Tag Archives: D/FW Metroplex

local news

In the middle of the fight

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My wife and I moved two years ago from a remote region of Texas into the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex … and this election season is giving us a lesson in the difference between the region.

It lies in the volume of political ads we get plastered on our TV sets throughout any given day.

The Metroplex straddles multiple congressional and Texas legislative districts. The region’s TV stations broadcast far and wide, which means the candidates running for office must use the stations to broadcast their message.

We have no fewer than eight congressional districts being contested here. I have lost count of the legislative districts. When we watch our evening programming and they break for “commercials,” we can watch at least five, maybe six, political ads in that span of time. Next break? More of the same, quite often with the same ads!

Compare that with our TV viewing in the Texas Panhandle. Amarillo is in the midst of the 13th Congressional District. The region has four legislative districts. Here, though, is the rub: The legislative districts rarely feature two-party contests, with Republicans vs. Democrats. It’s usually just a GOP walk-over. So, we get none of the local pressure.

Of course, too, we have a hotly contested U.S. Senate race in 2020. GOP Sen. John Cornyn is fighting hard against Democratic challenger M.J. Hegar and the two of them are going hammer-and-tong against each other over the air.

Then we have the presidential race. Joe Biden is running ahead of Donald Trump and the tone and tenor of their respective ads reflect their relative standing in the polling.

Trump has gone all negative. Biden? He is telling us about his compassion and his pledge to be a president for “all Americans,” including those who don’t vote for him. I know that in most cases “negativity works,” but in this instance I am drawn more to the positive nature of the former VP’s TV ad spots.

What does all this mean? It means I am waiting anxiously for an end to this maelstrom. By all means I am hoping that the contest at the top of the ballot ends correctly … if you get my drift!

local news, national news

Disease reveals partisan divide

I never thought I would see such a thing.

A viral infection sweeps around the world, killing hundreds of thousands of human beings; nearly 50,000 Americans have died. It’s the kind of international tragedy that transcends partisan politics. Isn’t that right?

Hah! Hardly.

The argument in this country on how to battle this disease is being split along partisan lines. Democrats are arguing in favor of continued restrictions, seeking to protect citizens’ health and their very lives. Republicans argue that the restrictions are strangling our economy, that we need to revive the business and manufacturing to jumpstart our way of life.

I am going to side with the Democrats. I know. That’s no surprise. It’s where I line up.

Republican governors are moving to relax restrictions. Democratic governors are staying the course. Republican governors think the economy is more vital, I guess, than human lives. Democratic governors seem to think the reverse is true.

Now comes this tidbit from right here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex: Colleyville is getting ready to allow businesses to reopen, apparently in direct violation of Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to maintain the shelter in place policy at least until April 30; the Colleyville decision also runs counter to what Tarrant County has imposed. Colleyville Mayor Joe Newton plans to relax the restrictions beginning this weekend.

This makes me nervous. It might prompt cities in nearby Collin County, where we live, to follow suit. I am not ready to make that leap. My wife and I are wearing masks on the rare occasions we do venture out. We wipe down every surface we touch and we wash our hands with sanitizer.

I do not have a job. Neither of us has been deprived of household income. So the economy is not a part of our personal decision making.

I just had hoped we could have rallied as one nation to fight this pandemic. Alas, it isn’t happening. The disease has widened the already huge great divide. Nice!

local news

Getting to know I-35 up close and, oh, so personal

As you no doubt know, our retirement journey has brought us to the Dallas/Fort Worth Mega-Metroplex, where we now call home.

This enables us to see family members who live in the Hill Country without having to drive damn near half a day to get there; by “half a day,” I mean it took us nine to 10 hours at times to drive there from the Panhandle.

The route from Princeton to Dripping Springs/Austin is much more direct. There is a big “however” I need to attach to that.

However, it also is a good bit more harrowing than our Amarillo-Dripping Springs/Austin jaunts. You see, our route takes us along Interstate 35 from Dallas to Austin, at which point we take a sharp turn west along U.S. 290, enabling us to cruise — more or less — into Dripping Springs.

We just completed a round-trip visit with family folks. The trip home was, shall we say, bracing.

I-35, as I have known for many years, is a virtual free-for-all. Traffic was thick all the way from south Austin until we turned off that interstate highway and headed east for a bit along I-20; we then resumed our northbound trip along I-45.

This traffic flow will take some time for me to get used to it. What’s the answer? Is there a remedy?

Hah! Texas continues to grow rapidly. The Hill Country region is among the state’s high-growth regions. Austin’s population may have passed the 1 million-people mark. It’s exploding down yonder in the People’s Republic of Austin.

There was talk some years ago about building a bullet-train track from Houston to D/FW, or from Austin to D/FW. Then we had that discussion about that monstrous highway from Laredo all the way to the Red River; that talk dissipated when the cost of invoking eminent domain on all that privately held land became known.

Whatever. The traffic problem is only going to worsen in the immediate future as more folks move into Texas and hit the highway from the Metroplex to the Hill Country and beyond.

