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The Annoyed Man wrote:

seamusTX wrote:Our legislative sessions are in odd-numbered years, so they are out of sync with the national elections.

- Jim

I wonder if that might not be for the best. Perhaps it forces voters to focus on state issues instead of dividing their attention between national and state issues?

Also lends itself to low voter turnouts...take that as you will.

seamusTX wrote:

ELB wrote:All of Texas voters decided. Most, through inattention or apathy, just decided to let someone else decide.

IMHO, "I don't care" is not a morally acceptable choice.

A non-voter may never feel the effects of some of these obscure amendments, but low turnout has resulted in some kooks and incompetents being elected.

- Jim

So as Jim Carrey said to the redhead, "So you are saying that I have a chance".

Why doesn't the military buy buffer zones?

Because the surrounding community encroaches and it no longer becomes a buffer. What you are proposing is that the Military buy land essentially so that it cannot use it. That is why almost every Military reservation is first sited out in the middle of nowhere, in order to avoid that issue. Eventually a nearby town results and grows.
If the community creates the buffer-zone, it protects its own interests, not those of the Military. It can create wildlife refuges, landfills or shooting ranges. Anything that it considers compatible with the nearby base that will not compel the Military to consider moving elsewhere.

Come to think of it, election day was yesterday. Why am I beating a dead-horse?

Dudley wrote:

LaserTex wrote:The buffer area issue is mainly for San Antonio area around Camp Bullis. The military services (Army, Navy and Air Force) will all be using that area for Medic training. (BRAC 2005 made the change for all Medic training to be out of Ft. San Houston - which exclusively uses Camp Bullis for that training.) The suburban crawl in that area (North San Antonio) has been completely out of control for years...to the point that it was causing mission impacts to the training. It is extremely important to "train like you fight" and that is impossible when the flood lights fromt he neighborhood park is blasting into your training area.

If it's a problem for the military, then the military should buy the buffer zone.

It is a problem for the community when the Military ups and leaves because of all the restrictions that arise when there is no buffer-zone.

Look at it this way...the Military builds a massive reservation somewhere out in the middle of nowhere so that they can conduct training without any interference. Businesses spring up outside the base. A community forms and starts to grow larger and closer to the reservation. Now the members of that community start complaining about noise, wildlife, and whatever else they perceive is a problem with living next to a base. The Military cannot expand the base to create the buffer-zone, as the community is right up against its physical confines.

So the base shuts down or downsizes (effecting the economy of the community either way). To avoid this, the community imposes its own buffer-zone to prevent further encroachment against the base. With the option of "the military should buy the buffer zone", any existing community would have to be physically displaced. Do you want to be the victim of some sort of eminent domain act?

I thought I kept the newsletter explaining why Senator Cornyn was in favor of all the proposed Amendments, but I did not. I seem to recall that his main reason for supporting HJR 132 (Amendment 1 - the Military Installation Buffer-zones) was purely economic.
I got the feeling that many municipalities that allow uncontrolled growth right up to a Military facilities boundaries and/or impose stringent restrictions in those zones tend to force the DoD to eventually abandon those bases as untenable.

Senator Cornyn sent me a letter asking me to vote for all of them (favorably).

Jim,

I am not sure where the Constitution does that. The point of the amendment appears to be an effort to improve the benefits of a Military Base to the surrounding community.