This Rose has lost its bloom and is starting to smell

Patrick Rose is a Democratic State Representative from the Hill Country of Texas.

In 2002, Patrick Rose defeated Rick Green, who was, in my opinion, a poor representative of the people who voted for him.

I voted for Patrick because I thought he would be an improvement. He was 24, and I thought he was too young to be so ambitious that he would be willing to become a tool of the special interests who would seek to purchase him.

I was wrong.

Patrick continues to oppose urgently-needed legislation to save the Hill Country from over-development. I suppose that Patrick’s longtime ties with the real estate profession have influenced his judgment.

In an article published May 15, 2009, in the Texas Observer, I read this:

The sense that Rose is protecting development and real estate interests is widespread among the sustainability crowd. “The only reason I can see that Rose and [Sen. Jeff] Wentworth are so reluctant to grant the district the tools it needs to get the job done is they’re giving in to the real estate interests who want a weak district,” says Jim McMeans, a founder of Citizens Alliance for Responsible Development, a Wimberley-based group that promotes “sensible growth” and has won major concessions from developers. (Wentworth is a San Antonio Republican.)

[The article entitled Silent Springs concerns our vanishing water supply.]

So Rose has let me down–not for the first time. And, by the way, he has let down the rest of the people of Central Texas.

And though I wanted to like Senator Wentworth, I’m afraid whatever respect I had for him vanished last week when he and Rose rushed through some special legislation to help a private residential development at the Salt Lick Restaurant.

Earlier this year, I went down to the Capitol to testify in favor of Senator Wentworth’s legislation concerning Congressional reapportionment. I still think that’s an important issue, but our Legislature seems unable to face reality.

As of this moment, neither Rose nor Wentworth will receive any support from me should they seek reelection. Indeed, I now regret that I voted for them last November.

But the real tragedy is that, because our Legislature only meets every other year, Rose and Wentworth have squandered a critical opportunity to protect the Texas Hill Country. We will now have to wait at least two years to try again.

And we who live in the drought-stricken area of the Hill Country may not have that much time or water left.

Schools here too big!

When I moved here from Houston, I was shocked at the enormous size of the three school “campuses.” I guess I’m not alone. Here’s what one of our neighbors in Blanco thinks:

My husband began working in Johnson City, and we started looking for the best place to settle down. Initially, we looked in the Dripping Springs area, but quickly realized that the schools were much too large for our taste.

I’ve often wondered whether I was alone in thinking that these large-scale schools are really not very conducive to learning. Now, I know that at least one other person agrees.

Next time you drive into Dripping Springs….

Next time you drive into Dripping Springs, would you rather see this………..

or this……..

True, the first photo stretches the boundaries of what we are likely to find in Dripping Springs………but the point is pretty simple. Will we as residents control our destiny, or will we allow the viewpoint of corporations to dominate our little skyline?

We can cave in and cheer when we discover that a Home Depot, or a Walgreen’s, or a McDonald’s, or a Chili’s will save us the 12-mile drive to the Y.

But is there another choice?

Could we lobby for……..an Amy’s or a Salt Lick or a Magnolia Cafe or — you name it — any one of the hundreds of locally available businesses in Austin that might be interested in branching out to Dripping Springs, if only we gave them the invitation.

We can end up looking like Round Rock and Bastrop, if that’s what you want.

Or we can be unique.

It’s really up to you and me to decide. But if we continue to allow the Walgreen-like corporations to cut down our trees and if we continue to do our roll-over-and-play-dead routine every time a giant company demands to get its way, then we will get the town that we deserve.

I think we can do better. Are you willing to say that you agree?

Dripping Springs: friend of trees??

It was a great disappointment to read the following item about the new Walgreen’s slated for Dripping Springs.

“The city has agreed to let Walgreen’s remove many of the 100+ year old oak trees on the property so the project can move forward.” The quote comes from Realtor Steve Mallett’s website, and since he seems to be generally accurate, I’m writing this on the assumption that the City made that agreement.

Do we need a Walgreen’s here? Well, many folks will say that we do. So it seems pointless to question whether the chain stores will bring their brand of retailing to Dripping Springs; it’s going to happen. But in the process, it does seem a bit “backward thinking” to permit this progress to destroy the very beauty that makes the town unique.

Does Walgreen’s absolutely have to destroy the trees in order to build the store? I don’t think so. I’ve looked at that corner (US290 at Ranch Road 12) very recently . . . . I even drove around the block to see how the store could be placed in order to minimize the destruction. Apparently, the Walgreen’s Corporation didn’t see the corner the way I did.

In my mind, I saw a polite and discreet Walgreen’s Drug Store surrounded and shaded by hundred-year-old trees, a welcoming spot that provided some cool parking spaces for our blisteringly hot summer days. And I saw a store that respected the surroundings in which it had placed its business. And because it had done so, I saw a store brimming with shoppers because of its desire to fit into the town instead of trying to remake the town to fit its corporate headquarter’s demands for uniformity and blandness.

We’re not going to get that Walgreen’s; and despite some assurances that the new McDonald’s made concessions to the City on its design, we’re likely to get a McDonald’s that sits on a concrete padsite completely unadorned by plant life. Kind of like the Home Depot, which was said to have made concessions, though I never noticed any.

I don’t know about you, but when I drive through Austin (and most every other town in the US), I literally cannot tell the difference between a Walgreen’s and a CVS; apparently, they both use the same architect. Their desire to shout “drugstore!” has worked so well that together, they have homogenized the concept and made each other indistinguishable and unremarkable. Today, if I need something from a drugstore, it matters little whether I am in a Walgreen’s or a CVS. Both stock the same items, so there is no reason for me to be loyal to either.

While I’ve long expected the chain stores to begin their invasion of Dripping Springs, it has occurred faster than I thought it would. One thing about it has disappointed me: I really believed that our City Council, our Chamber of Commerce, and the town’s leadership would exert tremendous pressure on these corporations to abandon for once their insistence on stamping our city with the same mold used everywhere else. I guess I was just foolish for thinking Dripping Springs would be different.

So, before a whole lot longer, we should look for CVS to announce its intention to locate within a stone’s throw of the Walgreen’s, and, except for the sign, you won’t be able to tell them apart. Mind you, I have nothing against either company other than their juggernaut approach to uprooting every tree in their path. Eventually, they will merge, and the country will be left with thousands of look-alike buildings facing each other . . . . but half of them will be empty.

In the meantime, we lose our trees, and, by the way, a lovely hundred-year-old building that caring could have saved.

Hello Dripping Springs…….

Here’s a spot where we can all talk about what we want our town to be……….welcome!