Music 4 Mutts - Music for Mutts Fort Worth

Music festival for the Tarrant County dogs & cats. All proceeds will benefit 3 local animal rescue groups and Ft. Worth's only public low cost spay/neuter clinic. 2301 Scott Ave., Ft. Worth, TX 76103. Basically at I30 & Beach Street just east of downtown Ft. Worth. Band lineup is as follows (as of today - check website): The Vatican Press (11am), James Manning of Manning-Dickson, Brian Burke, The Second Hand String Band, The Foggy Possee (3:30), Nick Verzosa, Dirt Road Gypsies (6:30p), Jam Sandwich will finish the show. Bring lawn chairs/blankets and the dog(s). Sponsors include: IMC Facility Maintenance Services, Fort Worth Weekly, KTCU FM 88.7, Times Ten Cellars Fort Worth, Rahr & Sons Brewery, East Lancaster Vet Clinic, Painless Performance, Riverside Kennel, KL Vascular Corporation, Hands of Peace Massage, A1 Food Mart, Aztec Environmental and more.

Knock, knock....who's there -- America 2010, Land of Foolish Enablers

Knock knock, who's there? Your neighbor. I want to let you know that I know nothing about the value of personal responsibility; therefore, -- I want, and expect you, the taxpayer, to pay for my baby's prenatal care, birthing and any medical care my baby may need, cause I don't want to use a condom when me and the 16 year old girl down the street have sex. Also, since I don't wanna work -- I want, and expect you, the taxpayer, to pay for me to eat, drink and be a little merry throughout the day, each day. Also, I want a house -- I want, and expect you, the taxpayer, to contribute to my down payment. Oh, and, I don't really want to invest the time & effort into my children's education, schooling, emotional health or life and I don't really care what damage this envokes on their future -- I want, and expect you, the taxpayer, to pay for the detention, social services, counseling, rehabilitation, support, detox support, prison, food, care & clothing that my child will most likely need throughout his/her entire life. Another thing, I want a dog but can't afford it -- I want, and expect you, the taxpayer, to pay for all of my expenses related to the dog.

And the people say.....OK, we'll do.

This is America 2010! The land of foolish enablers. We need to desert this plan, and turn all of the social services business and hand outs, over to charity and take it away from our elected officials, they are abusing their powers and working against, not for, the taxpayers who supply their dollars to spend.

This is one way we should be solving the growing problem of dog overpopulation and rising taxpayer expense of Animal Control Services

"The program partners with schools, juvenile detention facilities, community centers, community based organizations......" not to mention the benefit to our youth, communities and society.

http://www.knockoutdogfighting.org/

Ft. Worth Protecting Vagrants from the Law

City Code Sec. 30-12 states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to enclose, build upon or make any other private use of any part of the street, sidewalk or other right-of-way, without first obtaining the express authorization of the city."

I have sent email to Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks, who represents this area of Ft. Worth, asking for clarification of the law and why the law is not being enforced here in East Ft. Worth.

To my knowledge, it against the constitution to segment sections of society and protect them from the law. Gosh, I wished I were wealthy, I could then hire many attorneys to process my arguments in court.

To make private use of city street(s) right-of-ways.....is, according the Ft. Worth Code, unlawful! If you are not going to enforce the law, get rid of it!! Or is it racial -homeowner profiling -- they only enforce it on white people who own homes.

(The Salvation Army shelter is in the picture to the left -- they hand out freebies.)

Texas Humane Legislation Network fundraiser - Monday, Aug. 31st, Grapevine, Texas

Do you care about the neglected animals, cruelly confined animals, starving animals, stray animals in your neighborhood, community, city and/or state? Please attend our party or call and just donate over the phone, Monday, August 31st, 5p-7p, D'Vine Wine, 409 Main St., Grapevine, Texas. http://www.thln.org/. Guest speakers: Senator Wendy Davis, Cile Holloway, President of THLN, Rick Bousquet, Executive Director of THLN.

Watch the results of Puppy Mill Raid in Kaufman County

http://video.hsus.org/index.jsp?fr_story=041631787a1a3c1da9474e82599210bfbcc5054d.

