Skip the lines and vote early at a polling place near you, through Nov. 1.
Check the The Austin Chronicle Election Board,
/election/ for locations…
Pete Foster, the trustee who left the Austin Community College board for a
banking job in Houston, says he may be back in his old seat Monday to vote on
his successor. The board deadlocked at its last meeting in the choice between
candidates Sharon Knotts Green and Bill Spelman. Chances are Foster won’t vote
for Spelman, who is the environmentalists’ favorite. Seems Foster doesn’t live
here, but he still owns a residence here. Does that make him a legal resident
and an eligible voting member of the board? ACC attorney Myra McDaniel says
yes. Expect to hear arguments to the contrary at the board’s meeting at 5:30pm
Monday at ACC’s Northridge campus.
HOBO’s woes continue to mount. Helping Our Brothers Out, Inc., an organization
that serves the homeless, has a hard-luck story of its own to tell these days.
The group of do-gooders has fallen victim to the ills of mismanagement and
theft by its own employees. Now HOBO risks losing $200,000 in city and county
funding because it is in such a serious state of disrepair. Group leaders are
scrambling to raise money to keep the organization afloat and find a new home
in the process, since its current location is getting the wrecking ball next
year in a downtown makeover. Discussion on matters of funding will continue on
Friday, Nov. 8 at a Community Action Network meeting, 411 W. Second St. Call
476-4357 if you’re up to helping these brothers out…
Lone Star is not just for drinking anymore. Now you can sink your teeth into
The Lone Star Report for regular doses of Texas politics, wrought by a
right-wing hand. The publication is put out by The Landrum Society, a
think-tank outfit in Dallas. The not-so-conservative In Fact reports this week
that Lone Star‘s managing editor, Mike Arnold, is based in Austin, where
he shares work quarters with the Texas Conservative Academic Network in office
space donated by Hartland Bank Chairman David Hartman. Arnold, In Fact notes, was campaign manager for Kirk Ingles, the founder of the local Christian
Coalition…
Which segues into the Christian Coalition’s latest shenanigan. The group
caught hell last week for sending out sample voter guide packets to churches
that depicted photos of two fictitious candidates — one who supported the
coalition’s stand on 10 issues and another who opposed their positions. Problem
was, the fictitious candidate opposing the Christian Coalition’s platform just
happened to be an African American. This really got the Texas Faith Network’s
goat because, just three weeks earlier, the group had called on Texas clergy to
stop distributing Christian Coalition voter guides in churches, and then
this new batch arrives in the mail. Gary Bledsoe, president of the state
NAACP, said the tactic was on the same race-baiting par as the infamous Willie
Horton commercials…
If you’re a student of Freeport-McMoRan’s dealings in Indonesia, then UT Prof.
Robert Boyer’s Web page is a must-see at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/boyer/fp. And for Freeport’s spin on the human
rights and environmental issues at the mine, visit the company’s new Web sites.
For F-M, go to http://www.fmi.com. For F-M Copper & Gold, go to
http:/www.fcx.com… — R.B.
Our Nuclear Lemon
The South Texas Project (STP) — Austin’s nuclear albatross in Bay City —made the list of America’s 25 worst nuclear reactors, according to a Public
Citizen study released last week. The consumer watchdog group’s “Nuclear
Lemons” report ranked both reactors at the STP in the top 20. The
1,251-megawatt reactor known as South Texas 1 occupies the #9 spot on the list,
while South Texas 2, also a 1,251-megawatt reactor, ranked #17.
America’s aging nuclear facilities, the watchdog group warns, are threatening
public health and safety. STP made the list because of its faulty record, says
Public Citizen. A mishap in February 1993 shut the plant down for nearly a
year, prompting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to fine Houston
Lighting & Power, the plant’s managing partner, $500,000 for violations of
safety standards. NRC placed the STP on its “watch list” as one of the most
poorly managed nuclear plants in the country.
In December 1973, the city projected its share of the plant would cost $161
million. To date, Austin has spent more than $1 billion, and 40 cents of every
dollar of every customer’s electric bill goes to pay for the power plant.
Problems at the plant have led the city to sue HL&P on several occasions,
not to mention trying to sell its interest in the plant.
