* In 1995, Reynolds initiated an audit of the Drain-age Utility. Millions of
dollars in excess funds were discovered. So for the 1995-1996 budget, Reynolds
used $2.2 million of the excess monies to lower Drainage Utility fees, a charge
assessed on your water and wastewater bill. For residents, the fee was reduced
from $3.82 a month to $3.30 a month. The business rate went from $45.84 a month
for each acre occupied to $35.67. The audit also prompted soul-searching at the
utility, and led to a more specific spending plan.
* This past September, Reynolds convinced his colleagues to spend an extra $1.3
million on the Austin Police Dept., allowing increased patrol, police overtime,
and community policing efforts.
* During his first term, Reynolds worked with neighborhoods in Northeast Austin
to halt erosion along Little Walnut Creek. With the creek’s bank moving inland,
houses near the edge threatened to cave, but there was no city funding for
erosion controls. Reynolds used his office staff and volunteers to determine a
solution, persuaded the council to put a bond package on the ballot, and sent
out fliers and walked precincts to successfully seek passage.
Kirk Watson
* During Watson’s tenure as chair of the old Texas Air Control Board, Texas metall federal deadlines for compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act. Watson
initiated the El Paso/Juarez Air Quality District, the nation’s first
cross-border pollution control zone. It will allow El Paso, Ciudad Juarez in
Mexico, and Dona A�a County in New Mexico to carry out joint pollution
monitoring in the highly polluted desert basin through an international task
force.
* Watson started the Small Business Assistance Program, also the first in the
nation. Designed to prompt small business compliance with the Federal Clean Air
Act, the program included an office and ombudsman at the TACB to educate and
oversee small business compliance.
* In late 1992, Watson, in conjunction with John Hall, former chair of the
Texas Water Commission, created the environmental justice task force. Also the
first of its kind, it looked at the cause and effect of environmental racism,
and was initiated because of the “tank farm” issue in Austin (see main story).
— A.M.
This article appears in December 6 • 1996 and December 6 • 1996 (Cover).