Naked City

Edited by Audrey Duff, with contributions this week by Louisa C. Brinsmade, Nelson England, and Amy Smith.

THE NEWTERING OF PUBLIC RADIO: Newt Gingrich's big plan to cut off federal funding to public broadcasters continues to hit KUT 90.5 radio below the belt. The prospect of losing more money - both from its University of Texas owner and the federal purse-holders - has forced KUT to pull the plug on four overnight weekend programs, effective Sept. 30. Say good-bye to Mountain Stage, E-Town, Thistle and Shamrock, and New Sounds, which made their mark nursing the wee-hour listeners with gentle folk. KUT will ditch all four programs, which cost a few thousand bucks apiece, and return to a live, locally produced show with Howie Richey weaving a free-form musical format through the quiet hours of midnight to 5am Sundays.

Fading funds also mean that the on-again, off-again idea of replacing the live overnight shows on weeknights with an automated format is back on the table. "There's been a lot of discussion with the air staff about this, and they, of course, don't want it," says program director Leo Siedo. "But the problem with the overnight programs is that they cost us more money than we can afford. There's no underwriting and there's very, very little in fundraising. The air staff," she adds, "is trying to come up with some ideas for keeping the overnight programming."

Siedo hopes the anti-Gingrich sentiment that helped kick KUT's last fundraiser over its goal, with $258,000, will carry over to the next one, which runs from September 28 through October 8. Overnight listeners can expect to hear feverish pleas from air staff trying to keep local, early morning programming from going on automatic pilot. Despite the budget cuts, KUT is lucky to have a generous audience, Siedo reasons. "There are some stations that exist only on federal funding. If that funding is eliminated, many stations would disappear from the air," she says, adding, "but nobody really knows what the future holds." - A.S.

OUR WAY IS THE HIGHWAY: It was Austin political theatre, suburban style, at the monthly meeting of the Austin Transportation Study (ATS) on September 10. About 90 people showed up sporting hot pink chest ribbons reading "Finish 290 West," referring to the ongoing project to build a freeway through the Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and across the suburban community of Oak Hill. Several of the pink ribbon bearers were Oak Hill residents who had formerly testified that they only supported finishing the freeway because they were tired of being in limbo during the highway department's right-of-way condemnation process. However, support for the US290 project among last week's crowd was so enthusiastic that one might have thought Oak Hill residents were welcoming a new park to the center of their town rather than an elevated freeway with a 350-foot-wide corridor.

One group of residents, however, displayed a scale drawing of a six-lane ground level parkway that they wanted to see substituted for the proposed freeway, which varies from 12-16 lanes, including access lanes and frontage roads. Oak Acres Neighborhood Association President Gary Basham, a landscape architect who helped draw the substitute proposal, said, "I hate to see an elevated freeway dividing the town in half, and I think the number of lanes are excessive."

The evening's programming of speakers seemed bizarrely out of synch with any scheme to drum up support for continued funding. Before voting on the $30.5 million needed to complete the section of freeway from Industrial Oaks Boulevard to Williamson Creek, the ATS heard a report on air quality by Austan Librach, chief of Austin's Environmental Conservation Services Department. Librach warned that Austin's best hope for avoiding violation of federal ozone standards lies with increased transit and compact city land use. Next, Capital Metro director Michael Bolton reported on the progress of the proposed East Austin intermodal center. Bolton said that a major goal of the new facility would be to try to reduce the barrier that I-35 has created between east and west Austin. Flashing a projector slide photo of traffic on I-35 onto a screen for the assembly, Bolton said, "This is probably one of the ugliest sights I have ever seen."

If these messages stimulated any second thoughts among the ATS majority about the desirability of new freeways, it wasn't apparent from the vote that followed. Austin Councilmember Jackie Goodman moved to delay funding, seconded by Councilmember Gus Garcia. Then State Representative Susan Combs moved to approve it, seconded by Travis County Commissioner, Valerie Bristol. Garcia protested that a vote should proceed on Goodman's motion before the new motion by Combs was allowed. "What rules are you operating under?" asked state senator Gonzalo Barrientos, who is the ATS chair. "The same as those of the (Austin) city council," replied Garcia. "This isn't the city council," retorted Barrientos, bringing a gleeful roar of laughter, cheers, and huzzahs from the pink ribbon people, who appeared to exult in the recognition that this was, indeed, their show.

After the voting procedures were worked out, funding for the freeway passed quickly on a voice vote, with Goodman, Garcia, and State Representative Glen Maxey going on record in opposition. State Representative Sherri Greenberg did get an amendment attached that would provide for a citizen's task force to study environmental effects of the freeway. As soon as the US290 voting concluded, most of the South Austin audience began a noisy exit, forcing Barrientos to gavel for order so that voting could continue on other projects. (The ATS quickly approved on voice vote the remainder of the $254 million in projects, most of which are ongoing projects of the state highway department and Capital Metro).

Bill Bunch, attorney for the Save Our Springs Environmental Defense Fund, is evaluating grounds for a lawsuit requiring a supplemental environmental impact study on the US290 freeway. Environmentalists say such a study is needed before proceeding with further construction. - N.E.

ACC BRADLEYVILLE CAMPUS? We've heard the talk: After everything the city and county taxpayers have already paid for, roads and water aren't enough; Austin Community College is going to build a Bradleyville campus on Circle C land with our public funds. The official word from ACC administration, however, is that it ain't necessarily so.

"The [ACC] board is in the early stages of exploring expansion opportunities in the Southwest Austin area. But Circle C is only one part of the area we're looking to serve," says ACC Director of Marketing and Publications Catherine Schwartz. ACC's Pinnacle campus, located west of Oak Hill near the US290/RM71 interchange, is at capacity, she says, and the board is just trying to meet the demand for more facilities in that area. Details are scant since the board met September 11 in a non-public executive session on the matter, but Schwartz says tat the board has given ACC administrators no indication as to whether the campus might be located directly on Circle C land. "The board has received a list of available properties in the Southwest region; that's as far as they've gotten." She adds that other ACC campuses are also at capacity and the board is considering expansion for those areas as well. The issue of ACC expansion in the Southwest, as well as expansion of other campuses, will be discussed - in executive session - at the board's next meeting October 2. No decisions have been made, says Schwartz, and none are expected for the time being. - L.C.B.

OFF THE DESK: Statesman readers having a rough time swallowing the idea of tax-subsidized baseball may have choked on their Cheerios last week after reading the morning paper's top editorial on ice hockey. The piece, "Austin has chance to seize ice hockey," warned Austinites not to "miss an opportunity to bring such a great sport to town." Without explanation, the article, which cast the need for a local hockey franchise as a burning issue, quoted one hockey official who determined that Austin was considered "too difficult to crack" in terms of establishing a home for a professional team. The most notable feature of this headscratcher of an editorial was the glaring omission of any mention of the city's current battle over another national pastime... By the way, voters have until October 3 to cast early ballots on the October 7 referendum on a proposed ballpark. Call 499-2211 for polling locations. n