Category: City of Paris Texas

 

Ron White declared, “You can’t fix stupid.” 

The comedian had to come up with that line somehow from some thing or some place. 

He’s made a lot of stops along the way. 

The only thing you can know for sure is that if he did stop in Paris, Texas, he wasn’t here long.

And while Paris may not be IQ city, it is, however, a brilliant place compared to, say, California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Chicago, or Nutland, D. C. 

Or, Austin, Texas  –  even if the Legislature is not in session.

Some say you can also add-in the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce, where the bulb glows dim most days. (Some of our worst friends and best enemies usually say that that we’re so dim that even on a bright day at high noon we think its midnight and there are no stars at all).

We, of course, know of no reason why some people inside the city limits should be so unkind.

Lamar County citizens –

 – who don’t live inside the Paris city limits, demonstrate that they are smarter than most of the in-city residents. The reason is that they don’t breathe the same air. There is some concern about those who do live close-in, however, as a few of them don’t know how to drive either.

Most folks believe that the community of Paris was built on a small hill, the highest elevation in Lamar County. But its not a hill; its just two or three small swellings of the earth over the top of a few large underground caverns. These are where the stupidity goes when one of our citizens die.

These caves contain a tremendous volume of stupidity.

Over the years, the expanding pressure has forced cracks to form between the caverns and up to the surface ground. These cracks release a constant supply of stupidity into the air inside the city limits, which create problems for residents, as well as for residential and business foundations.

Geologists say the largest cracks seems to be under City Hall and what used to be the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce.

Once you breathe in stupidity it lodges in the mind and cannot escape until the body kicks the final bucket, and then the stupidity stuffs seeps down into these caverns and it’s recycling time again.

Its a cycle that’s been going on for the last 75-or so years.

As fumes escape thru the cracks, by the time a new baby is seven months old it has breathed in enough stupidity to last the rest of its life. It takes an adult newcomer who moves here about three years or so, depending on how smart they were when they first got here. They show signs, that they’ve adapted to citizenship and love Paris, by beginning to litter, letting weeds grow, parking their vehicles in the front yard, and storing their junk along the side of their house and the overflow in the back yard.

After a decade or so, you can’t tell an oldtimer from a newcomer.

Old timers in Paris, who have accepted their fate, bet on how long it takes one of the new ones to show the second sign of increasing stupidity; the first sign being they obviously weren’t too smart or they wouldn’t have moved here.

But not as much money is changing hands on bets as it once did. Over the last two decades, not too many of the newcomers chose Paris. Instead, they settled in Lamar County to getaway from the stale smell of high humidity stupidity.

Amounts that city residents don’t inhale escape; drift off, and eventually create active members of the new Socialist-Democrat Party. That’s why it is growing so fast.

All this proves that not only White was right (you can’t fix stupidity), but it also proves you cannot contain it, either.

return to The Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

 

Links:  On Organizational Innovation    –     Local Government    –    Amenities vs Essentials 

 

FOUR EXISTING FACTS in Paris, Texas:

One, a planned Internet-delivery service doesn’t need a government franchise

Two, every government door welcomes a monopoly or conglomerates making significant campaign contributions

Three, government takes care of government

Four, the Paris Texas Chamber a few years ago reported that the City of Paris had approximately $600,000 on hand from an Internet-fee, and wanted to spend the money on a public cable-sponsored channel and a public information officer. (Public meaning government.) The Paris Texas Chamber flatly stated that these were two terrible ideas.

We, now, repeat it.

(Note: Basically, the fee [1% of annual receipts] was authorized by the state [as a buy-off of local city control over local franchising] in exchange for the state taking control of all licensing of or permission for [franchising] telecommunication firms to do business in Texas.)

A government idea is like a flea on a dog: Its not turning the dog loose.

The last city manager of Paris, Texas – who left with more then what he had when he applied for the job and the city has less – sold a majority of the city council members some really dumb ideas: Including hiring two assistant city managers (to do what he asked to be hired to do), when Paris was losing in-city population; getting rid of employees by switching trash pickup to a private firm; refusing restoration of three or four key  downtown historical buildings (to show how smart he was); to employing a “Public Information Officer” – who probably is a nice guy who means well. But Paris doesn’t need someone selling more government.

Now, the City of Paris has over $865,200 in the cable-fee account, which can only be spent on equipment. And as it is a government rule, the equipment is communications-related stuff. 

As we repeatedly note, government takes care of government.

So, outside the basic four existing facts, legislators – the state cupcakes and the dangerous socialists getting rich in Nutland, D. C – come up with “public information channels” – which franchised cable providers must make available to local communities when requested.

These are actually PEG (Public, Educational and Government) Channels. They use the ‘fee” (tax money) collected by “forced compliance” from the cable subscribers, to sell local yokels more government. Examples being: pleas for what every department of government sees as needed; a 24-hour bulletin board offering various content about glorious things; professionally produced ‘free videos’ – some of which costs millions of tax-dollars to make – about services, future projects, and wonderful ‘progressive’ individuals; commercials and editorials about the magnificent things local, state and national governmental units are doing; professionally filmed canned debates about how to destroy the constitution or best serve some ‘special’ deserving group; snake oil sermons on how grateful us poor creatures who are not members of government must be to a benevolent government that provides us everything; and lots of science-fiction on the wonderful world of Paris, Texas.

As we recommended years ago, the funds should be used to create a wireless internet network with no-costs access within the city limits. Use the funds for a worthwhile purpose. The state claims that a local community cannot do it, but it can be done – and is being done. A community may not have the state’s permission to charge for access, but that, too, is being done. 

Regardless of any four existing facts, all the gravy doesn’t belong to the big cities or to the 8 cable Internet providers in Texas.