The traffic flow along that Interstate 35 racetrack has gained one more vehicle, the one my wife and I use when we hit the highway. There will be many millions more to come … for certain.

crime news

Change of venue? Sure, but move it far, far away

Amber Guyger is going to stand trial — possibly soon — for murder. The former Dallas police officer this past September allegedly walked into a Botham Jean’s apartment and shot him to death reportedly thinking she had entered her own apartment.

The case has riveted many residents of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, which makes a request for a change of venue so very interesting.

Guyger’s lawyers insist she cannot get a fair trial in Dallas County, where the case is set to be tried. They want a change of trial venue to a county other than Dallas County, citing “media hysteria” surrounding the case.

I am not going to argue for or against a change of venue. Indeed I can see why defendant’s legal counsel would want to change the trial location. However, the counsel should insist on moving it far away not just from Dallas County, but also from Collin County, Tarrant County, Rockwall County, Ellis County — or any part of the region served by the Dallas/Fort Worth media outlets that have been covering this case.

Send it to El Paso County, or to Orange County, or to Hidalgo County, or to Dallam County.

Yes, there is intense interest in this case.  A lot of the circumstances sound, shall we say, weird. Guyger was suspended at first from the Dallas Police Department and then was fired after she was indicted for murder in the death of Botham Jean, a native of St. Lucia who lived in an apartment on a separate floor from where Guyger resided.

Whatever the judge decides, my belief is that this case needs to go a lot farther away than just outside of Dallas County.

local news

We aren’t alone in moving to the Metroplex!

This just in: My wife and I were part of a trend of those moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in 2018!

Who knew?

According to the Texas Tribune, the U.S. Census Bureau said more than 131,000 people moved to the D/FW area in 2017-18. The Metroplex remains the fastest-growing region in Texas, which is among the fastest-growing states in the nation.

In May 2018, my wife and I picked up our belongings and moved them to Fairview, a community tucked between Allen and McKinney in Collin County. Not satisfied with our living arrangement there, we then looked for a home to buy. We found one in Princeton, which also is in Collin County.

We have since learned a couple of things about Princeton. It is the fastest-growing community in Collin County and our investment here is going to accelerate rapidly over the next decade or so.

I have made no secret about why we moved from the Texas Panhandle to the Metroplex.

Is it at all possible that those other recent transplants to D/FW also have grandchildren they want to watch grow into adulthood?

local news

Happy Trails, Part 143: ‘Forever’ comes into view

PRINCETON, Texas — This picture reveals to you where my wife, Toby the Puppy and I plan to live . . . hopefully for the duration, if you get my drift.

The “Sold” sign means we are in the process of purchasing it. Our retirement journey is taking a gigantic step forward this week. We will “close” on our house purchase in Princeton, about 6 miles or so east of McKinney in Collin County. We’ll lay down some cash, sign a large stack of papers, accept our “smart house” keys and we’ll be on our way.

My wife plans to start immediately laying down shelf liners in the kitchen. We’ll start moving the next day. We’ll take our time, but we won’t dawdle.

Yes, dear reader, this is our final stop.

What fascinates me as I think about it is that Princeton was one of the towns we considered when we first started pondering our move from the Texas Panhandle to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The thought process came right about the time our son and daughter-in-law informed us that “You are going to be grandparents.”

That was more than six years ago. It took some time for us to make this move, but we did.

I already have told you about how we came upon his dwelling.

I only want to affirm once more the idea that even old folks — such as me — are able to adapt to new surroundings. I long thought of myself as a staid fellow, resistant to change. Then career opportunity knocked in 1984 and we moved our young family from a suburban community near Portland, Ore., to Beaumont, Texas. We stayed in Beaumont for nearly 11 years; our sons graduated from high school and were finishing up their college educations when my wife and I packed up again and moved from the Golden Triangle to the Texas Panhandle. We stayed in Amarillo for 23 years. The arrival of our granddaughter in March 2013 precipitated the move that is about to conclude in very short order in the house you see pictured with this blog post.

This is going to be a huge week for us.

I await it with great joy and excitement. Retirement is no time for complacency.

local news

Once more about red-light cameras

I want to add this brief note to my previous blog post about red-light cameras.

They are not, as critics of the cameras contend, revenue raisers for cities looking to set up speed traps to catch unsuspecting motorists.

I want to cite an example of what I mean.

My wife and have been driving between Amarillo and the Dallas/Fort Worth region for more than two decades. Of all the communities through which we pass, I can think of precisely one — Denton — that uses the red-light cameras. The rest of them — Claude, Clarendon, Hedley, Memphis, Estelline, Childress, Quanah, Chillicothe, Vernon, Electra, Iowa Park, Wichita Falls, Bowie, Jolly … you name ’em — don’t use these devices.

Or if they do, say, in Vernon, Bowie, Jolly and Wichita Falls, U.S. Highway 287 does not have stop lights, meaning that motorists can breeze through these towns without having to stop.

Have some of these towns become “speed traps”? Yeah. Estelline comes immediately to mind. They do so without aid of these devices designed to deter motorists from breaking the law by running through stop lights.

There. That’s it. I’m out on this issue.

Until the next time.