local news, Sports news

MPEV suites sold out … already

amarillo MPEV

Let’s hang a proverbial “No Vacancy” sign on what supporters hope will be a multipurpose event venue to be built in downtown Amarillo.

You see, it’s been reported that all 12 luxury suites designed for the MPEV have been sold. None left.

Interesting, yes? Absolutely.

It’s that ballpark element that’s drawn all the attention from the buyers. They want to enjoy minor-league baseball in the relative comfort of the suites. Wow! Imagine that. Customers jumping at the chance to watch a little baseball in a shiny new sports venue.

Who knew?

No money has been laid out yet for the suites, but Advance Amarillo — a group supporting the MPEV — says without equivocation that enough buyers are waiting in the wings that the suites will be sold out when then project is built.

Gosh, isn’t that what proponents have been saying all along would happen?

Naturally, not everyone is on board. David Kossey speaks for a group that oppose the MPEV. He issued this statement this evening: “We are interested to know who authorized the sale, negotiation, or procurement of any transactions related to a not-yet-built ballpark. Is the Vote For Amarillo crowd pre-selecting an operator of the MPEV without consent of the voters in November, and superseding the authority of the city council? The media campaign by the ‘VoteFor’ group saying ‘all suites are spoken for’ appears to be a continuation of a ‘we will tell Amarillo what they want and who will receive it’ mentality voters removed by the results of the May election. After their attempt to confuse the elderly voters earlier in this election, this attempt to precursor the election with an idea that ‘this is a done deal,’ raises even more questions.”

Well, I don’t know what the verb “precursor” is meant to convey. But what the heck.

There is no effort being made to “tell Amarillo what they want.” The news is merely intended to report that the suites are being claimed by those who want in.

I believe that the MPEV — if it’s allowed to move forward — will produce significant interest among those who want to sit in a nice venue to watch an athletic event. It beats the daylights out of the dump — Potter County Memorial Stadium — that serves currently as Amarillo’s baseball venue.

 

national news, political news

Gowdy to GOP colleagues: ‘Shut up’ about Benghazi

Trey_Gowdy-1

I love the comment from House Select Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy to his Republican colleagues.

“Shut up” about things about which you know nothing, says the South Carolina Republican.

They know nothing? Or do they know, um, too much?

Hillary Clinton is going to testify this week before the House panel about the fire fight in September 2012 at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four brave Americans died in the melee, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Republicans have been trying like the dickens for more than three years to find enough dirt on Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, to pin something on her. They’ve accused her of covering something up.

They’ve come up empty … so far.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy then popped off about the reason the committee was formed, noting that Clinton’s poll numbers have plunged since the panel began its work; his comments seemed to most observers to suggest the motive for the committee being formed in the first place was to torpedo Clinton’s presidential campaign.

And then came Rep. Richard Hanna, another GOP colleague, to say the same thing that McCarthy said. D’oh! There’s another one: Bradley Podliska, a former GOP staffer — who worked for the Benghazi committee — also said the same thing. He doesn’t know, Mr. Chairman?

Clinton’s testimony could sink her campaign. It could lift it to new heights. As some folks have noted, the Benghazi hearings have gone on longer than the House Watergate hearings and the Warren Commission hearings looking into JFK’s assassination.

One of these days, hopefully before the presidential nominating conventions next year, the Benghazi panel will wrap this up, publish its findings and then we can move on.

 

 

local news

‘Transparency’ becomes the new city mantra

Transparency

Elisha Demerson got elected to the Amarillo City Council in May while calling for a more “transparent” city government.

That’s fine. I’m all for it. The more proverbial “sunlight,” the better.

Then this past week he trotted out a significant set of proposals he said will “reform” the Amarillo Police Department. On paper and at first blush, the proposals look pretty good — starting with a re-emphasis on “community policing,” in which officers work more closely with neighborhoods and their residents.

Back to the transparency thing …

I’m wondering how transparent Demerson was in formulating this set of ideas. Did he conduct public hearings? Did he consult with what’s left of the city’s legal counsel office? Did he talk privately with, say, the now-lame-duck city manager? Did he meet with his colleagues on the City Council?

Here’s my idea for a more transparent method for formulating such a proposal:

Meet in public with the entire City Council. Toss the ideas out there. Debate them with your colleagues. Seek advice — in public — from city legal authorities. Talk among yourselves. Argue these ideas point by point. Seek a consensus. Once you get there, ask all your colleagues to coalesce around a single idea.

Then you make your pitch to the public — which, by then, will have been up to speed already on the process that got us to this point.