Paris needs to be creating opportunities for all citizens, not promoting more government, which needs limiting.

And it would be a home run for the downtown area.

 

return to     Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

 

                                                                                                        links:  Private-Public Partnerships

                                                                                                                         The Objective Reality

                                                                                                                                Snake Oil

                                                                                                                              Incentivizing

A Public Hearing To Give-Away $20-million            

On September 9, 2024, at 5:30 pm, in the City Council Chamber, the City of Paris, Texas, held a public hearing on a $20-Million Give-Away. Entering 2025, transparency is still lacking – even with a new ‘public information officer’.

Anyway, it was on the same project on which a groundbreaking was celebrated by city planners on March 24, 2004, which, at that time, the city was prepared to offer “community development incentives” of $7-million.

Many of us have failed to realize that inflation was increasing that fast . . .

Prior to 1987, Texas cities were not allowed to give incentives to solicit businesses, industry, or other endeavors. Then the same foolish voters, who previously in 1981, approved local Appraisal Districts to establish an excuse and protective barrier for local taxing units, allowed cities to use public taxes for private purposes. (FYI side note: The state budget in 1977 was $24 billion; today, the current budget is $321.7 billion from all revenue sources.)

So now, the City is setting the stage to do a $20-million give-away to subsidize development of private property – “to create the Forestbrook Public Improvement District No. 1.”

Behind all the diligently researched (supposedly) and carefully crafted words to build a blinding mountain of sizzle, it dumps a $20-million- plus debt on taxpayers, which council members will then give to or spend for the private limited liability company, Lone Star Planned Developments, LLC.

Now, the city doesn’t say it like this, of course; it relies on the sizzle to sell rotten meat. For instance, the hearing was to “accept public comments” and “discuss” the creation of a public improvement district for 200-homes, which the city already intended to approve (or there would not have been the March 2004 celebration). The hearing was simply a CYA thing.

  • As presented, this “Improvement District” has a total land area of 200-acres – roughly, a $100,000 per acre or lot cost just for improvements for each of the proposed 200 homes. But more sizzle comes from the promise of new city streets, a new park, a new elementary school, and other goodies – a smell designed to attract particular birds, a kettle when they are flying, a committee when they are resting, and a wake when they are feeding
  • Improvements include design and construction, landscaping, streets, drainage, off-street parking, water and sewer lines and services, etc., including other off-site projects that would be a benefit to the property
  • Acquisition, by purchase or otherwise, of real property
  • Payment of expenses incurred in the establishment, administration, and operation of the District
  • Payment of financing associated with financing public improvement projects
  • The city says this district “would include property owned” by the limited liability company, but has not disclosed if there is or isn’t any current indebtedness. Nor, if there is, the amount
  • “The city shall levy assessment on each parcel within the District in a manner that results in imposing equal shares of the costs on property similarly benefited” (but who determines ‘equal’ and ‘similarly’ – you know, like east and west?)

There’s more, most of it Happy Double Talk: “The city is not obligated to provide any funds to finance the authorized improvements, except for assessments levied on real property within the District.”

“Except” – that’s government splitting a hair for you: Who guarantees the $20 million used for the development?

And will the promise of new city streets, a new park, and a new elementary school (for which school district?) require design, development, construction, administrative, operational, and other additional costs?

Where’s transparency? 

Council Members are, in fact, public servants. As such, they owe a fiduciary duty to the public they serve; a concept that underlie most if not all ethic laws. As fiduciary trustees they are obligated to act diligently in the best interest of the citizens.

As trustees of the citizens of Paris, city council members are elected to oversee and manage the property and debt of the citizens, as well as the day-to-day events. But as the citizen’s trustees, council members cannot sell or giveaway the property of the citizens without the citizen’s permission. The fact is – without approval by the citizens – using some questionable loophole council members have dumped or is dumping another $20-million of debt on the citizens. 

The only money that government has is that which it takes from the citizens.

Trustees can be replaced, but debt must be paid.

The $20 million goes for planning and design, land acquisition and development, the related cost, and  administration,  plus  acquisition of other properties.  So, what costs remain?

The assessments are on top of property taxes, and are calculated according to the size of the parcel, tract or lot, while property taxes are assessed on appraised value. Unlike the property tax, however, assessments made by an Improvement District expire once paid in full.

If taxes are frozen within the district, as usual in such projects, it means that schools and other taxing units cannot increase taxes on the property, including the City of Paris. It denies those units their right of taxation; plus, it’s not fair to those who have to subsidize the district when higher tax rates and city service fees increase outside the protected district.

Or, is there a worm in the woodwork somewhere . . . ? 

For instance, exactly how much equity money have the “district” promoters invested in their own project?  10%?  15%?  20%? Nothing?  Will taxpayers outside the district’s boundaries pay for “acquisition of other property” that consists of access to the project or expanding utilities needed to serve the development?

Treating such street and service costs as normal public costs is unethical, if not illegal. Using public money for a private purpose (a direct subsidy for the developer) is not viewed favorably by most courts.

The Paris Texas Chamber hopes, regardless what some may say, that the taxpayers understand that repayment of all city-related debt (plus the interest) is guaranteed by the taxpayers, and if results do not materialize for whatever reason(s), the taxpayers are “obligated” to pay it​?

What does Paris need most? Spending $20-million on a gamble or investing in people and rebuilding neighborhoods?

We’re subsidizing a limited liability company with nothing to lose but a dream –

Since the 1980s, Paris has done a lot of dumb things but, evidently, as our new brand warns, we keep reaching higher . . .

                                       return to    Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

Links:

AMENITIES VS ESSENTIAL

Residential Renewal or Stupidity