Please help Ernie by donating some spare change.

"Ernie was found by a Homeward Bound, Bedford, TX volunteer just the other day. Boy this poor guy is in horrible shape. He has mange, he's heartworm positive, he needs surgery for bladder stones, he is sunburned, emaciated and dehydrated. The vet says they cant do surgery yet..."
Please donate here https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=75-2552165&source=GS&cmpgn=DNT&vlrStratCode=pvOWLmanj4Ddav2xszkQ6oN441cFLXP3gEJaUOx2hFIc0BLfjwQgwEVxCLePGaVS

Did your dog come from a Puppy Mill? Texas Vet Association opposes the Puppy Mill Bill! Find out what your Veterinarian supports!

There is a House Bill in committee to somewhat 'regulate' how dogs should be treated, the Texas Veterinary Medical Association came out against the Bill. Why? Are they putting money over the welfare of our beloved pets? I say "seems like it." Better ask your Vet if she/he supports the almighty dollar over the welfare of our 'domesticated' dogs!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=prnw.20090522.DA21714&show_article=1

http://www.thln.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga-395CX6fY

League of Women Voters of Tarrant County - Voters Guide for Ft. Worth May Elections

Questionnaires are such a great way to get educated about who's on the ballot! I hope voters will take the time to read them. Here's the link http://lwvtarrantcounty.org/MayElections.html.

A letter of reference to an Attorney on behalf of an employee facing 40 years -- 3 felonies for drug possession

Below is a letter I sent to the attorney for my employee. It's very disturbing to me that we have violent offenders (killers) walking the streets of E. Lancaster that we can't keep in jail, but we can't get non-violent offenders (who are putting forth great effort to remain clean & lead productive lives) out of jail. I'm for change!

Dear Ms. _____ –

So n so has been a part time employee of mine since December 2008. I have known so-n-so to be a very hard worker with a compassionate heart. I knew when I hired so-n-so that she had a criminal record with drug use. I purposefully hire people with a non-violent criminal history because I believe it is important to give such individuals a chance to work and participate in a productive cause for their life.

My business is in the middle of the homeless shelters in Ft. Worth so I get a bird’s eye view of the product of our system -- people with criminal records not being able to find jobs. It’s something that cost us taxpayers enormously! I am a huge proponent of “helping” non-violent offenders – not enabling them, but actually “helping” them get their lives back together. I am also a huge proponent of early childhood intervention and development of “at-risk” children as I believe that irresponsible parenting is the cause of most of our drug, crime & homeless problems in society.

Please let me know how I can help with so-n-so's case. I have witnessed so-n-so put forth a tremendous effort towards a drug free, responsible, hard working, productive life in the past few months and hope that our justice system will invest in keeping so-n-so clean & productive, especially since she has the desire to participate in, and work for the betterment of such.

Feel free to contact me anytime.

Respectfully,

Suzette Watkins

My first speech as a Candidate for Ft. Worth's District 8 City Council Seat

Wednesday, Feb. 18th, 2009
Today, I officially filed for a place on the City of Ft. Worth General Election Ballot for the Office of District 8 City Council. Something that several of my lifelong friends have wanted me to do for a long time and when I told them what I was going to do, they said, “I can’t believe it’s taken you THIS long, Suzette!!”

The first thing people ask me when I tell them that I am running for office is…..are you a Republican or a Democrat. My answer is Both -- and none of the above …

I don’t really fit in any of the political boxes very tightly.

I will say, that I’m hoping that the

* The Republicans & Libertarians will approve of me for my fiscal conservative-ness

* and my very liberal social-tolerant-beliefs will keep the Democrats from throwing me to the wolves ………

* and The Independents will like me because I won’t be beholden to the Party ideology arguments for the sake of Party loyalty.

So when people ask me what I am, I say let me tell you a little bit about my value system and what I believe, and you decide where I fall and if you’d like to support me as a candidate for public office.

