Candidate Mike Wallace is the same way. I mean, its cool that he's a native Texan, born in Dallas. But he only moved to Flower Mound in 2004. The town already had over 60,000 people, which means that it is not a "town", but actually a "city".. ...an "urban" city. Look it up, 50,000 or more.

He wants to preserve SMARTGrowth too. Dont these people have any idea how bad SMARTGrowth is? SMARTGrowth makes building anything extremely difficult, which is why Highland Village, Lantana, Double Oak, Argyle, and others have grown so big over the years. And guess what, all those large communities are now using OUR two lane farm-market roads that were designed for a community of 20,000.

SMARTGrowth was horrible in the 90s, thats why in the 21st century we FINALLY have commerce. Food, gas, restaurants, shopping, jobs, all of these that we have now we didnt have 15-20 years ago. Can you imagine having to go to Lewisville every time you needed something?

UmmYeahOk,

I like your forum, I wish I had discovered it earlier. I wanted to respond to your post regarding my thoughts and positions.

Quote:


I did move here in March of 2006 and compared to where I came from, Flower Mound is a relaxed, smaller place to live. I know that between 1990 and 2001 the population sky rocketed from somewhere around 15,000 to 52,000 or so. Even with that incredible growth, Flower Mound still maintained the small town feel and character that attracted me to it. I don’t know how long you have lived here, but if it’s been 10 of 15 years, then I can totally understand why you think I’m nuts.

Quote:


I’m not looking to unpave the streets and go back to the horse and carriage. I just think in this current economical downturn, we need to scale back a little. I see a lot of vacant retail and office space in Flower Mound and I ask myself, why are we building more retail and office space? I’m very pro growth, as long as the economic climate is right, and the projects keep the flavor of the town in tact. I didn’t add to mess at all. I didn’t build a new house, I bought an existing one, nor did I build an office in Flower Mound to work in. I work out of the house, so I don’t clog up traffic during the morning and evening rush hours. I’m actually adding to the economy by buying as much as I can in Flower Mound and paying to send my four year old to Montessori Episcopal School (technically in Lewisville, but they need my money too). In the fall I will adding even more to the local economy by sending my two and half year old to pre school as well.

Quote:


How can you say in one statement that I want to go back to rural times and then in the very next statement say I want to build new houses and widen all of the roads? You need to do more research on me, I’m the guy who wants controlled growth and is a leader for the Stop Morriss 6 coalition. We need a balance in Flower Mound, we need to grow with the times, but we should do it in a way that keeps Flower Mound beautiful.

Quote:


I know all about the out of towners moving in syndrome, so I can completely relate. When I lived in Denver, we got invaded by Californians, nothing against Californians, but they took Colorado form a nice little conservative state to a big liberal mess in about fifteen years (and they can’t drive in snow to save their lives, literally). You sound like you have a lot of strong positions about the way Flower Mound show grow, so I would ask you, why aren’t you running? I only decided to run two months ago because I don’t like the direction our town is going. I took a stand, and that’s how things get changed. I have never run for any public position in my life, so I’m not that guy, I’m just a guy who got fed up and decided to do something about it.

Quote:


I have to confess, I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. I moved here for my family and company, not to inconvenience the people of Texas. If we decide to put our children in public schools, so be it, I pay a lot in property taxes to support our schools, which by the way are excellent.. This is America my friend, people move all over our great country in search of all sorts of things. My story is simple, I moved to Texas to have a higher paying job and I specifically moved to Flower Mound because it’s a great place to live. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I just want to make sure it stays round.

Quote:


Again, I wasn't here in the 90's, but let's take a trip down memory lane in your own words:

” Whats sad is voters who want to support SMARTGrowth probably dont even realize that candidates like Mike Wallace was involved in the SMARTGrowth plan for 4 years. How much has changed since 2005? Well lets see, the expansion of 2499, 407, 1171, Kirkpatrick... ...and even talks of Morriss. The Highland Ranch Shopping Center, Robertson's Creek shopping center (2499&Dixon) The Pines (3040&Gerault), even the expansion of Parker Square, not to mention the Riverwalk project and Lakeside businesses. So if their goal is to stop growth and keep Flower Mound as a rural boondock theyre horrible at it.

