Naked City

West Austin residents, many of them survivors of the anti-MoPac struggle of the early Seventies, reared up again in anger one recent evening when Texas Dept. of Transportation officials came calling with plans to expand the six-lane roadway. MoPac, in case you didn't know, is becoming more like I-35 every day. Apart from the usual rush-hour crunch, the freeway and surrounding neighborhoods are groaning under the strain of a fatted-up traffic count (upwards of 149,000 vehicles per day at last tally in '98), reckless drivers, and an increasing show of big trucks on a freeway that was once virtually free of 18-wheelers. Given those perils, the MoPac Noise Abatement Coalition (MoNAC), made up of seven West Side neighborhood groups, were just a little mystified that TxDOT would even consider building an upper deck on MoPac that would stretch from Town Lake to US 183. "That's the worst thing you can do for noise," said MoNAC co-chair Ian Inglis. Rest assured that TxDOT has pretty much backed off of the upper-deck option in West Austin, given the howls of protest from the crowd that turned out for the hearing at Camp Mabry. State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, showed up, too, and basically warned the TxDOT guys that they'd have hell to pay at the Lege if they proceeded on the deck front. TxDOT, after all, is no dummy when it comes to knowing which way the wind blows. Some of this town's most powerful, highfalutin folks live in West Austin, and they likely wouldn't relish the idea of an I-35 clone in their back yards. In light of that, TxDOT is seriously weighing more palatable options, such as depressing the roadway, or creating high-occupancy vehicle lanes. At the same time, MoNAC has jumped on the light-ail bandwagon in a big, big way...

Campaign finance reform watchdogs are keeping a close eye on Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson's purse strings. That's because the $28 million lottery winner has vowed to do what he can to help get Danny Thomas elected to Place 6 on the City Council, the seat currently held by Willie Lewis, who is running for a second term. Henderson, who took to the Sammy and Bob airwaves shortly after hitting the jackpot, gave Thomas a hearty, on-air endorsement, leaving Lewis supporters wondering if the former Cowboy would turn that endorsement into hard, cold contributions to the Thomas campaign. While Henderson can, of course, spend as much money as he pleases on, say, TV time to proclaim that Thomas is a great guy or whatever, the law, such as it is, holds that the Thomas camp can't know anything about the ad in advance. In other words, even a hint of collusion between Henderson and the Thomas campaign, such as a photograph or campaign logo running with the ad, could cause a real stink, courtesy of the Lewis camp...

Oh? Did someone say City Council election? The potential campaign finance flap is just one indication that another ballot count is only weeks away -- May 6, in fact, with early voting starting April 19. (As an aside, don't forget the Tuesday, April 11 runoffs from the March primaries; see endorsements, p.6.) This week, the Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus held a candidates forum and subsequently endorsed candidates Raul Alvarez and Clare Barry (Place 2 and 5, respectively), as well as incumbents Willie Lewis in Place 6, and Mayor Kirk Watson. According to In Fact, one ALGPC member questioned developer and Place 5 candidate Will Wynn about the downtown revitalization efforts driving out the gay bars that brought trendiness to the Warehouse District. Wynn said downtown was about "20% built out," and "to the extent we can build downtown, there's room for as many to stay downtown as [possible]." That is, if they can afford the rent.