Suffice to say, reaction here at City Hall is a little, shall we say, excitable – does steam shooing outta aides’ ears count? – over Asher Price’s Statesman article regarding Lee Leffingwell‘s reworking of the Save Our Springs ordinance. From the lede on down (“A measure that would encourage more redevelopment over ecologically fragile land in Austin could soon appear …”), it grants Leffingwell little leeway in his attempt to tweak one of Austin’s sacred cows – making a tough, thankless task a little more crappier.
Now, with Brewster McCracken making big noise over Water Treatment Plant No. 4 – awaking from a long disinterest in the subject to propose shrinking the plant size, thereby conceivably moving it to a site other than its ecologically-troublesome Bull Creek location – he’s positioned himself opposite Leffingwell’s long, dutiful defense of the plant. If we were more jaundiced political observers, we’d note the move emphasizes WTP4’s drain on Leffingwell’s otherwise hefty eco-credentials – an issue which could arise at election time when he’s likely to face (you guessed it) Brewster McCracken.
This article appears in August 3 • 2007.