By popular demand, here is a chance for literally everyone to get mad! Full disclosure: I will be turning off TexAgs through the weekend as we approach Oktoberfest Dallas on Saturday (y'all come out!), so any back-and-forth will have to wait. As per usual, 93.4% of the discussion on socials has been about the top of ballot stuff, where I am fully aware that I will change no minds. But hey.
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OJ's 2026 Texas General Election Guide (Strictly for Entertainment Purposes): Are we seriously here edition?!
Ok sports fans, it is time. Time for productive members of our society to get familiar with their ballots and vote. This one was honestly a little easier, if sadder, that past editions. The State-Wide Republican candidates, with a few exceptions, seem like they were grown in an evil scientist's lab. It's really something…in the worst way. Our primary system is completely broken, but that's for another day. Time to head down that ballot!
US SENATE
I've spilt plenty of ink on here in the past about Paxton, so I won't belabor the point. He is unacceptable, period stop end. "But Talarico is so progressive!" Yes he is. But the damage to the conservative movement by electing a man like Paxton is far FAR greater than electing a dorky young progressive. The Republican party needs a kick in the teeth, and it starts here.
Recommendation: Talarico
US HOUSE District 5
Well, we've been gerrymandered yet again. Back to East Texas with House Rep Lance Gooden. Gooden is a fire-brand toadie with basically no legislative accomplishments, happily throwing culture war arrows that make small dollar donors smile. Well informed sources tell me he's upping his grifting game too. The democrat being offered up so tribute, Chelsey Hockett, is a 33 year old, (apparently) single mom, who is light on experience and long on boiler-plate progressive wishes. Bleh race. Gooden will win, but hopefully we can scare up a good primary challenger next time.
Recommendation: Hockett or blank
GOVERNOR
Greg Abbott makes me sad. He has many good qualities, but has been wearing a Trump-suit for a decade and it is warping him. And the eroding state of public education in Texas should be a major concern for all Texans. But I'm not impressed with Hinojosa either. Either way, this is going to be a tight race.
NO Recommendation
LT GOVERNOR
Astute readers of my election guides will note that I have never recommended Dan Patrick. Nor shall I this time. I liked Mike Collier a lot better than Vicki Goodwin, but it is way past time for Patrick (age 76) to retire.
Recommendation: Goodwin...soft
ATTORNEY GENERAL
All right, the first election without household names! State Senator Nathan Johnson vs State Senator MAGA Mayes Middleton (although it appears he's been dropping the MAGA part of late…a 30% approval rate will do that). Johnson is my Senator, and while he's left of me, he's whip-smart and, per friends that work with him on various issues, very open minded. Mayes has promised anything but an open mind and will continue to fight whatever culture war fight he is assigned from his true leader in DC.
Recommendation: Johnson
COMPTROLLER
Here is where it gets weird…Dandy Don Huffines, my former State Senator, famous yeller to school children, perennial candidate since getting ran out of office, appears to have found a spot he can buy. Huffines was appointed as acting Comptroller when Glen Haggar left to head A&M. He promised to DOGE the department, and boy, has he. He fired a bunch of folks within weeks of taking the helm, but, that's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is Don has named Noah Betz, age 24, as his number 2, and is paying him $25K a MONTH. WHAT?
His opponent is Sarah Eckhardt, current State Senator, and former Travis County Judge (top elected official of a county). Her approach has been simple: no nonsense, no culture wars, no promises to change things not in her purview. Just do the work.
Recommendation: Eckhardt
GENERAL LAND OFFICE
Ok Republican friends, some happy news. Dawn Buckingham has been pretty dang competent in her role as Commissioner of GLO, most recently stepping up in the Big Bend wall dispute, while administering other aspects of her office well. Her carefully crafted image betrays desires for higher offices in the future, but that can wait. Her opponent Ben Flores was originally running for governor and switched horses mid-stream. I see no reason to change.
Recommendation: Buckingham
AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER
Could it be two in a row? YES IT CAN! Nate Sheets, of honey fame, took on MAGA stalwart Sid Miller in the primary and won. Sid had long been on my "worst of" list, so naturally I'm a bit smitten…but Sheets, while not perfect, seems like an extremely earnest and capable leader to return some normalcy to the department.
