FinShaggy (OP)
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May 25, 2013, 09:47:52 PM |
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Here is an example of how these philosophies could begin to be applied in a REAL town
=Collin County=
When most people look at Texas politically they see Dallas, they see Austin and maybe Houston. But Mckinney and Collin county are really more important than anyone sees.
First off, it has a pretty big population of people (19th biggest in Texas) and more importantly, it has a big population of people that LEAVE when they get old enough (unless they can't afford to and stay to live with their parents, while some get apartments in town and party into their twenties)... So, that makes the primary residents of Mckinney and the surrounding suburbs older and republican, and because of the number of churches, the cities status as "dry" and the lack of nightlife forces people into a Christian lifestyle. When we were younger we used to say "You need to be 40 or extremely Christian to have fun here." So even the kids are going other places to have fun, spreading their politics and stuff. But I'm not to that yet. It is primarily Christian, Older & Republican (most of the wealth comes from oil companies, prison industry or weapons technology companies like RAYTHEON, which is the single biggest employer in the entire town, including city staff and the school district.).
So the 19th biggest population in Texas has a PRETTY solid voting status, with the exception of people who DO stay when they get older, in which case they will have more liberal, democratic, libertarian or in most cases democratic-republican or liberal-republican veiws views because of the house-to-house party and crazy police environment they were raised in. Which brings me to my next point in the importance of Mckinney and Collin county in general. The kids grow up there, and go to Dallas or Arlington or Fort Worth or Austin or Houston or Denton looking for people more similar to them, so the kids from Mckinney are in some cases important to the politics of the other political hubs of Texas.
And with all this political importance, the town runs on arrests (tax money going to privately owned jails), probation fees, court fees, tickets and basically other predatory tactics on its own citizens, with a fairly heavy focus on arresting minors. The mayor is a LAWYER (I went to school with his daughter ) But I sense a change in the politics in Mckinney and thus a change in the politics of Texas.
1st, tons of people are staying to go to community college instead of real college, because it's not a community college now it's a "real 4 year university" since UNT adopted it.
2nd, it is the hub of jails, courts and probation so everyone has to go to Mckinney, and not only learns where it is, but meets the other criminals from there and around there. And mckinney has a lot of money, which I'm guessing is appealing to criminals. And in my opinion, the police focus too much on children and aren't prepared for 30yr old meth heads with AK-47s, as proven by the 1 man assault on the police station a few years back, in which one man blew up a truck in the police parking lot and fired three weapons for 5 minutes before being shot down.
3rd, there are so many schools there, and most of them are NOT making kids republican because they are piss testing them and filling the halls with officers.
4th, Mckinney hides most of it's politics, making it seem like it's something lawyers and doctors do and not regular people. The most you see is a sign on the side of the road or in someone's yard, which means that if some new wave of politics hits Texas, they aren't prepared to fight it...
McKinney's current slogan is "Unique by Nature", I believe it should be "Et in Mckinney Ego..."
=Arcadia=
I think McKinney has the potential to be a pseudo-"heaven on Earth". It just needs to stop focusing on drawing the attention of realtors, golfers and old people, and start focusing on the comfort and needs and wants of ALL of its citizens instead of just church goers. ex: change all the signs on the highway about golf to signs about FUN, and build the water park they told us they would build in McKinney TEN YEARS AGO. Or open a new club, or a paintball place. The country club isn't even profitable, so advertising it REALLY isn't the best way to do things. I don't see why they don't turn it into a nightclub at night for the kids. They have like 2-4 locations and the support of the police force, why not go for that shit.
McKinney should adopt the philosophy "It takes a village to raise a child". We are already half way there, but the government need to make sure the children are not just educated about the curriculum, but the world around them and the politics that drive their city. And the police need to make sure they aren't arresting kids instead of teaching them.
We already have good recreational sports programs and an amazing school district, but we need more things that support not only what we believe our kids should be, but what are kids believe they can be. There should be musical programs in place to support aspiring bands, actors, politicians, communications enthusiasts, tech enthusiasts and more, and they should be available and promoted to EVERYONE. Programs that are as supportive to your choice as the FFA or BSA is to the kids that join.
=Parks=
And I think we need to get more parks and rec programs going on in McKinney. The only people that use the parks are boyscouts and stoners, so it's just empty or random parked cars most of the time. And we have some pretty big parks, like Erwin park. So even festivals and stuff could be held there, and a hundred thousand people could be there. Bike riders use the park, so maybe races and stuff too. And honestly, I think a cannabis festival would be well received by the community, since everyone I went to highschool with is 18-25 now And my school is like AAAA with like 6,000+ kids and over 1/4 mile from one end of the building to the other. So that's a lot of stoners, 1/4 or more of which probably still live in town, in the surrounding suburbs, or in the surrounding countryside.
