County Tax Office Report: Pleasant...

Doing routine things like going to the DMV or the tax office are pure Blogger fodder for must people who write online journals; you just know there will be something worth reporting back to the handful of readers who tune in for the latest adventure. But really, my trip to the downtown San Antonio office of the Bexar (pronounced Bear for those of you not from Texas) County tax assessor/collector office was actually not that horrendous.

This all started with my son ordering new plates for his car - the fancy Native Texan version. Hey, live like you wanna live, but the only problem is, my son currently lives in Florida, and Sylvia S. Romo, CPA, RTA (and I'm not sure if she is related to Tony Romo or not) wasn't about to just send them via FedEx, so I had to go down to pick them up. I don't mind stuff like this, as long as there isn't some sort of glitch.

So, I leave work and take the short drive to the tax office. I had checked out their web page in advance and found that they closed at 4:45, so when I rolled in the front door at 4:15, I was pretty cool with things. Then I saw the TSA-like screening area. You have got to be kidding? Of course as soon as I emptied my pockets to fill the little basket with my wallet, watch, security badges, unit coin, comb, keys, business cards, lint and lock-blade pocket knife, I figured there might be a problem. Sure enough, the nice armed woman, Glock at the ready, informed me that the knife would have to go back to the car.

I complied.Now it was close to 4:20 and I was nervous that there might be some other glitches. But I passed through the security section with no additional body cavity search or pocket emptying needed and proceeded to the line of at least twenty-five or so people. You might be interested to know that as we got closer to 4:30, two different ladies went through the long line of people looking at their paperwork to identify any problems before the people stood in line for the duration only to find they had a problem. Oh sure, this was done as much to help the employees who want to go home for the evening as it was to help the people waiting, but either way, what a great thing to do to save time for everyone.

In my case, my son had faxed me a letter authorizing me to pick up his plates, sent a copy of his insurance and a photocopy of his driver license. I apparently had all I needed. But at least two other people in line failed the test and were spared the long wait only to have a bad outcome.

Then as I continued to wait, creeping slowly along (naturally, the people who had jacked-up paperwork were behind me in line, not in front) I saw a sign that was posted saying that no credit cards were accepted. Nice!

Immediately, I called my son to question him as to whether or not I was going to need to pay any money to get his plates. That would have been pretty upsetting if I had waited in line only to have the lady tell me I owed $56 or something like that. Hey, feel free to rob me, I never have more than $20 in my wallet. I have a wife for stuff like that.

He assured me that as far as he knew, it was all paid for, so I continued my wait in line. And then things started to slow down.

Have you ever noticed that if you are standing in line it really pisses you off if you see employees standing around chatting? Oh sure, not every person who works at the tax office is supposed to be manning a customer service window, but in your mind, if they work there, they ought to be able to help you. The strangest thing happened. When I first walked in, it seemed as though every window had a person waiting on people. They even had a special handicapped window to handle disabled people. Then, as the clock struck 4:30 - fully 15 minutes before operations were to cease, clerks began to disappear, and as available windows closed, obviously, the line slowed down.I wish I had full motion, time-lapsed video to show the process unfold. Sadly, I can only offer these pictures I discreetly snapped with my phone. Yes, I left the camera in the truck for fear that it might be confiscated as a weapon of mass destruction by Glock-lady. (By they way, Glock-lady would be a good title for a superhero.)

I kid you not; these positions had been fully manned (actually womanned) only moments earlier, and with still at least 20 people in line, they simply un-assed the AO.

Look, I don't want to complain, but don't you think that it would be more efficient for everyone to keep the full staff until closing time to get all the customers taken care of - then we can all go home sooner?

Then again, I used to work at McDonald's and I remember closing all the grills except for one just so when we closed we could finish sooner. The only thing is, we were stupid. As an hourly employee, it would have been smarter to to take longer to close the place and get paid more. Damn, I was stupid.

In the end, my son ganked me for almost $10 because the lady at the window suggested I pay to pro-rate a few months and get a new sticker for the tags. He gets an extra two months and his new Native Texan plates and all I got was a Monday blog entry.

How was your latest visit to the tax office? Have you been frisked by the Glock-lady? Tell me about it or leave a comment below.

No, Really; Timber Path is Closed!

Look, I don't want to come across here as being obsessed about this or anything, but the lack of planning and common sense just stuns me. As promised, I took Old Grissom on my way to work as a route to get from Timber Path to Culebra.Looking at the chart above, you can see that Grissom Road goes along the top of the picture. I live on the north side of Grissom and Timber Path (before it closed) makes a short cut through a dry creek bed and comes out at Culebra Road. Forming sort of a triangle with Grissom and Timber Path is Old Grissom Road.

Here is the problem. Sitting at the light this morning at Timber Path and Grissom for five minutes made me realize that someone has not done their job. It also made me realize that people need to learn to safely run red lights when common sense tells you that there is a glitch in the system.

Example: If you are in a line of cars waiting for five minutes for a protected arrow to allow you to get onto a road and there is no other traffic coming in either direction on that road, why not live bold and run the light. Oh, I know, the first time I try this, there will be six cops and a SWAT team waiting for me, but really, can't the city or TxDOT workers just fix the stupid lights to reflect the changes in the road that is closed?

Other than that, the new route worked fine. Then, I had to come home, so I figured I would use the reverse of that route, exiting from Culebra Road to Timber Path, then onto Old Grissom and so forth.Hmmm. Looks like they completely blocked off the part of Timber Path that keeps you from having to make a sharp right turn. No problem.Unless of course, they have failed to cover or otherwise alter the stop lights at the intersection of the closed road. Seriously; Timber Path is closed in both directions. There is no competing traffic from either direction, so why are cars backed up out onto Celebra creating a log-jam? And further, why doesn't the guy simply, cautiously, run the red light. That is actually legal, by the way.

