a bit bolder of late. Timidity no longer seems to be an option.

Consider the Amarillo Recreation Center bond issue on the ballot next month. The city wants to build a massive sports complex in the southeast section of town. It’ll cost $38 million or so to construct. A citizens group is pledging to raise $6 million of it from private donations and say it’s about halfway there.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=956835#.UldHwkoo6t8

I was a bit slow to catch up to this story, but the plan as I understand it looks sound.

William Ware and Trevor Caviness, two young men whose families have extensive business backgrounds in Amarillo, visited the Rotary Club of Amarillo this past week and made their pitch.

My favorite line came from Caviness, who said the bond issue would tack on 25 cents per $100 valuation to homes in Amarillo, meaning that the owner of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $25 annually in property taxes. “That’s about the cost of two large pizzas,” Caviness said.

I’m always intrigued at the metaphors people come up with to make large expenses seem so affordable.

In reality, though, the ARC seems like a good deal for the city.

Ware said Amarillo is losing a lot of tournament business to other cities with athletic complexes comparable to what’s being pitched for Amarillo. The ARC will contain fast-pitch softball fields, soccer fields, an indoor swimming complex, dressing rooms … all of it.

Plus, it will be next to two municipal golf courses, meaning that if your kids and/or your spouse want to use the ARC, you can take your clubs to the first tee and play a round of golf.

Ware noted that the ARC will be good for business. It will bring people here from elsewhere; they’ll spend money in Amarillo, generating sales tax revenue that helps fuel City Hall’s maintenance and operations budget — and presumably helps keep Amarillo’s municipal property tax among the lowest in the state.

I am persuaded that the ARC is worth building.

Uncategorized

Bring on the red-light cameras

Amarillo city officials are about to expand the use of those pesky red-light cameras in use to catch those who ignore the command to stop at red lights.

Go for it, City Hall.

I’ve been all for the cameras since their initial deployment about six years ago. Too many motorists these days seem to believe the red light hanging from the power lines over the intersection is a suggestion, or a request, to stop their vehicle. No, it’s an order. Where I come from, lawful orders are meant to be followed.

The city will impose a grace period that will last until Nov. 1. After that date, the city gets serious with the new cameras.

I’ve long thought that public knowledge of the red-light cameras has enhanced motorists’ awareness. If a motorist knows — or believes — an intersection is being patrolled by an electronic device, he or she is likely to be more obedient when the red light glows at them from above.

No, the cameras aren’t the perfect solution. Indeed, the city is deploying the new devices because of continued law-breaking by motorists. The city has used the revenue generated to help pay for the additional cameras as well as enhance other areas of traffic management — which state law requires of cities that use these cameras.

Past city commissions have shown a tendency toward passivity at times when issues like this arise. The current commission has taken on the challenge, just as those who sat on the commission immediately prior to them.

One bit of good news comes from City Traffic Engineer Jerry Bird, who says recidivism is low, meaning that those who get cited by the city aren’t repeating. Fine. Keep them deployed.

Uncategorized

Remember all that Randall County jail fuss?

I was tooling around the south edge of Amarillo this afternoon, crossed the intersection of Hollywood Road and South Georgia Street and looked to the south and noticed the Randall County Jail complex.

Then it hit me: I remember the intense public debate many years ago as the county revealed plans to relocate its lockup from the Courthouse Square in Canyon to this location in a rural portion of the county. I say it was “intense,” because I recall the NIMBY faction — those who said “not in my backyard” — raising all kinds of heck about the location.

They didn’t want it anywhere near them. If not there, then where? It didn’t matter. Just not at that location.

That was back in 2000, when the jail opened its doors to inmates.

What came to my mind this afternoon was the absence of any of the nightmare scenarios predicted by those who wanted no part of the jail.

