Item 10A on the agenda for the regular May 8, 2012, Pflugerville City Council meeting was “Discuss and consider action regarding sale of real property located at 102 South Third Street to the highest bidder.

The house on Third Street served as the city library for a number of years and then more recently as an office for city engineers.

In the meeting, the possibility of rezoning the property to Office 1 was discussed. This would be compatible with future use of the house as an insurance office. A video of the discussion is available at this City of Pflugerville web page.

The old question about what parts of Old Town should be zoned residential and what parts commercial has yet to be well resolved. In the public comment section for Item 10A, it was noted that proposals from residents over the years to move the cbd border line from Hall Street to the alley between Hall and Pecan have never been acted upon

A bill board temporarily posted in the Chicago area with a statement attributed to Ted Kaczynski about global warming has led to much controversy.

A Radio 720 WGN presentation about this is entitled “Group provokes reaction with billboard doubting global warming” by Ryan Haggerty and Liam Ford, May 5, 2012.

There is a lengthy commentary entitled “Kaczynski Heartland billboard wasn’t a blunder” in The Reference Frame blog.

There is an interesting article that appeared today in the NoTricksZone blog administered by P. Gosselin from Germany. This is

“PNAS Study Shows Powerful Correlation Between Sun and Climate over the Last 9000 Years” by Dr. Sebastian Lüning and Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt.

Also see “Germany’s ‘Godfather of Green’ Turns Skeptic” by James Delingpole, Energy Tribune, February 9, 2012.

A website was created to gather input when the Pflugerville 2030: Your Voice, Your Choice process was begun for updating the comprehensive plan. When the process was complete, a link to the input website was no longer provided by the City of Pflugerville and the website was no longer maintained. While its use was available, the website by its presence not only encouraged input but also wide-ranging discussion among those contributing thoughts and opinions.

What is left is a City Facebook site. Its purpose as stated in the City of Pflugerville website appears to be:

“Facebook – Do you ‘like’ your city? Follow us on Facebook. Regular posts will keep you informed on city happenings and events. Also rely on this social media for breaking news and use to ask questions!”

This does not seem to make up for the loss of the website set up for the Pflugerville 2030: Your Voice, Your Choice process.

Restoring the opportunity for effective city-wide online conversation about Pflugerville’s future seems appropriate now that proposals for allowing more public participation in the guidance of a city’s growth may be becoming more common. See, for example,

“National forum explores letting public guide city growth” by Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee, April 21, 2012.

A proposed change in zoning for a parcel of land from Corridor Urban Level 4 (CL4) to General Business (GB1) is on the agenda for the regular Pflugerville City Council meeting on April 24, 2012.

This kind of proposal is a reminder that much of the land near the SH 45/130 Corridor is under special corridor zoning. The details of the corridor zoning regulations can be found in the City of Pflugerville website. For just a brief introduction, this may be helpful.

The Austin American-Statesman today has an article by Roger Duncan in the Insight and Books section, page E1, entitled “Electrifying changes as fossil fuels dry up.” The online article has a different title from that in the print edition just cited.

Good News:

The Financial Post by contrast has an article entitled “A world awash in oil” by Lawrence Solomon, FP Comment, March 30, 2012. It is maintained in this article that fossil fuels are not going to dry up for a very long time.

Added April 2, 2012:

“Energy ‘Independence’ After All” by Robert Samuelson, Real Clear Politics, April 2, 2012.

The cartoon displayed above has been posted here in accordance with the provision in Cartoons by Josh that it can be shown on non-commercial blogs.

Hardly a day goes by without commentary from someone in the world about problems with green energy. Here is an example dated March 18, 2012.

“Just why is Tory MP Tim Yeo so passionate about green issues?” by James Delingpole, The Telegraph.

One rationale for drastically moving so quickly from fossil fuels to renewables to provide energy is based upon catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) theory. But CAGW theory is very controversial. Here is a critique dated March 17, 2012.

“What the “skeptics” of climate catastrophe are skeptical of: Nordhaus reconsidered” by Eric Dennis, in The Reference Frame.

Here is a link to an excerpt from Roosters of the Apocalypse.

“Global Warming and National Suicide” by Rael Jean Isaac, American Thinker, March 16, 2012.