Oh Brother, Big Brother!

Randy Johnson was the top vote getter in the MLB Hall of Fame voting earlier this week with a yes vote on 97.3% of ballots cast. Name the Hall of Famer with the highest vote percentage of ballots cast since 2006?

Have I been spending too much time heaping praise on new Hall of Famer Craig Biggio that I missed the soon to be Governor Greg Abbott resolving our highway funding mess. Did he already fix our public schools and made college more affordable. What the heck is he doing cracking on local officials on how they run their cities?

I thought Abbott ran for governor and not big brother.

Why does he give a rat’s arse on our going plastic, paper or none of the above?

City government is probably the closest form of government to the people you can have. It is where folks first turn to on issues of public safety, infrastructure, transportation, and quality of life issues. Mayors and council members interact on a near hourly basis with the folks they represent. City Hall doesn’t act in a vacuum. Does Abbott not respect this?

Here is from the Chron:

Gov.-elect Greg Abbott on Thursday took aim at local regulations affecting tree cutting, plastic bags and fracking, saying that they are contrary to his vision for the state.

“Texas is being California-ized and you may not even be noticing it,” Abbott told the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an organization in favor of limited government. “This is being done at the city level with bag bans, fracking bans, tree-cutting bans. We’re forming a patchwork quilt of bans and rules nd regulations that is eroding the Texas model.”

Since when did local control become California-ized? California is the state that operates as the result of statewide voter initiatives. Our cities and towns make up the backbone, brains, and character of our state. The last thing we need is Big Brother from the State Capitol telling us how to run our local business and completely ignore local control. Here is more from the Chron:

Abbott took particular aim at tree-cutting measures, saying they amount to “collectivism.” Numerous Texas cities, including Houston and San Antonio, have tree ordinances.

“Now think about it — few things are more important in Texas than private property rights. Yet some cities are telling citizens that you don’t own some of the things on your own property that you have bought and purchased and owned for a long time. Things like trees. This is a form of collectivism,” Abbott said.

“Some cities claim that the trees on private property belong to the community, not to the private property owner. Large cities that represent about 75 percent of the population in this state are doing this to us,” Abbott said, and referring to the organizations’ name, added, “Unchecked overregulation by cities will turn the Texas miracle into the California nightmare faster than you can spell TPPF.”

Besides tree-cutting regulations in various cities, Denton voters approved a fracking ban that is being challenged by the oil and gas industry and the state.

Austin, Laredo and South Padre Island have plastic-bag bans, and Dallas has imposed a 5-cent environmental fee on paper and plastic sacks to be collected by retailers.

Legislative efforts in the past to infringe on cities’ rule-making authority have met with pushback from those citing the need for local control.

“My vision is one where individual liberties are not bound by city limit signs,” Abbott said. “I will insist on protecing unlimited liberty to ensure that Texas will continue to grow and prosper.”

Honestly, I think Abbott has been living in Austin for way too long. Remember, for decades he’s been a district judge, a Supreme Court Justice, the AG, and now he will be Governor. He has never served on City Council. He has never had to deal on a daily basis with neighborhood/civic clubs. He has no idea how local city governments operate in today’s world. He certainly doesn’t have an idea on what is going on in H-Town. Yeah, maybe here locally there have been some folks that didn’t get what they wanted the last year or so, but for the most part we are pretty much a collaborative bunch that work stuff out with input from the stakeholders.

Cities do Ok and for the most part operate free of partisanship. We have all heard the line before – there are no Republican or Democratic potholes. If after a lengthy debate and discussion a local City Hall decides plastic bags are a problem, what business is it of Big Brother?

In 2007, Cal Ripken, Jr. of course scored 98.5% of Hall of Fame Ballots cast.

Craig Biggio will be honored late this afternoon at The Yard!