That’s slowing? I guess we’ll agree to disagree. This is exactly what I’m talking about. When things are good, let’s bring good development to Flower Mound. But when things are not so good, let’s take a deep breath and slow down with the development. Just because the Master Plan has a parcel of land zoned to build x, y or z, doesn’t mean that we need to do it right now. The River Walk will dwarf any project ever conceived in Flower Mound, get ready to become the new Southlake. If you don’t like driving 15-20 minutes to do all of the shopping your heart desires, then this is the development you have waiting for. Me? I would rather drive to concrete heaven, than have it in my backyard, call me a NIMBY on that one. Again, the reason I chose to live in Flower Mound was I didn’t think our Council would go this direction, but they did. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. As a side note, being from Colorado, I love the snow and miss it terribly

I appreciate your forum and your passion for Flower Mound. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to respond to your post. I will be happy to keep the debate going if you have any other questions you want to ask me.

Sincerely,

Bob Butler

Quote:


Ive been to those schools, and they are not what everyone claims they are. Now I will say that that the ones I went two were built quite a long time ago (Donald, Lamar, Marcus) Despite one being a blue ribbon school (being one in 1996 doesnt mean its that good for future years) Many of our books were way outdated and damaged. Bathroom stalls didnt have doors, or locks were missing with great big holes. We brought our own toilet paper. Parts of walls would actually fall. Many classes the teachers werent hardly ever there, meaning wild children. And what substitutes we were given would always lose our paper work, meaning a lot of zeros were given out as grades. Those teachers who were there had the same problem. I had to keep every busy work ever given just so that I could dispute all my zeros. My high school had 36 portables my graduating year.

However I am a member of a lost generation I guess. The same cow pastures that I played ball at are now professional ball parks, My brother got to attend Old Settlers, Wellington, Liberty, McKamy and Flower Mound, all because they kept building more and more schools. He got those new books. Are they great schools? Well considering how many are arrested for theft, narcotics, and vandalism, I dont know

Quote:


Again, without the outta staters moving here, I would be forced to buy my groceries, gas, and entertainment in Lewisville. So there is a positive for everyone moving here. I just dont like seeing the cause complain about the effect. You seem to have proven that you are not a big contributor to the "cause" but we're not 100% sure the previous owner of your home left Flower Mound. The working at home helps a bit, but still forgive me if I still see you a some small part of the "cause."

Quote:


...so... ...you are like Mike Wallace. You want to keep Flower Mound growing despite making SMARTgrowth a big part of your campaign.  More commerce, more streets. But considering how youre against wasteful expansion and high taxes, tell me your view on the spinks park (area in between gerault and bakersfield park) I dont know the name, I just heard about it at the Wild About Flower Mound Festival. It sounds like a very nice and pretty park... ...that I will never see or use. Where did they get the money for all this? Taxes should be a bit lower if theres this much of a surplus

Quote:


This may help with your campaign by having me say that Mike Wallace isnt doing a good job. If thats what voters dont want anyway. Although visiting your website it seems that you realize this too.

Quote:


I pointed that out because I love whats happened so far. While I was in college, I was able to work down the road from me at that Target. My mom's office is also just across the street from there. My current job would still be located in NRH had it not been for Lakeside. My brothers friends all have worked at one of the recently built retail/restaurant areas at one point or another. Most parents dont like the idea of their school aged children working out of town.

Quote:
Define whats "good development." At first I worried about having such a huge complex be build across the street from my home. But now I wonder if my property value will actually go up. I think its great that there will be a hospital so close to me. I am already burdened with sirens, so I dont thing that will change much. My mother was actually hoping they would start faster so she could move into one of those condos

Quote:


There was a time when that 15-20min drive would be 30min-hour I dont remember when 3040 was finished, 2006? 2007? Speed limit was 50, but you were lucky if you could go 30. Surprise Suprise, they lowered the speed limit.

I dont like having to drive all the way to Southlake to enjoy their stuff and give them MY sales tax. As the banner say "Shop Flower Mound." I feared that the riverwalk may be just another Parker Square. A very nice strip mall where everythings overpriced including their restaurants and nothing at all that interests me. But unlike Parker Square and Southlake, there will be residential areas. (so many are against apartments but are in favor of this) a park I CAN use. environmentalists complained that it would be bad for the wildlife, but I have seen ducks swim in our drainage area after heavy rain, and thats just across the street. Im sure they wont mind a nice clean pond.

