Quote of the Week: “There’s a term in the trade for this kind of gambler. We call them losers.” — an unnamed casino source, quoted in Newsweek‘s exposé of the $8 million gambling habit of professional virtuecrat and nagging scold — and erstwhile Austinite — William J. Bennett.
Austin voters elected Will Wynn the city’s next mayor, returned Raul Alvarez and Danny Thomas for second terms on the City Council, and sent Brewster McCracken and Margot Clarke into a June 7 run-off for Wynn’s vacant council seat. Voters also approved Austin Community College’s tax-and-bond package. See our full election coverage.
More than 1,000 Austinites and others vented their rage to no avail as the House Redistricting Committee steamed ahead with plans to remap the state’s congressional delegation to benefit the GOP and to screw, among others, Austin Rep. Lloyd Doggett (see Re-Redistricting). Compared to re-redistricting, the battle between House and Senate over school finance seemed tame (see School Finance Shell Game).
This week at council: More hearings and possible action on the anti-smoking ordinance (see TCB); return engagements for superduplexes (see below) and the neighborhood-plan amendment process; and debate and action on $25 million in tax rebates for the Domain project (see Domain Gives Slusher Pain). NOTE: The smoking-ban is posted as part of the regular agenda, not at 6pm like a typical public hearing; be there by 2pm if you want to speak.
Reps. Jack Stick and Todd Baxter announced Wednesday their qualified support for legislation enabling a Travis Co. health care district. More on this next week.
This article appears in May 9 • 2003.