Additional thoughts on Tuesday’s City Council meeting

1. Daphne done did good

Faithful readers might have noticed that I have been somewhat critical of many of the actions, words, votes from council member Daphne Tenorio, but Tuesday night she deftly and quite successfully shepherded the unanimous passage of an ordinance prohibiting Lehman High School students from parking in any of the streets in the subdivision on the side of Bunton Creek Drive opposite the school.

And in doing so she guided the city toward bringing some necessary relief of a problem the school district has dismally failed to address.

Tenorio accomplished this by altering her modus operandi in a significant, yet politically strategic manner. Instead of making this a personal crusade, something "I believe has to be done," she made it all about "they." She positioned herself simply as "the messenger" bringing forth to the council what the residents of that subdivision told her they wanted done. And she had the proof in her pocket.

Tenorio apparently organized a series of neighborhood gatherings, prompted discussions and ultimately votes in which those attending decided in a democratic fashion (1) on which streets they wanted parking limited and (2) on which side of those streets they wanted the restrictions enforced. And when Mayor Travis Mitchell wondered about a resident that may have too many cars in his household to fit in the driveway, Tenorio was able to tell him the residents thought about this, considered it and said they wanted all parking restricted during school hours anyway. So there.

But Tenorio was also wise enough to label these restrictions a "temporary fix," because they address the manifestation of a problem, but not the problem itself. The responsibility for a permanent solution lies with the school.

During debate on the topic we heard all kinds of "guesses" about why students don’t park on the school’s parking lot and many of those "guesses" made a lot of sense. They ranged from it’s quicker to get to after- school jobs if the jammed parking lot could be avoided to students didn’t want to pay or couldn’t afford the yearly fee to park on the student lot to the cars don’t meet the requirements the school has established for parking on the lot. All well and good. But why "guess"? Why doesn’t the school learn precisely why the student’s don’t park on the lot? Why doesn’t the school sit down with those student motorists who prefer to park offsite and ask them specifically to explain why they do so? And then why doesn’t the school empower the students themselves to come up with solutions? OK, it’s been way longer than a half a century since I was a high school student, but I’m willing to bet in all that time between then and now one thing has remained the same: these young adults don’t much care for older adults telling them how to live their lives. And give these students some credit: If we’ve learned one thing from the work performed on a regular basis by the Kyle Area Youth Advisory Committee, it’s that these students can identify and solve problems that directly affect them. Establish a study group comprised of the student body president, other student officers and, primarily, representatives of those students who have been parking off-campus, give them a deadline, and have them offer a series of solutions by that deadline. This method will also go a long way toward getting student buy-in of whatever solutions are developed.


2. Better than wishing on a star
Earlier this month, I referenced the city partnering with the Make-A-Wish foundation in an fund-raising campaign the goal of which was to build a roller hockey rink in Gregg-Clarke Park. City Manager Scott Sellers addressed the project in greater detail during Tuesday’s council meeting and much of what he said he can found here.

"This story is very touching," Sellers said Tuesday night. "My son is friends with Ash Crain and I’ve gotten to know Ash — he’s a fantastic young man. This wish would mean the world to him."

Sellers said the city’s current budget contained funds for a covered pavilion in the park, but decided to "re-purpose" those funds upon learning of Ash’s wish. Sellers cautioned, however, the cost of the hockey rink was "a little higher than we had in the budget — quite a bit higher," the total cost being in the neighborhood of $385,000. Sellers said that figure might change slightly between now and construction "but that’s a pretty good estimate."

Now for the great news:

"Up to this point with the city’s contribution and private donations we are, in just two weeks, down to less than $40,000 to raise for this wish," Sellers said, drawing some clearly audible "wows" from the audience.

I had also written earlier about Majestic Realty Company having a foundation which places grants within the communities it serves and mentioned the fact that this campaign drive might be "just the type of a project a corporate partner like the Majestic Realty Foundation would likely be a part of." So, following Tuesday’s meeting, I approached the city manager and asked that since the council had just earlier in the evening given the green light to Majestic Realty’s major economic development project, might he approach the company’s foundation and solicit a foundation. Sellers looked at me, smiled and said: "They have already made a contribution."

If anyone reading this wants to do the same, you can do so right here.