From
The Lone Ranger*Intro from Rev Wilbur a political impasse was arrived upon not long ago concerning flood gauges on rivers that had the propensity to behave in a particular way, ie coming over the banks and making a fool out of itself. Well, after much discussion this
measure never hit the floor. Well, actually it did hit the floor because the servants of the People of Texas stepped on it on the way to happy hour. And now there are twenty-seven new angels in heaven praying for us. The Lone Ranger opens this discussion. Hi Yo Flood Gauges, Away!
Well, except to pursue personal wealth or force a personal agenda, nothing in government gets fixed until it is proven to be broke. I doubt we had speed limit signs and stop signs until some dumb ass gave us a reason to! Now, it is a proven need for some “signs”.
As far as the legislature goes, they probably can’t afford to do anything definitive except for “unfunded” mandates and their voters don’t like those. The representatives from that area are probably anxious for some relief, but by populous the folks in Houston (more reps and more seats at the table) could probably care less about the folks in the hill country. It floods twice a week in Houston during some parts of the year.
Having worked for small counties (population and tax base), they simply just don’t have the money for such technology or effort as they prioritize projects and funding those projects. Until the act of God comes along…..and we lose twenty-seven perfectly good little Texans.
Here is an example of what the legislature had to do just to get small county deputy and even Sheriff pay up. It addressed quality of the staff and that was the only way those cops got an increase in pay. The small counties like Kerr and others could have paid more but didn’t until then because nobody wanted to pay the cops, and there was always an applicant pool. The pool may have been a little clouded with bad decisions and worthless background checks but there was water in it anyway!
Click Image for reports and data
What are we really talking about?
No issue of this magnitude is ever simple. In the perfect world it should have never happened. But it did happen, and our most vulnerable little Texans were in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. So, job one is to identify the sequence of events that led up to this catastrophe and fix it so that the possibility of it happening again is dramatically reduced. One simple question: Why weren’t the people on the banks of the Guadeloupe warned? We had a relatively mild summer with all the rain this year. Didn’t some rocket scientist understand that water runs downhill? And please understand, this is not the time to place blame. Identify and fix! And not only this issue. Ask yourself why banks have an armed guard while most schools have the lunchroom lady watching the door from the cafeteria? What could possibly go wrong? Oh, that’s right. Something did go wrong in Uvalde! Are you beginning to get the picture? You see which wheel gets the grease? Money talks and little girls walk, or swim, whichever the case may be. Solution: Take all that Lotto money and make this go away. A new I-35 can wait!
To be continued. . .
Comments
Post a Comment