Recommendation: Sheets
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
Friends, Bo French, the republican candidate, is a bold-face racist, and deeply unserious person. This has been long been known in republican circles; Abbott and Patrick both tried, separately, to get him removed from party leadership. It would be an utter disgrace to see him in ANY elected office, much less in one as important as the agency that oversees Texas's energy markets.
On the Dem side, we have State Rep Jon Rosenthal, who has worked in the industry for 30+ years, and has a solid plan to return the agency to normalcy. This is literally a no-brainer for even the most partisan, "always-Republican" reader. Send French packing.
Recommendation: Rosenthal
State-Wide Judge Time! As a reminder, Texas splits its "supreme court" into 2 pieces: The "Supreme Court" handles civil cases and the "Court of Criminal Appeals" handles criminal cases. Unless circumstances warrant, I'll focus just on my recommendations.
CHIEF JUSTICE SUPREME COURT
This one is a little tough, as both candidates are pretty fire-brandy (at least by judge standards), and the major papers are split, but I'm going with incumbent Jimmy Blacklock. In his years on the state bench, he has shown willingness to buck top state law makers and sticks to a textualist approach.
Recommendation: Blacklock
SUPREME COURT PLACE 2
While James Sullivan has the incumbent "I" by his name, he's only been on the job a year, and has already shown unwavering loyalty not to the state constitution but to his former boss, Abbott (and not the good Abbott). On the other side, Chari Kelly, has had strong legal career, including working as JAG Officer, under Abbott back when he was AG, and as an appellate court judge. Change time.
Recommendation: Kelly
SUPREME COURT PLACE 7
Another short term incumbent, Kyle Hawkins, is being challenged by another candidate with a much better resume, Kristen Hawkins. Wait, two K Hawkins? FUN! Anyway, before getting appointed to the TXSC, Kyle was on the transition team for the US DOJ (and that has gone GREAT!) while Kristen was overseeing cases much like what the TXSC sees.
Recommendation: Kristen Hawkins
SUPREME COURT PLACE 8
Brett Busby has been on the court since 2019 and has shown himself to be a very solid, serious minded, and independent jurist. Keep.
Recommendation: Busby
Quick little history note as we get into the Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2021, the All Republican court ruled against Ken Paxton on a (supposed) voter fraud case. Since then, Paxton has made replacing the members a personal mission, and has been extremely effective. This Paxton guy sure seems like a bad apple….
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 3
Pretty bleh race, with two flawed candidates, but democrat Okey Anyiam has a long history in criminal law and republican Thomas Smith is a Paxton acolyte, so…
Recommendation: Anyiam
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 4
Incumbent Kevin Yeary was the lone dissenter in that 2021 case and hasn't faced Paxton's wrath, but is a solid jurist and wins the recommendation of all four major papers.
Recommendation: Yeary
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 9
The incumbent for this seat was another Paxton victim, and neither candidate to replace him are very impressive in my view. All four major papers give their recommendation to dem Holly Taylor, who has worked in criminal law, and for the court in non-elected roles, her whole career.
Recommendation: Taylor
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT 9
Mega bleh race for the important seat which includes Dallas and much of northeast Texas. The DMN Editorial Board say "no recommendation". The republican, Kason Huddleston, a long-time Assemblies of God minister, is supported by the big names in current state GOP circles, and the democrat, Ericka Ledferd, is supported by, well, not really anyone. Good luck district 9.
Recommendation: None
STATE REP 108
Morgan Meyer has held this seat for 5 terms, chairing the Investigations Committee in 2019 and the powerful Ways & Means Committee in 2021 and 2023. Meyer was one of the House Impeachment Managers in the case against Paxton. He, while not perfect, is smart and reasonable, and deserves to keep his seat.
Recommendation: Meyer
CHIEF JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS
JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 2
JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 3
The 15th Court of Appeals is still a fairly new court (created in 2023) that focuses solely on higher profile cases. Three of the members are up for election, and all three republican incumbents earn high marks from various editorial boards for their independence and smart rulings (and have earned some yelling at from one certain AG…an added bonus in my book).
