More support for our police department and the neccessary tools they need to protect our community. Also, an increase to their salary so that we can compete in the job market to get qualified and educated recruits. These people put their life on the line every day for us and take home less then most teachers.
What do YOU want to see on council, MyBCS?
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Last: 15 yr ago by AgCPA
The single best thing that could be done right away is to fire Harvey Cargill and hire a City Attorney who can give advice that will keep the City OUT of court.
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5) We need more police officers, and higher pay for them at that. We need enough officers to deter crime, not just catch the criminals afterwards.
I must have a different measuring stick. Seems to me like crime is pretty well discouraged. I don't see lots of theft, murder, rape, etc.
Sounds like you want more cameras on Northgate, etc. 1984 / London isn't really my cup of tea.
I wasn't referring to Northgate at all. I was referring to the fact that 10 years ago a convenience store robbery would have been RARE, yet two months ago we escalated to murder of a convenience store clerk.
Basically if our police have to do anything except drive around to quiet down parties that are out of control, we need more police to deter any sort of real crime.
Basically if our police have to do anything except drive around to quiet down parties that are out of control, we need more police to deter any sort of real crime.
You need a pattern of crime to establish a need. There will always be a crazy person doing a crazy thing that will not be discouraged regardless of the size of the police force.
The guys they arrested had robbed another store, and robbed other peoples houses. They both had records, that is your pattern. They weren't crazy, they were criminals living amongst us.
These two were outliers. There will always be outliers. There will always be crime. There is no pattern of convenience store knock offs, nor convenience store murders, nor significant house knock offs. When the criminals are no longer outliers, then we have a problem.
Is there any evidence that CS is having a difficult time recruiting quality police officers?
I don't know about anyone else, but I can't get in and out of my vehicle without seeing at least ONE CSPD patrol car on our streets.
Maybe they need to direct their focus away from traffic-related offenses.
Maybe they need to direct their focus away from traffic-related offenses.
Two things:
First BlueTeam........Camelot doesn't exist.
More importantly this entire thread. Having thoughts expressed by people using screen names is no way to dictate anything as important as the direction of a city.
First BlueTeam........Camelot doesn't exist.
More importantly this entire thread. Having thoughts expressed by people using screen names is no way to dictate anything as important as the direction of a city.
Let Wellborn vote.
The city bought two pieces of land in the last 2-3 years... the Chimney Hill Center and the land over off of Holleman for some "low-income development" or somee such. In both cases, they paid exactly twice the appraised value.
The excuse the council gave for this was that the property really wasn't appraised at its correct value.
So, there are two possible scenarios here regarding their excuse:
1) It's not true. For a property to be valued at HALF its value when that half ends up being about $4 million OFF the correct value, well, that seems like a big stretch.
2) It is true! If that is the case, I can't imagine that the only TWO pieces of property that the city wanted to purchase are appraised at half their value. For Chimney Hill the City was losing $4million * Tax rate in revenue for many years before they bought it.
So, there is probably lots of other property out there listed at half value that the city is losing tax dollars on.
Figure which one is true... spendthrift council overpaying because they aren't taking good care of our money, or lots of property that is appraised way under value that is costing the city tax dollars.
The excuse the council gave for this was that the property really wasn't appraised at its correct value.
So, there are two possible scenarios here regarding their excuse:
1) It's not true. For a property to be valued at HALF its value when that half ends up being about $4 million OFF the correct value, well, that seems like a big stretch.
2) It is true! If that is the case, I can't imagine that the only TWO pieces of property that the city wanted to purchase are appraised at half their value. For Chimney Hill the City was losing $4million * Tax rate in revenue for many years before they bought it.
So, there is probably lots of other property out there listed at half value that the city is losing tax dollars on.
Figure which one is true... spendthrift council overpaying because they aren't taking good care of our money, or lots of property that is appraised way under value that is costing the city tax dollars.
1) Get the city out of the land baron business and into governance, police, fire, safety.
2) Increase parking in northgate
3) Relax building ordinances, sign ordinances to encourage more growth.
4) Offer large tax incentives to companies with high paying jobs to locate here.
5) Cooperatively work with the county to put a museum and possibly an IMAX in the city center, northgate.
