So What Is A TIRZ, Anyway??

Here at The Political Chicken, more often than not, I'm focused on fiscal issues, and of course, government overreach.  So, I'd like to bring your attention to something that actually falls under both of those categories;  a little thing called, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone or TIRZ for short.  As defined by Wikipedia, a TIRZ is a political subdivision of a municipality or county in the state of Texas created to implement tax increment financing. They may be initiated by the city or county or by petition of owners whose total holdings in the zone consist of a majority of the appraised property value.

So why should you care?  Because the people that work on TIRZ are unelected and aren't held accountable by the tax payers!  And as we speak, there's an effort underway to put Bus Lanes on Post Oak.  The Uptown TIRZ has allocated $204 million for the project, oh, and did I mention they've blown through $43 million just to PLAN the project???  Yeah, nothing to see here.

The idea is to add managed METRO bus lanes to the CENTER lanes up and down Post Oak, which would actually cause a bigger traffic flow problem.  Considering that METRO rider numbers have not risen in quite sometime, that makes one wonder why the Uptown TIRZ would find this project necessary in the first place

They've also decided they need to add bigger sidewalks and more foliage.  They won't stay under the projected budget.  I can almost guarantee it.

There is a group of folks that have gathered and formed The Uptown Houston PAC in an effort to oppose the construction in the Uptown/Galleria area.  They've got a website called SaveUptown.com.  Go there and look for yourself to see if you'd like to  sign their petition to oppose the project.

The last thing we need in the City of Houston is more unelected bureaucrats who are unaccountable to the taxpayers spending more of our money on wasteful projects.  I mean, what could possibly go wrong??

Happy Third Birthday, Political Chicken!

It's that time of year again, fair readers!  Yep, you guessed it!  Time to celebrate another trip around the sun with yours truly, The Political Chicken!!  TPC is officially three years old and in that time, we've covered lots of issues, candidate endorsements and challenges to folks running for office, not to mention the 84th legislative session of the Texas legislature.

Let's take a look back at a few of the articles that topped the charts here at The Political Chicken, shall we? As I mentioned in this particular blog post, nothing gets folks in a community excited like a bond election, amiright?  That's why "Katy ISD: Got Debt?" shot to the top of the charts with 667 views, an all time high for The Political Chicken (TPC).

Coming in a close second was the article I wrote about the resignation of Steve Munisteri as State Party Chair for the GOP and the choice that the SREC faced in choosing his successor.  Check it out here, titled "State Republican Executive Committee to Select New State GOP Chair March 7th".  It hit second place with 652 views.

"As Iron Sharpens Iron", one of my very first favorite blogs, comes in at number three with 347 views.  Good articles can stand the test of time, and I'm especially proud of that one.  Check it out, you won't be disappointed, I promise.

I'll share the two articles that were nearly tied for fourth, one that I wrote a long time ago that also stands the test of time titled, "Sex, Lies and Politics" and another article that I wrote fairly recently titled, "Jared Woodfill: Tenet vs. Track Record".  Each one had around 340 page views.

Now for a few of my favorites that I wrote that didn't have a stellar amount of page views.  "Could We Be Living In The Twilight Zone?" was one of my personal favorites, but it didn't top the charts.  With only seventy-seven views, it didn't even break the hundred mark.  Next on the list was what I considered to be a timely message, titled "Come Back To Me Before You Go Back To School" in which I encouraged parents, students and teachers to revisit their faith to help see them through a new school year.  It had just seventy-eight views total.

Just a few more to go.  Two of my favorite topics, if you haven't noticed are politics and Christianity.  So of course, the next title should be no surprise, "Politics and Christianity: Can The Two Work Together?"  That came in with a grand total of ninety-three page views.  And one of my absolute favorite past-times is, yep, you guessed it; picking on my favorite Congresscritter, John Culberson.  I put his 'Jeffersonian Republican' principals to the test here in, "Is John Culberson a Jeffersonian Republican or Not?"  Sad to say, his platform was full of holes; Swiss cheese, even.

That's all for this edition of TPC.  This isn't the end, it's just the beginning!  Remember, The Political Chicken is going places!!