Edited by Andrea Barnett, with contributions this week by Roseana Auten and
Dave Cook.
GETTING FIRED UP: The Phoenix Firebirds P.R. blitz began in earnest
with a press hoe-down June 1 at the Pleasant Valley Sportsplex, and everything
– from the serene view from the complex’s gazebo overlooking the ballparks to
the expensive-looking, vintage-style Charter Seat Option (CSO) application
packages – seemed carefully selected to court local corporate dollars. With post-thunderstorm sunshine glinting off gold watchfaces and tie pins,
Firebirds owner Martin Stone began with a brief overview of the structure of
CSO sales, which are expected to raise the $12 million the Firebirds must come
up with: Aficionados must donate $6,000 for front row seats between first and
third base; $4,000 for the second row; and $2,500 for the remainder of seats
between first and third. For this, donors will have the privilege of getting an
option to buy tickets for their seat – projected to cost $7-10, or around $500
for season tickets – for up to 15 years. For an extra $250-$500, one can add
membership to one of the exclusive “clubhouses” to be built in the bowels of
the stadium. Also, all CSO holders will have first crack at purchasing the best
seats for any alternative events held there (i.e., outdoor concerts) – although
CSOs will not be valid for any UT events.
After Stone’s presentation, the mutual backslapping session commenced – first,
Austin City Councilmembers Max Nofziger and Ronney Reynolds practically tripped
all over each other scrambling to associate themselves with the new ballpark
(Reynolds gets extra points for managing to plug the absent Mayor Todd).
Representatives from the Firebirds, including Stone and Team President Larry
Yount, reciprocated by gushing praise for Austin. Meanwhile, a call to
Councilmember Brigid Shea revealed that she hadn’t even heard about the press
conference, let alone her two counterparts’ participation.
It’s clear what segment of city government and society the Firebirds are
courting – talk of the ballpark as part of an “Eastside rejuvenation program”
notwithstanding. The trend of selling CSOs represents the final legitimization
of the large-venue caste system that’s long been in the making everywhere, in
every sport: All the best seats in this ballpark will likely be filled with
corporate salesmen and lawyers feting clients, while Joe Taxpayer, who’s put up
$10 million in the form of a Certificate of Obligation (CO) issued by city
council, must be satisfied with outfield foul line and bleacher seats.
“I think the CO should have gone to a [public] vote,” says Shea, adding that
“this has been known about long enough that it could have been put on the May
ballot for voters.” The council passed the CO on an “emergency basis” this
spring, citing competition from Sacramento, California, for the team. Yet Stone
doesn’t seem concerned with rumblings from groups like Save Austin from
Financial Extravagance (SAFE), which have threatened to try to get the promised
CO on a future ballot. “We have an agreement [with the city],” he says. “The
city’s committed [the money]; we’re going ahead as if it’s definite.” Shea
admits that there’s not much a group like SAFE can do now about the CO, but “my
understanding is it’s contingent on the Firebirds selling CSOs,” Shea says. The
Firebirds are supposed to come up with their $12 million by September 30. If
the CSO sales aren’t healthy enough to meet that deadline, all bets are off.
On the other hand, the park will create lots of jobs; not counting actual
construction, the Firebirds are only planning to bring five employees with
them, and positions from concessions to front office jobs will have to be
filled, albeit probably with mostly minimum-wage workers. And Joe Taxpayer
won’t have it so bad at the new stadium: It’s being built by the same
architects who designed Baltimore’s Camden Yards and Cleveland’s Jacobs Field,
and the remaining stadium seats will cost about $5, while general admission in
the bleacher berms will probably be $3. – D.C.
WAS IT EVER A PRIORITY?: The Austin Independent School District’s (AISD) plan
to end its eight-year-old Priority Schools program has attracted many
critics, including former and current members of the board of trustees. Some
$8.1 million is slated to be redistributed among 38 schools with significant
low-income populations for 1995-96, instead of just 16 schools. District
officials have cited changes in federal Title I funding rules as the reason why
some Priority Schools will lose anywhere from $32,000 to $85,000 in the
upcoming school year.