I was born in the southeast Texas town of Beaumont, TX. I was educated in the public school system, I graduated from Klein High School in Houston, TX in 1980. I moved back to Beaumont, married -- (a great man, BTW) Put myself through college and obtained an Associates degree in Management from Lamar University. Divorced 4 years later, moved to Dallas -- worked in Corporate America for several years (more times than not, frustrated because I thought that I could do the job better than most of my bosses) went back to college part time and finished with a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology from UNT.

What gets me here before you today, to be quite honest, is a love of proving that I can make things happen…….when I have a clear vision………. and having a lifetime history of jobs in customer service and I know ………that I have the skills for working with people which is what I think a City Council job is all about.

I have a vision for making District 8 a safer, cleaner, more business friendly & a more resident friendly part of this City….and I feel confident… that I can make a difference.. for the better; in the District.

I believe that w/in the first 6 months I can get the crime rate knocked down to at least second place. Every single year that my opponent has been in office, District 8 has had the most total crime of all the Districts in this City. This is unacceptable! … if I get elected to this office, I promise you, that will CHANGE – - - - District 8 will not remain the most crime infested District in this City of ours!

HOW WILL I DO THIS? It’s quite simple. It’s called holding people accountable. We have laws on the books for a reason. If we aren’t going to enforce those laws then we need to take them off the books. If we are going to leave those laws on the books, then we need to enforce them….every single one of them, even littering.

If the jails are full and can’t take anymore offenders – sounds to me like we need to look at the system and see if there is a more effective way of dealing with the problem. I say it’s time for jail reform.

If we keep getting the same repeat offenders of the same crimes, sounds like we need to look at the system and see if there is a more effective way of dealing with the problem. I say it’s time for jail reform.

If the police officers are frustrated because the people they take downtown are back on the street corners before the officers finish their mounds of paperwork, sounds to me like we need to look at the system and see if there is a more effective way of dealing with the problem. I say it’s time the beat officers have an advocate at City Hall.

Let me ask y’all a question……(this is a test, but it’s an easy one!) If you know the answer say HEYYY!

How many of you know the name of your Neighborhood Police Officer?

My point exactly. Our NPOs need to know WHO THE RESIDENTS ARE! How can you fight neighborhood crime if you don’t know the residents, how can you educate the residents if you don’t know them? How can you keep communication lines open if you don’t communicate? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the NPOs! What I’m pointing out is that there is a gap in lines of effective communication between the fancy offices at City Hall and street level workers in this City. I’m saying let’s talk about how many salaries we the taxpayers are paying----- for positions above the NPOs…what are the people in those positions doing and who is holding them accountable?

It is my understanding that it’s the City Council’s job to make sure that City Government is serving the people and businesses in the neighborhoods.
From what I’ve seen on the EASTSIDE of town, it appears there may need to be more questions asked about who’s doing what -- how they are doing it -- and is it effective.

A few ideas I have on ReBuilding our communities

– Neighborhood Police Officers riding bicycles and walking the neighborhoods

– getting a vibrant and effective community service program going that teaches self responsibility with the hope of instilling some pride & life ----- back into troubled & lost souls

– Holding leaders of NAs accountable for communicating with the residents and businesses in the neighborhood -- regardless if the residents or business owners aggravate them or not! -- regardless if everyone agrees! – no one will agree 100% of the time… we all know that!…. but if we are to call ourselves leaders, then it is our responsibility to stay open to communication IF…. we are to serve…. the common good of the people.

MY GOALS FOR DISTRICT 8 would be to have

– a District that attracts Economic Development on its own w/out having to be sub-si-dized by the tax payers!

– – a District that holds our police force accountable for enforcing the Class C Misdemeanor Crimes (what some call petty crimes)

– – a District that holds the DAs office and the FWPD accountable for prosecuting offenders to the fullest extent of the law

– – a District that provides bike lanes up & down the main corridors of District 8 so that we can inexpensively get people moving in & out of our side of town and maybe sell them a sandwich, salad or cold beverage in a safe environment like they do in other parts of our City.

