Chick-fil-A Opening

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Grand Opening and ribbon cutting of the new Chick-fil-A on Collins Street.  This establishment is the largest Chick-fil-A in the Republic of Texas.  It is the third largest in the United States, and it is right here in North Arlington.  The proprietor is Ms. Carmenza Moreno, and she is simply a spectacular individual.  She is the first Hispanic female to own a Chick-fil-A franchise, and she has been so successful in her current location that she decided to expand rather than purchase another franchise.  Chick-fil-A corporate philosophy is based on Christian views and values.  All Chick-fil-A stores are closed on Sundays so that their employees can attend church and recognize the Sabbath.  Ms. Moreno is such a giving person that she takes this opportunity to allow charities to utilize her parking lot for events that are scheduled on Sundays when the store is closed.  Organizations such as the Lamar High School Band and Big Brothers and Big Sisters are among the charities that benefit from Ms. Moreno’s generosity. 

I would like to think that Carmenza’s Grand Opening, coupled with Champions Park and eventually Stadium View projects will continue investment in our community.   Events such as these will regenerate interest in the Collins corridor and make a significant contribution in revitalizing commerce in North Arlington.

2016

Well it’s been about three weeks since I have posted on this blog.  Since that time the Christmas ornaments have been pulled out of storage and put back in.  I trust that you all have had a wonderful holiday season and now it is time to start the grind of a new year.  2016 will pose some challenges and hopefully some turnaround not only for our city but for our country as well. 

We will have a new president one way or another.  Politically it is shaping up to be a Presidential slugfest and it will be very interesting watching its evolution.  I will be seeking a third term as your representative in Arlington’s North District.  I have been blessed to have had the opportunity for the last four years to represent you.  In doing so, I have had the opportunity to participate on a Council that is dedicated to making Arlington a better place to live.  We set the table for General Motors to invest $1.4 Billion dollars into their Arlington plant.  We have approved investment around the Ballpark with $200 Million dedicated to Texas Live, a new hotel and convention center.  We have attracted the largest home builder in the country to build his headquarters here.  D. R. Horton chose North Arlington because of the attributes that we offer.  Our first Fortune 500 Company!     Three of the four apartment complexes are down and building will start on the Arlington Commons this month.  Another $200 Million investment in our community that will raise the property values for the surrounding home owners.  Across the street the strip mall is undergoing renovation in anticipation of increased business.  The new library will start construction in the first quarter of 2016, and across the street another $49 Million project, 101 Abram is moving along rapidly.

 Back up north Viridian continues to evolve with 600 lots either complete or under construction, and it will start construction on the commercial aspect of the community as the next step in its evolution.  Champions Park has started construction along Collins and will hopefully bring in quality retail and restaurants as a result of Greenway Associates efforts.  Across the street, the TXDOT property is still being shopped by Trammel Crow, and we hope that 2016 will bring a tenant forward to allow the building of a class A office space complex.  The MGM Grand is still on the horizon for 2016.  We have a timeline for this project and we will see if the developer has the horsepower to fill his financial obligations required by this timeline.  Ditto golf course will start its renovation, striving to make it a top tier quality course here in North Arlington. 

 I have also lead the charge in creating an Economic Development Corporation within the city.  This Corporation will be able to fund projects like the Senior Center and a Multi-Generational center.  Again the table has been set for the voters of Arlington.  The funding for the EDC will come from a ¼ cent sales tax increase.  That money will allow us to fund these projects.  Every other city in the Metroplex save one (Sachse) is operating at 8 ¼ cents sales tax.  This issue will be on the November ballot, and I ask you all to support it and allow Arlington to continue its growth and broaden its service to the community.

As you can see 2016 is shaping up to be a challenging year with remarkable opportunities.  I hope to be able to continue my participation in these challenges.  I will need your vote in May to give me that opportunity.  Thanks for your confidence.

