Scot Walker

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Apartment-retail complex planned for downtown Plano is delayed

  "Boy, that'll make driving through downtown Plano even more fun than it already is."

  If they didn't make your car inconvenient, why would you use DART? That's the whole purpose.

  Why do you think Victory Park doesn't have any free parking? They want you to take the rail.

  So what happens? People choose someplace else and the city planners scratch their heads and wonder why nobody is going to their development.

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Is DART considering screwing over Irving on its Orange Line connection to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport?

  And yet, there are still people who back DART. Amazing, isn't it?

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Proposition One victory reinforces my decision to move to Dallas

  Jason,

  I used to act on stage in San Francisco and love performing arts theaters. However, we are a tiny number of people and cannot sustain a district like downtown Plano alone. My point was not to say Plano shouldn't spend any money on the arts, it was to point out that the argument "We should build this and it will revitalize downtown Plano" is flawed.

  If a private company doesn't think they will be profitable putting a project in a certain spot with their own money, it's likely not going to be profitable after putting tax payer money into it.

  People aren't going to go to some destination just because a few individuals in city hall sunk a few million into the project.

  The tax revenue generated from these projects is minimal because the city gives the developers tax abatements to get the project built in the first place.

  In regards Boeing, I don't doubt your honesty about the CEO making a comment, however I think the idea that a performing arts theatre has any significance on a decision of where to relocate is nothing compared to the millions in incentives and tax breaks offered by cities and states.

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County: diversity and elections

  Thanks for the correction, Steve. I voted for you. :)

  "I will be forming a Hispanic political organization in Collin County to address issues close to the Hispanic community."

  I'm being sincere when I ask what issues are only close to the Hispanic community? I understand neighborhood associations, representing residents of a specific neighborhood and their concerns.

  I don't get the idea that there are concerns only one ethnicity has. I'm not being insensitive here. I'd honestly like some enlightenment here.

  The DMN had an article about Mr. Lavu's campaign for PISD, and it had quotes from him (that he denies making) saying that he wanted to represent the Indian-American community and their concerns. I was wondering what concerns Indian-American parents have that I don't?

  As far as I know, Ms. Hinton, who won, didn't make an issue of her race either.

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Proposition One victory reinforces my decision to move to Dallas

  The Lexington Hotel, Capone's headquarters? :)

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Proposition One victory reinforces my decision to move to Dallas

  "Let me just say that it would be great if all municipalities had to do is just sit back and wait for the dollars to come rolling in. That's not how America works"

  No, that's how the monarchy we fled works. ;)

  And now that the government is stepping into the hotel business, it is competing with the private sector and the private sector doesn't have the advantage of being able to run at a perpetual loss like this project will, with the taxpayer picking up the tab.

  There is a segment of the country's planning departments that can't understand why THEIR vision of what should be built isn't successful. They think, well, gee, I'm enlightened and they are all barbarians and if we JUST BUILD IT THEY WILL COME.

  That never works. So governments spend millions of dollars that they get from us on various projects that THEY think are important. It never ever works.

  What happened at Victory Park? Somebody who watched a few too many episodes of Sex and the City built a development that THEY wanted versus what there is demand for. So they threw millions into a rat hole and those same people are scratching their head wondering why nobody goes there.

  It should be a law that the planning department heads need to put a percent of their own money into these projects. If you think it's such a good deal, invest some of your own money.

  Plano has been doing the same thing with "Downtown Plano" for years. They want an urban nirvana and can't figure out why thousands of people don't flock to Downtown Plano, but go to Stonebriar instead. "We'll spend millions renovating this performing arts theatre and they will come!" They didn't. "We will spend ~$60 million every single year on DART and these light rail stations and they will come!" They didn't. "We will spend millions on housing projects and people will buy town homes in this urban nirvana and they will come!" Half of them are unsold.

  "To say that because the private sector won't go it alone means it's a bad deal is so short sighted."

  They won't go it alone because they don't feel it's profitable. If they believed they would make a lot of money doing it, they would.

  We have corporate discounts. They are called tax abatements. That's not what this is.

  "It's not for everybody, but the truth is it takes tax dollars to push a city. "

  Again, this is going to lose tax dollars, not create tax revenue.

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Tarrant transportation coalition discusses gas tax hike for D/FW

  Is this on top of the rail gas tax we are going to have too so 2% can take a train for 2 hours from McKinney to downtown Dallas to avoid the 1 hour commute on Central Expressway?

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Proposition One victory reinforces my decision to move to Dallas

  " the private sector were interested, some conglomerate or investment group would have stepped up to the plate and built the hotel."

  Correction, if some private group thought it was profitable, they would have stepped up to the plate. It's not going to be profitable, and the losses will be passed onto the taxpayers.

  I'd glad I live in Plano, though this city has had no problem with giving millions of our money to private developers either.

