by Alex de Marban At Wednesday’s work session, Police Chief Elizabeth
Watson presented a report on the department’s affirmative action policies, with
a list of goals for not only increasing the percentage of women and minorities
on the force, but improving race and gender relations. The department has come
under heavy scrutiny in recent months after a so-called “police riot” at a
Valentine’s Day party on Cedar Avenue, in which teenagers, party chaperones,
and three police officers ended up at the hospital, after 68 mostly white
police officers shut down the street in the largely black neighborhood, using
mace and Taser guns to disperse a crowd.
Among other things, Watson says, the agency will now
wait until after trainees have completed cadet training to give them the civil
service exam. Until now, the agency has required the exam of applicants before
they have been trained. Since the exam requires some knowledge of police work,
she says, it only makes sense to wait until people have been through the
classroom. “What has happened historically… is that most of the people who
finish at the top of the list are white males,” Watson says. “So if you have
1,000 people taking the test, and we hire 70 that year, we don’t get anywhere
near the middle of the list.”
Watson says that the next cadet
class — which begins training in July – is made up of
51% “protected classes,” that is, women and minorities. Those who graduate will
take the civil service exam in January. “We’re doing a good enough job at the
front-end screening without needing the civil service exam to do that,” she
says.
The agency plans to increase its advertising with
ethnic minority newspapers, require all employees to attend a
sexual-harrassment prevention class, and send super-visors to a training
session on how the Americans with Disabilities Act affects police operations.
In terms of sheer numbers, the department has been
losing ground since 1993, when the “benchmark” figures, against which the
agency measures the sucess of its affirmative action program, were taken. In
February of 1993, 44.7% of the agency’s employees were black, Hispanic, Asian,
or female. As of March 1995, that number had slipped to 43.5%. But the larger
numbers don’t tell the whole story. Only 11 Asian people work for the
department, but that’s an increase of four over 1993, bringing the total to 1%
(the department’s goal is 3%). The APD lost seven black civil-service employees
(which includes police officers) between 1993 and 1995, but gained four in
other areas for a total of 10.4%, near the 11% goal. The department hopes to
have Hispanics make up at least 20% of its employees, and comes pretty close
with 246, or 17.7%.
In the “female” category (referring, however, only to
white women), the APD set a goal of 50%. In the civil service category, the
agency gained four women since 1993 for a total of 11%. White women in
non-civil service positions, however, make up 52% of the workforce, down from
63% in 1993.
Councilmembers were supportive
of Watson’s efforts, but firmly stated that they expect
continued
improvements. “I hope we continue
to make affirmative action and diversity our number one
priority, especially in light of some of the problems we’ve been having with
the erosion of confidence in the organization we’ve had in the community,” said
Councilmember Eric Mitchell. “It’s disturbing to see cadet classes coming
through with no participation from certain demographic groups.”
n
Seton called out the troops for Thursday’s
public hearing on the proposed lease agreement for
Brackenridge Hospital. By the time
the hearing started, 78 people had signed up to speak. A
platoon of
Seton doctors, patients, volunteers,
and even an architect marched to
the microphone to testify to Seton’s commitment to
quality medical care
for poor people. Several patients said they had been
contacted by Seton East – which caters to East Austin residents – and were
asked by the hospital to come speak at the meeting.
But not everyone had unqualified
support for the proposed lease. Brackenridge employees
are upset about provisions in the agreement which would affect their pensions,
and concerned that Seton’s pay scale and benefits package has not been made
public. Although Seton has agreed to provide all the reproductive services
currently offered by Brackenridge – including abortion referrals and
contraception – women’s health advocates are suspicious of the Catholic
institution’s intentions.
But Mandy Dealey, Planned Parenthood board president,
says she is comfortable with the arrangements that have been made. “We were
very careful to protect referrals, and to make sure that counseling would be
done in a timely manner,” she says. It’s true, she says, that a Seton-managed
Brackenridge will not perform even emergency abortions, but that’s nothing new.
Dealey says that even in circumstances where a woman’s life or health is
threatened, there’s usually time for a referral to another clinic. “I think all
the bases are covered in Austin,” she says. “Basically, they’ve drawn their
line in the sand [at abortion].”
That line makes some local Catholics unhappy. The first
speaker of the evening, Patrick McNamara, announced that the San Antonio-based
St. Joseph’s Foundation has sent a letter to Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
in Rome, informing him of the impending lease. The letter was accompanied by
about 20 pages of legalese explaining why Seton should have no part in the
operations of a hospital that prescribes birth control and refers patients who
want abortions.
“There’s something called `scandal,’ which has to do
with promoting a wrong act by omission or actively partaking in it,” McNamara
says. “`Referral’ by definition is a wrong act. Nuns should be in the position
of educating, and if they don’t do that, then they are also in a position of
scandal.”
Although the lease – with contraception and
sterilization services in place – has been approved by the local diocese and
Daughters of Charity (which runs Seton), McNamara says that if Cardinal
Ratzinger rules against the agreement, Seton would either have to comply or
lose its standing as a Catholic institution.
The council will vote on the lease this week.
n
City aviation board members presented the
first in a series of quarterly reports to council on the progress the new
airport at Berg-strom. As one member put it, “if we learned anything from
Denver, it’s communication.” The Denver International Airport finally opened
this spring after more than a year of delays due to financial overruns,
airline griping and faulty equipment.
Wednesday’s Bergstrom presen-tation included a run-down
of finances, a project timeline, and a slide show showing, among other things,
orange mesh fences erected to protect oak trees from the construction.
n
Council approved $1.36 million in contracts
for services to Brack-enridge Hospital Thursday, all of which will be picked up
by Seton if the lease agreement is approved. Also, councilmembers voted 5-0 to
give a Community Development Block Grant housing loan to the Center for
Battered Women, with Gus Garcia absent and Eric Mitchell abstaining.
n
At the Wednesday, May 24, work session,
councilmembers were set to discuss a proposal from Mayor Bruce Todd to ban
sleeping, camping, or storing personal belongings in public places, an idea
that has homeless advocates incensed. Contrary to a report in the daily paper,
the council will not vote on the issue this week. As of press time, the
proposal has not been set on council’s agenda.
n
This week in council: Council has scheduled a
public hearing on the proposed East 11th and 12th Street revitalization and
Para Las Familias projects for 4:30pm in council chambers. Also, council
could decide this Thursday whether
or not to pursue an appeal of the FM Properties lawsuit,
an issue which has Mayor Bruce Todd, Councilmembers Ronney Reynolds and Eric
Mitchell siding together against an appeal, with Brigid Shea, Max Nofziger, and
Jackie Goodman supporting an appeal. Councilmember Gus Garcia is ex-pected to
be the swing vote. n
This article appears in May 26 • 1995 and May 26 • 1995 (Cover).