A few random musings:

– They really are sticking to their own 45-minute limit: On Item 81, the Big Box ordinance, 15 are signed in to speak, 123 signed in but not speaking; on Item 82, the Northcross discussion, 23 signed in to speak, 115 signed in but not speaking.

– Aside from its size and intensity, the noon protest was interesting for exposing some of the fault lines between the anti-Wal-Mart crowd and the Big Box ordinance's true believers. In passing the bullhorn around, some speakers had to be reminded that Big Box was up for passage tonight, and you could tell some Responsible Growth for Northcross members were a little confused to the whole thing. Council too, apparently – word was a late welter of amendments, some which would have gutted the ordinance's effectiveness, were being considered, but smart money has council just passing it on first and saving the rest for later.

– The Austin City Store is open for business today, a day early. No word on if Richard Suttle's infamous Austin Monopoly board game is up for sale. (Passed around City Hall as presents from his law firm, city legal said council had to return them.) Any readers with access to one, give it here. You can buy us off cheap!

At 2pm, two hours after more than 150 protesters descended on City Hall, it's finally quiet. Council has temporarily absconded behind closed doors into executive session, following a whirlwind of action and new developments in the Northcross/Wal-Mart saga. Not that it's over by half; with Supercenter foes Responsible Growth for Northcross still signing in to speak by the dozen, discussion of Wal-Mart's expansion plans, scheduled during council's 6pm public hearings, will likely stretch long into the night. This even despite a self-imposed 45 minute time limit, plus response, on the protesters' part – it's just that there's so much to say.

The biggest news currently is an announcement from Lee Leffingwell's office that Northcross developers Lincoln Property Group has joined Wal-Mart in their 60-day moratorium on building at Northcross. Wal-Mart's moratorium announcement yesterday left RG4N members cold, as it was developer Lincoln who stood to swing the wrecking ball. Their fears were seemingly confirmed by a story in today's Statesman, announcing Lincoln filed another site plan yesterday "to basically lock in the one it already has." The 60-day moratorium could conceivably grant Lincoln and Wal-Mart enough time to nullify neighbor's shaky legal arguments by renotifying all groups of the refiled site plan, this time with every conceivable legal failing fixed. But any hopes they had of the moratorium serving as a cool-off period look unfounded; if anything, judging from earlier, the heat can only build.

You would've thought the KKK was back in town. More details to come shortly; for now, enjoy the camera-phone picture.

It's a Big-Boxapalooza in the print edition this week, with Katherine Gregor dissecting the latest Northcross foibles in Mart Growth, Michael King weighing in in Point Austin, and yours truly sweeping up the rest (and surprisingly, a few non-Mart matters before council) in Beside the Point.

If my ears are to be believed, Will Wynn just said Item 82, the Northcross timeline and discussion, will be scheduled for 6pm with their other public hearings, including the Big Box ordinance. The Responsible Growth for Northcross protest, by all accounts, still looks on for noon.

Council, begin girding of the loins ... now.

Big news out of city hall: Councilmember Mike Martinez has announced Wal-Mart is undertaking a 60-day moratorium on development at Northcross. "This is a huge step in the right direction," reads a press release from Martinez. "The Mayor and Council members worked together on this deal, and I want the residents of the neighborhoods to know that we hear their concerns loud and clear. This will allow for more time to answer questions, re-notify, if necessary, and gain more input from the community," Martinez continues.

The moratorium opens a massive pressure-release valve. Scheduled to take the Northcross development up at their meeting tomorrow, intensity was building on City Council to act. Tomorrow being their last meeting of the year, the possibility existed that large portions of Northcross would have been demolished before Council's next meeting in the new year. With the moratorium, the mall will be unaffected when Council returns in January.

View the press release here.

The Water Treatment Plant No. 4 controversy centers around selection of the plant's site in one of two troubled locations: the currently slated Bull Creek site, or the city's preferred location in the so-called Cortana tract, both within the ecologically sensitive Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. But as SOS's Colin Clark writes in to say, there's a more fundamental problem: the need of the plant itself.

In judging the millions of gallons per day Austin requires (MGD), the city goes by peak-day numbers, a projection of worst-case usage. Clark brings our attention to a slide from Lee Leffingwell's water conservation task force, which was assembled to reduce water usage 1% a year for 10 years. The slide projects peak-day numbers into the future, along with numbers based on the 1% savings. Clark writes:

"What is completely remarkable from the slide is that with the 1% reduction in peak day demand continued into the future, Austin won't hit 260 MGD in peak day demand until around 2018 or 2019. Guess what our current water treatment capacity is (excluding the [to be demolished] Green plant)? 285 MGD. So twelve years from today, we are projected, by the City itself, to have a peak day demand of 25 MGD less than current capacity, after we demolish a plant that gives us 42 MGD. The year when we would get close to the 285 MGD mark is literally off of the chart, as the chart only goes to year 2019.

So why the big rush on the new treatment plant when it's not needed for perhaps 15 years?"

Good question.

Simple – by winning where the votes are. Like so much of American politics today, the Congressional District 23 race (see previous posts below) was something of an urban (blue) vs. rural (red) battle, and although Bonilla beat Rodriguez in 12 of the sprawling district's 20 counties, Rodriguez won the most populous, Bexar. Almost all of Rodriguez's 6,082-vote margin of victory came in the western part of Bexar that is within the district. Theoretically, he could have lost all of the other 19 counties and still squeaked his way into Congress. Although the district stretches all the way from San Antonio to the eastern city limits of El Paso, the San Antonio end dominates: 65% of the votes cast were in Bexar County, and Rodriguez took 56% of those. For a county-by-county breakdown, the Secretary of State's Web site.

Tonight kicks off the first of several inform meetings regarding the recently passed Commercial Design Standards Ordinance, and its centerpiece, the Vertical Mixed Use provision. Neighborhoods can decide to opt-in or opt-out of the zoning category, dependent on their desire to reside in a $500,000 condo above a gelato parlor. (We kid, we kid – well, kinda). Tonight's meeting is specifically geared toward neighbors of that Urban Village guinea pig, the Mueller development. That Bed Bath and Beyond they're building looks New Urban to the max!

Meeting happens tonight, Wed., Dec. 13, from 6-9pm, at the Region 13 Education Center, 5701 Springdale. Full press release copied inside.