Suppose they held a city council meeting and nobody came

 Only three council members, two in person, showed up Wednesday night to attend the city council agenda meeting recessed from the night before, so the meeting was immediately adjourned for lack of a quorum. No word yet on when the eight items that were not taken up at Tuesday’s meeting would be considered.

District 6 council member Michael Tobias, who made the recommendation Tuesday night to resume the meeting Wednesday and whose last words on the dias Tuesday were “I can be available” for a Wednesday meeting was one of those who failed to appear.

Council members Robert Rizzo and Dex Ellison were on the dias Wednesday night and Yvonne Flores-Cale checked in remotely.

Those items that failed to be considered included the annexations of 2.548 acres located at 4750 Dacy Lane and 37.99 acres of the so-called “Caraway Tract” at 301 Bebee Road (although a request to indefinitely table this requested annexation was filed by a representative of the applicant); a request for a Comprehensive Plan amendment to add warehouse and construction manufacturing zoning districts to the Regional Node land use district in the Comprehensive Plan; a request from the Southlake Ranch homeowners association to remove no parking signs on Granite Shoals Drive; and the possible creation of a Human Services Board/Commission “to review, advise, and create an equitable and fair process for allocating grant funding to non-profits organizations serving in the Kyle area.”

COVID concerns force council to cancel balloon festival

The City Council emerged from an executive session that came at the end of a nearly five-hour meeting Tuesday night and voted 6-1 to cancel the Labor Day weekend Pie in the Sky festival over concerns surrounding the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area.

Council member Ashlee Bradshaw cast the lone dissenting vote.

“Pie in the Sky contracts” were listed as one subject of the executive session under the heading “Pending or contemplated litigation or to seek the advice of the City Attorney.” Thus it must be assumed that not only did the council learn that many vendors and balloon participants were pulling out the festival, but also that the city attorney probably advised the council of potential legal liability in the very real possibility that the festival turned into a COVID super-spreader event.

“With the current situation that is going on in our city and for the safety and well-being of our residents and the city staff and everyone involved, with a heavy heart I want to make the motion and the recommendation that we cancel this year’s Pie in the Sky festival for 2021,” council member Michael Tobias said.

“This is one of the hardest votes I have to take,” said council member Robert Rizo, who seconded Tobias’ motion, “because I really wanted to see us get past the pandemic and see us getting our lives back. For us to be in the situation we are right now is very depressing and very sad.”

A prepared statement from the city, issued today, added: “COVID-19 has impacted nearly every piece of event planning from staffing and volunteers to availability of vendors and supplies. City leadership has also kept a close eye on local COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and ultimately wanted to avoid contributing to an already strained healthcare system. With the continued increase in active cases in the area, specifically the Delta Variant, the city anticipates these challenges will only continue and become increasingly more difficult. Refunds will be issued to all vendors and ticket purchasers.”

Tobias unopposed, three challenge mayor pro tem for council seat

District 6 council member Michael Tobias will not face any opposition in his bid for a second three-year term on the city council, but Mayor Pro Tem Rick Koch has drawn three challengers in his race for a second term to represent District 5.

District 6 predominantly includes the Spring Branch subdivision on the west side of I-35; and the Amberwood, Steeplechase, Kensington Trails, Southlake Ranch, Lakeside Crossing, Indian Paintbrush and the Meadows of Kyle residential areas on the east side. District 5, however, is a citywide at-large district and thus will require more financial resources to wage a successful campaign

Lined up to challenge Koch are medically retired Iraq war veteran Donny Willis, insurance service consultant Daniela Parsley and Leah Kaufman, who listed her occupation on her ballot application as “director of nonprofit” and has only lived in the state for 19 months.

Of the four candidates in the District 5 race, Willis has been the most active, creating a campaign Facebook page on which he wrote: “Kyle is having unprecedented growth and the management of that growth has myself and many citizens worried.” He specifically mentioned city streets that he said are “falling apart or being ignored.” He also made a reference to “the mistrust of the current administration,” but did not specify whether he was referring to elected officials or the city’s staff, or even the nature of that mistrust. He did, however, vow to attempt to meet as many local residents “as I possibly can and addressing these many issues head on.”

Although Koch has a history of service to the city, having served as the chair of the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission, among other volunteer positions, neither Willis, Parsley nor Kaufman are members of any existing city boards or commissions.

