Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
Doesn't Realize Just How Sick East Austinites Are
RECEIVED Tue., May 2, 2006
Dear Editor,
Without getting into the merits of many of the issues raised in Michael King's April 28 “Point Austin” column [News], it's obvious he doesn't realize just how sick East Austinites are of getting a disproportionate share of infrastructure that benefits the entire city but has localized negatives. No issue exists in a vacuum and the Guerrero plant was seen as just the last straw, that East Austin should get preferential treatment until more of a balance is achieved. The fact that the part of the park where the plant was proposed for isn't used much isn't a reason for sacrificing it. The existence of enough woods to serve as critter habitat and oxygen production is as important as jogging trails. Maybe on its own it would have been a good project, but East Austin is done with hosting more than its share of infrastructure.
Without getting into the merits of many of the issues raised in Michael King's April 28 “Point Austin” column [News], it's obvious he doesn't realize just how sick East Austinites are of getting a disproportionate share of infrastructure that benefits the entire city but has localized negatives. No issue exists in a vacuum and the Guerrero plant was seen as just the last straw, that East Austin should get preferential treatment until more of a balance is achieved. The fact that the part of the park where the plant was proposed for isn't used much isn't a reason for sacrificing it. The existence of enough woods to serve as critter habitat and oxygen production is as important as jogging trails. Maybe on its own it would have been a good project, but East Austin is done with hosting more than its share of infrastructure.
Tom Cuddy
[Michael King responds: Are those East Austinites who have suggested an alternative site nearer SH 130 also out of touch, with themselves? This is a water treatment plant, not a gasoline tank farm. By Tom Cuddy's curious split-city logic, there are right now a "disproportionate" number of such facilities on the West Side, and a "preferential" treatment should be … what? I don't have a position on where the plant, if any, should go, and Guerrero is, in any case, off the list. I was writing about the grandstanding accusations of nefarious, secret plots, for what was one of several potential proposals by city staff.]
