Ok “real issues” for League City progress

Let’s talk about approving the mayor’s budget. I understand the Mayor will request a 5 cent tax reduction and will make the council decide where the cutting will happen? 5 cent reduction ? Talk about show boating at the expense of our city ! I guess the first thing that needs to go is the mayor request for a new position! Thoughts???

Real issues ......

What do you think are the real issues of the city? The victory lakes cut through? The new city waste water facility? Charter revision committee? single member districts? roof top development? Accepting developer money after slamming opponents for accepting the same? The Mayor? A Council member? Political consultants being paid (Possibly with your tax dollar) to write a job description when the city has a HR professional trained to do it? Broken campaign promises? The mayor working around the council instead of with the council? Tell us what you think the REAL issues of the city are and what solutions you may have.

Have a safe and happy fourth of July 2006.

Despite what some try to do to stifle the freedom of speech in League City this is America and Independence day. Have a safe and happy 4th of July but remember the city ordinances regarding fireworks in the city limits.

328,500 emails Oh My !!!

If the mayor receives 300 emails a day, as stated in the last council meeting, that means he gets 109,500 a year …hmmm so over his three year term the mayor will receive 328,500 emails. Is that a world record ? Someone should call Guinness !

Mayor jettisons Markum; taxpayers will now pay for his consultant?

I keep hearing that the Mayor feels like he has out grown Mr. Marcum and has made a move to the big time !!! And of course the taxpayers will pay for it to the tune of 40,000 thousand a year. Will this new position be a full time Job? Or will this just be a paycheck job? I keep hearing that the person will ”stand in” for the mayor. My question is why? We did not elect this individual to represent our city. The Mayor claimed he was going to be a full time mayor not a part time player. Surely the mayor of League City did not LIE to the citizens just to get elected??? Surely the mayor thinks more of the citizens that just another paycheck. Surely the Great and conservative mayor would not wish to add an additional layer of government for the taxpayer to pay for????

Is the mayor a “convenient” conservative? (one who uses the label for election purposes only) I sure do not see him following his “party” line.

Tonight the council did not approve Mr. E. A. “Trey” Apffel III as the chairman of the Charter revision committee as requested by the absent (part time player) Mayor. Where was the mayor? What could have been more important than the welfare of the city? Could he have been at the YMCA dinner? Is that why he needs the taxpayer to pay 40,000 thousand for his personal assistant?

No personal assistant for the mayor ! The vote was :

To postpone and not hire the person

Mayor Pro-tem Cones
Councilmember Keeney
Councilmember Barber
Councilmember Jim Nelson

Not to postpone and hire the person

Councilmember Tad Nelson
Councilmember Samulson

One step forward ? Maybe

So the mayor will appoint Mr. E. A. “Trey” Apffel III to chair the Charter revision committee. That is a good start. What about the rest of the committee? Are there going to be set boundaries for the committee ? Like no change to the recall provisions? Also couldn’t help but notice that the council as well as the P & Z are still “bogged” down on those “few pieces of property that slipped through the cracks” When the mayor forced the rezoning through the city council before it was ready. For a “few pieces” it has taken almost a year and we are not done yet. Good thing just a “few” fell through the cracks or this could take life time. Such efficiency !

Gotta have CONTROLL !!!!

The mayor has decided that since he cannot knock off who he wants from the Charter Revision committee, he will load it with his “kids” to cancel their votes. Changing the process to give him control is a trade mark of this mayor. Another perfect example is the new City snitch position. $ 60, 000 you report to the mayor only and will snitch on all the city employee as well as keeping close tabs on Chuck Pinto, who he talks with and what the conversation was all about. Oh yes one other thing required… no free will.

C’mon Mayor are you that lazy that you cannot get to city hall now? I thought you said you were going to be a full time mayor, not an invisible player. I guess the old adage is true “if the heat is too much in the kitchen hire a cook.. It’s sad but this is just another broken promise by the mayor. What is that slogan again? "Promises made promises schlepped? “

Anyone need boots?

