I know "National Politics" is really what interests most people... since it gets all the national
press coverage. But there's been an issue brewing here in League City, TX (
the biggest city in Galveston County) for quite a while, and I think it's relevant to the idea that "local politics" can have an immediate effect on people's lives.
At issue, is the school district for our area, CCISD, wants to build a new high school. Pretty much all of the schools are at or above capacity now, and the city is growing at a rapid pace. In 2000, voters passed a bond issue -- CCISD bought 60 acres of land at that time, with the thought that it could be a high school. In 2004, voters overwhelmingly passed another bond issue, with the specific purpose of building the high school on that property. Now in the past few months, things have gone sour for school, and the League City city council is to blame... (more after the fold)
A group of about 100 residents who live near the proposed site are now vocally opposed to the school.
Here's an article with some history. And then last Tuesday, faced with no other positive options,
CCISD's board voted to sue the city in the hopes of moving forward with construction.
Just today, a judge ordered the city to issue the permits that CCISD was searching for, thankfully. Interestingly, as it stands, our mayor is refusing to give a deposition in this case.
At the root of all this are two people, Galveston County Commissioner Ken Clark and Galv. County GOP head Chris Stevens. Clark, who home-schools his kids, has been on an anti-school district rampage for YEARS. Eventhough, one of the shining stars of the city (and the reason I moved here in the first place) is CCISD and their great accomplishments. Clark and Stevens have tainted the Council by supporting (and paying to get elected) members who are pro-big business and big money, and anti-anyone else... at the same, they're ultra-(pseudo)-religious. As can be seen from their actions in 2000, when they tried to pass a "Godly principles" ordinace... without any thought about our US Constitution.
Basically, I guess I'm putting out a call for ideas. We've got 55,000 people in our city - a large number are students - and 100 people (backed by a few corrupt Republicans) are trying to screw things up. How do you get an apathetic citizenry interested? Our tax dollars are now going to lawyers -- for both League City and CCISD. Why isn't Houston's media covering the issue? What can be done to change that?
Sorry if this is a bit "rambling" -- but it really gets me frustrated.