[Magdalen] Precip.

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Major rains here again over the weekend (here being Houston and the burbs - 
my abode) and for the first time, possibly because we've had so much rain in 
the last 4 weeks, TONS of sewage ended up in local bayous and on the roads : 
P  as the waters receded. Really bad news and on the heels of divisive 
issues of infrastructure neglect and budget shortfalls.

Our spunky 3 term mayor has sunk billions in to enlarging and enhancing our 
green space, but in her last term (3 term limit here) she has been 
especially bold in her creativity. What has gone wanting during her tenure 
is any attention to infrastructure - our roads are s**t, private and 
interstate, 2+ of which cross here, not to mention other 6-8 lane non 
interstate roads. Sidewalks in the city (except for downtown) - abysmal!!! 
and the underground water system (many, many pipes burst two summers ago 
during huge drought, and only patch-patch attempt to solve immediate 
problems). Me thinks her legacy will not be positive. AND tomorrow the city 
votes on the famous 'bathroom measure' that has been getting national press 
time, for one of several angles for the last 18  months (subpoenaed pastor 
sermons!!, raising the hackles of religious groups, championing the GLBTetc 
forces, creation of sick negative ads... creating questionable positive ads, 
and 'Gidget' even made an appearance last week on the 'for' side ... you 
know, Sally Fields) all for a 'law' that common sense says is already 
covered by federal law. As I said... what a legacy. I doubt that she will be 
remembered for more than being our first gay woman mayor and championing 
this bathroom issue...  I think it may very well be voted down and who knows 
what that will do with Houston as a venue with the current rage of 
withdrawing conventions and such from cities that become controversial in 
this vein?  sigh.

Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

--------------------------------------------------
From: "M J _Mike_ Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 1:13 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: [Magdalen] Precip.

> It's been raining somewhat steadily since at least the middle of the night 
> sometime.  This is good.
>
> What's bad is that I think a clear and obvious sign of a city's economic 
> woes is that there isn't even enough money laying around to clean out the 
> stormdrains in anticipation of even light rain as we're currently getting, 
> so as to prevent "localised flooding".  I heard sirens all night resulting 
> no doubt from how many people there are in the world who forget that when 
> rain (particularly light rain) first starts an oil slick is created on the 
> roads.