Recommendation:
15th Chief: Brister
15th Place 2: Field
15th Place 3: Farris
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 3
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 6
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 8
We have 3 Justices to elect in the 5th Court of Appeals, a mid-level appellate court that covers Dallas and 4 surrounding counties. The Court has seen some significant shifts in recent years with various blue and red waves, losing good justices from both parties. Happily for us, the DMN Editorial Board had 1) full participation from all candidates and 2) thinks pretty highly of all them, saying all 3 races were tough calls.
Recommendations:
Place 3: Reichek, solid former justice swept out in 2024
Place 6: Smith, slightly better judicial experience
Place 8: Wysocki, slightly better appellate experience
298th DISTRICT JUDGE
Here we have the ONLY COMPETITIVE DISTRICT JUDGE RACE!! More on that later. As is typical, we are in an information vacuum here. DMN doesn't cover the race, neither have been a judge, so no Dallas Bar rating. Both answered questions for the League of Women Voters, with perfectly acceptable if generic answers. If elected, Clark Will will be the only republican district judge.
Recommendation: flip a coin (I'm voting Will for grins)
A final riff on judges: Dallas has 53 (FIFTY THREE) judges running unopposed for various criminal, family, and probate roles. This is no way to run a railroad. There is absolutely no accountability in this system and it really must be addressed. Note, every single one of the 53 are running as democrats.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
So, the republicans decided not to run anyone and the WORST RATED TRIAL JUDGE Amber Givens somehow won the primary. There is a write-in candidate and he can't possibly be worse.
WRITE IN: Eric Reed
COUNTY JUDGE
Clay Jenkins has been our head County Administrator since 2010. Clay's been quiet since COVID, but man, was that a terrible run. His opponent, Mike Immler, admittedly a long shot at best, is a military guy/executive. The DMN gave their nod to Jenkins but had good things to say about Immler, and Immler laid out a good plan to the League of Women Voters.
Recommendation: Immler
And to the "basically no information" set…
DISTRICT CLERK
This individual leads what I assume is a very large team managing all of the district courts records and child support payments. The challenger, Dave Muehlhaeusler, seems better qualified and had better answers than the incumbent, so he's my recommendation.
COUNTY CLERK
Similar to the previous position in scope, only managing county courts and vital records. Neither candidate is very impressive in my view, but Damarcus Offord has slightly more relevant experience, so we'll go with him.
COUNTY TREASURER
As I said 4 years ago, it is funny to me that this is an elected job, but Pauline Medrano, the incumbent with a famous local name and pedigree, appears to be doing a fine enough job, and her opponent looks pretty dang weak. So Medrano.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT 3, PLACE 1
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT 3, PLACE 2
JPs are critical in our huge county, handling the torrent of smaller cases. The DMN editorial board doesn't do these races (boo), and only the democrat candidates (one incumbent, one a current "visiting JP", meaning she subs in where needed) answered the League of Women Voter questionnaires. Both of their responses seemed fine enough to me.
P3P1: Swartz
P3P2: Rosales
Ok, now some fun…spending money!
COUNTY BOND AAddressing Homelessness
Two years ago, Dallas started a "pilot program" (my term) to address homelessness in downtown, and returns to date have been good. Now they are wanting to take the program county-wide with Prop A. I have talked with several friends on the frontline of dealing with this chronic issue, including the CEO of a large homelessness focused nonprofit, and they support this measure. It is a big ask, but it is a big problem.
Support
DALLAS BOND A
This one has been getting a LOT of attention. It is a multi-part bond focused on our city's first responders. Money for a new DPD academy, new DPD range and training facility, new DPD warehouses, a rebuilt DFD fire station, and moving the 911 call center out of City Hall to a non-downtown location.
Ok, what's the issue? Well, we JUST PASSED a giant bond two years ago. Why weren't these included? And, the "Save City Hall" people (I'm not touching that issue here) do not want any movement out of that building.
These aren't inconsequential issues. Our city government sure seems to have a lot of trouble walking and chewing bubblegum at the same time. The DPD items have been under discussion for years, and the fire station darn well should have been included in the last bond. But "they should have done better" is a frequent citation for inertia in our city, and these are needed item, not fluff projects. As for the 911 center, many big cities intentionally have them outside of the center business district and ours desperately needs more modern accommodations than the basement of a long neglected brutalist behemoth.