2) Increase parking in northgate
3) Relax building ordinances, sign ordinances to encourage more growth.
4) Offer large tax incentives to companies with high paying jobs to locate here.
5) Cooperatively work with the county to put a museum and possibly an IMAX in the city center, northgate.
Responsibility -
Realize that it's not free money council plays with - it's ours.
Realize that it's not free money council plays with - it's ours.
Just because there will never be camelot or utopia doesn't mean we can't keep trying to make things better. It won't be perfect, but we can keep trying instead of resting on our laurels.
Great use of the term "Outliers", Stucco!
Sell the chimney hill land and partner with A&M on the campus pointe project.
That said I think this discussion would work better if you created topics for each area of discussion and kept feedback to that specific topic (one for the convention center, one for the multifamily housing, etc)
That said I think this discussion would work better if you created topics for each area of discussion and kept feedback to that specific topic (one for the convention center, one for the multifamily housing, etc)
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More importantly this entire thread. Having thoughts expressed by people using screen names is no way to dictate anything as important as the direction of a city.
There is NOTHING wrong with asking for input. He is our REPRESENTITIVE and he is using all means at his disposal to get input/feedback. He can, at his discretion, toss ideas that are not doable, or have little to no merit.
Otherwise, this is just information flow.
While many threads on here collapse under the negativity most people show it is still just information to be used by our representitive as he sees fit.
This is great! Thanks to so many of you for participating!
Please keep 'em coming. I know that there are at least one or two others on CoCS council who read this forum.
Keep an eye out for the town hall meeting as well, which will be coming up as soon as I can find a space for it. I'll post about it when a date/time/place is settled.
God Bless,
Jess
Please keep 'em coming. I know that there are at least one or two others on CoCS council who read this forum.
Keep an eye out for the town hall meeting as well, which will be coming up as soon as I can find a space for it. I'll post about it when a date/time/place is settled.
God Bless,
Jess
Best suggestion I can make: don't be the myBCS councilmember. Listen to those folks who actually show up to council meetings, sign the register, and/or speak.
Take everything you read on this forum at face value, as there are far too many crackpots or pot-stirrers on here who may or may not live in our city limits (or even the surrounding area for that matter), and I want to hear what actual residents/voters want from their council. A majority of the voters felt you should be entrusted with this opportunity. Now you have to prove to the rest of the city that you can manage it.
Take everything you read on this forum at face value, as there are far too many crackpots or pot-stirrers on here who may or may not live in our city limits (or even the surrounding area for that matter), and I want to hear what actual residents/voters want from their council. A majority of the voters felt you should be entrusted with this opportunity. Now you have to prove to the rest of the city that you can manage it.
Informed,
I will not be the "MyBCS" councilmember. I understand this is a forum on the internet that anyone can register and post on.
I also understand, however, that most of the people here are real people, that they live in our community, and that their opinions are worth hearing.
The ultimate form of communication will always be one-on-one, and that is open to anyone on here who wants to talk more in depth about anything.
Jess.
I will not be the "MyBCS" councilmember. I understand this is a forum on the internet that anyone can register and post on.
I also understand, however, that most of the people here are real people, that they live in our community, and that their opinions are worth hearing.
The ultimate form of communication will always be one-on-one, and that is open to anyone on here who wants to talk more in depth about anything.
Jess.
But wouldn't it be much more productive to have people show up to meetings or write a letter directly to their council member? I've never found forums to be the best place to discuss serious issues.
Fund basic services first.
Be willing to discuss and set priorities.
Public safety is more important than concerts.
Good roads are more important than good parks.
Be willing to spend money on worthwhile projects.
Think about where the basic services are weak and spend the money there.
Oh... one more thing. Beware of spending requests that come outside the budget discussions. It is hard to know how one decision affects another when you only look at one thing at a time.
[This message has been edited by Vox Humana (edited 5/11/2010 3:01p).]
Be willing to discuss and set priorities.
Public safety is more important than concerts.
Good roads are more important than good parks.
Be willing to spend money on worthwhile projects.
Think about where the basic services are weak and spend the money there.
Oh... one more thing. Beware of spending requests that come outside the budget discussions. It is hard to know how one decision affects another when you only look at one thing at a time.
