Spring is here. The awkward rebirth is well along its way, everything is turning green, traffic is everywhere, the city keeps growing, summer will be upon us all too soon.
This issue we offer more election coverage. This is an important election, as all elections are, but there are few points in history where you can actually watch the road bend, where a corner is turned, and there are palpable changes. Mostly, life (reading history as the record of lives lived), especially political life, is a long, slow, tedious process comprised of an endless series of mundane battles and maneuvers, compromises and negotiations. There are no right or easy answers. In the day-to-day it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, but the best future interests of Austin are too often lost in the bickering over details.
What our city needs now is an end to the intramural politicking that is Austin’s favorite insider sport and a comprehensive, realistic vision for the city’s future. The question is how to accommodate the growth in Austin, in Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties so that it doesn’t destroy the culture and the qualities that make this city and this area special. But that is easy to say — every politician offers some variation on that theme. Accomplishing that goal in this notoriously politically contentious town will be much more difficult.
There are no easy answers. Working together and providing an achievable, livable blueprint for our future seem to be logical admonishments to the council, but in practical terms of where roads are put, what kind of support basic services get, and where dollars get spent, what do those admonishments mean? Every side argues their point as though it is the only logical answer, yet there is no simple road map.
Fighting for the environment against the swelling tide of development, with the dangerous undertow of the Take Back Texas property rights movement, has become harder and harder. It is not easy to focus on what is necessary and can actually be achieved against the obvious background of what needs to be preserved. Still, this is the fight for the soul of our city.
It is not an easy time. It is a time of political confusion. The kid is growing faster and in more different ways than anyone expected and we have no idea what is next. It’s the perfect time for an election.
This issue also contains an announcement for the Sixth annual Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest. Over the years this contest has attracted thousands of stories. Both the novice and the veteran, the ones who have always dreamed of being a writer and the ones who have long worked at being writers, are invited to try out. In a few weeks, the Chronicle will be knee-deep in stories, the whole staff pitching in and reading and sorting. It is exciting to hear so much talk about fiction and the short story form. The rules and guidelines for entry are on page 35, and we encourage everyone to enter. (This event is co-sponsored by Shiner Bock, Book People, 107.1 KGSR, Zoetrope, and Magnolia Cafes.)
This article appears in April 25 • 1997 and April 25 • 1997 (Cover).