Public Notice: Ho, Ho, Holidaze Continues
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., Jan. 3, 2020
It's a quiet time on the local news front – perhaps this year more than most, as the flurry of City Council action in December (on the Land Development Code, housing the homeless, and police oversight, among other things) largely cleared their plate for now, until city staff brings back the next LDC draft and other information required. The next Council meeting isn't until Jan. 23, so there won't be an agenda for another week, and even the usually lively Council message board is bereft of new postings since mid-December. Staff and "stakeholders" may have their hands full, as the ominous "Code Next Is Back" signs continue to proliferate, but for now at least, the rest of you can stay in holiday mode for a while longer. Here are a few upcoming goings-on:
Help Make Cleve a Real Boy!
Life Is a Butt Dial is a delightful music memoir from the head Greezy Wheel, Cleve Hattersley, whose random wanderings always seemed to put him in the right places – bouncing from the Armadillo to the Fillmore to the Haight, from Kinky Friedman's political campaigns to Jimi Hendrix's failed open mic night audition to Huntsville prison (well, okay, not always the right places). But there's one thing he's apparently never done before: A recent press release begs, "Please come be with Cleve at his first official bookstore signing – at BookPeople (of course!) on Saturday, Jan. 4, at 5pm. He's never done this, y'all, and he needs your full support. ... Let's make it official folks: Let's make Cleve a full-fledged author! (By the way, there will be music and other surprises!)" More info at www.bookpeople.com.
Bye-Bye, Daddy-O
"The Texas artist who gave us the 40-foot-tall cowboy boots outside San Antonio's North Star Mall, the 12-foot-tall iguana standing guard over Ft. Worth Zoo's animal hospital, and the 25-foot-long horns hanging in UT-Austin's alumni center, among other wonders, has gunned his pickup for the last horizon. Bob 'Daddy-O' Wade has died at age 76." So reports Robert Faires in "A fond farewell to the original trickster of Lone Star art," posted online over the holidays (Wade died on Dec. 24, 2019). Read much more here, and, if you're so moved, a "Tribute to Daddy-O, the Iconic Bob Wade," takes place this Sunday, Jan. 5, 3-5pm at Ranch 616 (616 Nueces).
The 16th Annual AHS Car Raffle Preview Party is at Oskar Blues Brewery (10420 Metric Blvd. #150), 6-8pm this Wed., Jan. 8, with drinks, adoptable animals, and an exclusive first look at this year's brand-new car, provided by Roger Beasley Mazda. Tickets are $20 each or three for $50, and 100% of proceeds go to the Austin Humane Society.
As The Austin Bulldog reported last month, Travis Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler "has recommended to the TCAD Board of Directors that the appraisal district host in-person informal meetings as part of the protest process in 2020" – meetings that Crigler controversially canceled for 2019, leading to a glut of formal protests and a lot of unhappy property owners ("As Tax Protests Begin, Travis Central Appraisal District Catches Heat," News, June 7, 2019). The TCAD board will meet Jan. 13 to consider that proposal, among other matters.
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