Lake Placid in League City ? It appears that an alligator is out and about in the water ways near the Signature Point Apartments.

Charter revision committee

There has been discussion over the appointments to the Charter revision committee. It has been rumored that the mayor has requested that each council member make two recommendations and he will select one of the two. Now maybe I’m stupid, but If the committee will be made up of one person selected by the individual council members why would you ask for two recommendations? Surely the mayor is not attempting to exclude particular individuals? Once again the mayor’s actions speak louder than his words. When will some people learn it’s not about them it is about what is best for our city. What do you think is best for the city? What should the charter revision committee look at?

Walker Street cut through

The study is in and the discussion continues ….What do you think ? I notice council member Barber made a few comments… I wonder where our mayor stands on this subject?

The legacy of Mayor Shults?

After collecting tens of thousands of dollars from developers the mayor has decided on his legacy. What do you think? Did the mayor have anything to do with this project? (where was he when the council voted it down?) What do you think his “legacy” should be? I personally think that doing the correct thing for the citizens would be a great legacy. I would think that being honorable, forthright, and truthful would be a great legacy. I believe you do what is correct and good for the city and the “legacy” will take care of itself.

Thank you Daisygirl

Daisygirl brings this story to our attention. It is worth a look!

Saw this video on another blog today... It is a very scary news piece. The 'Real' news stories always are. Just wondering what others here think about the video.'Terrorists Caught Crossing Texas Border' From KRGV TV, an ABC affiliate in South Texas, shown May 17, 2006. Well, what do ya'll think???
Posted by DaisyGirl

Election Results

HERE is a typed-out version of the League City Unofficial election results (.pdf), for your perusal.

A decisive victory !

What do you think ? Council member Cones beat the "curse of the incumbent" and did it in a field of three. Congrats to Council member Cones, Council memeber elect Samulson and Council member elect Sanborn. As well as thanks to all who were willing to run for public office.

League City City Council Position 3

Tommy Cones (I) 1152 54.3%
Mike Lee 560 26.4%
Enrique de Leon 409 19.3%

Position 4
Chris Samulson 1479 100%

Position 5

Phyllis Wilson Sanborn 1117 52.4 %
Tim Paulissen 1015 47.6%

THANK YOU VOTERS OF LEAGUE CITY !!!!!!

It's up to the voters

You have listened to them all, with the exception of council member cones, on anything League City. Hopefully you have seen the forum. You know that the control of the city’s direction is at stake. Will the citizens of our town vote to allow the mayor to control the council ? Or will they vote to allow the city council to be the voice of the people? The decision is up to the voters.
Polling locations:

City precinct 1 Map The voting location is 175 Bay Area Blvd.

City precinct 2 Map Voting Location 411 Newport Blvd. (Old Fire station)

City precinct 3 Map Voting location is the Johnny Arolfo Civic Center, 400 West Walker Street

City precinct 4 Map Voting location is Fire Station #1, 601 Second Street

City precinct 5 Map Voting Location is Ferguson Elem. at 1910 South Compass Rose Blvd.

Check out maps of polling places. Do not make an excuse not to vote GO VOTE on Saturday !!
As Yoda would say "Do or Do not. There is no try"

Another step backwards ?

Is it true that the mayor will appoint his personal paid campaign mouth piece Onzelo Markum as his assistant drawing $ 70, 000 of our tax dollars a year keeping his partisan consulting business? Surely this has got to be false. Hiring your paid consultant on the taxpayer’s dollar? How long do you think the taxpayer’s are going to put up with that? Will the council rubber stamp this good ol’ boy deal for the mayor and his mouth piece? Or will they cut the position out of the budget and save the taxpayers a few dollars? I guess we will find out who is a true conservative looking after the citizens and city and who is in the mayor’s back pocket. You know he does “legal council polling” .