Quote:


Yes, sure, if there anything you would like to add to my responses, your more than welcome to.

Bob Butler wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2009 at 10:37pm:


First, I would like to ask you if you have visited a competing site
http://www.roundthemound.com/?q=node/565#comment-2843
I wonder if they are referring to you. The TOWN of Flower Mound does sound better, as does TOWN Council, and that is the official title that the CITY uses. But you are very much right about it truly being a CITY. A population of 50k+ according to most people. I wonder if these people who assume you're using the term incorrectly understand just WHY your using it. Unfortunately most voters for this particular election base their vote on signs, pamphlets, and who their friends like.

So what do you consider is "bad development?" Youre in favor of everything, just not right now?

Quote:


Thats a good question, especially since I dont see Parker Square much of a success, as they have empty spaces too. But they went ahead with phase II of it. They managed to triple the size of the original Southlake complex, so Im sure some one will move in.

But despite what EVERYONE says, the economy really isnt that bad... ...at least here anyway. Sure, theres been over 60 homes foreclosed on. But not many here are losing jobs. The economy in DFW is very strong. Its no Detroit by any means. I got my dream job in the fall of 07, right when the economy started to tank making twice as much. My husband now makes also twice as much as he did, when he got his job in the Winter of 07. My brother lost his lost at Albertsons when it closed down (which I would have blamed due to poor management than a victim of the recession), but he had no problem finding work elsewhere.

Any construction, may it be building buildings or roads brings jobs. Residential construction was HUGE before the real estate bubble burst. Now all those people making a living building homes and paving driveways and foundations are able to find work this way.

You see, since retail, services, and other businesses screamed "city," commerce was the group the previous administration focused the most on. They did try their hardest to prevent residential (regardless of income) to be built, but they couldnt hold everything back. So when the town "exploded" There was very little commerce. You now had 40-50k people driving on little 2 lane farm to market roads driving an hour each way to their work, as well as traveling to Lewisville for groceries and fast food.

When my brother was your childrens age, If you wanted to go to McDonalds, Sonic, Chilis, you had to drive along with everyone else all the way to Lewisville, clogging up streets. If you wanted pizza, sure you could call in, but rather than avoid clogging up the streets more, you still had to drive all the way to Lewisville to pick it up, as they did not deliver that far. Now we have 2 McDonalds, 2 Chilis, 3 Sonics, and plethora of pizza places. Even with the abundance of places, its still too busy for me to ever go to. (no parking + too many people waiting to park) Meaning that more can and should be build. All this commercial growth is a response to all the residential growth that occurred before you came here. Thats why we need these roads, we need these businesses, we need these jobs.

Have you every played Sim City? If not, I highly success the game for you. Its more of a simulation really, than a game. If you have too many residencies, citizens complain about high taxes (since they have to pay for almost all of the towns budget) and traffic (since they ALL have to leave town to go to work) If you try to keep your residential, commerce and industrial separate, tax complaints decrease as now businesses share in the load, but traffic still remains bad because citizens still have to drive far from their homes to go where they need to go (which is why we have a Tom Thumb going up where the Bridlewood and Wellington area is.) Sure, like with the 3040 Kroger, Im sure residents nearby dont like the idea, but it sure lowered commute time, and decreased traffic and stress. Its a real cool game, very educational. You should really check it out if you havent yet.

I questioned why restaurants like Fridays, Texas Roadhouse, and others were building in this economy, even though they seem successful. A lot of the problem was by the time you get loans, investors, permits, land, etc, if a recession begins any time during that, youre already too invested to back out now. You can either give up and fail, or you can continue and hope you succeed. So the global economy was probably good when they started, and then tanked somewhere in the middle. I know the economy was good when I first heard about the riverwalk idea. A lot of time and money had already been wasted in that, especially if you consider having to deal with surveyors, environmentalists, impact studies, rendering etc.