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County: diversity and elections

  There weren't any Hispanics even running for office in Plano this election. There was a Black woman and an Indian running against a few White people for PISD Trustee. The Black woman won with around 45% of the vote, IIRC. She won because she is a former teacher, not because of the color of her skin. What a concept! Judging people based on their experience, character, values and views!

  I'm half Polish. Who is representing me?

  And since Obama is Black, does that mean he isn't representing me? Well, I know he's not representing me since I'm a Republican. OK, is Obama representing Bill, who is a White Democrat?

• 6 months, 1 week ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  A bi-partisan one?

  That list is nothing but leftist sites, including a few that are hateful (Daily Kos is the site who was reporting Sarah Palin's son wasn't hers and demonizes conservatives when they get cancer or die, like Tony Snow).

  I think that list of political sites kind of contradicts this image you are trying to portray that your union is bi-partisan.

  I think 77% of the IAFF's 2008 contributions going to Dems and 23% going to Republicans is also not very bi-partisan. It's less partisan than other unions giving 97-99% to Dems, but I wouldn't call it bi-partisan. Please note that IAFF's spending to Democrats increased from 72% in 2006 and 2007 to 77% in 2008.

  In regards to the ISO class 1 rating, I agree that it's important to keep that rating Plano has had for years. The new debt was not required to keep that rating.

  All of the candidates you guys endorsed won. Congrats! :)

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  Union Fireman, very good and fair points, indeed.

  What is the story about that list of political links on your Web site?

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  It was the punch and cookies that did it.

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  "So it's only bad when the guy who isn't in your party does it?"

  That's the point, I think equating $600 billion over 6 years to $780 billion in a single piece of legislation is seriously flawed.

  Republicans have been critical of Bush's spending for years, starting with his $300 billion entitlement program for prescription drugs early in his first term.

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  So your opinion, "Billusa99", is that Pegaus News should not publish my articles for the good of free speech?

  And I shouldn't respond to comments and should keep my mouth shut, for the good of free speech?

  That's your position? :)

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  Travis, the war in Iraq has cost us a total of around $600 billion over 6 years. Obama signed a single $780 billion stimulus bill.

  He has a $1.65 trillion dollar deficit for this year alone and is projected to have $500 billion in deficits indefinitely.

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  Union Fireman,

  Here is the all-time donors list: http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

  The IAFF has spent $14,986,593 and 81% was given to Democrats.

  Here is the Plano's Firefighter Association's Political Links Web page on their site: http://www.planofirefighters.org/inde...

  Is that a bi-partisan list? Daily Kos? Huffington Post? Slate?

  I'm not vilifying firefighters. That's a straw man. The Dallas Morning News has an article about the growing influence of the firefighters union in Plano. I'm commenting on that issue and looking at the track-record of where union donations go (mostly to Democrats) and I'm pointing out that the Obama administration is working to make unions more powerful in every state, including Right to Work states like Texas. The Plano Firefighters Association knows that too, which is why they highlighted that story on their Web site.

  Here is a Democratic blog about how Plano's political direction is changing towards progressive because of the Plano Firefighter Association: http://collindemsnews.blogspot.com/20...

  Apparently, I'm not the only one with this view.

  "Long dominated by Republican leaning high growth real estate development interests, new constituencies are slowly taking over as the real estate developers lose interest in using their influence to sway local politics to their favor, now that Plano is all but fully developed. The rise of Plano's Firefighter Association is another indication the city undergoing a political shift in the progressive direction."

  The Plano Firefighters Association is backing Proposition 1, which is an $11,368,000 bond (debt) for the taxpayers at a time when Plano has a multimillion dollar deficit. Is that fiscally conservative? New fitness center equipment for firefighters?

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  Here's a story from today's L.A. Times about an L.A. teacher who gets paid to stay home. There were 4 complaints in 1 year from female students and colleagues over sexual harassment. For 7 years, he has had full pay, vacation time, sick time, full benefits but hasn't done a second of work. He stays home. Why? Union contract.

  He's 1 of 160 employees in the same situation.

  http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-tea...

  "The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year -- even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall."

  It's very hard to actually get fired once you have tenure in California. You get tenure after only 2 years of teaching. Arnold tried to make it 5 years, but the unions spent $200 million on ads to defeat that ballot initiative.

• 6 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano Firefighters Association challenges idea of Collin County as Republican stronghold

  12.6% unemployment is common sense? Ha! There sure are a lot of have-nots in that labor union bastion, Michigan.

  So we want to emulate that success? Detroit?

  Sorry, guys, there I go again - looking at the results.

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County Republican advocates ouster of Plano city councilman Lee Dunlap

  I'm a resident of Plano.

  I'm not associated with any judge and I have no idea how a judge is relevant.

  I don't care if Shep has endorsed Lee, if that's true. What is your source on that endorsement?

  It doesn't refute the fact that Lee ignored his constituents who were loudly against the $1 million for a fountain.

