Southwest corner of Rancier and Roy Reynolds

I'm glad to see that something will be done with the large tract at the far north-east corner of Killeen's city limit.  As long as I've lived here (and it's a good long time), that lot has been weed-grown and ugly.  The current owner, First National Bank, proposes to sell it to Gary Purser, Jr. for development into a mixed commercial and "garden-home" neighborhood.

I'm not of the "what the Pursers want is OK" camp, but this seems a win-win scenario.  Affordable (in terms of military pay)  housing is increasingly at a premium in this area, and what is proposed for this tract should go a way towards addressing that problem.  If Gary can make a profit on it, more power to him.

I am concerned about the building code exceptions that Purser is requesting, however.  My preference is that we allow no variations -- it's such  slippery slope.  If there is a valid reason for the exceptions, it was not presented at Tuesday's city council workshop.  My recommendation is that the City Council reject any exception to established building guidelines unless the builder presents a clear and compelling case.

Ebola contact in Belton

It's reported that a Belton High School student was on the Cleveland-to-Dallas flight with the second Ebola victim.  If so, he or she has probably since been in contact with at least one  Killeen ISD student.

My reaction: I don't care.  Teaching as normal tomorrow.  Fear is misdirection.

AUSA meeting

Thanks to the Killeen Daily Herald for their lead editorial today on the money being spent to send local "representatives" to the AUSA meeting in Washington, DC.  I don't have a lot to add. AUSA is a worthwhile organization. It has tangential relevance to the Killleen area.  Sending 68 people to its convention on the east coast is boondoggle.

Light pollution in Killeen

It's after midnight, and  a clear night. Go outside and look up at the sky.  If you live south of Stan Schuleuter Looop, you may see some stars.  If you live closer to the old core of the town, you may see Vega or Venus or Jupiter, but mainly you'll be looking at haze caused by lights on Fort Hood.  Is there a reason for Killeen light pollution?  Or is it just old thinking never rethought?  I know I can go 10 miles south of the Lampasas River and see the Milky Way in its glory.  Why can't I even see Orion in the north Killeen sky?

Make vs. buy vs. lease

I need to avail myself of City Manager' Morrison's long-standing offer to educate me on how the city makes decisions about capital purchases.  It's my fault:  I just haven't made the time, and he's offered his.

Here's the question:  The city needs X -- a piece of software, a backhoe, office space .... How do we decide as a city whether we should

• Make or build X ourselves
• Buy X outright
• Lease X?

It's a fundamental financial question.  Every organization faces it, and making the right decision can have large financial impact.

Like most financial questions, the answer depends on the availability and cost of capital; the organization's risk aversion; and historical and political considerations.  The important thing is to have a process for analyzing  each case and a way to evaluate, over time, whether the organization has been making good decisions.

My main reason for bringing the subject up is that, based on the lack of questions I hear asked at City Council Workshop sessions, I doubt whether there are any elected officials who concern themselves with these issues.  If there are good processes in place, that won't matter in the short term, but it might in the long run.

Are groceries political?

I stopped at the new Walmart "Neighborhood Grocery" across from Harker Heights HS tonight.  They seemed to be doing a booming business.  But I left without buying anything  The produce was unappealing and prices were just enough higher than HEB's to irritate me.  The employees were grim-faced and looked harassed, which probably is explained by opening-week jitters.

The market will decide if Walmart succeeds against entrenched HEB, IGA, KMart, Target, and OMA stores in Killeen.  But there is a local political aspect to the grocery wars.  Walmart wants to open a second "neighborhood grocery" at 38th and Rancier in Killeen.  It's in an area that is a couple of miles from the big HEB and Walmart stores and which is served mainly by an aging IGA in the Eastlake shopping center and an aged HEB at 8th and Rancier.  The area, while not depressed, is not thriving, either: some of the least-livable areas of Killeen are within a 2 mile radius of the proposed location.

