Things
started off
wild and ended the same way in the most raucous display of democracy since
last year’s Freeport vote. Just minutes after the opening invocation, 40
advocates of the disabled hijacked the council chambers with protests of both
the verbal and paperwad sort. The council beat a hasty retreat into a two-hour
executive session to discuss the airport terminal construction contract, and
the riot police and fire marshal that the mayor had called in backed down. The
protestors took no prisoners, but a political free-for-all ensued, the
wall-to-wall crowd astir with chants for more disabled funding and shouts for
issues ranging from fiscal conservatism to marijuana reform and just plain
general revolt. “Let’s rip out the chairs!” shouted one protestor.
When the council emerged, so did a surprisingly becalmed atmosphere, and last
week’s meeting got underway. During Citizens’ Communication, Eric Samson spoke
on behalf of Karen Hadden, who stood beside Samson with a hand over her mouth.
As of last Thursday, Mayor Bruce Todd had not explained why he’s censored her
for the past two meetings. Nor would he explain to this reporter his alleged
violation of the council’s established rules of procedure. Passed under Todd’s
first reign, the rules allow censorship only for the remainder of a council
meeting, but don’t allow continual censorship. But City Attorney Andrew Martin
says the procedures also allow the chair to establish his own rules, “such as
continual disbarment, if he wants.” Martin admits that he himself defines the
rules “loose[ly].”
After Samson spoke, Jackie Goodman suggested reviving a committee to better
define meeting procedures, and colleague Brigid Shea offered to chair it. The
mayor would have none of that discussion and quickly recognized the next
speakers, advocates for the disabled who excoriated the mayor for, they said,
supporting a “watered-down” American with Disabilities Act. On January 24, the
Congressionally appointed Advisory Commission on Inter-governmental Relations,
of which Todd is a member, had recommended that if states and local governments
don’t receive more federal funding then the ADA should be revised to become
voluntary. When he could finally get a word in edgewise, Todd said from the
dais that the recommendation stemmed from the commission’s desire to prevent
unfunded federal mandates, not endanger the ADA. He added that, as always, he
felt ADA compliance should continue.
That settled the speakers’ unrest slightly, and the council flew to the next
issue: a vote to support the mayor’s recent request that all bids for the new
airport terminal construction contract be rejected. The mayor requested a
rejection, he said, because the lowest bid had come in $5 million over the
city’s $95 million target. But before the council approval (by a six to zero
vote), Eric Mitchell stated that the lowest bid, from Pelzel-Phelps joint
venture, had come in under budget. He said airport engineers had
informed the council that the project would actually cost about $102 million,
but had set a lower target to encourage lower bids. “To say this isn’t within
budget is a lie,” he said, before bolting from the dais. “I won’t sit up here
and lie to the public.”
But Mitchell neglected to raise the more curious issue: The mayor hadn’t
complained about the high price of the bids until the local daily filed a
lawsuit against the city on February 7, four weeks after the bids came in.
The suit resulted from the city’s refusal to disclose the joint agreement
between Pelzel-Phelps. The agreement would reveal which partner in the joint
venture would perform the majority of construction. Critics had complained that
the venture wrongfully received minority status, and thus extra bidding
consideration, by claiming that the minority-owned firm of Pelzel &
Associates would do most of the work.
After the council meeting last Thursday, Todd said he hadn’t raised the cost
issue earlier “because I thought we might be able to get [Pelzel-Phelps] within
budget.”
But Mary Guerrero-Pelzel says Todd “never brought it up. Not once was there
any discussion [to lower the cost]. It has nothing do with budget. That’s the
only legal position the mayor could take, because staff highly recommended
Pelzel-Phelps.” Guerrero-Pelzel is considering a lawsuit.
Next on the agenda? Mitchell’s CURE (Central Urban REdevelopment) for downtown
neglect. The plan calls for development fee waivers. It establishes a new
zoning category for downtown that will be awarded on a project-by-project
basis, at the council’s discretion. The general body of the plan is bounded by
Town Lake, I-35, Lamar Blvd., and MLK Blvd. Offshoots extend down Fifth, Sixth,
and Seventh Streets east of the highway to Chicon Street. The CURE passed
unanimously, with all the councilmembers present, believe it or not.
Thence came the most deliberated item of the day, Mitchell’s SCIP II item
(Scattered Co-operative In-fill Project, an affordable-housing initiative). The
original plan, for 100 affordable rental housing units in the Anderson
neighborhood in East Austin, had met resistance from Shea and Garcia, who
supported an alternate proposal from staff. Staff came up with a plan that
calls for less rental and more home-ownership units to ensure more stable
residents. Both plans would require a $1.2 million original investment from the
city, but further investment for SCIP II would come from the state tax credit
office and from private investment. The city approved a one-year extension of
their contract with the SCIP II developer, Anderson Community Development
Corporation (ACDC). The extension allows ACDC to reapply for $5.6 million in
tax credits with the state Department of Community Affairs in both the spring
and fall tax rounds. If they win the tax credits (they lost last fall), then
they qualify for the $1.2 million from the city to begin the development. Prior
to last Thursday’s vote, however, SCIP II’s fate seemed cast in defeat; it only
had the support of Mitchell, Jackie Goodman, and Ronney Reynolds.
About 30 speakers, mostly black, weighed in on the two plans. Proponents of
SCIP II outnumbered critics two-to-one. As with most issues that Mitchell
proposes, supporting arguments capitalized on America’s history of
African-American suppression, and used guilt as a handy lever. Two speakers
outright referred to Shea, temporarily and conveniently absent, as racist.
But the tangible drama came when KAZI FM commentator, the Reverend Frank
Garrett, waxed emotional about Garcia’s sudden philosophical departure from the
fraternity of the oppressed.
“Gus, que paso mi amigo?” he pleaded with a wavering voice and clinched fists,
before displaying all the exaggerated melancholy of a silent film actor. “You
got my people fighting each other.” A passionate feeling took hold of the room
and the crowd exploded in applause when he left Garcia with this teary
supplication: “Don’t kill us.”
After the last speaker, Mitchell seized the spotlight, lamented the
divisiveness of Shea’s counter-proposal, and “called the question” to end
debate and cut directly to a vote on SCIP II. The mayor called the role.
Garcia?
Yes.
The Mayor did a double-take, and informed Garcia that the council was voting
on SCIP II, not the counter-proposal.
Garcia said he knew that, and after the meeting, explained his vote thusly: “I
was leaning towards not approving it and going along the lines of
home-ownership. But people I’ve known and trusted for a long time, like Garrett
and Jackson said we want this. I have my doubts [about the plan], but Lord
knows that the African-American community has been shafted historically.”
As for the rest of the cast, Goodman, Mitchell, and Reynolds approved. Todd
abstained. Shea, returning shortly before the vote, dissented.
Finally, a vote on Max Nofziger’s tax abatement for downtown multi-family
housing projects valued in excess of $3 million passed with little debate. The
boundaries are the same as the CURE’s, without the offshoots. Reynolds
abstained, and explained that he is awaiting a downtown report from the city’s
San Diego consultant for downtown redevelopment, Keyser Marston.
This week in council: Third and final reading of Nofziger’s drainage utility
fee abatement for church groups that shelter the homeless. Also, second reading
of an ordinance granting a franchise agreement with Time Warner Communications
to provide telecommunications services, and the second reading to accept over
$500,000 in U.S. Department of Energy funds to install solar panels on a number
of local homes and businesses. n
This article appears in February 16 • 1996 and February 16 • 1996 (Cover).