My neighbor and friend of West and Clear Mike Lee reported in the Star-Telegram this week that the city delayed its decision on transportation impact fees. Quite naturally, developers don’t want to pay the fees and are lobbying hard to lower the price.

I think the city staff’s original proposal, which would have encouraged growth in areas that already have sufficient infrastructure, was an excellent plan. The proposed compromises, which would levy a much lower fee across the city, including areas that already have good roads (!?), would be an unfortunate example of the citizens’ best interest being ignored in favor of corporate developers.

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Come raise your spirits as you raise a pint as America’s network of progressive drinking clubs arrives in Fort Worth.

Drinking Liberally is an informal, non-programmatic gathering of like-minded left-leaners, an opportunity to share you ideas while you share a pitcher. You don’t need to be a seasoned activist or policy wonk to join us in meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and enjoying a stiff mix of socializing with a dash of politics.

PeteW and I will be hosting Fort Worth’s inaugural DL gathering at Buffalo Bros. (3015 S. University Dr.) this Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m.

America was born in the taverns…and now we’re returning to promote democracy one pint a time.

The Revolution begins at Happy Hour; we’ll see you there.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the record turnout in this year’s primary elections. Well, it turns out the voting isn’t quite over yet… there are runoffs in a few key elections. Yay!

The Democratic runoff includes a race we here at West and Clear really care about: Texas Railroad Commission. For the uninitiated: the TRC doesn’t have anything to do with railroads anymore. Instead, they are mostly charged with regulating the oil and gas industry.

We encourage you to vote for Dale Henry for railroad commissioner. If you’re concerned about “saltwater” (read: carcinogenic-chemical-water) injection wells and what they mean for our long-term groundwater safety, Mr. Henry is your candidate.

Mr. Henry is also the only candidate who seems to realize that we can’t drill our way out of an energy shortage, and he plans to focus on a sound renewable energy policy as Railroad commissioner.

Please note: if you voted in the Republican primary on March 4th, you cannot vote in the Democratic runoff. If you voted in the Democratic Primary OR if you voted in neither party’s primary, you can vote in the runoff. Look up your polling place, and vote for Dale Henry!

After nearly 21 hours of waiting and deliberation, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has won the State Senate District 10 Convention with 66% of the total delegation.

Both Bernie Scheffler and yours truly were elected as delegates to the State Convention in Austin this June.

I’m going to bed.

You’re just going to have to listen to this one.

We give our takes on the upcoming primaries, Rick Perry’s book, and squirrel vs. grackle deathmatches.

Special guest this episode: SteveB from FortWorthBlogorrhea

 

 Standard Podcast [24:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Since I’m lazy by nature, I see no reason not to just link to the roundup of political events that the Star-Telegram has put together, instead of going to all that effort myself.

I will add this, though: Please take public transit. That’s the one thing that the roundup leaves out. They list plenty of parking options, but never mention that a whole bunch of perfectly good buses (in the case of the stockyards) and trains (the convention center gets both!) that go by these places that would love to see you on them. (You could also ride your bike, since both are on street bike trails and/or near the Trinity trails.)

The Senator from Arizona will be holding a fundraising luncheon at the City Club in downtown Fort Worth on Thursday. There will be a private reception at noon, the luncheon begins at 12:30.

Former President Bill Clinton will be appearing in two locations in Fort Worth today, holding rallies to get out the vote for his wife.

The first event will be at the Worth Heights Community Center from 4:15 to 6:15 this afternoon.

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The second event will be at Marine Park this evening from 5:30 till 8:00.

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I may try to make the Marine Park event. How often do you get to see a former President speak?

When Jenna and I got to the T&P station in Fort Worth, the woman at the ticketing kiosks asked us if we were headed to Dallas for the Obama Rally. We responded proudly that we were, and she said that a group of “like 500 people” had been there for the first train of the morning, heading over for that as well.

I was afraid that we wouldn’t be able to get in if that many people were already lining up that early.

Fortunately, Reunion Arena holds 19,000 people, so we made it in, along with nearly 17,000 of our fellow North Texans, to hear Barack Obama give his stump speech.

I’ve been to a Billy Graham revival meeting, and that’s exactly what this rally felt like. Obviously the place was going to be full-up with Obama supporters, but I guess I didn’t expect them to be THAT enthusiastic.

I was really surprised at the lack of pomp and circumstance in the event. (Apparently we didn’t get into the arena early enough to witness the pomp or the circumstance.) It kicked off a little late because the organizers were trying to squeeze as many people as they could into the arena and still keep it safe for everyone involved.

Then local Obama supporter Ron Kirk (former Mayor of Dallas) took the stage to get the crowd fired up. After him came Emmit Smith, who really got things rockin’.

After an introduction by a young Hispanic man (sorry I didn’t catch your name, dude), Obama took the stage. He thanked various local people and groups for about 5 minutes, then launched into his stump speech.

As you can see, the crowd was surprisingly diverse. I don’t know the actual breakdown, but I know that Jenna and I were most definitely not in the majority there. It made me feel good about the political climate in the country that Obama is not only getting a chance to run, but also that he’s by most measures the front runner to be our next president.

Tomorrow is your chance to witness history as the first viable black candidate for President visits North Texas tomorrow afternoon.

Senator Barack Obama will be appearing at Reunion Arena in Dallas on Wednesday. You know how much I hate going to Dallas, but I’m taking the day off work and riding the train over there to see him speak. In the interest of fairness, I’ll do the same for the other two candidates if/when they come to town.

I’ve been in contact with Mark Greene, the Tarrant County Texans for Obama coordinator, to see if the candidate will be coming to the fairer side of the Metroplex, but as yet there are no announced plans.

If you’re interested in joining me on my trip, let’s plan to meet at the T&P Station at 8:00 to catch the 8:21 train to Union Station in Dallas. We should be able to walk to Reunion Arena from there. The program starts at 12:00, and the doors open at 10:30, but plan for it to be packed. Since it’s first-come, first-served, I’d like to get there as early as possible in order to not only get in, but hopefully also get good seats.

Sound off in the comments if you’re interested!