Mayor Paul Harpole is critical of what Demerson has proposed. I don’t know yet if Harpole dislikes the ideas themselves, or the way in which his council colleague came up with them.

Either way, the transparency mantra hasn’t been served as well as it could have been before Councilman Demerson dropped this police reform idea on our collective laps.

 

 

 

local news

Fall colors? All we saw was green

980000010 a panoramic view of an active windmill and cattle fencing and water tank on the open grasslands of the panhandle near canadian texas

CANADIAN, Texas — We ventured — my sister, brother-in-law and I — northeast on Saturday to this lovely town in the far corner of the Texas Panhandle.

Our mission? To look at the “fall foliage” honored at Canadian’s annual “Fall Foliage Festival.”

Our findings? There isn’t any fall foliage to be seen. At least not yet.

The darn warmth that keeps lingering in this part of the world is the culprit.

Now, was the trip a total loser? Of course not.

Sis and her husband hadn’t been to this part of the Panhandle — the “pretty part,” as many of us like to call it. Our two-hour drive along U.S. 60 became quite scenic as we approached Miami and then motored into the Hemphill County seat.

I told my sis the story of the cockamamie idea that Texas highway planners had in culling many of the trees along the highway, citing some notion that the trees posed the a hazard to motorists.

I mentioned the reaction of residents of Hemphill and Roberts counties, which in effect was: You’ll cut these trees over our cold, dead bodies!

The highway department backed off and ended up, if memory serves, cutting down a lot fewer trees than it planned initially.

The fall foliage? Well, it’ll arrive eventually. The temperature will drop, as it does every year at this time.

I wonder if there’s any way to make the Fall Foliage Festival a movable event.

 

 

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All councilman needs is a mask and white steed

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demerson

The Lone Ranger rides again.

He’s at Amarillo City Hall these days, dressed as a new city councilman who has proposed massive changes in the way Amarillo’s police department does it job.

This is another sign of the change that’s arrived at Amarillo’s municipal government.

Councilman Elisha Demerson has made what I believe is a good-faith effort to improve policing in Amarillo. He wants the city to hire 23 more officers and he wants the PD to become more of a “community policing” agency, with officers connecting more personally with the neighborhoods they are sworn to protect.

It’s all good, councilman.

The mayor, Paul Harpole, makes a sound point in criticizing what Demerson is doing. He’s seeming to speak for the entire City Council. Coming forward as he has done, Demerson has taken the lead on a process that generally has been done at the senior administrative level, with recommendations coming from the police chief in coordination with his immediate supervisor, the city manager.

However, since City Manager Jarrett Atkinson’s tenure at City Hall is about to end — and was put in jeopardy almost immediately after the May election — Demerson is acting as the agent of change within the police department.

This is a slippery slope that could produce some trouble for the councilman, the cops, the city administration, the rest of the council and perhaps even the public.

We have a council/manager form of government here. Council members generally do not put their hands directly on the levers that operate the city’s massive government apparatus. That includes the police department.

I don’t have a particular problem with the proposals per se that Demerson has put forward. I do have a problem, though, any council member acting as the Lone Ranger.

Harpole has suggested that council members have told city employees to “come to a commissioner to resolve problems.”

Interesting. There once was a chain of command at City Hall. It used to work pretty well, with administrators handling those concerns within their departments, while the city manager oversaw the solutions being implemented.

Is it no longer a team effort at City Hall?

 

entertainment news

Odom saga … amazing in the extreme

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odom

Allow me this brief comment on the saga of Lamar Odom.

He’s married — in a fashion — to Khloe Kardashian, yes, one of those Kardashians.

He once played pro basketball. He was quite good at it. He made millions of dollars. He married the young reality TV “star.” Got his face plastered on tabloids all over the country. He was a fixture on that E! network TV show featuring his in-laws.

Then the marriage hit the skids. He and his wife split up, sort of. Then he goes on his way.

Odom this past week was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. I presume he went there to pay for a good time with one — or more — of the hookers. He took some illegal drugs and passed out.

The reaction from his still-wife? She’s at his bedside, telling the media how much she supports him.

Maybe there’s something I don’t get. If I had done that while married to my wife … hmmm. Let me think. She’d wait for my recovery — probably from some distance — and then file divorce papers on my sorry behind.

There’s something really and truly amiss with today’s popular culture.

Don’t misunderstand me. I want Odom to recover. I just don’t get the family reaction to what this guy was caught doing.

Your thoughts?