If you havent yet, I suggest reading this old article (I didnt write it)
http://ww2.flowermound.net:8080/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1231995869
It pretty much explains exactly how the town was back in the day as far as "growth" went.

Quote:


Clearly they dont know or understand the whole "broken window theory." Odds are they all live by the rules of HOAs, but dont understand their purpose. My neighborhood luckily does not have an HOA, but I still got a citation for having a "junked motor vehicle." In the towns mind, as well as the HOAs, Im contributing to "urban blight." Though I love my daily driver that I got when I was 14, they see it as ugly, a fire hazard, and a promotion of crime (increase chance of being vandalized, or parts stolen). Now a city can fine someone as much as they can before they seize it (and a vacant building could take years) but once they own it, then what? If the previous owner couldnt sell it in good conditional, the city sure isnt going to now. Tax payers will just have to keep paying more landscaping, and police patrols.

They also apparently dont understand what realtors do. They make money selling homes and leases to people. If no ones interested, they dont make money. But all the realtor is doing is helping the owner. It the owners fault if they cant lease out the space. If he/she fails, it SHOULD be their own mess. If it wasnt a good idea to build, why were permits issued and loans approved?

What it sounds like is youre saying that in this economy the likelihood of failure is larger, so why give anyone a chance? Lets just say that I wanted to start a business. The risk was always there that I could fail, but now that we're in a recession I have a bigger risk of failing. So I, nor anyone else should be given a chance? Just something to think about

Or how about this: Someone wants to smoke. It is legal for them to do so. Odds are they'll just abandoned whats left and leave the remains on the ground for us and everyone else to deal with. Yes, its there fault, yes we're left with the mess, but should we not allow them to ever smoke (build) just because might be a litterbug (abandoned vacant building)

Quote:


Thats a better summary about what youre about. Right now the only thing that I see that qualifies for that type of viewpoint is the morriss expansion. Everything else, I really dont see. Riverwalk will be built in phases, so its not like we're going to be stuck with this HUGE empty complex, Just like with Wellington, Bridlewood, and other large communities/complexes, they build in phases, when those developments started to fill up, they started another phase. If for some reason they failed, the other phases would never be started. Theyre not putting all of their eggs in one basket.

There is indeed a lot of growth going on, but I doubt we will see a post apocalyptic suburbia in the future if nothing is changed

Visiting your website, I seem to agree with all of your positions except #1. #1 seems to clash with #5. SMARTgrowth works by restricting businesses and other things (making Home Depot change its sign, forcing businesses to plant more trees than they cut down, etc.) How can you be against more strip malls and office buildings, but also against restricting them? Restrictions are what scare builders and businesses away.

So youre not against growth, just growth right now? All growth, or just a specific type?

Also I would like it much if you pointed out to me these so called "vacant" spots. Ive seen a few, but thats because some businesses failed and left, but not so much where I would even consider it a "problem"

The only one I can see, is that area on the corner of Rippy Rd and 2499. Thats been there for years, and though I think its stupid that theyre paying for landscaping, and electrical (fountain and those two light bulbs) they have yet to build any buildings. I dont think its an "eyesore" nor does it contribute to urban blight, but I do think it was a waste of money. But it wasnt my money, so whatever. Theyre vacant, but probably because no one wants a business on a road like that. When 407 was being expanded Briarhill to Lewisville, many businesses closed because patrons couldnt get there. (We used to have a Jack in The Box) Once the road was finished, people moved in to the vacancies and more buildings were produced.

As for the Lakeside District, my companies building had been there for about a year before we moved in. Was it vacant? Not really. It just took them WAY longer to build. We really wanted in there, and in fact, half our company had to stay in NRH because it wasnt finished even several months AFTER we moved in. Its possible that these "vacancies" do have people wanting to move in, but theyre taking to long to complete. Its quite possible that the towns restrictions have something to do with it. An experience builder who is familiar with the way Flower Mound runs can finish a construction project (single building) in 3-6months. Someone unfamiliar with the system however may take much much longer, especially if permits expire.

Quote:


A-Ha! So in a way you and your family ARE contributing to the mess... ...only because the people you bought the house from, as well as ALL HV utilize much of 2499, 407, and Morriss, as well as the businesses that are near there.   They left FM, but their usage hasnt decreased any.