On Friday January 3rd I was in Downtown and some of the head-shaking "findings" of that little outing finally spurred me to write this and get a few things off my chest. I can't help it; I HAVE THOUGHTS. So, take the following knowing that I really love the City of Wichita Falls, and so many good people who live here, moved here, were born and raised here, of all political persuasions.
I've lived here in WF on 2 occasions for an aggregate amassed time of nearly 5 years now. I know ... still an "outsider" despite praising the place often and certainly MORE often than most of its residents. I've been promoting Downtown Wichita Falls since 2011 and often doing a better job than those PAID to do it. Speaking as a Californian: The State of Texas and the City of Wichita Falls just do a LOT of things "right." I love the architecture and layout of downtown. I love the cops. I love the restaurants and the food in general. I love the roads. The transit system (Falls Ride, 5 routes, hourly service) is tremendous. The cost of living is great. Gas prices are amazing compared to other places. People are mostly extremely kind. There is a good sense of community. When I bitch about things it's only because we can be SOOOO much better! With that said, here's the "you're screwing up and here's how to fix it" section.
It's pretty obvious withing 10 minutes of arriving here from somewhere else that 5% of the people here have "all the money." The OTHER 95% are picking the peanuts out of their own turds. They work hard at one, two or three jobs, they have side hustles, they raise their children, they try to pay their bills. "Salt of the Earth" to use the old expression. Everyone talks about "wanting change," and several months ago some dippy survey went out asking for good ideas. I guess the people responsible for good ideas don't have any so they want the public to do their job for them, but I digress ... 3% of the city took the time to fill out the survey ... ABOUT THE SAME AS THE VOTER TURNOUT (?!?!) .. more on that later. I didn't fill out the survey because I'll give MY input and MY ideas when I'm in a position to receive CREDIT for them. If you don't know, that's a real "thing" down here .. people steal good ideas & take credit because they have NONE of their own ... ZERO. I'm not handing ideas over to people who are paid to come up with them on their own and can't because they're too busy at seminars and posing with astronauts. Similarly, gladhanding fake crook bible thumpers in church on Sunday praying to better crooks on Monday can continue to go to hell. Religious hypocrisy down here is RIFE and I've never seen anything like it in the 22 states I've been in.
Here's a bullet list of "stuff that's wrong:"
1. I've never seen a city with a lower voter turnout. A $70 MILLION jail would be a big deal in Los Angeles ... let alone in Wichita County where you can buy land for a dollar. Voter turnout? 4%. FOUR. FOUR PERCENT. Turnout in last City Councilor election? 2.95%. Compare that to 70% in Palm Springs' City Council Election. These same people not turning out are on "rants and raves" bitching about the city. Funny but sad.
2. If a proposed hotel at the MPEC cannot find ANYONE to lend financing for its construction, that's because the lenders know something about RISK. Not only should you pay heed to that ... you (the city) shouldn't have spent $500,000 on parking for a hotel that probably won't be built.
3. If you're promoting and expecting Downtown WF growth, it might be a good idea to make sure those buildings involved in the proposed "renaissance" have heat. HEAT. They need to have HEATING. Pipes in ceilings don't freeze and burst, causing closure like with the Professional Wrestling Museum and another one featured on the news, if someone could leave a thermostat at 55 degrees over New Year Weekend. It's not brain surgery. My friends at Odd Duck Coffee closed on Sunday because they could no longer make coffee wearing mittens. Now 2 of them are sick. This is growth? Honest, blunt question: if you buy a building in this city, does ANYONE do an inspection?
4. A city running an ad for "shop local" sure does hire a lot of outside companies. They also seem to love handing $1-2M over as incentives to companies that pack up and leave after a year. Spend the $1-2M here on businesses who have stayed 5 years or longer.
5. Give a billionaire another $50 million or so, and he'll stick it somewhere and forget about it. That's what billionaires DO. It's why they're billionaires. Alternatively, give someone making $7.50/hr an increase to $10.00/hr, they'll (drum roll) ... SPEND IT!!! They'll be at the mall. They'll buy clothes for their kids. They'll frequent downtown and might tip a cab to enable them to have a drink & not drive. They might buy a new car. Or a washer/dryer. Or their first house. Then they're property owners paying for the jail. Local people spending money locally. I know, it sounds so Communist and goes against all Southern Republican convention .. but here's a thought: Seattle did it 2 years ago and they went to an earth shattering FIFTEEN dollars an hour. All the GOP mouthbreathers who have voted Republican for 5 generations and NEVER benefited, said "that's the end of Seattle, they'll have 50% unemployment! Obama's from Kenya and comin' for the guns!! WELL ... 3 months ago the unemployment figures came out for Seattle ... LOWEST unemployment IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY RECORD KEEPING. So, that's that myth dispelled. Wichita Falls needs to rebel against this "right to work" crap and impose a $10 minimum wage. "All y'all" talk about drawing people in to Wichita Falls and young people leaning and an employee shortage ... FIX IT! It's not brain surgery. People will MOVE HERE and contribute to the economy if WF is paying 30% more than Lubbock. More importantly people raised here who don't want to leave, won't. The entire quality of life of this city will improve drastically in under one year. I promise you.
6. If you're going to impose a $10 minimum wage for the City of Wichita Falls, those recipients are now "big shots" and can afford a penny. Right? That's what Palm Springs did to get out of our financial mess ... an additional 1 cent on the sales tax .. which stays within the City of Wichita Falls. I've been on about this, talking about this, since 2011. Recently a "tribunal" from the City went to Oklahoma City for a seminar from the Mayor there, who did that same thing. Perhaps because someone "with almost their local on" suggested it rather than some left coast liberal (I'm taking a bow), they'll listen and do it here in Wichita Falls. Something a dollar costs $1.08. Well now it would be $1.09. Go ahead, live on the wild side, be a big shot. It would hire more cops, fix streets, speed up improvements of Falls Ride, finish the bikepath, better promote Hotter N Hell, help provide financing for low income housing, fix pavements downtown, improve mosquito abatement (yes, that's around the corner), etc etc. Of course, the thing to be really careful of is that the money is SPENT wisely; no $500k for parking for a hotel not being built, or a $1M brass star in the middle of an intersection surrounded by buildings for lease. That's actually improved in the last year ~ now if we can just get their heat turned on and working.
If we start thinking forward, acting instead of sending out surveys, getting more involved instead of gaining another 100 pounds on the couch and bitching on rants and raves, listen to each other, follow the news and FACTS, and having HOPE in ourselves and the future, we will attain great things. Other cities are. There's no reason we can't either. There's no reason we can't be a proud, desirable destination for others to visit, and more importantly a better place to stay. Happy New Year.