– A District that has a Representative at City Hall that will actually know what’s going on and care what’s going on in the neighborhoods & in our Municipal Courts

– A District that has a Representative that will bring common sense to the money table and not ask for something just because everyone else is asking for it even when it’s not prudent from a business standpoint. It’s the right thing to do for the taxpayers -- - - (the owners of this City)!

– A District that has a humble, working girl, ready & willing to get her hands dirty and not be concerned about ruffling feathers in order to bring about NEEDED CHANGE!

– A District that values the historic charm of this City and protects historic homes in historic neighborhoods. I see no reason why we can’t work together and help neighborhoods rid themselves of crime & code violations and bring back some responsible homeowners to those neighborhoods.

If you will continue to support me through this campaign -- tell your friends, acquaintances, colleagues, business associates & certainly anyone you know on the Eastside that there is a girl running for the City Council seat in District 8 that

- means what she says and says what she means

- isn’t afraid of speaking up for the people & small businesses

- isn’t afraid to tackling the sensitive issues we have in District 8,

- A girl running for City Council who you won’t have to worry about doing shady housing deals that leaves the people in need with nothing -- the bandits with the money -- and the taxpayers picking up the pieces for bad business deals -- AND decisions made by ethically challenged politicians and their friends.

- A girl who won’t feel the need to sit on multiple Board of Directors and at the same time say that the District is so big I don’t have time to tend to the needs of the people!

- A girl who will be an advocate for personal responsibility, accountability and transparency, not only in the office of City Council District 8 but in all aspects of City Government and especially businesses that are getting money from the City of Ft. Worth on behalf of the taxpayers!

If you will help me spread this word, I can unseat the entrenched incumbent & we can restore this District to working for the people instead of working against the people and business communities of District 8 – we can help all of the taxpayers in Ft. Worth because there will be someone on their side for a change! Someone who will try her best to pick up where The Honorable Mr.Chuck Silcox left off.

- I can promise you that I will be someone following the money and making sure that everyone is held accountable. It’s the right thing to do for this District -- it’s the right thing to do for the tax payers of this City – it’s the thing I have to do personally… in order to look myself in the mirror each morning.

Last, but certainly not least! The dogs! This District is one of the WORST for having neglected stray dogs running around! Just last year (2008) there were 1,793 stray dogs picked up in District 8! That is roughly 150 dogs per month! Any you don’t want to know how many are euth-anized each day in this City! It is way past time for this city to consistently enforce the laws concerning humane treatment of the dogs!

and it is way past time for this City to address the problem of irresponsible dog ownership! It’s the right thing to do for the dogs, it’s the right thing to do for the taxpayers and it’s the right thing to do for our communities.

(Political Advertisement authorized by Suzette Watkins)

Donations are needed and accepted at http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/donate.html

My opponent had me thrown out of her "District Town Hall" meeting on grounds of me "Campaigning in the House of God" but OK for her To Do.

It is interesting that she claims expenses for the "Town Hall" event on her Campaign Finance Report which proves that this event was a Campaign Event in the "House of God." I wonder if the hosting church is as concerned about that as they were about my campaign vehicle wrap interfering with their tax exempt status (as the Pastor was quoted as saying). So, in all truthfulness, I wasn't thrown out because I handed out a couple of my campaign cards "in the House of God" or because of my vehicle wrap parked on the "House of God's parking lot". I was thrown out because my opponent thinks she's above having competition and does not want the residents in District 8 to know they have a choice in choosing a Council representative! She says that "everyone was welcome." That is an untruthful statement! She also says in her District newsletter that "Residents turn out for Town Hall Meeting," I say, that's a misleading statement as most of the residents in the District didn't even know about the meeting. Same as the two years prior, about 5 white residents, 3 brown residents and 30 - 40 black residents turned out -- definitely not a very representative showing of the District! I have never been a member of her "Advisory Board" as she stated -- that's another untruthful statement!

It's time we elect someone to this City Council seat who truly cares about ALL of the people & Business Owners in the District and who will be truthful with the people! All of the pretending and fronting must stop! It's hurting the District and it's costing the taxpayers millions of dollars.

http://www.fortworthgov.org/uploadedFiles/Mayor_and_City_Council/districts/8/Dist8News(1).pdf

http://startelegram.typepad.com/files/hicks_jan.-15-part-2.pdf

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=7307

(Political Advertisement authorized by Suzette Watkins)

Animal Control hasn't been an Issue for my Opponent...(until now).