Support
Ok, that's all that's fit to print. Might be my longest one of these ever.
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OJ's 2026 Texas General Election Guide (Strictly for Entertainment Purposes): Are we seriously here edition?!
Ok sports fans, it is time. Time for productive members of our society to get familiar with their ballots and vote. This one was honestly a little easier, if sadder, that past editions. The State-Wide Republican candidates, with a few exceptions, seem like they were grown in an evil scientist's lab. It's really something…in the worst way. Our primary system is completely broken, but that's for another day. Time to head down that ballot!
US SENATE
I've spilt plenty of ink on here in the past about Paxton, so I won't belabor the point. He is unacceptable, period stop end. "But Talarico is so progressive!" Yes he is. But the damage to the conservative movement by electing a man like Paxton is far FAR greater than electing a dorky young progressive. The Republican party needs a kick in the teeth, and it starts here.
Recommendation: Talarico
US HOUSE District 5
Well, we've been gerrymandered yet again. Back to East Texas with House Rep Lance Gooden. Gooden is a fire-brand toadie with basically no legislative accomplishments, happily throwing culture war arrows that make small dollar donors smile. Well informed sources tell me he's upping his grifting game too. The democrat being offered up so tribute, Chelsey Hockett, is a 33 year old, (apparently) single mom, who is light on experience and long on boiler-plate progressive wishes. Bleh race. Gooden will win, but hopefully we can scare up a good primary challenger next time.
Recommendation: Hockett or blank
GOVERNOR
Greg Abbott makes me sad. He has many good qualities, but has been wearing a Trump-suit for a decade and it is warping him. And the eroding state of public education in Texas should be a major concern for all Texans. But I'm not impressed with Hinojosa either. Either way, this is going to be a tight race.
NO Recommendation
LT GOVERNOR
Astute readers of my election guides will note that I have never recommended Dan Patrick. Nor shall I this time. I liked Mike Collier a lot better than Vicki Goodwin, but it is way past time for Patrick (age 76) to retire.
Recommendation: Goodwin...soft
ATTORNEY GENERAL
All right, the first election without household names! State Senator Nathan Johnson vs State Senator MAGA Mayes Middleton (although it appears he's been dropping the MAGA part of late…a 30% approval rate will do that). Johnson is my Senator, and while he's left of me, he's whip-smart and, per friends that work with him on various issues, very open minded. Mayes has promised anything but an open mind and will continue to fight whatever culture war fight he is assigned from his true leader in DC.
Recommendation: Johnson
COMPTROLLER
Here is where it gets weird…Dandy Don Huffines, my former State Senator, famous yeller to school children, perennial candidate since getting ran out of office, appears to have found a spot he can buy. Huffines was appointed as acting Comptroller when Glen Haggar left to head A&M. He promised to DOGE the department, and boy, has he. He fired a bunch of folks within weeks of taking the helm, but, that's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is Don has named Noah Betz, age 24, as his number 2, and is paying him $25K a MONTH. WHAT?
His opponent is Sarah Eckhardt, current State Senator, and former Travis County Judge (top elected official of a county). Her approach has been simple: no nonsense, no culture wars, no promises to change things not in her purview. Just do the work.
Recommendation: Eckhardt
GENERAL LAND OFFICE
Ok Republican friends, some happy news. Dawn Buckingham has been pretty dang competent in her role as Commissioner of GLO, most recently stepping up in the Big Bend wall dispute, while administering other aspects of her office well. Her carefully crafted image betrays desires for higher offices in the future, but that can wait. Her opponent Ben Flores was originally running for governor and switched horses mid-stream. I see no reason to change.
Recommendation: Buckingham
AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER
Could it be two in a row? YES IT CAN! Nate Sheets, of honey fame, took on MAGA stalwart Sid Miller in the primary and won. Sid had long been on my "worst of" list, so naturally I'm a bit smitten…but Sheets, while not perfect, seems like an extremely earnest and capable leader to return some normalcy to the department.
