Edited by Louisa C. Brinsmade, with contributions this week by Andrea Barnett,
Robert Bryce, and Nelson England.
DOGGING DAN: Texas Attorney General Dan Morales didn’t like the cartoon that
ran with the story on him in our August 25 issue. And he apparently doesn’t
like to see citizens expressing their opinions. Last week, during a speech at a
property rights conference held here in Austin, Morales told the property
rights advocates that he had been informed that protesters might be picketing
at the event. “There’s really no place for that sort of stuff,” Morales said to
the group. He continued, “Some of you may have seen a recent Austin publication
where they drew a picture of me on the front page as a dog. That sort of stuff
ought not be occurring.”
When asked what Morales meant by his comment, Ward Tisdale, the AG’s press
spokesman, said, “There’s no need to explain what he said. He said what he
said.”
At the conference, Morales went on to brag about the quality of his staff,
saying he has assembled a group of lawyers and others “who I think are the very
best anywhere.” But his lieutenants are also getting him into some trouble. One
of his chief deputies, Jorge Vega, is facing five charges of professional
misconduct, including two charges of lying under oath. Vega faces possible
public reprimand, suspension, or disbarment.
Another of Morales’ chief deputies, Drew Durham, is also on the hot seat. As
reported two weeks ago in these pages, Durham may have committed perjury when
he told a Senate panel that Senate Bill 14, the property rights “takings” bill,
would not cause any increased costs within the AG’s office. Durham also may
have used his position within the AG’s office to get a lucrative summer job for
his son. On August 25, the Dallas Morning News reported that Durham had
been angling to get a $1,400 consulting contract for his 14-year-old son,
Benjamin. The boy was supposed to work as a trainer, helping other teens
resolve conflicts without violence. The program was part of the Texas Mediation
Initiative, a program administered by the AG’s criminal justice division.
Durham heads that division. – R.B.
A KNIFE IN THE HEART OF THE AQUIFER? Members of the Sierra Club and the ROUTE
(Rethinking Our Urban Transportation Environment) coalition are leading a
last-ditch effort to require a new environmental impact study on the US290
freeway. “You will doom Barton Springs with this freeway,” Earth First! member
Neal Tuttrup told the 17-member Austin Transportation Study (ATS) committee at
its monthly meeting on August 14. The ATS is responsible for regional
transportation planning, dispensing federal, state, and local funds for area
road and transit projects.
An environmental impact study on the freeway, which is designed to cut a wide
swath across the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone on Ben White
Boulevard between I-35 and Oak Hill, was performed in 1988. Sierra Club member
Steve Beers pointed out, however, that since then, several developments
indicate the need for a new one, including: Austin’s near non-attainment for
federal air quality standards; the listing of the Golden-cheeked Warbler as an
endangered species; a potential endangered species designation for the Barton
Springs Salamander; and a report issued by the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer
Conservation District, showing highway construction and runoff contamination
such as silt, arsenic, and oil in the aquifer.
Local environmental activist Shudde Fath warned the ATS committee
at last month’s meeting that a soon-to-be-released report, commissioned by the
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), reveals that detention ponds built
to protect the aquifer from highway runoff are not working because the filters
rapidly clog with silt. Despite these concerns, a contingent of Oak Hill
residents spoke against delaying construction of the US290 freeway. One of
those residents, Will Hampton, told the ATS that Oak Hill at first opposed the
freeway because it would cut through the heart of their community, but
eventually determined that resistance to TxDOT was futile and began working
with the highway department “because it was impossible to plan our future with
this sword hanging over our heads.”
Last week, ROUTE and Sierra Club representatives met with Oak Hill
business and neighborhood leaders to try to persuade them to ask the ATS to
delay continued funding for the freeway, and to demand that the ATS draw up
plans for a downsized six-lane commercial parkway instead. Sierra Club Chair
Dick Kallerman argued that a commercial parkway would be designed to encourage
people to shop in Oak Hill, rather than to race through the town on the
proposed 12-lane freeway. Austin architect Sinclair Black told the Oak Hill
leaders, “Any freeway is designed to extend development farther down the road,
not to create development where you are,” But Richard Hamner, legislative aide
to State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos (who is also ATS Chair) warned that Oak
Hill could lose all funding for US290 expansion if citizens attempt to delay
the planned freeway. Hamner said that massive development will occur west of
Oak Hill whether or not the freeway is built, and that any reduction in freeway
size would create intolerable traffic congestion as commuters struggle to get
through the small community. Transit activist Dave Dobbs responded that there
is no way to eliminate rush-hour congestion because development will only
continue to move farther out, eventually exceeding the freeway’s capacity.
“There’s no way you can build a freeway big enough,” said Dobbs, “the only
question is: Where do you stop?”
This debate could continue at the ATS meeting this Monday, September 11, when
the ATS is expected to vote on continued funding for US290. In a surprise move,
Senator Barrientos’ office notified ATS staff last week to mail out last-minute
notices announcing that the September 11 meeting will take place in Oak Hill
rather than at the LBJ Library on the University of Texas campus where it is
usually held.
This is especially surprising since it is the year’s most important meeting,
where ATS members vote on the Transportation Improvement Program, a three-year
funding plan. About $122 million for big projects like US290 construction,
conversion of Capital Metro buses to natural gas, and expansion of Congress
Avenue and Koenig Lane are at stake. The meeting will be at 6pm at Covington
Jr. High School Theatre, 3700 Convict Hill Road, a block south of Brodie Lane
and William Cannon. – N.E.
THE CORPORATE ALTERNATIVE: The Austin American-Statesman is once again
dabbling in the youth market, this time hoping to pull in students and
“alternative Austin” with Zinc. (That’s “Z” for zine and “inc.,” in
acknowledgment that Cox Enterprises is bankrolling the whole deal.) In last
week’s debut of the new Statesman supplement, editor Gavin Lance Garcia
alludes to that now-infamous national trend of young adults with lots of
disposal income to ignore daily newspapers. “The people who work at the
facility on the south bank of Town Lake, it has been theorized, have been
immune to the needs of that segment of the Austin population,” Garcia writes in
his introduction. “But now the alternative has a main line to the
Statesman‘s circulation, and we’re hoping the whale is hooked.”
After reading Zinc., one might come away with the impression that the
bait that “hooks” such readers is entertainment coverage (theater, music, and
films), soft and vaguely historical accounts of how Austin came to be such a
swell place, and tips on campus living, such as how to avoid having your car
stolen.
Garcia, who at 32 has written for The Austin Chronicle, XL
ent., and edited a number of fanzines, insists that Zinc. is
different from XL ent., which about a year ago also purported to be the
Stateman‘s vehicle for pulling in young readers. He also has a vision
that’s not necessarily evident from the first issue.
Garcia says that XL ent. “does all it can as a weekly guide,” while Zinc.‘s mission is broader. “The focus will be lifestyles, and
that encompasses music, fashion, social-political, multiculturalism,” Garcia
says. “There’s no publication that covers the dance club scene, no one who
covers African-American contemporary culture or Hispanic culture.”
Though he’s not ready to talk about specific articles, Garcia says he hopes to
provide a forum for freelance photographers and artists, and to give students
an easier opening into the publishing world. Thus far, Garcia says, publisher
Roger Kintzel has given him free reign as far as Zinc.‘s content. “Graphically, artists can get away with a lot more,” he says.
“Editorially, we haven’t tested the waters yet.” – A.B.
This article appears in September 8 • 1995 and September 8 • 1995 (Cover).