Another two intact (un-neutered) stray dogs running around in Council District 8 which I was able to save from various things such as starvation, car tire, abuse, neglect, creating more intact stray dogs which creates more intact stray dogs and on and on. These two dogs were taken, as usual, to the Humane Society of North Texas. Funny this issue never has been a concern of my opponent's even though this Council District 8 is one of the top three Districts for Animal Control calls and problems and has been every year that my opponent has sat in the Council seat for District 8. The people of District 8 won't have to give me a heads up about issues such as this because I will be paying attention to the details of such and will be reporting to you, the people, about the progress being made every month in District 8 IF you will elect me to office and/or help me get elected to the office.

Next Opportunity to help me is:

Fundraiser Celebration

with special guest & rising star Lauren Whitener, Jazz/Blues singer (www.laurenwhitenermusic.com)

Wednesday, Feb. 18th 5:30 - 7:30

Rahr & Sons Brewery Company

$20 per person ($35 per couple)

includes free sampling of Rahr's award winning beers, hamburgers & some insight into my vision for a safer, cleaner and more business friendly Council District 8.

701 Galveston Ave

Fort Worth, TX 76104

(Near Southside)

Another drug deal gone bad involving a shooting in Council District 8 East Ft. Worth

" man getting shot in the leg late Monday outside a homeless shelter"

"The victim told police that he believed he was mistaken for another person who normally stands on the corner of Cypress and East Presidio and sells drugs," Henderson said

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1139926.html

This is in the Near Eastside Urban Village along with Presbyterian Night Shelter as the article explains above -- just east of downtown off of E. Lancaster. There is no reason, at all, that anyone should be allowed to "normally" stand on a street corner and sell drugs.

Please come to my fundraiser and find out how I would combat criminal activity in District 8. My approach is a whole different approach than the current seated City Council person's handling of the business of crime in this District. District 8 has had the highest total crime percentage of all Council Districts in the City of Ft. Worth for the past two years and 11 months inwhich my opponent has been in office. This will not be the case should I be elected to represent District 8 at City Hall. I promise you.

Find out how & why my plan will work for the betterment of District 8 here:

Wednesday, Feb. 18th 2008

Rahr Brewery Fundraiser

701 Galveston Ave

Ft. Worth, Texas

$20 per person ($35 per couple)

Free beer, live music, food and a first hand account of my vision for District 8.

Hope to see you there.

East Ft. Worth suspected Killer had past Criminal History

"According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials, Coulter was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1994 on an aggravated robbery conviction out of Amarillo. He was paroled in August 2004, after serving almost 10 years, and his sentence completed in February 2007.
Tarrant County court records and Fort Worth police reports show Coulter had two misdemeanor convictions in 2008 for assault with bodily injury – one involving a 61-year-old male victim and the other a 52-year-old female family member. In both cases, Coulter was sentenced to 60 days in jail."

http://www.star-telegram.com/229/story/1127459.html

How many times have I said that our elected officials must start to CHANGE the way we punish criminals. Especially, first time, non-violent offenders, drug offenders, Misdemeanor offenders, etc. Putting criminals in a room for a period of time and expecting them to be a changed person when the door is open is a waste of millions of our tax dollars.

Help me get elected to the District 8 City Council seat and you will see an outspoken working girl for the people. You will see someone advocating for DIFFERENT ways of conducting business in our City Hall, jails, municipal courts, county jails, state prisons, neighborhood homeless shelters, neighborhood motels, police department staff duties and accountabilities, neighborhood associations, etc. With a seat on the Council, I will be better able to directly influence CHANGE for the taxpayers, the homeless population, the criminal population, the non-profit businesses....everybody! Everybody is somebody in District 8 and everybody needs some accountability thrown their way. What we do in government MUST work for the people....the taxpayers....the owners of government!

http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

www.meetup.com/suzette-watkins

www.youtube.com/suzetteforcouncil

Who has been held accountable for Ft. Worth's $1.45 MILLION dollar discrepancy? Where's our money?

