From Grapevine’s Nash Farm to Dallas’ Nasher Sculpture Center.

Boom! 9:30 p.m. in Grapevine. Fireworks for Hale’s first birthday.

Andrea White at MCD Meeting Tomorrow Night

Grapevine – The next first lady of Texas, Andrea White, is the guest speaker at the August meeting of the Mid-Cities Democrats, Thursday, August 26. Bill and Andrea White have been married for 25 years and have three children. 

The couple has co-led numerous charitable organizations, including Expectation Graduation, which brought 8,000 dropouts back to school. In addition to practicing law, Andrea has authored three young-adult fiction novels and recently published a book on being a political spouse, “P.S. Passionate Supporter and Political Spouse”. She also writes for her blog of the same name, www.passionatesupporter.com

Also scheduled for August meeting is the formal presentation of the 2010 Jim Wright Scholarship award winner, John Sekamanyo, to the Mid-Cities Democrats membership.

Members and guests are encouraged to arrive early at the Grapevine Spring Creek Barbecue Restaurant, 315 West Highway 114, at 6:30 p.m. to move through the buffet line. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.

The Mid-Cities Democrats is the largest grassroots Political Action Committee in Tarrant County, Texas. We serve the communities of Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Keller, Watauga, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills and Haltom City. We are dedicated to getting Democratic candidates elected and furthering Democratic principles and values in our community.

When we bought this tiny little cottage in Grapevine, I gave Jeremy a list of items I wanted to do before we moved in - seal and stain the patio, repaint every room in the house, resod the patchy, ugly grass, etc. Jeremy said we would get around to it all and it didn’t need to be complete before move in.

I’m still not finished with that list. But one more knocked off is resodding the lawn. I am so proud of our little herb and ornamental garden, but the grass made me frown each time we drove up.

The boys play happily in it now and I love it. 

Friday night. Grapevine, Texas. Fireworks.

This morning in our home, and across Grapevine, a sippy cup to coffee cup toast to that old saying: “It’s better to have rallied against inertia and lost, than to never have rallied at all.”

My Comments to the Grapevine City Council, July 2010

I am speaking on behalf of myself, my family and the hundreds of people represented by petitions we submitted in April, consisting of young families, retirees, environmental experts and Grapevine business owners.

I am here again tonight to ask for a better waste contract, increasing recycling, and reducing landfill waste – ultimately saving taxpayer dollars.

We’ve been in this discussion for months and months. Just last week, I wrote to each of you, at your official City of Grapevine e-mail addresses, restating my position and asking how you planned to vote tonight and why. Only two of you responded and one response came late this afternoon. You are accountable to me as one of Grapevine’s 50,000 residents. It’s fine for us to disagree, but it’s not fine for you to dismiss ANY of your constituents. 

As you know, a pay as you throw system would reduce landfill waste and harmful emissions here in Grapevine - right outside my door Grapevine. This approach is a step away from “orange” ozone alert days, when I shouldn’t walk my baby and his older brother to Dove Park to play in the water-spraying dolphins.

The Courier newspaper followed shortly after our last appearance before you, with a headline story of a citizen survey on this new contract. I want and need an open, transparent government. Our citizens’ group was excluded from input on the wording of the survey and I think we all know you can shape a survey to get the answers you already want. 

In April, we turned into City Council a petition representing more than 300 citizens calling for change BUT you spent close to $10,000 on a survey of 400, and then tell us that Grapevine residents overwhelming like the status quo? That doesn’t add up.

Please use your vote tonight and in the future to make Grapevine a better place for my family and me. 

Vote for a contract to increase recycling, reduce landfill waste and harmful emissions. 

Thank you.

The vote

Council voted to keep contract as is. I wish I had recorded Mayor Tate’s comments, including:

• Majority rules
• People he knows signed our petitions, but they didn’t really want to
• We have lots of widows in Grapevine who don’t produce lots of trash
• This is too new of a system

Tate did give John and “the group” kudos for our efforts. No positive response after my comments.

In summary, the only good thing about tonight’s contract vote is this is a five year contract, not ten.