There is a group in McKinney known as the "Crape Myrtle Trails" and I know quite a bit about it, because when we were younger my stepmom talked about how she was like an important member or something.
But there is NOTHING good about the Crape Myrtle trails. True, they plant pretty trees. But honestly, there are WAY prettier trees to be planted.
It's ok to want to plant a few Crape Myrtles, but my stepmom told me about charity dinners where they literally earn $1,000,000+ for planting crap myrtles... That's TOO many, you can't just ATTACK an ecosystem like that (that is what they were doing, they plant them on every median and every sidewalk in town). A few years ago the trees even grew these weird beetles things, it looked like scaled that started as like bark colored and turned black if I remember correctly. But my point is, this kind of things isn't normal. They build an environment for that beetle to thrive, which effected the ecosystem by bringing MASS numbers of those beetles. Now, as an example: what if that beetle attracted a certain bird, and that bird ha a better beak for suburban living the natural birds of McKinney. Like they are better at digging into the mortar between bricks or something like that. Now those Texas birds get wiped out, and what if those birds are easier prey for wolves increasing the wolf population (just a crazy example explaining how the ecosystem works), or the bird carries a disease that can be transmitted to humans.
Planting a few of each plant in various places is ok, but planting ONE plant everywhere is not ok.
We should plant different kinds of fruit trees, so that the plants are useable. We should contract farmers to plant and harvest trees on public property all over town. A portion of it goes to the feeding community centers, while the farmers keep the rest. But the city keeps up regular watering and weed maintenance as it does now. And if that project could get as much funding as the crape myrtle trails project, we could feed hundreds of families, while making the town beautiful. Instead of making it beautiful at an unknown eco-price.
*Cook-Offs
We already have a Chili cook-off, and I believe we should: 1. Make that festival bigger and more musical 2. Make more culinary festivals like it.
ex:
Carne Asada contest, after the chili contest, people can marinate meat from hunting or just purchasing, and marinate it to submit in a carne asada contest. Some people put it on fries, some on burritos, or just whatever they can think of.
Bake off, which I think a few churches already do, but why not have one at town lake and hire a few local bands.
Candy Contest, have people make home made candy and have a contest. And it could fit in well with Halloween in the square.
It's Texas, so their should just be a general "Meat" festival where it's steak, burgers and everything else. It's a suburb full of dads, they will have plenty of stuff to enter in the contest.
It's McKinney, so a Wine festival and Oktober fest is almost like "Why don't they already do that?".
There are plenty of companies in town that could submit into, or even sponsor events like this. And people in McKinney love to get out and eat shit.
And having an eating contest at any of these events would probably completely get involvement, I can think of a few "eaters" in McKinney.
*Festivals
In McKinney there is a little "historic" type stone area made to look like a Croatian village. My friends uncle was the contractor building it, so they used to have band practice in the parking garage, and now they have July fireworks events next to it.
I think they should use that area for more festivals. They should poll the community, and see how many people would be interested in different festivals. And since it is a historic type village, I suggest heritage and art festivals. Like a day where there are Irish stalls and beer, Celtic art and fried stuff and stuff for St. Patricks. And same thing but German and sausage for Oktoberfest. Then February have a Black history festival with people who speak, artists who make art and music that empower the black community. Then a Mexican heritage celebration for cinco de mayo, etc. It would really bring people together, and teach them about culture and food from different places, while letting the people that are party of those cultures show everyone their heritage.
=Innovation=
And, there should be a stage at trade days, OR trade days should be held at the football stadium in town so it is more like the fair, and therefor more desirable to go to
I think there should be a studio in McKinney, so that companies are encouraged to make their own commercials, and the children in our highschool's drama programs have something to aspire to besides MOVING.
I'm sure a few people here know what Bitcoin mining is. Our town has like 3 libraries, plus a library in every school. If they put a program in place to turn 1 library into a mining facility, the town could be WILDLY profitable.
We had one of the first 3 environmentally friendly Wal Marts in America, meaning that it was powered by wind and solar panels. If we started using the same technology on the government buildings, and especially the mining facility if that ever happens, the town could basically run for free. Then eventually it could work on equipping all houses with solar and wind attachments, to the point that it is no less common that having a toilet in your home. And Collin Count is THE richest county in Texas, so it would be the best place to start a project like that. A surplus of money and a surplus of sun.
McKinney should get murals made constantly. Every holiday, or celebration should be kept in everyone's memory by some shop owner (or school, public lot or church if that is where it is held) with a mural on a wall or section of parking lot, or some form of totem or statue/art.
This solidifies the neighborhood because they can point and say "I was part of that", as well as gives jobs to artists that may try to put their art in public illegally without an outlet such as this. And this can help us create celebrated artists that our town promotes nationally.
