MySA.com: City Council

Ranking near the bottom among Texas’ six largest cities in the amount of per-capita funding it receives, San Antonio’s library system is in dire straits, with $17 million worth of maintenance needs it can’t afford, the City Council was told Wednesday.

The answer, according to a blue-ribbon commission appointed last year to study library needs, is doubling the system’s budget of $25 million a year and creating a library district that would provide a dependable revenue stream.

Thanks to the work of Senator Wentworth and Representative Straus in the last legislative session, San Antonio and Bexar county can create a library district. I realize that as Texans we couldn’t care less what people outside of Texas do, especially Cleveland.

MySA.com: City Council

Martinez stunned the council when he compared the money other cities spend on their library systems with San Antonio’s. For example, the local system’s $21 million yearly operating expense is $173 million less than what is spent in Cleveland.

However, do we always have to be behind Houston, Dallas, and Austin as well?

San Antonio Current – News A novel idea

According to John Nicholas, chairperson of the San Antonio Public Library Board of Trustees, the city’s libraries receive less per-capita funding – $12 – than libraries in any other major Texas city. Austin’s funding is $25 per person, Fort Worth and Dallas, $20, and Houston, $18. Only El Paso, with $11, ranks lower than San Antonio. Also, the state requires that libraries provide the equivalent of two items per resident; San Antonio has 1.5.

Oh wait a minute, I forgot. We do lead in having one of the lowest property tax rates among major Texas cities except for El Paso.

Technorati Tags: San Antonio, Libraries, Joe Straus, Jeff Wentworth, taxes

MySA.com: Metro | State

AUSTIN — A bill designed to avoid bitter partisan battles over congressional redistricting, such as Texas witnessed in 2003, was given tentative approval, 21-9, by the Senate on Monday.

One more vote will send the measure to the House, where similar legislation died two years ago.

Senate Bill 1068 by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, would create a bipartisan commission to redraw congressional district lines every 10 years, beginning in 2011.

This bill passed out of a Republican controlled senate. Eleven Republicans voted for the bill. There are politicians who are interested in serving the best interests of the people and not just their party.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Wentworth, Texas, redistricting, congressional redistricting, bipartisan commission, SB 1068

MySA.com: Roddy Stinson

“If voters want to have financial support for the library system, they can vote for it. If not, they can vote against it … just like any local referendum.

“To which I say:

Imagine a tax election in which (1) proponents have tons of money to fund a campaign and (2) opponents are painted as anti-library, anti-book, anti-learning, anti-children, anti-education and pro-illiteracy.

Then look me in the eye and tell me that you believe the campaign would be fair and the tax might be defeated. If you can do that, stop here and forget I ever brought the matter up.

Yeah, Roddy, I could look you in the eye and tell you that it would be fair. Here’s why, we have a bond issue on the upcoming election that only funds a third of the needed infrastructure improvements because the city council is too afraid to propose something that would increase taxes. And this for the stuff you are always complaining about, roads and drainage.

We have the equivalent of high school student council members because they are limited to two two-year term limits that “money” wasn’t able to overturn the law in the last referendum.

As for you, and I do mean you as in Roddy Stinson, why shouldn’t I believe that you are anti-library, anti-book, anti-learning, anti-children and pro-illiteracy? Let me guess, you donate to the local library and spend time teaching adults how to read? Or more likely, if you want a book, you’ll damn well buy one yourself and not bother the hard working citizens of San Antonio with your petty wants.

Besides being a rabble-rouser and a supporter of slash and burn republicanism, what do you support? Protecting the disabled and senior homeowners? On what basis do you believe that Straus and Shields won’t modify the proposed legislation? Assuming that they do, would you support it then? Would you support a bond issue by the city just to improve the city library system?

Yeah, Stinson reminds me of a “junk yard” guard dog. He’s chained down because otherwise he’ll attack anything that moves–it’s too hard to train him to distinguish between good and bad. And ultimately, he doesn’t care that he’s living in a junk yard which is his metaphor for San Antonio so don’t you dare to try to change things. But, hey, it’s his junk so he’s happy.

Technorati Tags: Roddy Stinson, tax and spend, slash and burn republicans, libraries, library districts, senior homeowners, disabled homeowners, public spending, accountability, community development, San Antonio, Jeff Wentworth, Joe Straus, SJR 34, HJR 88