Okay, other than to update you on the status of the construction, I won't bring it up any more.

Tezel Construction Update: Light at the end of the Tunnel?...

You may recall I mentioned construction being delayed on Tezel Road a while back. Well, I have learned from an authority on everything TxDOT, that there seems to be some immediate action happening.

I know, Immediate hardly seems appropriate for this issue. Nevertheless, this is good news.

I just got word from TxDOT that the contractor will be laying down the final layer of asphalt along Tezel starting today through Friday. After that, the road will be finished, save for the final lane markings, which will be put down in a few weeks after the pavement has fully cured.

For those of you wondering why this project took so long, I did confirm that there were indeed issues with underground utilities. Whenever crews start digging, there's no telling what they'll find: utility lines that aren't where they're supposed to be (or aren't even on the plans), abandoned lines, etc. When that happens, work has to stop and the owner of the problematic line has to be determined and contacted, then plans have to be made for the disposition of the problem, then the work done to actually take care of it. All of that adds significant time. These problems happen quite often in road construction, and there were several such issues on this project.

So there you go. Happy Motoring!

Construction Report: Tezel Road Update...

Just a quick follow-up to my previous complaint about the slow going on Tezel Road...

My neighbor Gus forwarded me a response he got from a TxDOT representative when he wrote in to complain about the mess, and the gist of her reply was that, though they apologize for the inconvenience, the real issue is with delays caused by CPS, SAWS and other utilities.

I promptly e-mailed the TxDOT lady and essentially asked her to expand on the response that, in my opinion, was taking no blame for delays whatsoever and putting it all on the City of San Antonio (COSA) and the various utilities.

The spokeslady responded in part:

First of all, Tezel Road is a city roadway and the City of San Antonio
did the original planning for this work.

During the planning process, TxDOT (and COSA) consults with all utility
agencies prior to construction in order to get the best (and I emphasize
the word "best") blueprint of all utilities.  It is a misconception that
comprehensive as-built plans exist.  Many companies can check their
records and TxDOT receives the best possible location to include in
design plans.  But, once crews dig underground, it is anyone' guess what
will be found — gas or electrical lines that were not on the plans,
water and sewer lines that are not where crews expect them to be,
abandoned lines that forces crews to stop and determine who the
responsible utility company is and whether these lines are active or
not, etc.  The work then stops until the appropriate utility company
comes in and lets TxDOT know what is to be done in that instance.
She also responded to another concern:

"This poor planning does not give us a whole lot of faith in TxDOT's
ability to manage the roads"  — Mr. Stone, the planning and the design
on Tezel Road was done by the City of San Antonio engineers and/or their
engineering consultants. Through an agreement with the City and because
of use of federal money for the project, TxDOT provides oversight of the
construction to make sure that the work is done according to plan
specifications.  Tezel Road is not on the state highway system and will
return to the City of San Antonio for maintenance.

Though TxDOT does have plenty of construction projects that are
designed and construction under TxDOT's authority, to be judged for work
that was designed by another entity is not right.
In other words, City Plans it, TxDOT manages the work while taking no responsibility for the poor design or planning, then hands it back over to the city when they finish (assuming it does get finished).  What is the value added to that to the taxpayer?  Seriously, at least if the city was managing this abortion, we could complain to them.  As it is now, the city can simply shrug their shoulders and say, "TxDOT is managing the project and trying to convince you to support toll roads."

In fairness, the lady who e-mailed me was very nice and extremely professional, but frankly, her answers seemed to avoid any responsibility or solution, other than to apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks...

Tezel Road Report: Time to Finish this Mess...

If you are one of the local readers of this blog and have occasion to travel up or down along Tezel Road between Timber Path and Guilbeau, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For those not in the know, we have had over two years of a main artery to neighborhoods in our area undergoing some sort of revitalization apparently performed by The Three Stooges Construction Company and supervised by Beevis and Butthead.

My neighbors Gus & Ruby told me about a sign they saw posted at the flower shop/Post Office in the Ridge Gate shopping center on Tezel. So, I had to take my camera and go see what all the hoopla was about.Sure enough, the construction continues, although there seem to be stretches of serious inactivity. I talked to the nice lady at the Post Office and she told me that it was just too much. The only way to get the people at TxDOT to get on the stick is to e-mail them, call them, write them and complain.I don't want to get all black helicopter conspiracy theory on you, but I just wonder if the lack of effort, and more importantly, the incompetence in doing this project has been a way to convince residents to be for toll roads? Maybe not, but forgive me if I appear to have a distrust of TxDOT.

All I know is that several weeks back when one side of the road was seemingly finished, I happened to be driving up Tezel and it started to rain. Nothing monumental, just a shower. Water was pooling on a brand new stretch of road, right in front of a sewer drain. WTF? The lady at the Post Office said that was probably simple incometences by SAWS or CPS.Either way, this mess has dragged on far too long. Please follow the postal lady's advice and complain here.

Airport Report: Hello Mr. President...

I slipped over to SAT (that is airport code for San Antonio International Airport) to pick up my parents who came for a visit and while I was waiting to turn into the airport, this guy was trying to take a gander down into my van.At first, I thought, maybe he was a pervert, but later I figured out he must have been a member of the Secret Service disguised to be a TxDot worker. He got that part right - standing there, not working. (Just kidding!) (Sorta) (Okay, not really.)Sure enough, Air Force One was making a little house call to drop off GWB for a local visit. Those Secret Service guys are pretty darn crafty!

Mr. Bush, please don't hesitate to leave a comment for the assembled group if you happen to surf by the ol' blog on your way home.