Ball Park Development

Now that this has been posted on the city website, it must be ok to talk about it, since these discussions were in executive session.  Glory Park was the original development planned for this area.  It folded when the financial institutions were challenged in 2008.  A developer arrived on the scene about 3 yrs. ago and his family owned company has been very successful at developing areas around major sports complexes.  He has formed an alliance with the Texas Rangers, and approached the city with a development plan that is very aggressive.  The picture above contains a 100,000 sq/ft of entertainment, restaurant and bar facility, a 50,000 sq/ft Convention Center, and a 300-400 room hotel. 
 


This development will be in front of the Council on the 15th of the month.  The entire project will cost $200 million, with the entertainment venue scheduled to open on opening day 2017.  You have asked for development in and around the Ball Park, and hopefully you will have it on Tuesday evening.  Our City Manager Trey Yelverton, and his Staff have been working feverishly to get this accomplished by the end of the year.


Several Councilmembers, including myself, have made the trip back to see the developer at his family owned headquarters.  A few have also made the trip up to St. Louis to look at a similar development called Ball Park View.  This is a first class establishment, owned and operated by people that have been successful in a host of other cities.  They are excited about Arlington and we are fortunate that they came to us.  Go Rangers!

Thanksgiving

I am very fortunate to have my son and his wife with us today on Thanksgiving.  We will have an opportunity to go to the Cowboy game today and be together as a family.  There is so much to be thankful for that I really don't know where to begin.  But I know that if I am thankful for the things that have been given to me, then I will be grateful for the other things that come my way. 


I hope that you are in a place in your life where you can reflect upon what has been provided to you and be thankful.  I know that life takes it's turns, and we just lost an extended family member this last week ourselves, but this is what the Lord had intended all along, and we pray that she is in a better place. 


I also wanted to be thankful for all of our men and women in uniform, who protect our liberties and freedoms, yet can't be with their family and loved ones on this Thanksgiving.  I wanted them to know just how important that I think they are, and how much I appreciate them and what they do.  I pray for their safe return to their loved ones and hope that they will be home for Christmas.  I guess it's hard to understand just how precious family is until you are on the other side of the world during the Holidays.  The Parker's are wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you are surrounded by your loved ones.

Finally a Senior Center on Pierce Birch

Yesterday in the afternoon session, Council finally made a decision to support a dedicated stand-alone Senior Center, or as some would prefer and Active Adult Center.  Now this didn’t come easy.  I would liken it to pulling molars.  But Lemuel Randolph, the Director of Parks and Recreation, was looking for direction on where and what to put on which piece of property.  The three properties were Pierce Birch off Green Oaks south of 303, Veterans Park on Arkansas, and Vandergriff Park along Center St..  Veterans Park was removed quickly because of size and access. 

I had to try and put two and two together and hopefully coming up with four.  It was decided through a brilliant display of deductive reasoning, that Council did in fact want a stand-alone Senior Center.  Due partly to the demographic results from the architects, it was decided that Pierce Birch would be the best and only site to accommodate a Senior Center.  Essentially Vandergriff was the only site to fit a Multi-Generational facility, due to its size and location.  So I simply stated that, “for the last 2 yrs. I have been trying to get support from this body for a stand-alone Senior Center.  Each of you has pledged your support to our seniors over this timeframe.   I am now asking for you to fill the void in our city services and provide 65,000 sq/ft of space in this 100 sq mile city, to programing a facility for our seniors.”  How could such eloquence go unnoticed?  I won’t go into the rest of my tirade, but essentially that got it done.  Mr. Randolph even got the message. 

I want to extend my gratitude to Elva Roy and the rest of the Ambassadors for Aging, for attending the afternoon meeting.  I can assure you that your presence was noticed, and you were the elephant in the room.  I would probably have been considered the Donkey, for lack of a better word.  Now we have our guidance and our land, and approval to commence design, all we need from here is money to fund the facilities.  Your persistence and participation will be required to pass a quarter cent sales tax in the Presidential Election in November 2016.