The program was set up to lower class sizes, with a stu-dent/teacher ratio no
higher than 16:1. There were provisions for hiring “parent training
specialists,” who would go out into a community, meet with parents, and help
them solve any problems that might be affecting their childrens’ education.
Also, the schools hired extra counselors.
But federal funds were never supposed to completely fund the Priority Schools
program – at least that’s what former trustee Bernice Hart remembers. “When we
went into this, we were told that we’d save $7 million in transportation,”
because the district would no longer be busing those children, she says. The
savings in transportation costs, not Title I money, were supposed to fund the
project, she says.
Nonetheless, Hart was a strong supporter of the plan to return to neighborhood
elementary schools, and create “priority” status for very poor schools. She
says African-American parents were weary of busing because once minority
children were bused to school, they were then re-segregated in the classroom.
Priority Schools were also supposed to be staffed with the most experienced
teachers and principals, and offer “combat pay” as an incentive for working
with low-income populations. But those obligations were never fulfilled, Hart
says.
Another board member at the time of the plan’s inception also believes
that the program was hobbled at the gate. Two years after the program began,
“the whole system was dismantled,” says Abel Ruiz. By 1989, principals’ ability
to essentially draft teachers into working at the Priority Schools was revoked,
he says, which severely damaged the schools’ effectiveness. Besides, he
recalls, the original proposal included 25 schools, not 16. (Hart says this is
not her memory of what happened.) But then, says Ruiz, the board’s last-minute
decision to severely limit what they would spend on Priority Schools curtailed
the scope of the program. So unlike Hart, Ruiz voted against the plan.
Now, he says, “what the public needs to realize is that neither Priority
Schools nor busing is a panacea” for the equity problems AISD faces. For that
reason, Ruiz would support the creation of a charter school system within AISD.
(Charter schools, which could mean anything from privately managed school
districts to magnet schools, were recently approved by the Texas
Legislature.)
But one current trustee isn’t giving in so easily. “The thing is, this town
was intentionally segregated,” says Diana Caste�eda. She says she has
never supported neighborhood schools because they keep children segregated,
rendering them uncurious and hostile toward those of another race.
(Nonetheless, she has spoken out against ending the Priority Schools program.)
Neither does she favor designating schools such as Zavala and Blackshear
Elementary schools as historic sites, as others have called for. Those schools
were set up to segregate Austin in the first place, Caste�eda says. “Why
do we want to celebrate that?” – R.A.
GOING LOCAL: Roberta Achtenberg, former Clinton Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) appointee, was in town last weekend to receive the Texas Human Rights
Foundation (THRF) first National Advocate Award.
Achtenberg, the nation’s first “out” lesbian appointed to a federal position,
quit her job with HUD in April to run for Mayor of San Francisco. In a sparsely
attended press conference in Austin last Saturday, Achtenberg said that she
feels she can be more effective as a local official than as a federal policy
maker. “At HUD, I realized, a very important function is fashioning policy. A
lot of influence can be wielded by virtue of participating in that process,”
she says. “Nonetheless, cities are where people are served…. You can have
more impact on people’s lives by reforming government at the local level.”
In Texas, Achtenberg helped push the much-publicized integration of public
housing in Vidor, and oversaw the integration of 72 public housing authorities
in 36 counties throughout East Texas. The THRF award “is given to a nationally
prominent official to honor lifetime achievements effecting positive and
lasting social change for persons with HIV, lesbians and gay men.” –
A.B.
Off the Desk: The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has
extended their deadline for comments regarding the construction of water
quality ponds along U.S. 290 to June 15. Highway runoff and silt from the U.S.
290 project around Loop 1 and Hwy 71 is expected to affect both Gaines and
Barton Creeks recharge zones. Send your concerns and comments to Sharon Barta,
Advance Project Development Engineer, TxDOT, P.O. Drawer 15426, Austin, TX
78761-5426. Call Sharon Barta at 388-3885 for more info.
This article appears in June 9 • 1995 and June 9 • 1995 (Cover).