We made it! After God only knows how many PowerPoint slides, hours of testimony, and interminable Carol Anne Rose Kennedy songs, it’s the final meeting of the year. Unsurprisingly, it’s a rather full agenda – although not as momentous as last week’s meeting. To recap: Brewster McCracken’s item proposing to extend approved site plans’ validity an extra two years passed unanimously, following an amendment from Laura Morrison, which made the extensions dependent on continued developer compliance; council named design team Lake|Flato for the new central library, going against the staff recommendation; and it hired outside council to examine just how city staff approved the BFI land­fill expansion without council’s consent.

Nothing quite as contentious this week – unless you count a potential $241,000 contract to re-evaluate the nuke plant proposal from NRG South Texas (Item 52). To be applauded, however, are resolutions subjecting future economic development agreements to independent analysis and further squashing incentives for retail projects (Item 74) and drafting sustainability guidelines for major events, festivals, and such (Item 75). How about a compost ticker-tape parade?

This article appears in December 19 • 2008.

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