Day: May 5, 2006

Duffy’s Irish Restaurant and Pub says they’ll be open on the 12th and Big Bear Cafe also says they’ll open their doors (just for an art viewing) next week as well. Duffy’s is across the street from the 9:30 Club and I can’t wait to share a plate of fish and chips with Jimbo. Also, when Big Bear does open I would like to check them out and see if it is a place I’d want to hang out and maybe it could host a Truxton Circle meetup.

At the Zoning Commission meeting last night the Zoning Commission had voted to strike section 410 in it’s entirely. I think. I’m actually confused now. According to the agenda they were voting to strike all references of R-4 districts from the 410 Zoning Regulations. But it seemed to me that they voted to get rid of the whole thing because there was something else in the regulations that better suited R-5 zones, where 410 was just confusing.
Now the people who will benefit most from this are the residents of Square 507 fighting Wilbur Mondie. By striking R-4 from 410 or 410 altogether, the loophole for Mondie to build skinny little 14 ft wide townhomes on the land is gone. Yay.
I must say it was the best public city government meeting I’ve ever attended. I was the only member of the public there. Even though the Zoning board started 15 minutes late, the meeting lasted about 5 minutes and all was good.

I have a fuzzy picture somewhere but twice this week I have spotted a mounted policeman on my street. First time was Wednesday? Not sure, but there were two cops on horses. The sight of them delighted the kids. The second time, yesterday, one guy galloping down the street as an SUV raced beside and behind him. I wasn’t sure what the heck that was all about. The guys on the corner? They only shifted a bit during the police horse sightings, moving into the shady shadows. A few minutes later they would move completely.

I’m back.
At some point today I need to call my sister and wish her and my brother-in-law, T. Feliz Cinco de Mayo. My brother in law T. is Mexican and before he married my sister, was incredibly illegal. He’s kinda new to the family so my feelings about him and his immigration status haven’t fully gelled. All the protests and chatter about immigration has gotten me to think about something a bit more local, the friendly drug dealers on the corner.
Some folks feel sorry for the guys on the corner. They can’t find work, some say. It’s hard for them because they are disadvantaged, others say. Huh? I’d like to think that even a substandard American education and having English as a first language trumps the education and English skills of the average guy crossing the Rio Grande. Of course, some of the guys crossing the border have some marketable skills like carpentry and other building trade skills, which for one reason or another aren’t taught widely here in the US. Tracking? Is that what it is called when you gear a kid towards shop class and not the academic classes? Do they still teach business in high school? Are there still any shop classes where students learn to fix a car? Or has this gone the way of the dodo because of testing and liability insurance?
One could argue that the immigrants are taking jobs away from the guys on the corner by taking lower pay. Oh, last I heard a drug dealing foot soldier makes less than minimum wage on the corner. So I suspect it may be something else.
Anyway. Happy 5th of May, where we celebrate the kicking of French butt by Mexican boots, or we celebrate margaritas and nachos, one of the two. Be you native born American, Mexican, Salvadorian, or what ever, enjoy the day.