Words below were taken from FW Weekly Article written in June 2007.
"From 1996 to 2005, the city received HOME allocations to build low-income affordable housing totaling more than $41.3 million but spent only about $29.6 million. The report also said that two nonprofits the city has been dealing with do not meet HUD guidelines — and the city not only has been ordered to immediately cease funding those two organizations but will also be required to pay back the money already granted to them.
HUD recently forced the city to set aside $1.45 million that may have to be used to pay back federal funds misspent between 1999 and 2004. The figure is based on a 2003 HUD audit that found discrepancies in the way the city housing department had accounted for federal dollars on projects such as the Mercado commercial development on the North Side and the Evans-Rosedale redevelopment project on the East Side. Both projects have cost millions, and neither has delivered the promised commercial and residential redevelopment of the surrounding low-income areas.
Because of housing projects, jump-started with federal funds, that are now being foreclosed on by banks. They include the Victory Arts apartments on Hemphill Street ($287,000), Women’s Second Chance transitional housing project ($61,000), and the Rolling Hills/Glen Eden housing development off Riverside Drive ($253,628.) The city housing department was also cited in the reports for failing to diligently oversee its contractors, failing to keep proper accounting records, and failing to follow HUD rules regarding the use of government funds that passed through its coffers from 1992 to 2006. "

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=6093

1997 - 2005 Ralph McCloud, City Council Rep, District 8
Kathleen Hicks, Aide to Ralph McCloud (for about 8 of those years)

2005 - present Kathleen Hicks, City Council Rep, District 8

Talk about needed CHANGE. How about it?! Vote Suzette Watkins, City Council, District 8
http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

East Ft. Worth's stray/loose dog problem is Out of Control

I know you are probably getting tired of hearing about the stray dogs in City Council District 8 in East Ft. Worth. Just think if you had to actually witness it instead of just reading about it? Today as I was traveling down I30, I saw two dogs running around near the Interstate. I stopped and walked toward them to see if they would come to me. Of course not, they ran away from the highway into a nearby neighborhood. I drove around and found them (white dog in picture). The red one came up to me and ate some food, but I couldn't get my hands on him. He had ticks all over him and a huge infected area on top of his head. As I was driving away, I saw 3 other stray dogs (above). I placed several calls to Ft. Worth's Animal Control which is overwhelmed with dogs and calls. (817-392-3737 - leave message, they check them!) All dogs were UN-neutered, UN-spayed (intact). Thank goodness for Humane Society of North Texas. They take all dogs. I was able to catch 3 of the 5 dogs that I saw and take them over to the Humane Society. That is 3 dogs unable to impregnate or kill another one. That is 3 less dogs for you to run over with your car. That is 3 less dogs to cause a car wreck, etc. They take in and adopt out an enormous amount of dogs and they have an adoption center.

Due to the fact that the City of Ft. Worth does not aggressively enforce the current dog ordinances and due to the fact that the Texas State legislators have not aggressively addressed the problem with irresponsible dog ownership, we have a problem here that is costing all of us millions of tax dollars to pay staff to answer the phones at Animal Control, drive around & pick up the dogs, shelter the dogs, euthanize the dogs, dispose of the dogs, pick up dead dogs on roadways, take dead dogs to city landfill, etc. Not to mention the thousands of dogs, mostly Pitt Bull dogs in East Ft. Worth that our FW police officers shoot and kill. I could go on and on and on about the ramifications and the price we, the taxpayers, pay for irresponsible dog ownership. It gets into a "property rights" argument so I say we need to consider moving dogs out of the category of "property" in the big picture of the issue.

Please write your elected officials and tell them h0w you feel about the problem of stray dogs running our streets, neglected, not neutered or spayed, etc. I would appreciate your comments below with your thoughts on how to solve this out of control, costly problem. I would like to see ALL the current City Ordinances enforced and some changed.