So we ought to be happy and excited about this development, right?  Probably, but maybe not.  Here are some concerns (and I think some of them rise to the level of political concerns) about a Walmart grocery coming to north Killeen:

• Walmart is not a good neighbor.  The chain has a reputation of not playing nice and of raising prices in areas where their stores gain dominance.  Towns and neighborhoods where Walmart becomes the dominant vendor are rarely described as "better off" than they were before the takeover.
• Walmart has a reputation for costing a community more than they bring to it.  With great success comes great power, and, apparently, low wages and government assistance for employees.
• Walmart exploits workers, both domestically (especially where the become the dominant retail vendor) and internationally.
• It will be great if Walmart's coming means we have more choices on the north side of town -- HEB, IGA and Walmart -- but what if it instead reduces the choices, to Walmart and HEB, or Walmart alone?  I don't see this increasing the quality of life for citizens of the 1st and 2nd wards.

No worse than Killeer

I met with some of my co-religionists in Waco yesterday.  We were discussing some aspect of city government and one of the senior members commented "at least we're no worse than Killeen". (This was before they knew I'm from here.)  There were chuckles and the comment "we don't have to set the bar that low."  Killeen: the Rodney Dangerfield of Central Texas cities.

Truth and Statistics

One of the two top-of-page-1 stories in today's Killeen Daily Herald is a report of a study done by a social media site, "WalletHub", that ranks Killeen as the 18th fastest-growing cities in the United States during the period 2008-2012.  The article has a little OMG vibe (that's OK: it's what local newspapers do), but it tries to put the report in context (Don Crutchfield, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce is quoted saying there's good growth and not-so-good growth).  The notable omission is that there is no discussion of the methodology involved in the study.

Bad news:  WaletHub doesn't disclose much information about its methodology.  We aren't told, for example, how growth is measured; whether cities are ranked with cities of similar sizes (the article seems to suggest so, but Austin is in the same list as Killeen).  Webhub does ckaim that 516 cities were surveyed, but nowhere does it appear that Killeen was compared to all 516, or, if so, how.

It probably doesn't matter much whether Killeen is #18 of 100 or of 516 in growth.  We know the population is inreasing rapidly.  Killeen already has more citizens thatn Waco.  What might be of interest is whether Killeen is #97 in full-time job increases out of 100 or some larger number.

I don't know enough about WalletHub to judge their ability to do this kind of study. They may be expert statisticians, or know some.  But the vagueness of what they've put on their web site, and what has been reported about it, makes me skeptical that we should (for example) plaster this information over Killeen promotional material without further vetting.

Goodbye, term limits

The Killeen City Council voted tonight to continue in office Johnny Frederick, chairman of the city Planning and Zoning Commission, even though he has already served on the board for as long as the city term-limit ordinance allows.

In effect, the Council set a precedent that term limits no longer apply to the boards and commissions that do the bulk of the policy-making in Killeen city government.  It's just as bad an idea as it sounds.

I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Johnny Frederick.  By all accounts he has done a good job as a member and as chairman of P&Z.  His expereince is highly prized by the other 8 members of the board and, I think, by the city staff.  But there are reasons -- good, strong, and widely-acknowledged reasons -- for term limits. Councilman Harris, who was one of three council members to vote against the precedent-setting reappointment, pointed out one of them: we term-limit appointees so that others can build up knowledge and expertise.

Other powerful reasons for term limits, unremarked on by the City Council, are

• Term limits can help break a cycle of cronyism.  This reason doesn't apply to Mr Frederick, but it may to the next term-limited member the Council's precedent allows to remain.
• Term limits encourage ordinary citizens to get involved in policy-making.  A large number of volunteers for board and commission seats were motivated when they heard that "a slot was opening up."
• Term limits put a boundary on the influence of special interests.
• Term limits encourage diversity and fresh ideas.

My main hope for a way out of the mess created by Mayor Cosper and council-members Blackstone, Segarra, Gilmore and Rivera is that Johnny Frederick will realize it's in the best interest of Killeen that he decline what must be a flattering offer to continue on P&Z.

Old North Kileen

Old North Killeen is my neignborhood, though I'm on one of the newer streets.  Today's editorial in the Killeen Daily Herald suggests that these older neighborhoods are under-served in terms of amenities, especially grocery stores, and praises Walmart's decision to open a store at38th and Rancier.