[This message has been edited by Vox Humana (edited 5/11/2010 3:01p).]
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But wouldn't it be much more productive to have people show up to meetings or write a letter directly to their council member? I've never found forums to be the best place to discuss serious issues.
Doc, it's not necessarily a great place to discuss everything because I cannot really have a good in-depth discussion with any particular person on here about an issue; that is for the phone, or better yet for an in-person conversation.
However, it is not a bad way to get a sort of "snapshot" about what some folks are thinking and to perhaps get some ideas about things I wouldn't otherwise think about.
Finally, I hope that a lot of the folks who are interested in responding to this thread, for example, would help to get other people involved in talking to the city council about their issues, whatever those might be.
Jess
quote:I agree wholeheartedly, yet my point was based on the difficulty involved in proving the second part of your statement,at least in regards to this forum.
I also understand, however, that most of the people here are real people, that they live in our community, and that their opinions are worth hearing.
Its more than satisfactory to listen to the morning radio show chatter, read the local op-eds, and watch the online message boards, but (as with every political office, IMO) its the most passionate/dependable people who should reap the greatest reward, i.e. those residents who take the time out of their busy schedule to share and defend their opinions/perspectives before council.
The bottom line is this: You are charged with conducting business in a manner which is most beneficial to the entire city of College Station. Therefore, you must assess things in the following light: Give all projects a fair assessment before simply postponing or killing long-term development projects, taking into account the economic and social impact. If it is financially beneficial to the city to annex Wellborn (and CS electorate willing) then that must also be your conclusion. In other words, don't adopt the 'spend money to make money' or 'field of dreams' mentality if it doesn't make sound, fiscal sense. Its been mentioned elsewhere on this thread already, but always remember that very rarely will you make a decision that doesn't have a profound impact on a whole host of other past/future decisions.
I do not live in CS, but my husband was a police sergeant for 29 years in CS. He used to do the staffing studies, using several formulae accepted across the continent, using all types of factors from population, miles of streets, amount of certain crimes, etc.
BLueTeam is right. CS needs more cops. A good thing for folks to look at would be the Broken Window Syndrome.
BLueTeam is right. CS needs more cops. A good thing for folks to look at would be the Broken Window Syndrome.
Broken Window Syndrome applies, but argues in my favor. The window was not left broken. There is not a problem.
The only way to completely eliminate crime is to completely eliminate freedom. That's just not very American of you!
The only way to completely eliminate crime is to completely eliminate freedom. That's just not very American of you!
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8) Use the land inside the city limits for development before allowing developers to develop outside of the city limits, preventing urban sprawl.
The City can not 'not allow' developers to develop outside the city limits.
It is the marketplace that encourages urban sprawl. Developers create a product that the market desires and will buy. Believe it or not, most (not all) people want to live in a comfey house with a yard on a quiet cul-de-sac. They are also willing to drive some distance in traffic to get to work or to shop in order to have that lifestyle.
To those of you worried about Jess being the "MyBCS council member," I'm pretty sure he understands old school, grass roots hand-to-hand politics as well or better than a lot of the people who post here.
If you want to write letters, then write letters. If you want to go to meetings, then go to meetings. Whatever. Just be involved. But don't waste time arguing about proper modes of communication. You can't make the internet go away.
If you want to write letters, then write letters. If you want to go to meetings, then go to meetings. Whatever. Just be involved. But don't waste time arguing about proper modes of communication. You can't make the internet go away.
This is going to work out real well.
Those who claim to know grassroots politics often are the ones who need the most (re)education on the subject.
"Assumption is the mother of all ----ups." - Under Siege 2.
"Assumption is the mother of all ----ups." - Under Siege 2.
If Agstone doesn't like it, that's a good sign.
There is a reason why our mayors, district attorneys, city managers, fire chiefs, police chiefs judges, and other government leaders don't solicit opinions and suggestions from message boards.
Mr. Fields will look back on this once he has some experience as a city leader and realize that this is not the best idea.
Mr. Fields will look back on this once he has some experience as a city leader and realize that this is not the best idea.
Messageboards are DA DEBUL!
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6) Also money for better schools and teachers.
You realize this isn't a function of your city government right?