… This afternoon at City Council, they just took up Items 20 and 32, the former pertaining to a $280,000 contract for minority recruitment outreach assistance at the Austin Fire Department, the latter covering medical exceptions to the homeless “sit/lie” ordinance.
… But for now, let’s flash back to this morning. As expected, the controversy over signage requirements outside anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” drew speakers on both sides, with council deciding to limit public input to 15 minutes each. Among the speakers in favor were Heather Busby, board chair of Lilith Fund, which provides funding to low-income women unable to afford an abortion. She told of clients she’d met: one, who, after providing information to a CPC, was called and visited at her dormitory in an attempt to pressure her into not having an abortion; another, Busby said, was misled into thinking the CPC was actually a Planned Parenthood, and was told abortion was illegal. Twelve speakers signed up in opposition, a mixture of CPC operators, supporters, and “constitutional scholars” questioning the legality of the measure. Jonathan Saenz, legal director for the right-wing Liberty Institute, called the ordinance “unconstitutional” as the signs represented, in his estimation, “compelled speech,” drawing applause from the 25 or so anti-choicers in the crowd. Council didn’t agree – after Bill Spelman clarified that “no one’s going to be arrested for not putting a sign up” (instead, the matter is one of code compliance), the item passed unanimously.
Following a briefing from Robert Goode, assistant city manager turned interim general manager of Austin Energy, on the utility’s upcoming Generation Plan, came an unexpected flare of vitriol. Self-appointed East Austin spokesperson Gavino Fernandez spoke – shouted, actually – to oppose Item 29, a transfer of $90,000 from the Holly Good Neighbor “Cultural Arts” Program to sponsor the Pachanga Music Festival and Fiestas Patrias events at Fiesta Gardens. Again, comment was limited to 15 minutes per side; several individuals spoke to support the events as good neighbors that gave back to the community, including Alejandro Vallejo, whose namesake band spoke and jammed with kids in a Holly neighborhood school. Fernandez, however, said the council had “abused and misused” their authority in allocating the funds, funds that due to Holly’s detrimental impact on the neighborhood, Austin Energy’s set aside as reparations – and funds folks like Fernandez feel they have the moral authority to allocate. Fernandez said he didn’t want events of Pachanga’s size, “or any other activity – because there are no protective measures. … This is not a democracy,” he said, “this is a dictatorship!” A second speaker, original Aqua Fest protester Paul Hernandez, tied the allocation to a list of previous sins visited upon East Austin – the gentlemen’s agreement, the fire-prone Holly plant, noise-polluting Aqua Fest – and called for the funds to be spent on Holly home repairs instead. When Mike Martinez ultimately moved to allocate the money for the festivals, noting separate funds available for repairs, Hernandez shouted from the back of the chamber, “You have more! You’ve got more!”, resulting in his ejection from chambers. And when the measure passed 7-0, Fernandez shouted “Boycott Pachanga Fest!” According to Martinez, the Good Neighbor funds expire in 2012.
… And by the time the Hustle’s written this, council is outta executive session, enduring a brutal, bloodletting debate over whether to contract on minority firefighter outreach. Yikes! TDH will let the participants salve their wounds, and report on the aftermath tomorrow.
What the hell else is happening?
Council named the nine nominees to the 2010 Transportation Bond Citizen Task Force. The lucky duckies are:
Sandy Baldridge
Boone Blocker
Andy Brown
Karen Friese
Moses Garcia
Sheila Holbrook-White
Perry Lorenz
Darwin McKee
Moses Saldana, Sr.Also, Item 31 from Martinez, “supporting establishing a national museum of the American Latino,” was withdrawn.
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