“Obsessed” mayor leads council approval of roundabout ordinance

Mayor Travis Mitchell admitted he’s so “obsessed” with roundabouts that he has flown drones in order to videotape and then study them. Council member Yvonne-Flores Cale claimed to be a roundabout convert and her fellow council member Robert Rizo said he’s “leaning” that way. Their colleague, Michael Tobias, confessed he doesn’t like ‘em and he never will. And, when all was said and done, the city council voted 6-1 Tuesday to approve on first reading an ordinance that will (1) make roundabouts more prolific in the city and (2) give the city’s staff more control over roundabouts installed by developers.

And in case anyone on the near west side of the Interstate is listening, City Engineer Leon Barba said officially during the council’s roundabout discussion that too many obstacles exist to build a rumored roundabout at the Burleson-Spring Branch intersection and that, instead, traffic signals likely will be installed there.

“This (ordinance) will allow us to adapt the national standards that we have been trying to put together for the last year,” Barba said. “The guidelines we have adopted are very comprehensive. They have a lot of good information in there and we expect all future roundabouts to be designed in accordance with this and whatever future revisions are made to this standard.

“It doesn’t require all intersections to be roundabouts,” Barba said in response to a question Mitchell posed. “It gives us the opportunity to look at the subdivisions as they are coming in very carefully to determine where we are going to need a roundabout or where we believe we are going to need a roundabout and it gives us authority to do that and go through that process.”

“Everybody knows how I feel about these,” Tobias said. “I did some research today about the pros and cons and in most cases it improves traffic. It’s just that in our climate here, it’s the speed that these people drive through. The concern that I have is the roundabout that could be right at the intersections of schools where you have pedestrian walkways. You also have the speed of the traffic on some of these roads to go from 50 miles an hour to a roundabout where you have to go 15 or 20. I’m also looking at the emergency vehicles that have to go through there. Those are the big concerns that I have when we start looking at roundabouts throughout the city.”

After saying roundabouts are safer than other intersections because they eliminate broadside collisions, Barba admitted “they do take a lot of right-of-way. You don’t want to be taking out houses to put in a roundabout.”

“I was a fan of roundabouts in 2016 when I started seeing some roundabouts go in,” the mayor said. “I watch our roundabouts carefully. I’ve gone and sat at intersections. I’ve drone-videoed intersections. I’ve looked at intersections I thought needed roundabouts. I am obsessed. I’ve only quadrupled or more my belief that as long as it is the appropriate engineering and at the right intersection, I’d give my left arm to see a roundabout.”

Mitchell specifically cited the intersection of “Spring Branch and Veterans,” although I assume he was referring to the Silverado/Veterans intersection, where, he said, “that stop sign backs up traffic forever and ever. I’ve drone videoed that intersection and about one out of every four vehicles runs that stop sign. Some people just drive through it and never slow down. So I want ‘em.”

“I’ve never been a big fan of roundabouts,” Rizo said. “I kinda hate ‘em. But what I hate worse is what the mayor just touched on. I’ve seen this become a pattern here in Kyle and that’s people running stop signs. I had a gentleman the other day in a blue Ford pickup who ran five stop signs near the downtown area and I didn’t appreciate it because he almost hit me as well. What concerns me is what if there’s a family walking across the street? Little-by-little, peoples’ bad habits are leaning me towards roundabouts.”

“I did not like roundabouts either,” Flores-Cale said. “And when the Burleson one came, it was a game-changer. So now I am Team Roundabout. I feel like I’m a traitor to myself and to the people I told that I hated roundabouts. But I only take Burleson now when I go to the H-E-B. As someone who did not initially support a roundabout — who despised it — I have to say ‘I love it.’ If they’re made right, they can benefit the city.”

In a goofy discussion and vote, city council places contradictory parking restrictions on Cromwell Drive

This blog had been retired for two almost two years, but because of my involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement, I revived it when pressure began mounting in earnest to replace the racist mascot at Hays High School. So I figured, if I was going to do it for that, I might as well take a look at what’s transpiring with our city government since that is what inspired the creation of this journal back in the fall of 2014. As a result, I watched my first city council meeting in more than two years last night and I felt a sense of relief in seeing it’s just as goofy as it was when I stopped paying attention back in 2018.

