Naked City

The problem isn't just that their premiums for dependent health insurance have increased as much as 200% in the past year, or that their dental insurance has been taken away. And it's not only that they're having to pay more for things -- like parking -- that were once considered necessities of working at a large, overcrowded university. The real problem with University of Texas policy, say UT staff, is that the people who make it don't understand what it's like trying to live on $13,980 a year, currently the university's minimum wage. Peg Kramer, president of the University Staff Association (USA), says that if the price of UT services keeps going up, pretty soon UT staff members may actually be paying to work there. Before that happens, USA is taking action, by staging a "Burnt Orange Flu" sickout Sept. 6-8 to air their grievances with UT president Larry Faulkner, who Kramer says has been, well, somewhat less than receptive to staff complaints. "People are just totally disgusted," Kramer says. "How could they get any new employees if anybody knew what was going on?"...

The East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Planning Team was honored last Saturday night by the Central Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association for the outstanding professional planning project of the year, at the APA's annual awards banquet. Considering that the ECC effort was not the product of professional planners, but of the East Cesar Chavez neighbors themselves, this was high praise, indeed...

A few South Austinites are starting to wish that a certain "friendly neighborhood global communications company" weren't so keen on being a part of their neighborhood. Members of the Dawson Neighborhood Association say Southwestern Bell turned a minor inconvenience into a major hassle when it decided to expand its switching facility on Cumberland Road without informing the neighbors. SW Bell's plan was to buy up homes, demolish them, and use the cleared land to help it meet its 45% impervious cover limit. (The current facility, which has 87% impervious cover, was grandfathered out of current standards but must comply if it wants to expand.) It was only after buying six homes and convincing their owners to sign confidentiality agreements, says Dawson NA rep Nico Ilai, that the company agreed to seek a waiver from setback and compatibility standards that would allow it to expand without mowing down the neighborhood in the process; if it gets the waiver, the telecom giant says, it will sell all the houses it purchased. The matter went to the Board of Adjustment on June 12, but was postponed for 30 days. Phase II of the expansion calls for the purchase and demolition of even more homes; but neighbors say the current deal should set a precedent for more reasonable growth in the future...

She may be gone, but Save Our Springs Alliance co-founder Brigid Shea hasn't been forgotten by the organization, which dubbed her a "Barton Springs Hero" during its 10th anniversary Soul of the City celebration and fundraiser on Sunday, June 11, at La Zona Rosa. The SOS alum, who resigned in May when the group failed to endorse Mayor Kirk Watson in his bid for re-election, says there's no hard feelings between her and the group, which has undergone several widely publicized upheavals in the last few months. "I disagreed with the tactics, but there was no disagreement over the goals [of SOS] and the worthiness and importance of those goals," Shea says...

In other news, Austin American-Statesman reporter Dylan Rivera will be leaving to take a similar position with the daily Portland Oregonian.