I feel the same way about dogs that I do children, if you choose to own one then it is your responsibility to love and care for them, not the taxpayer's. I think the parents of such should be held accountable.

http://www.suzetteforcouncil.com/

Stray Dogs here, stray dogs there, stray dogs everywhere in East Ft. Worth

The three Districts that use more of your tax dollars for Animal Control services than any of the others are: District 5 (East Ft. Worth), District 2 (North Ft. Worth) and District 8 (East Ft. Worth).

Reference: Public Health Dept. of Ft. Worth

Ft. Worth does not have an animal Adoption Center, Ft. Worth does not have a Spay & Neuter Clinic (under construction as of 2008), Ft. Worth Animal Control Services does not have the staff, nor funding for staff to conduct the needed sweeps nor the space to impound dogs. Ft. Worth has no spay/neuter law requirements, Ft. Worth does not strictly enforce the dog laws that are now on the books. These factors contribute to the lessened Quality of Life in East and North Ft. Worth. Why? Because we cannot safely ride our bikes and walk down our neighborhood streets for fear of stray dogs, our children (and adults) see the improper care of dogs and think that it is normal to neglect dogs, people can't sleep at night for the sound of a crying dog stuck in a crate day in and day out, etc.

What can we do about this concern? Elect people to the City Council who will actually care enough to speak up for and fight for your tax dollars to be spent in appropriate places, for the laws to be strictly enforced and for the tax payers to be properly and effectively served by listening to your concerns.

Humane Society of North Texas is a blessing for the City of Ft. Worth. It is a privately funded organization and without it, the CFW would have millions more stray, diseased, dangerous, neglected, abused dogs.

When Government doesn't listen to the people this is what happens

it ends up taking much longer for things to improve, much longer for businesses to thrive, much longer before the tax revenue is increased to its potential, many more lives lost and on and on and on. I know for the past 3 years I, along with Mike Phipps, Flora Brewer and others, have been pleading with my City Council representative, Kathleen Hicks and Mayor Moncrief to do something about the drug business and criminal activity along E. Lancaster by the homeless shelters and on down into the neighborhoods of East Ft. Worth. Asking that they provide more treatment beds, accountability and stop the revolving door in the jails. Finally, as their re-election season is slowly coming around and they are hearing the same words from people in the influential political circles to do something about it, seems that may be taking some action.

On another note, yesterday at the joint meeting with the Gas Drilling Task Force and City Council, we heard several times, experts tell the members, and members admit, that time is not on their side with cleaning up the environmental damage that they have, and are, allowing the gas drilling operators to do to our air quality. Perhaps if our local government, including Neighborhood Associations, would have listened to the concerned citizens about environmental issues with drilling that were raised years ago, studied the issue like they study other things such as Modern Street cars, our air quality would be much better and we could wholeheartedly believe Mayor Moncrief when he so emphatically says that "Quality of Life has always been a top priority here in this City and will continue to be."

http://westandclear.com/2008/10/01/joel-burns-streetcar-blogging/
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/974464.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/968503.html

Street Outreach by the non-profits. Where is it?

I have always thought that there was not enough street outreach for the homeless in Ft. Worth. Where are the messages that your life doesn't have to be this way. Where are the messages that say, "You can do better, You can change the direction of your Life, You don't have to live like this," etc. While sitting in a meeting the other day, I asked Beckie Wach, Director of Operations, The Salvation Army, if they had info for GEDS, AA Groups and all the things we were discussing in the meeting available for people to see on the bullentin boards at the Salvation Army. Becky seemed irritated that I would ask such question and said Yes there was info posted. After the meeting, I went to the Salvation Army and took the above pictures of their bulletin areas. IMO, this was a false statement by Ms. Wach. She told me a lie. I suppose one could argue this point, I mean there is some info on the board; however, it's not the kind I was talking about and it sure didn't include the groups and services we were discussing in the meeting. Beckie Wach gets paid her salary whether the neighborhood is clean or regardless of how many drunks they help off of the streets. Same for the Executives, Managers, Supervisors, case workers at MHMR. Those are jobs and it's a business just like the for profits plus the large ones are bureaucracies full of mis-managed jobs and workers.