 

national news, political news

Republican calls out fellow Republicans

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conservatives

David Brooks isn’t a squishy liberal.

He’s no fan of progressive political policies. He believes in small government. He is, in my mind, the personification of what could be called a “traditional conservative” thinker.

He writes a column for the New York Times and is a regular panelist on National Public Radio and on the PBS NewsHour — which in the minds of many of today’s new found conservatives would categorize him as a RINO … a Republican In Name Only.

Well, his recent NYT column lays it out there. Conservatives have gone bonkers, Brooks writes.

Here’s a bit of what Brooks writes: “By traditional definitions, conservatism stands for intellectual humility, a belief in steady, incremental change, a preference for reform rather than revolution, a respect for hierarchy, precedence, balance and order, and a tone of voice that is prudent, measured and responsible. Conservatives of this disposition can be dull, but they know how to nurture and run institutions. They also see the nation as one organic whole. Citizens may fall into different classes and political factions, but they are still joined by chains of affection that command ultimate loyalty and love.

“All of this has been overturned in dangerous parts of the Republican Party. Over the past 30 years, or at least since Rush Limbaugh came on the scene, the Republican rhetorical tone has grown ever more bombastic, hyperbolic and imbalanced. Public figures are prisoners of their own prose styles, and Republicans from Newt Gingrich through Ben Carson have become addicted to a crisis mentality. Civilization was always on the brink of collapse. Every setback, like the passage of Obamacare, became the ruination of the republic. Comparisons to Nazi Germany became a staple.”

To be fair, much of what ails the GOP can be laid at the feet of Democrats, who fail to heed the warnings of their own bombast. Each party’s leader feel the need to play to their respective “base.” They seemingly neglect the great unwashed middle, comprising people who aren’t far left or far right, but instead see value in both ideologies.

I believe it was Colin Powell, another fine Republican, who once lamented that the extremes of both parties were talking past those in the middle who want their voices heard, too.

For now, though, the Republicans are controlling both legislative chambers of Congress. They want to take back the White House. They are seeking the clean sweep of the two government branches by bellowing at the top of their lungs that the nation is going to straight to hell and it’s because of the Democrat in the White House, Barack H. Obama.

It is doing no such thing.

Brooks laments the Republican “incompetence.” He writes: “These insurgents are incompetent at governing and unwilling to be governed. But they are not a spontaneous growth. It took a thousand small betrayals of conservatism to get to the dysfunction we see all around.”

Wow!

national news, political news

Time for some candidate ‘culling’

run-web

I know it’s still early and that anything can happen in this 2016 campaign for the presidency.

But that ol’ trick knee of mine is throbbing and I’m sensing it’s time for some serious candidate culling to occur in both the Democratic and Republican primary fields. No, I don’t mean “culling” in the way you “cull” a herd of elk.

But it’s becoming clear that the public is focusing on a select few of these folks seeking to succeed Barack Obama as president.

The Democrats:

Say so long, please, Martin O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb. No one is talking about any of you fellows.

It’s still all about Hillary and Bernie. Hillary Clinton shined at that Democratic joint appearance. Bernie Sanders stumbled a bit, but played to his base. He had ’em standing and cheering in the Las Vegas “debate hall.”

Oh, and what about Vice President Biden? Stay tuned for that announcement — whatever it is.

The Republicans:

Where do I begin?

Chris Christie? You’re toast. Jim Gilmore? You never were in the game. Rand Paul? You had us then you lost us. John Kasich? As much as I like you, hit the road, sir. Bobby Jindal? B’bye. Lindsey Graham? See ya. Mike Huckabee? You, too. Rick Santorum? Your time is up. George Pataki? Pfftt!

Rick Perry and Scott Walker already are gone.

We’re left now with, um, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio and I’ll throw in Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.

The first three are the “outsiders.” Rubio is a young Senate gun. Bush is, well, a Bush. Cruz is the TEA Party’s current favorite son.

It’s a bit sad, actually, that some of these folks are being ignored by the media — and that means the public. Some of the Republicans running are thoughtful, experienced and nuanced individuals who have a lot to say.

The public, though, is being swept away by the outsider cadre, led — so far — Trump, whose major claims to fame are his wealth, his reality TV gig, his gorgeous wives … and his big mouth.

The rest of the large combined bipartisan field, though, is ready to be thinned out.

 

local news

Matney gets fired up about MPEV

matney

It’s next to impossible to listen to Paul Matney make the case for whatever project on his radar and not feel some sense of buy-in.