I agree that few businesses have targeted north Killeen in recent years, and many have abandoned it. The site of the new Walmart has been a decaying vacant lot for 10 years.  But the area is not badly served by the HEB at 8th and Rancier and the IGA at 38th and Rancier. (They are only 15 blocks apart: Killeen adopted a plan of even-numbered streets to the east, odd-numbered to the west, then forgot to number the western ones).

I don't object to a grocery there.  It's a better use than the movie theater that used to be on that corner, or the weed garden it is now.  I do worry that it will drive the IGA (300 yards away) out of business, and that it will perpetuate Waknart;s pattern of hiring people at wages that entitle them  (indeed, require them) to file for public assistance.  I'd as soon pay full price for my groceries as require the checker to seek government help to provide the family dinner.

"Straight Talk" Panel Discussion

Yesterday I mentioned that Killeen NAACP President Taneika Driver-Moultrie sponsored a meeting at VFW Post 9191 on Tuesday.  The subject was general enough: what are the _real_ issues that plague the area and what concerns the community.  I wish I had gone, and I hope I see the notices when there are meetings like it in the future.  From the report in the Killeen Daily Herald it seems that the discussion was among a panel consisting of KPD Chief Dennis Baldwin; Ardrell Evans, president of the local chapter of Omega Psi Phi; Miclelle Brown, a member of the local Cadillac Alliance Car Club; Tiffany Kirk of the 300 Car Club; Calvin Moultrie of Men of Unity; and perhaps others -- the article is not clear.  The important point is that real issues were discussed:  racial profiling in general, racial profiling in specific in Killeen -- with real-life examples, KPD's efforts to make the police force more diverse, and the entire community's dependence on the clear, fair and impartial enforcement of the laws.

I have to contrast this meeting with the meeting I _did_ attend on Tuesday, the Killeen City Council workshop, which addressed, for the most part, the issues important to real estate developers.  That doesn't fairly summarize the workshop, but I believe it was the flavor.

Conflicting meetings on Tuesday

There were two Killeen Politics-related meetings on Tuesday.  Both of them are covered, in part, in today's Killeen Daily Herald.  I think I went to the wrong one.

The City Council workshop (which I attended) featured two things of note: a brief and unsavoury pissing match between council members Okray and Rivera; and the announcement by Mayor Cosper that he intends to promote a review of the "Killeen Vision 2030" long-term plan that was approved in 2007.  Since I was there, that's what today's blog will be about.

The other meeting was a "Straight Talk panel discussion" at VFW post 9191.  That will be the subject of the next Killeen Politics blog post.

I don't think "straight talk" entirely describes Mayor Cosper's announcement of his new long-term planning initiative.  He expressed himself in general terms and didn't cite specific events that  require  a review, other than that one long-term goal, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, is now a reality.  But 7 years isn't a bad cycle for reviewing  these kinds of goals.  It's probably time,  or would be soon, and city government should use the Mayor's proposal to set up a process for periodically renewing a broad, high-level vision of Killeen's future.

I very much like City Manager Morrison's suggestion that the process should start with very wide participation.  In fact, if we should fail to get that kind of participation, it would suggest to me that the time is not yet right.  So get ready: the target date for the first public meeting is October or November.  Please review the current plan, and get ready to participate when called upon.

More on Klleen Economic Development Corporation (part 1)

The KEDC web site leaves some things to be desired -- there's no search capability or site map, for instance -- but it does have quite a bit of information.  I'll be blogging about that information as I digest it.

One thing that caught my immediate attention was on the "about" page:

KEDC is funded wholly by the City of Killeen. 

But

The KEDC is run by a nine-member Board of Directors who serves three-year staggered terms. Three board members each are chosen by the City of Killeen, the Killeen Industrial Foundation and the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce.

I'm from the business world, and I don't know what the conventions are in pseudo-governmental corporations, but I would expect 100% of the funding to buy more than 33% of the representation on the Board of Directors.  But set that aside: perhaps the City Council had good reason for agreeing to this when the KEDC authorization ordinance was passed in 1990.

