Oh those local blogs!

Visits to this site dropped off this past week, and I'm wondering if it might be due to all the exiting action up town. (It's old news now, Jessica's Well taking the Midland Development Corporation to task over the MDC's decision to award two million bucks to a company for a parking garage.)

Granted, it's a pretty big deal, and observers may be wondering why the complainers are doing nothing but complain about it. What else could they do? Initiatives and referenda are authorized by the City Charter -- see Article VII, and why should Californians have all the fun? It takes a committee of five plus signatures on petitions of at least 10% of the qualified voters, which comes to a little more than 7,000 signatures needed.

Aside:  I don't mean any insult by this, but I just can't stop smiling at the image of a petition table manned with people with bags over their heads.

And one more tiny bit of irreverence. The other day we had the opportunity to observe the remarkable spectacle of a newspaper man planting a big wet compliment on Jessica's Well. It's enough to make one speculate that there may be a job offer pending between them. But to show just how far out of the loop I am, I didn't even know Jessica's Well was hiring.

Comments

[ospurt]

The compensation and benefits package at Jessica's Well is very easy to explain: none and none. We even have to provide our own Paper Sacks.

[ospurt]

http://www.tml.org/legal_pdf/EconDevDissolution.pdf

Here's a nice primer on how to dissolve a 4A/4B corporation. Given only 7 EDC have ever been dissolved in Texas, I'm not holding out much hope unless the Council decides they want to dissolve the 4A/4B's and transfer the taxes to fund property tax reductions. Though, that doesn't eliminate the amount of tax we pay, just shuffles the pot.

[Geo]

Seven sounds like a lot to me, Ospurt. But maybe it's a half full, half empty glass. There are probably folks out there who would like to end it, but there are obviously plenty of others who only want a say in how the pie is sliced.

Thanks for clearing that up about the JW wage/benefit package. I was joking, but one never knows how those things are perceived. Apologies for any avalanche of resumes that may have resulted. (And please return mine.)

BTW, since the gauntlet has been passed to you folks at JW, you're the new msm.

[stewart doreen]

Don't know if this matters but the only job offer I have received recently is to blog with Live Midland (unpaid unfortunately. I have to talk with my agent about that). I will start sometime in June.
Actually, Site Admin and I had a deal done, but then they promptly traded me to the Chamber (Live Midland)for a promise the MDC won't bring any more call centers to Midland and a couple Bush Country t-shirts. So I kind of reached player to be named status there.
Commenting for the people at the Well? I can only dream.

Thanks for the commentary, George.

[Geo]

Ha Ha! Pretty good, Stewart.

If we get the hyperinflation some predict then those Bush Country t-shirts may be collectibles, so they placed a high future value on you. Thanks for that clarification as well as the inspiration.

You'll be a great addition to livemidlandtexas.com, and the rest of us won't have to give our birthdays to the Hearst Corporation in order to leave our high quality comments.

[jimmy]

Hey, they didn't ask me to blog at Live Midland. What the? Teacher's pet.

[Geo]

Jimmy, you would be a great addition to Live Midland -- they are missing a good opportunity. Maybe you accidentally stepped on someone's toes over there.

[Rettu]

The Harlequin NASCAR tie-in seems brilliant to me. There are two prmboels, though. The first is that the only name I'm associating with NASCAR is that of Harlequin itself. Authors other than the flagship author (the one who is--was?--the wife of a NASCAR driver) are not being connected very strongly and, see, I don't even remember the name of the major author--maybe it's Jennifer Bishop? The second point is that Bishop is being identified so strongly with NASCAR that I wonder how they're ever going to promote her writing about any other topic.Another excellent marketing idea is Brenda Novak's Juvenile Diabetes Foundation auction (and I don't think that just because I've offered an auction item two years in a row). It connects her to a deeper, wider and more perilous world. The best thing is that it completely reflects Brenda herself as well as the people her stories are about: passionate, caring, driven individuals who could walk a straight line through a hurricane. Great blog, BTW. You talk about some really substantive issues. Thanks.Cheers,Sally