The Daily Hustle: 4/29/10 (Update)

A low-key morn on the dais, as City Council tackled nothing quite as attention drawing as last week’s actions. However, the topics they navigated  – questions relating to taxi franchises, minority contracting and major construction projects – engendered the occasional flare of controversy.

With the five-year franchise renewals for Yellow Cab and Austin Cab up for second reading today, Bill Spelman’s inquisitive, professorial manner was on display. It seems Spelman stumbled onto Los Angeles' taxi service index, which, in his words, helped gauge how well cab companies provided “good customer service” and acted as “good corporate citizens.” The parallel he drew was that Austin’s franchise criteria mainly covered franchise operations – adherence to city code, but not common sense measures like response times and customer satisfaction. “I’m concerned we’re locking ourselves into a five year program where noting substantial can change,” he said, before raising the possibility that customer feedback could be used to allocate permits – and possibly before the franchise renewals were up in 2015. While Spelman was the sole nay vote in the 6-1 decision, he made it clear he hoped to come back with some amendments when the renewals were considered for third and final reading, May 27.

The question of minority contracting on construction projects – already raised earlier that morning by Sheryl Cole on Item 24’s lack of African-American contractors – re-emerged with a vengeance on Item 14, allocating a total of $67 million dollars for work on Austin Energy’s new system control center. African-American and Hispanic contractor representatives, including former Board of Adjustment chair Frank Fuentes, implored council not pass the contract until better minority participation goals were set. Council agreed, passing a motion from Mike Martinez directing the contract to go back before the MBEWBE and Small Business Enterprise Procurement Program Advisory Committee, and the council's own MBE/WBE/SBE subcommittee, with a tentative return to council May 27.

More tomorrow, including council’s briefing on the “project prioritization process” for the possible November transportation bond.

What the hell else is happening?

Not a damn thing on the city calendar other than the big show today.

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