What is KEDC authorized to do with the $700,000 or so it receives annually from the Killeen City government?  The mandate is pretty broad:

The ordinance permits KEDC to commit and spend funds received from the city, without the necessity of securing prior approval of the City Council, providing that the expenditures contribute to the creation of new jobs or retention of existing jobs in the City of Killeen and contribute to the public welfare.

Given that the City Council routinely reviews and considers unbudgeted expenditures of just a few thousand dollars from the General Fund, this represents great trust in KEDC by the Council.

But none of this casts much light on my main question about KEDC:  "How can we tell whether we're getting our money's worth?"  Next time wel'll look at "representative accomplishment" of the corporation.

Deteriorating recent local history

Looking through the 10 or 12 books in the Killeen public library that address the history of the city, county and region, I was struck with the poor condition of some of the volumes.  There are no replacements for these: the original production runs were small, and there have been no subsequent editions.

I also spent time with the microfilm archives of the Killeen Daily Herald, which go back to 1953.  The microfilm is in good shape, but the readers are decrepit, and I doubt there are many who can maintain them.

Local politics depend on understanding local history.  What's needed is a program to convert the text preserved on paper and microfilm to digital media, which deteriorate at much, much slower rates. The cost of this is not insignificant, but not crazy expensive, either.  When I go back to work, I could probably finance it easily.

I wonder if the Killeen Daily Herald might take the lead on this?  In the long run, they need searchable, digital archives.  Their continued relevance depends on it.  The cost of scanning a dozen library books would be a minor addition.

How we ended up with a chain of cities

It's bad form to blog about two subjects in the same post, so I'll foreshadow.  I spent a couple of hours at the Killeen Public Library main branch this afternoon researching today's blog topic.  The experience opened my eyes to some problems that will face our children and grandchildren.  I'll write about those problems tomorrow.

The information below is taken largely from Gra'Delle Duncan's "Tale of Two Cities, 1882-1982", of which Killeen households should have a copy:

As I suggested yesterday, it was almost accidental that we ended up with a chain of three "cities" along Nolan Creek west of Belton -- Nolanville, Harker Heights and Killeen.  Nolanville is the oldest by quite a bit.  There has been a "Warren" or "Nolan Valley" or "Nolandville" or "Nolanville" in the general area of the current town (although not continuously) since the 1850s.  Harker Heights is by far the junior.  It was just the figment of a farmer's imagination until 1957 and didn't get a name until 1960.  Killeen has some bona fides, having developed as a market town and railroad watering stop in the 1880s.

Killeen was the first of the three to get a city charter.  There was a mayor of Killeen (W. E. Hudson) by 1893.  The areas now occupied by Copperas Cove (in Coryell County), Fort Hood (spanning Bell and Coryell), Harker Heights, Nolanville and (unincorporated) Youngsport were part of Killeen's barely-surviving trading area.  In wet years, there was cotton. When it was dry in the 1930s, the whole area came close to blowing away.

By 1942 it was easy for the U.S. Army to buy 108,000 acres, and a year later, an additional 51,000 acres, around Killeen to train anti-tank crews.  The post, then "Camp Hood", changed Killeen fundamentally.

By the mid 1950s, the areas close to Fort Hood were getting crowded (and already a little worn down).  A hog farmer east of town, P.R. Cox, went into business with Harley Kern to develop pasture land for additional housing outside the Killeen city limit.  The city of Killeen didn't want to take on the burden of a larger and more spread-out population, leaving Cox with a dilemma that he explained:

We really felt Killeen would expand and we would become part of that town. But long before this could happen, the area needed services such as garbage collection, police protection, pet control and other services which required incorporation.

So September 24, 1960, as the result of an incorporation election, the city of Harker Heights was created, with Cox as the first mayor.  Since then, with some periods of setback mainly connected with reductions in troop strength at Fort Hood, Harker Heights has prospered.  Some of the gaudiest and some of the most attractive homes in the Nolan Valley are in Harker Heights.

Nolanville, still unorganized 110 years after the first anglo settlers moved in, finally incorporated on March 27, 1961. I've been unable to find out what motivated the incorporation election (which passed by votes of 64-8), but I suspect is was to keep the area from being sucked up by the newly incorporated Harker Heights.

