tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373140452024-03-19T03:39:07.024-05:00Life On The BrazosInformation, perspective and discussion on quality of life in the Brazos ValleyHughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-10936605053970571982021-12-18T08:29:00.001-06:002021-12-18T08:37:25.444-06:00Despite the willful blindness of many, COVID has provided a worldwide project-based lesson in several subjects, including abnormal psychology and behavioral economics, as well as regular science and data science. It is the latter that has from time to time most captured my curiosity. For me, at first, it was daily trips to worldometer.info. Then the NY Times started publishing numbers but I Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-50434749951885784432017-12-31T13:04:00.001-06:002017-12-31T13:04:07.519-06:00Texas Politics 2018 US HouseIn the range of possible Dem pickups, I'm considering any seat in which the Republican did not win by more than 60%. This is the Trump effect. There are two honorable mentions. 27 held by Blake Fahrenthold, who will not be running again due to "me too" issues. Also, 32, which did not have a Democratic in the race in 2016 but that HRC outperformed Trump. This woke the DCCC who will Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-88276674131430220192011-09-19T19:36:00.000-05:002011-09-19T19:37:35.418-05:00A Tax Increase by Any Other Name<!--StartFragment--> This week’s city of College Station City Council meeting has an interesting agenda. There will be a vote not to raise taxes and a different vote aimed at raising water rates. On the surface this is an amazingly transparent move on the part of City Council. So much so that I am surprised that they have put these two votes on the same agenda. I guess they figured that the Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-47629776178161471462011-02-06T16:42:00.002-06:002011-02-13T09:54:11.344-06:00Developer WelfareOkay College Station, what do you love more, low taxes or developers? Last week in a five to two vote The P&Z commission decided to recommend to City Council that developers should win. This has to do with water and waste impact fees, which I will try to explain. But If that is too much information, just know that if Council goes along with P&Z, you will help subsidize new development. This Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-30595634331435907072011-01-28T08:42:00.002-06:002011-01-28T10:24:03.886-06:00Mayor Berry to defend her seat | Bryan/College Station, Texas - The EagleMayor Berry to defend her seat | Bryan/College Station, Texas - The EagleI am confident that the majority of citizens in College Station recognize the need to stand with these council people against this assault on the validity of our electoral decisions and on the integrity of our city government. This vote will be a mandate on civility and community. These council people have stood with graceHughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-32768585393985664262011-01-23T12:32:00.002-06:002011-01-23T12:34:45.449-06:00Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-58414221731375389052010-12-22T12:43:00.012-06:002010-12-22T15:23:58.522-06:00ChutzpahFrom Wikipedia:Chutzpah (pronounced /ˈhʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The word derives from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity", and "impertinence."That defines Jana McMillan. Sadly, this is not good chutzpah. The great American tradition of questioning authority is a virtue only in the presence of humility, intelligence and civility.But Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-24551210464739650172010-11-19T09:24:00.002-06:002010-11-19T09:33:16.736-06:00I'm a Bad, Bad BloggerI have been rude. Though it was entirely unintentional. This blog is so old that it had a years old and out of date email that it was sending post notifications to. I especially want to apologize to Jess Fields who took the time to post long and thoughtful comments. Jess is a young Council person on a very different ideological plane than I am. But he has the right idea in his ability to Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-60549439425126926772010-11-03T08:32:00.000-05:002010-11-03T08:33:50.674-05:00Really!?!Okay College Station, you just elected Jana McMillan over John Nichols. Really!?! I know that many of my local friends find this disturbing and scary. The question that I have this morning is what are we (you) willing to do about it going forward. We currently have three council members who seek allow our city government to atrophy . Parks, bikeways, sidewalks, neighborhood integrity all atHughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-85313730235905392962010-10-31T13:09:00.001-05:002010-10-31T13:14:47.402-05:00Do You Want Cynicism in College StationI hope that all of my friends in College Station will vote or have voted. I am especially concerned about our City Council election. We have a great candidate in John Nichols. While it is true that John is far more conservative than I might wish for, he is an excellent public servant, a good listener, open to new ideas while committed to the heritage of our community. As Chair of the PlanningHughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-59905572636643342452010-10-11T10:16:00.003-05:002010-10-12T07:42:16.727-05:00Cynicism Vs ExperienceThis morning’s Eagle provided a glimpse into the two candidates running to fill the remainder of Larry Stewart’s term of College Station City Council. These candidates are very different. Jana McMillan represents a perspective that has recently become a trend in College Station and, indeed, across the country. It is a deep cynicism of government and often even of community coupled with a lack Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-6278293553610264502010-09-22T07:57:00.001-05:002010-09-22T07:58:53.244-05:00Property Rights vs. Community RightsThe City of College Station, in response to pressure from citizens to protect their neighborhoods from a host of perceived threats including, students, McMansions, urban decay, loss of historical significance, fear of chickens, etc., has made available various types of overlays aimed at helping deal with these issues. One of the first proposed overlays comes before City Council this Thursday Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-19001211069023492112010-09-12T08:53:00.004-05:002010-09-12T09:55:40.602-05:00Firing the City ManagerThe Eagle continues its push against the Bryan City Council over the firing of City Manager David Watkins, or at least the secrecy they are maintaining over the firing. Ironically it was an issue of secrecy, full financial disclosure by Bryan's publicly owned utility company, that seems to have gotten Watkins in trouble in the first place. Watkins forced the hand to BTU to disclose the Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-44307784564788586342010-09-11T10:04:00.005-05:002010-09-11T10:17:45.195-05:00John Nichols for College Station City CouncilLarry Stewart was a former member of the John Birch Society and a very conservative former naval officer. Not exactly the back ground of someone I would be expected to support for City Council. But I did support Larry. I considered him a friend and I was deeply saddened by his passing last June.Larry came to council on a wave of resentment against a single proposed development (Weingarten.) Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-86484832577619494592010-09-06T12:15:00.001-05:002010-09-06T12:15:46.316-05:00Join a Global Village MeetingUsing the power of populist media (Community radio, online streaming and blogs) we will host a meeting of the global village on the topic of the infamous Manhattan Mosque. You may be tired of the constant drone of nationally projected pundits, but what do you think? How will this meme play out over time? How does it play with various segments of the American population and how does it play Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-85911613321093336542010-09-06T08:04:00.002-05:002010-09-06T09:03:43.150-05:00Labor DayI am in the office alone today. The rest of my team is off enjoying labor day. I wonder what it means to them other than a paid day off. What is the state of labor in America? In my industry there are few dirtier words than "union". The populist brain trust of the construction industry will complain about a lack of skilled craftsmen in the same breath that they cuss the unions. Silly as Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-34353723917677414342010-09-05T07:32:00.001-05:002010-09-05T08:33:49.946-05:00Where Do You Want To Live?What are the great communities of America? College Station was recently named by Kiplingers as one of the top ten best places to raise a family in America. While I tend to agree with that assessment, I know that many of the people that I grew up with and who left here to raise families in other places might respond to that ranking with a bit of eye rolling. I suspect that there is a strong Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-19394235784717320522010-09-04T09:16:00.000-05:002010-09-04T09:18:24.247-05:00Governor GoofinessI just love Texas politics. Our politicians who speak so much about fortifying the national boarders continue to tear down the boarders of goofiness. There is no one so capable of self parody as Rick Perry. As the Tea Party nation dances in spasms of intolerance, Perry sings in homophobic non sequiturs of epic proportion. He said, "There is still a land of opportunity, friends — it's Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-88569264987406996192009-01-18T10:29:00.000-06:002009-01-18T10:31:20.002-06:00For the last few years this blog has served as a source of information and dialog during election season in College station and Bryan. A couple of times in-between elections issues have arisen that motivated posts, but for the most part the blog sits ideal during most of the months of the year. Having served on the College Station Planning and Zoning commission for a few months now, I recognize,Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-75706107240181502852008-10-05T09:52:00.000-05:002008-10-05T09:53:36.354-05:00I love the idea of a community center. As Larry Ringer points out this is basic quality of life stuff that we expect here in College Station. So, why am I PROBABLY going to vote against proposition 5 that sets aside money for a community center? In short, because it is not well thought out or well articulated. Here are just few questions that I have not seen answers to:Where will it go?Who Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-23471797601190830722008-09-23T07:12:00.004-05:002008-09-23T09:07:32.543-05:00Vote no on proposition 6 on November 4thWhile I am generally in favor of most bond issues that allow us to invest in our community, if you live in College Station, I encourage you to vote “No” on propositions 6 on November 4th. This proposition is for $26,300,000.00 to be used to construct a new City Hall.It is true that our City Hall is way too small, city staff deserves less cramped quarters and the existing council chambers Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-80326660845566392962008-08-01T07:34:00.001-05:002008-08-01T07:37:52.178-05:00From Discussion on Eagle forumBlack is the comments of an anonymous poster at theeagle.com forum. The Blue is my reply.Okay Ann, let's compare: 1) Local companies may return three times the PERCENTAGE of their profits to the local economy, but they decidedly do NOT return three times the amount of revenue. The volume of business generated by franchises produces more circulated revenue, more sales tax revenue, and more local Ann R. Keyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11202415003929521107noreply@blogger.com91tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-27406236390217785062008-07-30T17:33:00.002-05:002008-07-30T17:43:12.288-05:00I appreciate the owner of this blog giving me front page privileges. I will do my best to violate what is expected. While this blog is assume in many respects, it is very narrow in range. The owner, Hugh, asked me to keep to local politics. For someone who seems like such a renaissance guy, that seems like a strange request. Doesn't everything resonate at from the local? Aren't we all Ann R. Keyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11202415003929521107noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-915428499901592622008-07-29T14:24:00.002-05:002008-07-29T14:41:31.674-05:00What is going on in Bryan?Wow. The villagers are angry in Bryan. Someone asked me to post something about the row going on in Bryan. Way to go folks!!! Check out the eagle comments section (theeagle.com) about the Bryan council agenda issue. Glad that at least some of you all are getting upset over city council people who are representing personal and business interests rather than community interests. UnfortunatelyHughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37314045.post-20207306735547653802008-04-27T18:11:00.002-05:002008-04-27T18:15:27.900-05:00Cool College StationRecently Mayor White signed the Cool Cities environmental initiative and now College Station is going forward with green initiatives.Do you think that this is good for our city?What sort of measure do you feel are most important?Do you feel like these initiatives will be allowed to continue if the Developers win a majority of seats on city council?Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13521781919118205625noreply@blogger.com3