  Lee wants to double your car registration for more rail while Plano is already spending ~$60 million per year. Greg Myer doesn't support SB-855 because "I am concerned that there will be people outside of Plano making decisions for people in Plano."

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County getting fleeced by Dallas County

  The group See You Next Tuesday is meeting Wednesday...

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano's Live Green Expo is expensive propaganda

  Yes, I got it a few weeks ago and threw it into the recycling bin. :)

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County getting fleeced by Dallas County

  "Your beloved Collin County and its plethora of private hospitals for the "good and clean citizens" are sending your uninsured lawn care specialists, roofers and other below the poverty line service employees to my counties hospital"

  You do know it's a state law that hospital emergency rooms cannot turn away patients in immediate need, right?

  And I already pointed to several places for free healthcare in Collin County for low income citizens and children.

  The idea that Collin County should build and operate a "network of hospitals" is pretty silly, no offense. I respectfully disagree with you on this one, Chris. I think that's like putting a body cast on someone with a paper cut.

  I don't think it's the role of the government to provide healthcare and I explained why.

  K-12 education? Fail Amtrak? Fail U.S. Post Office? Fail U.S. Passport Office? Fail FEMA? Fail Department of Motor Vehicles? Fail The VA Hospital? Fail

  I haven't really heard a compelling case as to why it's the responsibility of the Collin County government to pay for the unpaid bills of individuals.

  Parkland is giving free car seats and free diapers to illegal aliens. That's there prerogative to do so, but why should the Collin County government pay for that?

  Now the knee-jerk response I'm getting is that I don't care about poor people or sick people, because I don't think it's the role of the government. That assumes the only option is government, which is patently false and ignorant. Again, private organizations do much more than government at a lower cost and at a better quality.

  I don't believe a permanent tax is needed because there are some unpaid bills from individuals.

  I don't believe the local government is responsible for the unpaid bills of its residents.

  If the county leadership disagrees, they pay the bills and we move on. There's no need for a permanent tax. Taxes always go up and they always get diverted to things other than what they were originally sold to the public. Right now, the Texas legislature is passing a bill that will lead to all kinds of new mobility taxes because the current mobility taxes we have are being used for things other than mobility.

  Again, the blog I wrote was to refute the idea that Collin County does not contribute money regionally, as "some critics" claim. I've demonstrated it does.

  Some people still have issue with the fact that Collin County isn't paying the bills of uninsured. I haven't seen any proof of that, only claims; it's debatable if it's their role to do so; it doesn't refute the fact that Collin County does indeed contribute regionally.

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano's Live Green Expo is expensive propaganda

  I just received a really nice full-color newsletter about Live Green Expo in the mail. Your dollars at work.

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Plano's Live Green Expo is expensive propaganda

  "Dallas ISD pays into Robin Hood too, but I suppose it's too much to ask that you get your facts straight."

  1. I said Dallas County, not DISD.
  2. DISD pays a lot less than PISD (almost half), based on the 2006 DISD budget.

  So your implication that Plano doesn't pay its share is patently false. Plano pays more than its fair share.

  "Plano voted itself into DART and has the option of leaving if they so desire, your gripe isn't with Dallas or any other member city but with the people that run the city you seem so proud of"

  You are deflecting. You made a snide comment about Parkland Hospital fees and said, "Thank you Plano for doing your very small part." Plano does a lot more than that.

  "However you bend facts, sometimes you're flat out wrong and you attack with the fervor or a hungry pittbull"

  I don't bend facts. I used the information I had. Once the city gave me the information, I corrected the blog. I'm not perfect. Nobody is.

  What the employee of Plano said doesn't change my opinion, or yours apparently, that Live Green Expo is a waste of tax payer money. The only logic I used that was corrected with her information was the fact that the green propaganda budget is separate from the general budget, so the original comments I made about police were flawed. I deleted them.

  "I used to vote Republican but it was those of your ilk that so disgusted me with their "my way or the highway" mantra that I find myself leaning more and more to the left"

  Yes, because Nancy Pelosi and Obama are being inclusive and bi-partisan? Ha!

  I don't really care about you personally. I'd love it if we could just stick to the topic about Live Green Expo and calendars being something that is not the role of the government. We agree on that. Why fight with me?

  "Your biggest problem is that you have no tact and drive away those who otherwise might agree with you in principle on some of the subjects you address"

  I respond to the comments - period. I'm not going to write something and then let strangers say inflammatory things or inaccurate things without challenging them. That's the point of a comments thread discussion.

  I try to stay civil and not make comments about specific individuals.

• 7 months, 2 weeks ago
  Scot Walker's comment on:

  Collin County getting fleeced by Dallas County

  "This guy NEVER stops with the straw dog ad hominems"

  Someone said Collin County needs to build its own hospital network. I responded that I don't want the government to get into the hospital business and I explained why. How is that a straw dog (man)?

  BTW, ad hominem is an adjective, not a noun.

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