Sister City by the Sea

Nothing terribly earth-shattering at City Council this morning. No Toby either, so far.

With some council members tardy (gasp!) and no-showy (horrors!), the day got off to a late start. Up first was a dustup between Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza and neighborhoodie Jeff Jack over parking for the Long Center, with Jack wanting the parking made more accessible to the neighborhoods during nonevents. Nahh gunn haappn …

Friend-of-the-show, the ACLU Texas' Debbie Russell, chastised council for approving a contract to that mini-Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown and Root, saying "we have a resolution against the war and we should not be rewarding war profiteers who have misused taxpayer dollars." Will Wynn assured us that complied with all our procedures as well as state procurement laws," so, like, whatevs.

Most scintillating – aside from Futrell's emergence on the dais in the midst of a water-tower presentation – was a slide presentation on Austin's new sister city, Antalya, Turkey.

The "capital of Turkish tourism" and a high tech hub, it's just like Austin – oh, except for being surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and ancient ruins. Wynn spoke to the importance of finding a sister city in a Muslim country and Antalya's "garden of tolerance" featuring a church, a synagogue, and a mosque all in the same courtyard.

Tolerance aside, sounds like a setup for a decidedly politically incorrect joke.