Recommendation: Sheets
RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
Friends, Bo French, the republican candidate, is a bold-face racist, and deeply unserious person. This has been long been known in republican circles; Abbott and Patrick both tried, separately, to get him removed from party leadership. It would be an utter disgrace to see him in ANY elected office, much less in one as important as the agency that oversees Texas's energy markets.
On the Dem side, we have State Rep Jon Rosenthal, who has worked in the industry for 30+ years, and has a solid plan to return the agency to normalcy. This is literally a no-brainer for even the most partisan, "always-Republican" reader. Send French packing.
Recommendation: Rosenthal
State-Wide Judge Time! As a reminder, Texas splits its "supreme court" into 2 pieces: The "Supreme Court" handles civil cases and the "Court of Criminal Appeals" handles criminal cases. Unless circumstances warrant, I'll focus just on my recommendations.
CHIEF JUSTICE SUPREME COURT
This one is a little tough, as both candidates are pretty fire-brandy (at least by judge standards), and the major papers are split, but I'm going with incumbent Jimmy Blacklock. In his years on the state bench, he has shown willingness to buck top state law makers and sticks to a textualist approach.
Recommendation: Blacklock
SUPREME COURT PLACE 2
While James Sullivan has the incumbent "I" by his name, he's only been on the job a year, and has already shown unwavering loyalty not to the state constitution but to his former boss, Abbott (and not the good Abbott). On the other side, Chari Kelly, has had strong legal career, including working as JAG Officer, under Abbott back when he was AG, and as an appellate court judge. Change time.
Recommendation: Kelly
SUPREME COURT PLACE 7
Another short term incumbent, Kyle Hawkins, is being challenged by another candidate with a much better resume, Kristen Hawkins. Wait, two K Hawkins? FUN! Anyway, before getting appointed to the TXSC, Kyle was on the transition team for the US DOJ (and that has gone GREAT!) while Kristen was overseeing cases much like what the TXSC sees.
Recommendation: Kristen Hawkins
SUPREME COURT PLACE 8
Brett Busby has been on the court since 2019 and has shown himself to be a very solid, serious minded, and independent jurist. Keep.
Recommendation: Busby
Quick little history note as we get into the Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2021, the All Republican court ruled against Ken Paxton on a (supposed) voter fraud case. Since then, Paxton has made replacing the members a personal mission, and has been extremely effective. This Paxton guy sure seems like a bad apple….
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 3
Pretty bleh race, with two flawed candidates, but democrat Okey Anyiam has a long history in criminal law and republican Thomas Smith is a Paxton acolyte, so…
Recommendation: Anyiam
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 4
Incumbent Kevin Yeary was the lone dissenter in that 2021 case and hasn't faced Paxton's wrath, but is a solid jurist and wins the recommendation of all four major papers.
Recommendation: Yeary
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 9
The incumbent for this seat was another Paxton victim, and neither candidate to replace him are very impressive in my view. All four major papers give their recommendation to dem Holly Taylor, who has worked in criminal law, and for the court in non-elected roles, her whole career.
Recommendation: Taylor
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT 9
Mega bleh race for the important seat which includes Dallas and much of northeast Texas. The DMN Editorial Board say "no recommendation". The republican, Kason Huddleston, a long-time Assemblies of God minister, is supported by the big names in current state GOP circles, and the democrat, Ericka Ledferd, is supported by, well, not really anyone. Good luck district 9.
Recommendation: None
STATE REP 108
Morgan Meyer has held this seat for 5 terms, chairing the Investigations Committee in 2019 and the powerful Ways & Means Committee in 2021 and 2023. Meyer was one of the House Impeachment Managers in the case against Paxton. He, while not perfect, is smart and reasonable, and deserves to keep his seat.
Recommendation: Meyer
CHIEF JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS
JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 2
JUSTICE, 15TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 3
The 15th Court of Appeals is still a fairly new court (created in 2023) that focuses solely on higher profile cases. Three of the members are up for election, and all three republican incumbents earn high marks from various editorial boards for their independence and smart rulings (and have earned some yelling at from one certain AG…an added bonus in my book).