In 1983, while STP was still under construction, the city hired Merrill Lynch
which tried, and failed, to find a buyer. In 1988, the city tried — and again
failed — to arrange a swap with HL&P. On Sept. 28, 1994, the city took out
a $15,000 ad in the Wall Street Journal, soliciting “proposals from
parties interested in acquiring its 400-megawatt share of the South Texas
Project.” The city got four responses. Texas Utilities, El Paso Electric, and
Kansas Electric Power sent letters saying they weren’t interested. A fourth
response came from Thomas M. Tietz, a bail bondsman from Burnet, who was ready
to take the STP off the city’s hands. On Oct. 27, 1994, Tietz sent a letter to
the city saying he would take the Nuke, but only if the city paid him $150
million. Unfortunately, Tietz died 15 days later, before the city had a chance
to respond… — R.B.
Orum Settles
A year after an AISD action that angered Austin’s African-American community,the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees has accepted the
resignation of Eddie Orum, a black principal of LBJ High School until his
September 1995 removal and reassignment to central administration. For weeks
thereafter, many African-Americans went before the board protesting AISD’s
action. Orum consistently maintained that he was a casualty of political
machinations between the school’s regular academic program and the prestigious
magnet science academy; school officials maintained that job performance
problems led to Orum’s reassignment.
Orum filed suit last March against AISD Superintendent Jim Fox and
several other defendants. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleged
that Orum’s reassignment was based on retaliation and violated his right to
free speech. He sought actual and punitive damages, as well as reinstatement at
LBJ High.
The two sides settled out of court August 26. Terms of the agreement,
undisclosed until this week, left Orum with an AISD letter of reference and
$57,000. “I can’t discuss the resolution of the case,” Orum said. “I appreciate
the support of the community and feel good about the outcome.” Orum’s leave of
absence since early September will continue until his resignation is effective
April 10, 1997. — R.A.
City Life Anew
Here’s a bridge-building issue in which you can take part without having tolay asphalt. A workshop on “Building Livable Communities Through
Transportation” will take place Saturday, Oct. 26, 8am-5pm, at the University
of Texas Thompson Conference Center.
The U.S. Department of Transportation selected Austin as one of four cities
nationwide to host the workshop, co-sponsored by the Austin Neighborhoods
Council. The workshop will address the catch-22 situation of inner-city
residents who flee to suburbia to escape traffic and pollution, only to
generate more congestion and smog in commuting to work.
The way to reverse this decline in the quality of life in inner cities is to
restore a sense of community, says Fred Kent, one of 14 national and local
experts who will speak at the workshop. This will require implementing
traffic-calming measures, and making cities amenable to transit, walking and
cycling, says Kent, the director of New York-based Project for Public Spaces.
Ellis McCoy, manager of the Portland Traffic Calming Program, will show how
traffic calming has helped turn Portland into one of America’s most livable
cities. Rick Chelman, who drafted guidelines on walk-friendly communities for
the Institute for Transportation Engineers, will discuss pedestrian amenities,
as will Susan Handy, who is a professor of community planning at UT, and also a
board member of Capital Metro.
Also, information will be provided on the Guadalupe Street Beautification
Program, which aims to make the UT drag a showpiece of pedestrian-based
revitalization. Speakers who will discuss revitalization and marketing of
inner-city commercial areas include Dick Ryan, director of the Texas Historical
Commission’s Main Street Program, and Dennis Zane, former mayor of Santa
Monica, California. Call 469-7974 for more info. — N.E.
B-1’s Benediction
For years, critics have contended that the Air Force’s B-1 bomber was a wasteof money. Now, the General Accounting Office has issued a report suggesting
that the bomber be retired. Released on September 30, just three weeks after
American B-52s launched cruise missiles against forces in Iraq, the GAO report
says the Secretary of Defense should “retire or reduce the B-1B force.” The
study notes that when compared with the B-52H and B-2 bombers, the B-1B just
doesn’t measure up and isn’t worth the price of an upgrade and regular
maintenance.
The GAO report is just the latest in a series of studies in which the
agency criticizes the
B-1’s capabilities, mission and cost. Built at a cost
of nearly $300 million each, the B-1 was designed to carry thermonuclear
warheads in retaliatory strikes against the Soviet Union. The plane costs the
Air Force about $1 billion per year to fly and maintain.
Nearly half of the B-1 fleet is located at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene.
The base contributes about $300 million per year to the local economy, and
Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who sits on the Senate Armed
Forces Committee, has been a strong proponent of keeping as many B-1s as
possible at Dyess.
David Evans, a former military affairs correspondent with the Chicago
Tribune who has written extensively about the B-1, says the GAO report “is
further evidence that the B-1 has been a costly failure. It shows the Air Force
has not had a successful bomber program since the B-52.” The report on the B-1,
number GAO/NSIAD-96-192, is available on the Web at http://www.gao.gov. — R.B.
This article appears in October 18 • 1996 and October 18 • 1996 (Cover).