=AirPort=
We also have our own Airport, I really think that should be expanded as it would increase trade to and from our town, which would in turn create a wider product base for local stores (we have a crazy shopping scene, because the town square has been taken over by girls and gay dudes, which isn't a bad thing, it's really good for small businesses). And the whole thing would create more jobs because airports need people and so do stores with more products. And honestly, I don't believe that the stores in McKinney can support the population it is trying to build, because that is McKinney's number one focus and has been for years: Building houses and putting people in them. But we need more now. They did just build 3 hospitals, which is great for jobs, but an airport would just be 1,000x better. 1st, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to work at an airport. 2, the airport can take you places like dallas ft worth, cutting down commute time and overall traffic on the highways from Oklahoma to Dallas.
=Media=
I believe the government of Collin county should support a studio/media program. We have a local newspaper, and a branch of UNT at our community college. So if the newpaper and county government supported a journalism program at the college, they could start a small media outlet there, then eventually evolve into a studio. Because again, the town has tons of drama programs in the highschools, but the only option is to leave after highschool for those kids. So if we expanded the journalism jobs in the city, and created a studio there would be a place for those kids to go. Because not only are there a lot of highschool drama programs, but there are photo journalism and other journalism programs, but only a small newspaper in town, and then like the Dallas Morning news to aspire to. They really need more local incentive and opportunity.
I think our town should make its own reality shows and put them online. Made has come to our school, Intervention has been on the East side and Dax Flame was in 21 Jump Street and Project X, so I don't see why the parents don't encourage the kids to make videos. It seems like the kids are doing it themselves, and with pretty bad quality. That includes me, I make my videos from my iphone and don't edit shit, but that's because I don't have support and can't afford things to get better, until I put out the shitty shit and make some money to spend on it. If we had a studio, or just a group in town that had a loan or grant to make reality shows, they could start on YouTube and I don't doubt that some of them would end up on TV. There is WAY more interesting stuff going on in McKinney than the stuff they've already put on TV. I bet the Courier Gazette could afford to do it, and Newspapers are always looking for new stuff to do.
McKinney has tons of girls obsessed with fashion, but the only real outlet is facebook until they are old enough to leave and go to Dallas, and even in Dallas the chances of them being anything but a club promoter or stripper are slim to none.
I think McKinney should have fashion programs in place. 1, a media studio for people to make costumes and wardrobe for. 2, actual fashion type organizations to hold fashion shows. 3, there should be fashion festivals, where people can show off the things they've made and sell stuff.
There are plenty of clothing companies in McKinney that need exposure like this, all they have right now is the ability to get a billboard or magazine add.
=Education=
I think there should be more field trips and the children should have more educational assemblies. I don't understand why we don't have our kids ask questions of public officials, or go to places like the town hall and see how they operate. I promise our town could handle tours, I've been in just about EVERY government building in the town, and there is NOT that much going on. Groups of 20-30 kids with a few teachers could easily maneuver around any judicial and by my guess executive government building.
Classrooms should utilize programs like AdSense and Bitcoin mining. Parents and kids should have to sign a waiver saying that students CAN use their cell phones, cameras and other devices in the classrooms of teachers that deem it acceptable.
And the teachers should use the rule to make class projects that get online support/viewers, which means the ability to share ideas nationally and internationally and collaborate. As well as earn money from views.
There should be a contract that teachers sign that allows them to keep 50% of the revenue from ads, and the other 50% goes to class projects. But they can't allow projects to steer off curriculum. Basically like helping our teachers get tips, while teaching their students with the help and collaboration of other teachers. Same with the mining machine, it would tip the teacher while putting money into the curriculum. And the schools should get to vote on when the extra money goes, because I'm sure there will be leftover money every year from the 50% that goes to projects.
The county could eventually even start its own adsense type program to promote the community through ads, while helping independent artists and classrooms thrive.
The police, health, fire and other government departments should also utilize these programs to earn extra income by creating "cops" like programs, which will also keep them honest since they have viewers.
The libraries should have public printing machines to promote free speech. They should cost money per use, like how it costs like 10 cents per page to print paper out at the Library. And I don't mean just put more printers, I mean like Xerox machines and brother machines. So that people can make large posters, write pamphlets, door hangers, mailers or t-shirts and stuff. It would increase free speech amazingly, and it would provide the need and resources to hire graphic artists in our libraries. Smiley And this should already exist, instead of having to go to a company like Kinko's and pay fifty cents to a dollar for a regular piece of paper with regular ink printed on it. We could even contract companies that already exist and have machines to start operating out of the libraries.
This could be a shared venture with the post office to help the post office be profitable and convenient in terms of printing lots of stuff and shipping it.
There should also be a publishing program, where you can submit writing to the library for a chance to get your book/story/biography published and stocked on the library shelves.
We could create a pretty big writers society in Collin county.