He works hard for his money

The Mayor’s money….. Seems like a lot of developer money in there. Wasn’t this the same man that criticized his opponent for accepting developer money? There must be a logical explanation for this. I just cannot believe our mayor would deliberately mislead (Being VERY KIND) the tax payers. C’mon mayor explain all that developer money to the citizens of our great town. Remember you are a public servant and the public deserves an answer.

It’s Village fair weekend !!

The family social event of the year will take place this weekend. The 52nd annual Village Fair and Texas Music festival will take place through the weekend. Something for everyone. BBQ cook- off, Parade with candy, Apple Pie contest, (Baking not eating) 5 K run, Business expo, carnival, Funnel cake, Teen night and some good, down home rock and roll by The Marshall Tucker band. No place else but League City, Texas !!!

Your opinions on Big League Dreams audit

What do you think? Should this be a wake up call to most of the elected and employed officials in our town? What do you think of those that failed to inform or keep up with this project? Do you think the city was pressured into a decision? Or were the “stars in line” for this project. What do you think about the statement by former mayor Harrison when he said “Take a look at that intersection at Interstate 45 and FM 646,” he said. “I think Big League Dreams has a part in that area growing” in the Galveston County Daily News today ?

City Election

Ok everyone it’s prediction time. Will there be more than 6000 TOTAL (Early and Election day) votes cast in this municipal election? Give us your best estimation after factoring in all that you factor in …. And what do you factor in ? For example do you think “Anything League City” will help increase voter turn out ? Do you think endorsements turn out voters ? What motivates you to vote? A single issue? Our city economy ? Traffic problems? High Taxes? Poor use of tax dollars? All the above? None of the above? And last what are you saying with your vote ? Are you voting for that candidate or against the opponent? Just a thought or two.

Why no regular unleaded?

Is this the situation that we are facing in League City today? Don't panic. Like George Harrison sang "All things must pass".

Anything League City

Check out “Anything League City” tonight with guest candidate Tim Paulisson starting @ 7PM Followed at 8:30 by “Door to Door League City” with tonight’s guests Pat Bittner who will discuss the Village Fair and Barbara Meeks who will discuss the Garden tour this weekend.

I'm sorry, in advance.

This item from Guidry:

League City City Council has scheduled a special workshop on Monday that will feature a "mock" meeting of the city council in cooperation with the Clear Creek Independent School District.
[...]
"No official business will be conducted. This is only a mock city council meeting."

In other words, it's just a regular City Council meeting.

I kid... I kid... just poking a little fun at our elected officials.

For those invited to Post on the front page.

There's a great piece of software called "w.blogger" which will let you post without having to open your web browser. You can download it here, then after installing it, go to " File" then "Add Account", and it will walk you through the steps. Then all you have to do is open up the program, type in your post and hit the "Post & Publish" button. It's what I use every day, and I highly recommend it.

What did you think of the forum?

Did you learn something about the candidates? Do you understand their vision for the city? Do you have a better grasp of what each one is about? What did you learn ?

A New Venture

It's been about a year since I took YBL and made it more League City focused. Since then, the involvement in the "comments" has been huge (for a city in suburban Houston) and the participation by many leaders in the community has been GREAT.

Since there have been many comments with great information that I've missed, I've created this site specifically for those community leaders (and other opinionated folks) about issues regarding League City, and to a lesser extent Galveston County. While YBL is all about MY thoughts on LC, national politics, and others... and is unabashedly slanted to the Democratic Left... League City Politics is open to all sides of the political spectrum.

The "city" is where real change can happen, and things like traffic and schools are NOT partisan issues. Let's debate them. Let's hear from those "in charge" and tell them why we think they're right or wrong. Keep it civil, but stay honest.

The sad truth is that 80% of our fair city knows little-to-nothing about local politics, and aren't aware that decisions made by the council can have immediate effects on their lives. Let's change that...