Lamar Narrowing Issue

The issue of the Lamar narrowing went viral about the middle of last week when I was in Baltimore discussing a sizable investment in our city.  My email started to blow up and the accusations started flowing in to a website called Next Door.  I was called names and threaten with being voted out of office, etc., the usual.  So I thought the best plan of action was education.  I thought that even the most fanatical citizen would at least listen to reason, if reason was presented in a logical manner.  So I called Bob Kembel the developer of the project and asked if he would consent to an impromptu meeting with the citizens of North Arlington on Monday evening.  Now at this time I really was undecided as to how I was going to vote.  Jamie Sullens was called and found a space at 6:00 on Monday at Shackelford Jr. High. 

The meeting was very well attended and the estimate was about 150 people.  We are blessed with citizens that want to know the facts about issues and want to be well informed about what is happening in their community.  Mr. Kembel made a small presentation and then took questions for 1:45.  I read an excerpt from the ordinance stating that if the level of service(LOS) dropped below a certain category, that is nationally determined, then the issue must be remedied.  He can do this either by mitigation or reinstallation of the lane, at the developer expense.  Mr. Kembel asked, how many were willing to give his plan a chance?  I was standing in the back of the room so I could get a good view.  An estimated 75% of the people raised their hand.

Tonight at the Council meeting about 40 supporters were in attendance and 6 citizens were against the issue.  Ms. Canon was in attendance but left early, and did not voice her views.  I did make a statement saying that this was a very difficult decision, but my personal views were not in consideration.  My vote represented my constituents.  One speaker against stated that there were many Viridian people in attendance, but he failed to mention that he resided in south Arlington himself. 

I am certain that this issue will be watched closely in the future.  Although Mr. Kembel has done everything he has promised in the past, we will see how it affects the quality of life of the Parkway Central residents.

Budget Meeting, 10 Sept.

Last night I witnessed something that I didn’t want to see.  The Council voted 8-1 to remove spouses from City insurance if the spouse could get healthcare insurance elsewhere.  I was the one vote in descent.  The reason for my no vote was because this didn’t have to happen.  But it did.  Several Firemen were in attendance and it is because of their union APFA, that this occurred in the first place.  The City was prepared to give employees a 3% raise across the board with a 4% raise to the firefighters.  It was their union leader that rejected this amount.  Police and Staff were very happy, but not the Firefighters Union.  They wanted more.  So the City Manager went to work to get them more. 

By removing the spouses from the protection of the City’s healthcare umbrella he could save $1.2 million.  Couple this with a few other innovative ideas and he was able to come up with another 1.5%.  I had a solution to the problem avoiding this outcome, but it was summarily dismissed by the Council and a vote was taken to remove the spouse.  Now here’s the rub.  APFA leadership will never give Trey credit in dollars for benefits.  That’s the problem.  Trey provides a package and APFA leadership only cares about W-2.  That is unfortunate for the rest of the employees that work for the City because benefits are a big part of why they want to work here. 

Last night APFA leadership had Firefighters in the audience, and everyone that spoke stated the City was giving raises on the backs of the employees.  Well we didn’t give you the first 4% and ask you to do anything.  But when the last 1.5% required something of you then squawking about taking something from the employees was the theme song.  Greed isn’t always good, and sometimes it has its consequences.   This didn’t have to be this way, but the greed of one man made it happen.  I think that it is time for him to own up to that responsibility.

We don’t know what will happen with Healthcare in the future.  There might come a time when the City will no longer be able to provide healthcare insurance to its employees at all.  Then we can give firefighters an even bigger raise.  APFA has cast me as the bad guy because they won’t take responsibility for their actions.  That’s fine I’m a big boy and can take their brunt and I know how Unions work.  The problem is that I like the firefighters, they are good people and perform a great service to the Community.  It is unfortunate and embarrassing that current AFPA leadership will never get along with Department leadership.  I have always counseled them to take the high road.  This is what happens when you don’t.