Recommendation:
15th Chief: Brister
15th Place 2: Field
15th Place 3: Farris
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 3
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 6
JUSTICE, 5TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 8
We have 3 Justices to elect in the 5th Court of Appeals, a mid-level appellate court that covers Dallas and 4 surrounding counties. The Court has seen some significant shifts in recent years with various blue and red waves, losing good justices from both parties. Happily for us, the DMN Editorial Board had 1) full participation from all candidates and 2) thinks pretty highly of all them, saying all 3 races were tough calls.
Recommendations:
Place 3: Reichek, solid former justice swept out in 2024
Place 6: Smith, slightly better judicial experience
Place 8: Wysocki, slightly better appellate experience
298th DISTRICT JUDGE
Here we have the ONLY COMPETITIVE DISTRICT JUDGE RACE!! More on that later. As is typical, we are in an information vacuum here. DMN doesn't cover the race, neither have been a judge, so no Dallas Bar rating. Both answered questions for the League of Women Voters, with perfectly acceptable if generic answers. If elected, Clark Will will be the only republican district judge.
Recommendation: flip a coin (I'm voting Will for grins)
A final riff on judges: Dallas has 53 (FIFTY THREE) judges running unopposed for various criminal, family, and probate roles. This is no way to run a railroad. There is absolutely no accountability in this system and it really must be addressed. Note, every single one of the 53 are running as democrats.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
So, the republicans decided not to run anyone and the WORST RATED TRIAL JUDGE Amber Givens somehow won the primary. There is a write-in candidate and he can't possibly be worse.
WRITE IN: Eric Reed
COUNTY JUDGE
Clay Jenkins has been our head County Administrator since 2010. Clay's been quiet since COVID, but man, was that a terrible run. His opponent, Mike Immler, admittedly a long shot at best, is a military guy/executive. The DMN gave their nod to Jenkins but had good things to say about Immler, and Immler laid out a good plan to the League of Women Voters.
Recommendation: Immler
And to the "basically no information" set…
DISTRICT CLERK
This individual leads what I assume is a very large team managing all of the district courts records and child support payments. The challenger, Dave Muehlhaeusler, seems better qualified and had better answers than the incumbent, so he's my recommendation.
COUNTY CLERK
Similar to the previous position in scope, only managing county courts and vital records. Neither candidate is very impressive in my view, but Damarcus Offord has slightly more relevant experience, so we'll go with him.
COUNTY TREASURER
As I said 4 years ago, it is funny to me that this is an elected job, but Pauline Medrano, the incumbent with a famous local name and pedigree, appears to be doing a fine enough job, and her opponent looks pretty dang weak. So Medrano.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT 3, PLACE 1
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT 3, PLACE 2
JPs are critical in our huge county, handling the torrent of smaller cases. The DMN editorial board doesn't do these races (boo), and only the democrat candidates (one incumbent, one a current "visiting JP", meaning she subs in where needed) answered the League of Women Voter questionnaires. Both of their responses seemed fine enough to me.
P3P1: Swartz
P3P2: Rosales
Ok, now some fun…spending money!
COUNTY BOND AAddressing Homelessness
Two years ago, Dallas started a "pilot program" (my term) to address homelessness in downtown, and returns to date have been good. Now they are wanting to take the program county-wide with Prop A. I have talked with several friends on the frontline of dealing with this chronic issue, including the CEO of a large homelessness focused nonprofit, and they support this measure. It is a big ask, but it is a big problem.
Support
DALLAS BOND A
This one has been getting a LOT of attention. It is a multi-part bond focused on our city's first responders. Money for a new DPD academy, new DPD range and training facility, new DPD warehouses, a rebuilt DFD fire station, and moving the 911 call center out of City Hall to a non-downtown location.
Ok, what's the issue? Well, we JUST PASSED a giant bond two years ago. Why weren't these included? And, the "Save City Hall" people (I'm not touching that issue here) do not want any movement out of that building.
These aren't inconsequential issues. Our city government sure seems to have a lot of trouble walking and chewing bubblegum at the same time. The DPD items have been under discussion for years, and the fire station darn well should have been included in the last bond. But "they should have done better" is a frequent citation for inertia in our city, and these are needed item, not fluff projects. As for the 911 center, many big cities intentionally have them outside of the center business district and ours desperately needs more modern accommodations than the basement of a long neglected brutalist behemoth.
Support
Ok, that's all that's fit to print. Might be my longest one of these ever.