=Biodiesel=
Texas doesn't use the oil it digs up for sale, it stores the oil it gets and buys oil for cars from countries like Saudi Arabia. So I think Collin county, or at least the McKinney Independent school district should switch to Biodiesel, then a chain of gas stations should get the contract to buy corn from local farmers and start supplying biodiesel at their gas stations, as well as like a biodiesel pump at the school bus gas station. Then eventually put a biodiesel public transport program, so there are buses running on biodiesel. And that way there would be more reason for the surrounding farmers to grow corn besides making high fructose corn syrup. And used cooking oil wouldn't go to waste at all the local restaurants. And McKinney could become a big player in the "Green Movement" by opening a biodiesel company. Any town in Collin county could start a half liquor half biodiesel company, or pay a company like everclear to come into town and do it. Everyone drinks in Texas, and everyone needs to drive no matter where you are, so it can't fail.
=Churches=
There are WAY too many churches in McKinney, I even helped build one with a volunteer organization, and there was another one across the street that was already small, shitty and had no attendants. So I think we need to go to each church and offer them contracts to not be churches any more, because you can't mix church and state. So we find churches that need funding, and pay them to be "community centers" and we have them choose a specific goal, like: feeding people and kids before/after school, teaching people about specific things (finance, rehab, media, politics, philosophy/theology, etc), clothing people, housing people/shelteres (most churches in McKinney are bigger than the one shelter I know exists in the whole town), planting trees, cleaning roads, public law libraries, public computer building (completely dedicated to computers instead of books) etc. That way the church employees can get a government salary, offer their congregation jobs instead of a chance to tithe, and still use their non-profit status to accept donations and put together events and even Sunday celebrations.
And instead of being thrown in prison with violent offenders, burglars, rapists and drug manufacturers. Drug users should be sentenced to volunteer time as part of these congregations, and not put in cages at all. And they should be put on probation so that any violations can still result in short jail sentences or extended time, as incentive not to skip time with the congregation.
=People's Police=
A lot of people know this, but I'm sure there are people that don't. But most jails are privately owned, meaning the government pays the salaries of all the employees, and government sanctioned officers are used as guards, but the prison is owned by a private company or family. So basically, the prison is paid YOUR taxes based on how many beds it fills, and prisoners do free labor to keep it clean and up to code, and to make sure the guards don't "have too much on their plate" :lol: . But McKinney is a prison, lawyer, judge run city (and Collin County is run in the same manner). And I think that needs to change. About 1/4 of the juvenile detention center could be made into something else. Such as some form of work program that supports the community instead of just keeping our jails clean (the juvy is right by the county jail, so it wouldn't be hard to transfer workers) or even as I suggested for the libraries: a mining program, so that the town can earn money on its own. And I PROMISE more than 1/4 of those kids don't belong in jail.
McKinney's police force is out of control, but there is no simple solution. Plus there needs to be a decrease in prosecution, while not leaving a vacuum of lawyers and officers without jobs.
So I propose a counter measure to the police department, a "people's police". It will start as a government program, similar to the DA's office, but it will hire barred lawyers as "educators" and aspiring lawyers, or true "officers of the law". They will be on call at all times like the regular police department, but the difference is:
They are armed with law books (and only concealed weapons if they get personal licenses for personal protection)
They are meant to be called as "legal mediators" or a 3rd party witness. Ex: The police are harassing you or on your property illegal, these are the people you call. There is a murderer in your house, and you may have to kill him but want everyone to know you killed him in self defense. Call the police, then call these guys.
They are basically an "on scene legal department" so that in court it's not "You against the cops" it's You, the cops and a 3rd party sharing what happened.
Eventually it would be absorbed into the police department once it started being less "police state" than it is right now and they would just send them out as teams, or in separate cars like the ambulance and fire trucks do.
And the police would always want to beat these guys, so response time would be WAY faster.
And to decrease the number of arrests and prosecutions in order to make this new "People's Police" force viable, they should announce unwritten "codes" to the police department, asking that they focus on violent offenders, and dangerous drug manufacturers. And put less focus on arresting children and people growing/using drugs that are available from nature. Only charge people for things if they are already doing something BAD, if they are a child or doing something like possessing a joint, there should be no charge levied.
Now, if a guy is pissing on the wall of a place of business or there are reports of a gunshot and you find a joint, arrest him for it. But a few kids are sitting in their apartment stairwell, or at a park, or in the woods, or a car parked in a driveway smoking a joint. Break it up, but no one needs to go to jail.
=Welfare=
We need to have better welfare for regular citizens and veterans.
We aren't that big of a tourist attraction, yet we have like 4 pretty large hotels in town. One of those places should start getting government funding, and start housing families & Veterans. It would be bigger than all the government housing that is currently in town.
And veterans should be paid to work there if they want.
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