The real goofiness took place during a discussion about parking on Cromwell Drive by city council members who appear to have never spent any time on Cromwell Drive. Then additional goofiness was added by the city engineer who apparently knew even less about Cromwell than the council members.

So in short, here’s the result of the action the council took last night: On Cromwell, between Sampson and the unfortunate cul-de-sac, parking will only be allowed on the west side of the street. On Cromwell, between Sampson and Dorman, parking will be completely prohibited. On Cromwell, between Dorman and Kohlers Crossing, parking will only be allowed on the east side of the street. That’s three different parking restrictions on a road that’s just one mile in length — a road that will soon be, if it isn’t already, the most densely populated road in the city.

Parking restricted to the west, fire hydant side on the south end of Cromwell

Now it didn’t start out this badly. As mayor pro tem Rick Koch originally proposed the one-side-of-the-street-only parking ordinance, it would have limited the north-end parking to the west side only, just as it is on the south end of the street. But then came a discussion about fire hydrants and what side of the street they were on, which was my first clue that none of the council members — not a single one of them — had any familiarity with Cromwell Drive. For some reason, the council thought, parking should be only be allowed on the side opposite the hydrants. And, in theory, that’s all well and good. But if these people knew anything about Cromwell, they would know that not only is parking restricted to the side of the street containing the hydrants on the south end of the street, but that motorists consistently park their cars on that side of the street closer to the hydrants that is permitted by law, but are never ticketed for it. So why all the sudden concern about hydrants now?

At another point in this goofy discussion, council member Michael Tobias wondered if pedestrian walkways could be inserted to aid pedestrians in getting from the place where they must park their car to the place where they live. Seemed like a reasonable request.

Except.

“I’m not a great fan of mid-block pedestrian crossings,” said City Engineer Leon Barba, “but they exist. I’ve seen them throughout other cities.”

Other cities? OTHER CITIES??? How about seeing them not only right here in Kyle but right there on freaking Cromwell Drive? There are two — count ‘em, two! — mid-block pedestrian crossings on Cromwell between Sampson and Dorman. But no one on the council was informed enough about what they were voting about to contradict Barba. Yes, dear readers, things haven’t changed at all at City Hall.

Of course, these rwo mid-block pedestrian crossings are completely useless. Instead of serving what pedestrian crossings are supposed to accomplish — protecting pedestrians — they actually only paint a large target on pedestrians for the sake of oncoming motorists. But that’s another issue.

One of the two "non-existent" mid-block pedestrian crossings on Cromwell Drive 

Anyway, the ordinance passed unanimously on first reading and it was decided that there would be no need for a second reading so, yes, the city of Kyle now has three separate, distinct and different parking restrictions on one, one-mile-long road. That’s what I love about this body — consistency has never been a concern. I guess I could understand the lack of consistency in regulations around a city of 50,000 persons, but on one, one-mile road? C’mon.

But, like I said earlier, I find this somewhat comforting, It’s good to know that this government body hasn’t changed during my two-year sabbatical. They still adhere to the same premise: “If the choice is between the simple and the complicated/confusing, let’s always go with the latter.”

I, on the other hand, have changed. Two years ago, these types of actions by the city council made me fear for the future of the city I chose to call home for the remainder of my life. I actually lost a lot of sleep worrying about what these people were promulgating. That was damaging my health and that’s the reason I put The Kyle Report in hibernation.

Now, I just sit back and laugh. Because, when you think about, it really is funny.

As a postscript to all of this, I do want to go on record as saying I don’t believe the council deliberately intends to enact confusing, contradictory ordinances. That’s simply the result of something far more troubling. As I mentioned earlier in this article, the real problem is that members of the city council as well as the relevant city staff simply don’t take the time — they don’t make the effort — to study and become as informed as they should be about all the items on the council's agendas. I’m willing to bet not one member of the Kyle City Council took the time — made the effort — to make the short, one-mile drive, along the entire length of Cromwell Drive between the time they first saw this proposed ordinance on the agenda and the time they voted on it. If just one of them — just one of the seven — had mentioned the fact that parking was already restricted to the west, fire-hydrant side of Cromwell on the southern end of the street and then they voted to approve restricting parking on the other side of the street at the northern end, this vote might have still seemed strange and confusing but not completely without thought or reasoning. But not one of them did and the only explanation for that is simply they just weren’t well informed enough about what they were voting on.