Yesterday I made the mistake of trying to drink a cup of coffee and read my new 2022 home value at the same time. After I finished choking and wiping the coffee off of my computer monitor, I started browsing Read More …
Property Taxes – 2023
Stories from April 1st – 2022 Edition
Animal Shelter Provides Safety for Stray Council Members The new Garland Animal Shelter, which recently had its grand opening, serves as a safe haven for more than just lost pets. It also has a special kennel dedicated to housing our Read More …
Healthcare, Part 3
Part 1: https://www.robertjsmithtx.com/index.php/2019/03/07/healthcare-a-new-beginning/ Part 2: https://www.robertjsmithtx.com/index.php/2019/11/14/va-hospital-update/ When I sit down to write about healthcare in Garland, it never ends up being a short blog entry. The reason is that there are so many pieces to the puzzle that it is Read More …
Property Acquisition
On Tuesday, November 16 2021, the council voted to purchase the Las Brisas Resident’s Club at 1002 Marion Dr, Garland, TX 75042. The Las Brisas Club is a 1950’s build with a long history of code issues and neighboring resident Read More …
ARPA
ARPA is the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was signed into law in March of 2021 by President Biden. One aspect of the law is funding for local governments for ‘lost revenue’. This is calculated by a series Read More …
GP&L FAQ
Disclaimer: This is my personal understanding of how everything works. This is not an official publication of either GP&L or the City of Garland, and does not represent the opinion of the Garland City Council. Here are my answers to Read More …
Naaman School Rd Update, July 2021
As many of you in the area have noticed, several of the properties that are in the path of the Naaman School Rd rebuild are now vacant. We’re in the process of closing on those properties now, and once they Read More …
New April 1st Initiatives for 2021
For April 1st this year, I wanted to briefly cover some of my new initiatives for 2021: 1) Park Patrons will be banned from playing Yahtzee with squirrels 2) In partnership with Animal Services, I’d like to convert the Youth Read More …
Winter Storm Aftermath
Downloadable PDF version here With the latest winter storm plunging Texas into a once-in-a-generation grid failure, we’ve all scrambled to try and plan our water, meals, shelter, and medications around when the power is on. So far, ERCOT (Energy Reliability Read More …
Rail Crossing Repair
If you’re like me, you’re tired of having to realign your front end every time you drive over a railroad track. We have several major crossings here in District 8. The rail companies are notoriously slow in their replies, and Read More …