I recall one particular escape from the lockup not long after it opened. Some young inmate managed to conceal his activities from security officers, busted through the ceiling in his cell, climbed to the roof, jumped to the ground, then got over the fence and ran out. I can remember one aspect of the story, which is that he hitched a ride with a couple of men, actually told them he had escaped from the jail — but the men in the car thought he was joking. They returned later that evening to the jail area, noticed all the police cars and lights and reported to the cops where they had taken the escapee.

He was caught several hours later in a neighborhood in central Amarillo. Sheriff Joel Richardson took full responsibility for the guy’s escape and vowed to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. To my knowledge, he’s kept his word.

I guess the lesson of the county jail is not unlike a lot of similar lessons that people have to learn the hard way. It is that circumstances that you fear quite often don’t actually materialize those fears.

Thirteen years after it has opened, the jail remains relatively isolated. The neighbors in the subdivisions north of the site have gone about their lives. Indeed, they cannot even see the jail from the homes where they live.

I’m wondering now — just as I did then: Why all that fuss?

Uncategorized

On the agenda at Amarillo 101: water

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of being invited to attend an upcoming primer on Amarillo City Hall.

It’s going to last eight weeks and it will cover a lot of ground. I’ve seen the agenda for the next several weeks and I’m struck by the amount of time we’re going to spend on water issues — which for my money rank as the most critical long-term issue facing the city.

One session will take place at the Osage Water Treatment Plant. It’s going to cover water production, treatment and transmission, wastewater treatment, surface water treatment and the ever-important conservation program called “Every Drop Counts.”

I’ve toured the Osage plant. About two years ago, City Manager Jarrett Atkinson — no slouch on water management issues — and Utilities Director Emmitt Autrey took me on a comprehensive day-long tour of virtually the entire city water infrastructure. We looked at new wells under construction as well as the water treatment plant.

I was amazed then at how much water is processed each day. I can’t recite the amount at this moment, but the volume was simply staggering.

My hope during this early October session will be to get an answer to what I believe is the threshold question for the city: What circumstances would have to occur to require the city to mandate water conservation measures for every resident and business in Amarillo? A follow-up question would be: Are we getting close to that point?

The city’s water-rights-acquisition campaign has secured a lot of water for Amarillo. I keep hearing that we’re positioned well for the next 100 or so years. But then what?

I’m not inclined to spend too much time worrying beyond my own lifespan or even that of my kids and grandkids. The thought of Amarillo drying up because we weren’t far-sighted enough right now, however, does give me the nervous jerks.

I am hoping for some answers as to whether we’re looking that far into the future.

Uncategorized

Going back to school to study Amarillo 101

I’m heading back to school, so to speak.

Sad to say I’ll miss the first day of class, but I’ll pick it up on Day Two and then go with it the rest of the way. It ought to be an interesting endeavor.

Amarillo City Hall has invited me to be part of a class called Amarillo 101. Its aim is to teach its students about the basics of what makes City Hall tick. I’ve been able to watch our city government up close in my job as a daily journalist, which I did in Amarillo for nearly 18 years before leaving that job in August 2012. I’ve been a freelance blogger and part-time employee in other pursuits ever since.

Frankly, I’m flattered that City Hall would ask a washed-up journalist to take part in this exercise. I don’t claim to know everything about how the city provides service to its 195,000 or so residents. I know a good bit about it. What I don’t know I’ll learn.

The first session is going to go over a lot of the city organizational structure, its history, charter, the City Commission, open meetings, the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation and the Public Information Act. The second session will cover some hands-on duties, such as driving a trash pickup truck, a bus, operating a knuckle-boom truck and operating a backhoe.

There’ll be other sessions covering how the city spends our tax money and we’ll get a tour of the city’s newly rebuilt Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. We’ll also talk about the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone and public improvement districts.

I did something similar years ago when I went through an 11-week Citizens Police Academy. That gig, I’ll tell you, was a serious blast.

I might be too old to do a lot of things, but as they say, you’re never too old to learn something.

I’m looking forward to peeking under the City Hall tent.