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Who is Jose Chavez and what is he proposing that has created such a flash point for dissent? Chavez served as an aerospace engineer on the AWAC program (America’s secret ears in the sky), and then came to Austin to work for CompuAdd computer manufacturers. Six years ago he began Micro-Media Solutions (MSI) in his laundry room, but quickly guided it into a company with 100 employees in a former warehouse at Fifth and Waller, a block away from the proposed site for his new building. Through judicious use of the Smart Jobs program, a sizable number of the MSI employees were rescued from the welfare rolls and enabled to become first-time homeowners. That is a model Chavez intends to repeat with his new, expanded business, Syntech, a circuit board assembly company he acquired after selling MSI. Syntech is currently outgrowing its 42,000 square feet in Pflugerville and needs a second assembly location of 65,000 square feet. The company expects to employ more than 100 people next year, at an average full-time salary of over $40,000 a year.
This article appears in August 27 • 1999 and August 27 • 1999 (Cover).