So now we have three city governments for no very good reason.  There is a political question: Do we want to do anything about it?

A real metroplex

What if, instead of three geographically contiguous city governments operating between the top of the Nolanville hill and Central Texas College, there were one?  (This is a question, not a proposal; I expect we'll find lots to say on the subject.)

First and foremost, it would save a lot of money. I'll put together some numbers.

Second, and almost as important, it would release the Nolanville area from a frequently inept city government that has periodically plagued it over many years.

It would create an entity that could manage land use in ways that actually make sense in terms of green space, water supplies, fire protection, public safety, roads and traffic. None of the existing corporations has done a bang-up job in any of these areas, but a combined entity would have a better chance.

It would create a municipal entity that neatly maps to the existing Independent School District, which should lead to improved efficiencies and cooperation between essential government bodies that have not always played well together.

It would create a cooperative economic environment rather than the current competitive one, which should benefit the people of the area.  For the most part, it doesn't matter to the residents whether a new business locates within the limits of Harker Heights or Killeen, and it shouldn't matter to local government, either.

(My next post will address the historical accidents that created 3 separate governments in the first place.)

KCC and KEDC Funding

The issue about which I was extensively (and unexpectedly) quoted in Sunday's Killeen Daily Herald, the city grant of $1.6 million to the Killeen Chamber of Commerce and the Killeen Economic Development Corporation for another two years, passed without opposition and almost without comment at this afternoon's Killeen City Council meeting.  I don't oppose the funding, but I have questions about it, and I think the City Council should have some as well.

An organization with so vague a purpose as "economic development" must necessarily lack short-term measures of success.  "We wined and dined X corporation, but they decided to build a factory in Reno instead" might be considered a success or a failure: Success: we got X to consider Killeen; failure: they didn't bite.

But over a long period of time -- say, the decades KEDC has been funded -- it ought to be possible to measure what economic results are attributible to the money Killeen has provided the organization; or at least forecast the results we might reasonably expect in the future from such an investment. That is the documentaation that I want to see, and that I think City government should want to see, and verify, as well.  It would make sense for the information to be validated by an outside party.

I may be back, but I have to practice

Although I will never overcome the personal setback that made me abandon this blog two years ago, I think I have enough enthusiasm now to resume it.  One stumbling block -- the conflict of choir practice with City Council meetings -- has been removed, and I plan to attend the meetings and workshops, and comment as I see fit.

I've been writing, but not in blogspeak.  I think I need to warm up.  So here apropos of nothing political, are "Ten Principles of Local Curmudgeonly Cooking":

1. Use your garden.  Killeen is a surprisingly good location for gardening, as long as you generate enough compost to mediate the caliche that underlies everything.  I can't give you concrete evidence that the vegetables from my garden are better than those from HEB, because when I have vegetables in my garden, I don't buy any from HEB.  But they are at least better because they are mine.

2. Use ridiculously large amounts of garlic.  Pick a quantity that screams "too much".  Double it.  It will be fine.

3. Meat is OK.  There's nothing wrong with some meat.  But it's so expensive that, not only is it not required for every meal, it's not even feasible.

4. Dinner is what's in the fridge, cupboard and/or garden.  I'm not saying you can't plan ahead for a corned beef-and-cabbage  feast in March, but in general you should be flexible enough to make something yummy out of what's at hand and about to go bad.

5. A corollary to 4: shop the sales.  Money doesn't mint itself.  Look for stuff you would buy anyway that's cheaper today, whatever the reason (other than that the expiration date is passed).

6.  There are meals that are not improved by adding roasted Hatch peppers.  But I don't make them.

7. There are a few local wild vegetables that are edible parts of the year.  Prickly-pear fruit and young
pads (nopales) are chief among them.  They require long and careful preparation, and don't always
repay the effort, but the price is right.  Dandelions and mustang grapes qualify as well.  I'd stay away from cat tail and arrow root tubors in most environments, though; I worry about ground water pollution.

8. Oatmeal is good any time of the day.

9. Bananas.  'Nuf said.

10. A glass of wine, especially Texas wine, is good with any meal except breakfast.