Getting to the Real Issue is Hard
I used to live in Farmers Branch, Texas and still would if it had been economically feasible to do so when my oldest daughter was entering high school. Farmers Branch is a "first ring" suburban city adjacent to Dallas. It was developed in the 1950s & 1960s and there has been no substantial new housing available for quite some time - the land was all used up. The last major residential development took place in the mid to late 80s. That development is comprised of homes well beyond the starter level or first step-up level. Prices are generally from $300,000 (a figure that Californians and others consider entry level, I know!).
Anyway, there has been much made of the new city ordinance regarding services and housing being made available to "illegals". Various forces are at work both for and against the law, which among its provisions are prohibitions against landlords renting to undocumented persons. Violators face fines and or jail time. The law has been called racist and "anti-minority" by those seeking its repeal. Many of my hispanic friends and relatives (I am married to a Mexican) think it would be fine to "send them (illegals) all back." So I am pretty sure that isn't the point of the ordinance.
Farmers Branch is facing the dilema of declining property values and overburdened city services as its character changes from that of desirable bedroom community to a more urban style enviroment. Over the past 20 years it has been struggling with how to best maintain the quality of life for its residents. "Enterprise" zones, where (re)developers were given tax breaks, minimum square footage building rules and other incentives have not slowed the influx of immigrants seeking houses at the price points of the older homes in Farmers Branch. The new residents, instead of tearing down the older houses and rebuilding the McMansions the city wants, are moving multiple families into them, creating traffic and safety hazards with more cars parked in the neighborhoods than the streets were designed for.
And then there is the money issue. The few small builders operating in Farmers Branch are seeking any method to obtain property to redevelop in advance of the DART light rail line coming to town (when property values will increase substantially).
So, it is up to others to shift through the noise and figure out what is really the motives people doing all the shouting have. Same as every other local and national issue.
My opinion? Keep the law and "send 'em all back." I wouldn't want to anger my father-in-law...
Anyway, there has been much made of the new city ordinance regarding services and housing being made available to "illegals". Various forces are at work both for and against the law, which among its provisions are prohibitions against landlords renting to undocumented persons. Violators face fines and or jail time. The law has been called racist and "anti-minority" by those seeking its repeal. Many of my hispanic friends and relatives (I am married to a Mexican) think it would be fine to "send them (illegals) all back." So I am pretty sure that isn't the point of the ordinance.
Farmers Branch is facing the dilema of declining property values and overburdened city services as its character changes from that of desirable bedroom community to a more urban style enviroment. Over the past 20 years it has been struggling with how to best maintain the quality of life for its residents. "Enterprise" zones, where (re)developers were given tax breaks, minimum square footage building rules and other incentives have not slowed the influx of immigrants seeking houses at the price points of the older homes in Farmers Branch. The new residents, instead of tearing down the older houses and rebuilding the McMansions the city wants, are moving multiple families into them, creating traffic and safety hazards with more cars parked in the neighborhoods than the streets were designed for.
And then there is the money issue. The few small builders operating in Farmers Branch are seeking any method to obtain property to redevelop in advance of the DART light rail line coming to town (when property values will increase substantially).
So, it is up to others to shift through the noise and figure out what is really the motives people doing all the shouting have. Same as every other local and national issue.
My opinion? Keep the law and "send 'em all back." I wouldn't want to anger my father-in-law...
posted by Kurt at 8:42 AM
5 Comments:
Don't forget that your place of birth makes you an alien to the sh** kickers. And since you could never get a green card that means they'd have to send you back. And we don't want you now - you've been corrupted by Texas populist ideology!
dude, do you remember how much hair I cut off right before I moved here? I was leery of the rednecks kicking my ass...then I got here and discovered that all the kickers had been corrupted/converted/changed by Willie, Waylon and the boys. Their hair was longer than mine!
John showed me how to blend, and I have worn out a couple pairs of boots and fathered kids. I am now a naturalized Texan. :-)
Willie and the boys didn't corrupt them, they just made it ok for them to show their true colors in public. We have to consider that while Merle was singing about kickin hippie's asses he was high as a kite. And the number one cash crop in Muskogee OK -- high grade cannabis.
Texas populist ideology has always been a blend of Jesse James/Robin Hood/FDR/Huey Long style give money to the little guy and keep the gum-ment and sheriff the hell away from me..... not unlike southeastern moonshiners and New Hampshire Yankee rock farmers
All My Ex's Live In Texas Lyrics
[Chorus:]
All my ex's live in Texas,
And Texas is a place I'd dearly love to be.
But all my ex's live in Texas
And that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee.
Rosanna's down in Texarcana; wanted me to push her broom,
And sweet Ilene's in Abilene; she forgot I hung the moon,
And Allison in Galveston somehow lost her sanity,
And Dimples who now lives in Temple's got the law lookin' for
me.
[Chorus]
I remember that old Frio river where I learned to swim.
And it brings to mind another time where I wore my welcome
thin.
My transcendental meditation, I go there each night,
But I always come back to myself long before daylight.
[Chorus]
Some folks think I'm hidin',
It's been rumored that I died,
But I'm alive and well in Tennessee.
We've been hearing all about Farmers Branch down here on the Houston news stations.
There's always those questions on job applications: "Are you a legal citizen of the United States? Can you provide proof of your citizenship to work in the Unites States?" If a company has the right to ask this question (which, obviously, the illegal ones lie and say 'yes'), then they can check up on it and decide whether or not to hire that person. Companies can get in trouble for having undocumented workers.
So having these same sort of check-ups on potential housing/apartment residents/tenants is not an issue with me. I'm all for people coming over from any country and going about obtaining citizenship and learning our language (the U.S. national language is ENGLISH, so LEARN how to speak it!) in the legal fashion. Border jumpers who want to just come over here and give birth on our soil or work because our country pays more without becoming legal can just go back to wherever they came from. Do you think if any of us went to their country and demanded they cater to English-speakers and their government write our welfare checks and pay for our children's medical care that they would like that idea? Hell no! They'd be pushing us back to our home country too. So why do they expect any special treatment from us if they're not going to be here legally?
I'm sorry--What was that? Oh, you no understand me or speak English? Well, tough shit!
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