I’ve known Matney for as long as I’ve lived in Amarillo. That’s more than 20 years. I have listened to his pitch for Amarillo College, which he led as president until he retired a year ago. His AC spiel was polished, passionate and on-point.

Matney has turned that passion now to a Nov. 3 non-binding referendum facing Amarillo voters. You’ve heard about it, yes?

It’s the multipurpose event venue, which is part of the three-pronged “catalyst project” that’s been developed for the city’s downtown business district.

Matney broke out of his chains today while speaking to the Rotary Club of Amarillo.

The MPEV includes the much-discussed “ballpark.” The ballot measure asks voters if they want the MPEV built as it’s been presented.

Matney’s view? Not just yes, but hell yes! (OK, he didn’t say it quite that way, but that was the message.)

It’s a $45 million project, combined with a parking garage. The city will issue revenue bonds to pay for the MPEV construction and will retire the debt with hotel occupancy tax revenue collected by visitors who come to Amarillo.

City and business leaders are breaking ground Friday on a $45 million convention hotel to be built downtown; the developer of the Embassy Suites is footing the bill for the hotel’s construction … and that, too, got Matney’s juices flowing today.

Matney believes in the MPEV and predicted that its construction will put Amarillo on the “baseball radar” for an organization looking to locate a team. Oh, but what’s wrong with the Potter County-owned ballpark at the fairgrounds? Matney didn’t say it precisely, but I’ll say it here: It’s a dump.

Matney did say that Potter County shouldn’t spend another nickel on improvements to that stadium. Amen to that, Mr. President.

Matney presented his brief remarks as someone “who was born here, educated here, lives here, worked in higher education here, has retired here, will die here and will be buried here.”

The MPEV, he said, could play host to a wide variety of events that could attract thousands of folks into the downtown district.

So, the campaign for and against the MPEV will continue. I’ve known Paul Matney to be a man of high integrity and honor.

The political organization that he has joined to support passage of the referendum could not have found a better spokesman for this worthy project.

As he noted in talking about Xcel Energy’s own plans to build a new office complex downtown and the company’s struggle to replace key employees who are reaching retirement age. “Xcel is struggling to find people to fill those spots,” Matney said, “so this is a quality-of-life issue.”

Melissa Dailey, the head of Downtown Amarillo Inc., had to walk the straight and narrow in her remarks to the Rotary Club about the MPEV. As a public employee, she is limited to speaking only about the facts. No campaigning  allowed, right, Ms. Dailey?

That’s fine. She turned it over to Paul Matney who — as a “civilian” — is allowed to speak from the heart.

He did so today.

 

local news

Let’s not pussyfoot around: Atkinson was forced out

atkinson

Every single time I add 2 + 2, I get the same answer.

Thus, every time I try to figure out what’s been happening at Amarillo City Hall — and the destructive relationship between the city manager and most of the members of the City Council — I keep drawing the same conclusion.

City Manager Jarrett Atkinson could no longer work with the controlling bloc of council members. So, he has tendered his resignation.

Atkinson’s upcoming departure doesn’t bode well for what has been happening in Amarillo over the past, oh, half-dozen years or so.

The city has marched forward on some ambitious plans to remake its downtown district. Atkinson has been a key player in that effort.

But then along came the three new council members, two of whom ousted incumbents, and the dynamic has changed.

They called for the manager’s resignation right out of the chute. He didn’t quit. He stayed on — for as long as he could.

And yet we hear from one of the new council members, Elisha Demerson, seeking to put a positive spin on Atkinson’s departure. Demerson told the Amarillo Globe-News: “I disagree with the naysayers who would like to turn this into a political decision. This was a decision by Mr. Atkinson for the betterment of himself and his family and I respect that.”

Please excuse my candor, Councilman Demerson: That is pure crap!

Sure, he sought to better “himself and his family.” Why? Because he likely was sick and tired of being hassled at every turn.

I’m not privy to what went into Atkinson’s decision to quit at this time. But none of it adds up to anything other than maddening frustration and an inability to work constructively with most of those who comprise the City Council. How else does one explain why a city manager would throw in the towel in the midst of all the hard work that still needs doing to improve the city’s future?

The council faces the most important task it ever will undertake. It must hire a new city manager. My hunch is that the council will not find a successor within the ranks of current administrative staff. They’ve been party to what has transpired since the May election and the takeover of the council by its new majority.

The alternative? Conduct a nationwide search. Oh, and be sure you tell every candidate who applies precisely — and in detail — what he or she will face if the council selects them.

That would be a ringside seat from which the new manager will get to witness more turmoil and bickering.

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