Shambhu Sharan

Professor Gordon

Richardson City major story

05-01-10

City council members voted unanimously for the extra space for the Network of Community Ministries on April 26.

When Mayor Gary Slagel call for vote for paying $ 65,000 annual cost for rent, utilities and overhead for the next five years, councils approved it. Nobody asked any questions about the funding.

Alice Mae Britt, network’s chief executive officer said she was looking to add 6,000 square feet on Sherman Street to create a family clothing center.

“I am thrilled the city has provided us the space,” Britt said. “The clothing center will give us opportunity to distribute free clothing to the needy people in our community.”

Vice president of the network James Franklin said it is wonderful his organization will be taking care of everything now.

“We can serve the needy,” Franklin said. “We can encourage them. Now we have opportunity to do it. We can serve food and clothe same time. People don’t have to go very far. Everybody needs help.”

Franklin said the network’s clothing center will be open every day and volunteer will distribute cloth as well as food.

Mayor Stagel said he is proud with the network’s community service.

“I support the network’s efforts,” Slagel said.

In the council meeting Richardson City councils and staff discussed and explained the growth of the city.

Keffler said Texas Instruments is expanding its Richardson factory.

“The Dallas Business Journal reported this week that Texas Instruments is set to launch the second phase of an expansion of its chip factory here in Richardson,” Kefler said. “Many of you may know the first phase began in October last year when the factory opened. The Richardson plant is on track to have 250 employees by the end of this year, and as many as 1,000 people are expected to be working at the site at build-out.”

Mayor Gary Slagel said 2010 Bond Election is important for the city and the FAQ site is available on the City’s Bond Election page.

City manager Bill Keffler said the bond election information will be available at the city’s home page located at www.cor.net. Richardson Parks and Recreation Special Events committee has posted the Wildflower festival on Facebook.

The Wildflower Festival is the City’s largest event in the community, and involves every City department to make it possible. It has been identified as one Texas’ top five festivals, and attracted around 70,000 people last year,” Keffler said.

The festival‘s information is available online at www.wildflowerfestival.com.

Keffler said Police Chief Jim Spivey has been going around town, providing the Richardson Police Department’s 2009 Year End Review to the Home Owner Associations and other various groups. His numbers show that compared to 2008, the 2009 total crime rate went down three percent. Aggravated assaults, criminal mischief incidents and cases of fraud all went down more than 10% when comparing 2008 and 2009.

Richardson shows an increase of more than 10% in residential burglary and auto theft. However, despite that increase, Richardson property crime stayed well below the rate of crime for the state of Texas. Moreover, the violent crime rate in Richardson is staggeringly lower than the state and nation.

“You may have noticed March, April and May of 2009 saw sharp increases in residential burglaries. In response to that information, the Richardson Police Department’s Crime Watch upped their efforts and officers realigned their tactics and stepped up patrols, which has been effective in combating burglary throughout the city. The monthly numbers have steadily decreased, with the exception of a slight upturn noticed in October,” Spivey said.

Police Chief Spivey said Last year police recovered more than 21,000 pieces of stolen property. Of those, only 6,415 were identified. Creating a property inventory of your personal valuables can increase the chances it will be returned, he said.

The Richardson Police Department is partnering with an insurance industry program called, “Know Your Stuff”, to help with this endeavor. The Web site, located at www.knowyourstuff.org, is an online property inventory program where people can store information about your personal belongings.

Anyone needing help to sign-up on the “Know Your Stuff” program can call the Richardson Police Department at 972-744-4955.

Sources:

1. Richardson City

2. The Network of Community Ministries

3. Richardson Police Department