#45: 1 Month Left For The TX Legislature And Plano's Losing Something

Plano's Political Pitbull on Rumble

Esther goes over some bills that have passed the legislature and Plano gets a population report and it is not good. ​

Episode 45 (transcript of the show)
 Hello, listeners. Welcome to Plano's Political Pit Bull Podcast, I am Esther and Ruth isn't feeling well today, so I am all by myself. Today I have a Texas legislative update for you and a little bit of some Plano news.
First the update. We have a little more than a month left of the Texas legislative session. It will end June 2nd. So reps are very busy trying to get those bills out of committee and to the floor. SB1, this is the state budget, passed and it is on its way to the Governor's desk. HB2,  this is the school finance bill, also passed. It has $7.7 billion in public education. They also pass the teacher pay raise. If we cannot educate children on $7.7 billion, people, we got a problem. Moving on to SB 964, that passed out of the Senate. It will require non-citizen driver's licenses to have the words, “not eligible to vote” on them. Of course, this is so that if they were to go to the polls and try and vote, and the lady at the desk, or man at the desk, says license please. They hand them a license, the poll worker would say, “sir or madam, you're not eligible to vote.” That's all I have for this legislative update.  With a month left things are going to be flying fast. So keep an eye on that.
Moving to Planning and Zoning in Plano. They were given the annual planning development department report. What did it say, you may be wondering? Well, 550 acres was rezoned last year. There is 1863 acres of undeveloped land left in Plano. I know you might be saying, oh, that seems like a lot of land, it's really not. 202.02 acres is currently zoned for residential. We don't have much residential left. 1,437.90 is currently zoned nonresidential, and believe it or not, we still have 223 acres that is zoned agriculture. That will not be zoned Agriculture for long. I can guarantee you that they will scoop that up and most likely want to make that residential.  Please Lord, no more apartments, please.
Our current population in Plano is 298,430, and right now we have a kid problem.  Actually a lack thereof. Our kid population is going down based on pending housing projects. While the population will go up to 316,200,  the increase will not be in children. No, no, no, they'll be adults. Commissioner Brounoff asked who would make up the increase in the population,  and the staff said, basically young professionals. They would live in the apartments or the mixed use areas. There would also be an increase in seniors in the independent living housing. Mike Bronsky worries about approving 1 to 2 bedroom apartments instead of single family houses. Mike, you should be worried about that. This is what happens when government makes choices. There are consequences to their choices. You all decided to make Plano less family friendly areas. Legacy West, Shoppes at Legacy. All these apartments with one, maybe two bedrooms. Now. Yes, there are children who live in apartments, but they don't live in apartments for long.  When they move, they usually end up moving out of Plano. Sad to say, when you make all these apartments, you are less likely to bring in families. Who are apartments for? Well, they're typically for either people who can't afford houses just yet. They're not typically for families. A two bedroom apartment is a little small for two kids. Now, yes, the kids could share, but it is a little cramped. Families typically want a house so the kids can have their own rooms and maybe a backyard. Well, Plano is not building that. They're not approving that, and now we have seen a dramatic decrease in the school population. So, we are closing for schools. Maybe they should have said no to a few apartments, and yes two more single family homes. Just my thought.
We have our very important dog, spot is still up for adoption. Spot is such a good boy. He is very obedient and so smart. Spot knows the command sit, stay and down. He rides well in the car and loves to look out the window on the drive. Spot went on a group dog walk and got along with all the other dogs. He is very friendly and likes head rubs. Spots showed no prey drive along the walk when encountering squirrels and birds. He was interested in all the passing bikers and walkers. Spot is about four years of age and likes belly rubs. So please, if you are interested in Spot, go to our website www.Planospoliticalpitbull.com and click on Pit Bulls for adoption and you will see Spot's little bio.
Remember, the last day to early vote is April 28th and the 29th. Election day is May 3rd. Turnout has been very low so far, so make sure you go and vote and take a friend with you. In case you missed it, we put out four long form interviews with candidates running for City Council. They were Carson Underwood, Cody Weaver, Gary Cary, and Hayden Pageant. If you haven't had a chance, please go listen to those interviews and judge for yourself the candidates answers. We invited all the City Council candidates on the show, and only those four we interviewed actually responded. Also, remember, you're also voting for school board and for Collin Collin Trustees. Now, that race is very interesting. There are three seats up for Collin College Board of Trustee. Two are running unopposed. One, Stacy Weaver and another woman who, I'm sorry, I can't think of her name right now are running against each other.  If you all care about this, Stacy Weaver is the Republican and the other woman is the Democrat in the race, for those who care.
That's all for us today. Please like, share and subscribe to the show. If you would like to follow bills from the Texas Legislature, you can go to Texas Legislature Online. You can follow bills there, look them up, and read them for yourself. This is Esther for Plano's Political Pit Bull signing off.