Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
What About Customs Facility?
RECEIVED Thu., June 28, 2012
Dear Editor,
Didn't the City Council say that none of my tax money would be going to go to the Formula One track/event [“Council Briefed on F1 Prep Work,” News, June 22]? So far, that is not the case. They plan to spend money on a no-bid contract to temporarily expand the customs facility at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, specifically for the event. I also get to help pay for the vacation of at least four city officials to watch the F1 race in England? Is there some way we can send the entire City Council on a one-way trip to England to watch the F1 race and then start from scratch back here in Austin? How does the old saying go? I would say that the City Council spends money like a drunken sailor, but that would be an insult to drunken sailors. Drunken sailors eventually run out of money.
Didn't the City Council say that none of my tax money would be going to go to the Formula One track/event [“Council Briefed on F1 Prep Work,” News, June 22]? So far, that is not the case. They plan to spend money on a no-bid contract to temporarily expand the customs facility at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, specifically for the event. I also get to help pay for the vacation of at least four city officials to watch the F1 race in England? Is there some way we can send the entire City Council on a one-way trip to England to watch the F1 race and then start from scratch back here in Austin? How does the old saying go? I would say that the City Council spends money like a drunken sailor, but that would be an insult to drunken sailors. Drunken sailors eventually run out of money.
Mike Naylor
[Editor's note: Council voted unanimously on June 28 to reject the plan for a $5.4 million customs facility. The proposed customs facility would have been available all year, not just during Formula One races, and city staff plan to develop a permanent facility in 2013, due to Bergstrom's high traffic.]
