Naked City

Old councilmembers never die, they just become consultants. In Ronney Reynolds' case, they become consultants in the profitable electric utility industry. The former councilmember, who returned to civilian life in June after an unsuccessful run for mayor, confirmed an In Fact report this week that he and CPA partner Timothy Dowling will expand their accounting services beyond number-crunching. "I'm going to take what I've learned on the city council and use my expertise working with small utilities," said Reynolds, "but I won't be involved with anything to do with the city of Austin." The healthcare industry is another avenue he's considering delving into. Reynolds, you'll recall, crusaded against the city selling its own utility, back when Texas Utilities was angling to buy the power-generating entity. He says that's one of the reasons he's getting a public service award next week at the Texas Public Power Association conference in San Antonio. Mark Rose, Reynolds' old pal at the Lower Colorado River Authority, is president of the TPPA... -- A.S.

A Rock for Rosie abortion rights benefit concert last Friday night drew only modest attendance, sending a small chill up the pro-choice spine. "Hopefully this only demonstrates the difficulty of promoting an event in an entertainment-saturated town, and not the apathy of pro-choice voters," said benefit organizer Ann Moore. Fifty people turned out to support the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (TARAL) project that helps low-income women pay for abortion services. After performances by a handful of bands, the small crowd was treated to an impromptu acoustic set by Austin singer Toni Price, who invited folks to cozy up to her picnic table under the stars at Liberty Lunch... -- N.K.

First there was R/UDAT, now there's
"R/UDAT Revisited..." a follow-up to the 1991 study designed to save the day for what was then a down-and-out downtown Austin. Now the Downtown Austin Alliance is calling on folks to take part in a follow-up session with the original R/UDAT group whose members hail from Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston -- cities more cosmopolitan than ours, in other words. The big event is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 24, and DAA folks are recommending that participants register early by calling 469-1766. -- A.S.

Homeless Plan Halted

On the heels of three American-Statesman articles framing the homeless campus concept in a negative light, Mayor Kirk Watson temporarily called off the search for a campus site at a surprise press conference Tuesday morning. Appearing with former Mayor Frank Cooksey, board president of the Capitol Area Homeless Alliance (CAHA), Watson explained that he wants to take time out of the search process to educate the public on homelessness issues.

The proposed campus had been put on a fast track since Councilmember Gus Garcia began pushing for a repeal of the camping ban ordinance. When the campus project was recently transferred from the Citizen Action Network's (CAN) Homeless Task Force to the newly formed CAHA, there was a change of focus. "There was a strong indication that the plan from CAN had gotten ahead of itself. We didn't expect to be dealing with the site-selection process as quickly as it came to the fore," says Jim Weaver, executive director of CAHA.

Interestingly enough, the decision to halt the process went down while Weaver, Garcia, and homeless advocate Richard Troxell were all out of town. And there was not much of a
to-do made over the press conference, although Weaver says Watson and Cooksey planned it late last week. Troxell says he was not informed of CAHA's decision until after the press conference, and that CAN members were similarly out of the loop.

Never easily defeated, Troxell says House the Homeless is going to come forward with its own campus plan to fill the gap. "We're going to actually i.d. a site, unlike the task force. And it's not in downtown and it's not in a neighborhood and it's on land that the city already owns," Troxell says. He says he will be revealing the site to KTBC Channel 7 news this week.

During the press conference, Watson said he wants to delay the site-selection process for four to six months. He has promised Troxell a "drop-dead date" of October 16 for a vote on the camping ban ordinance. Meanwhile, there are the council's July 31 and August 14 public hearings on homeless issues. "We're taking a deep breath because not enough people know that this is a comprehensive issue," explained Watson, referring reporters to the Homeless Task Force's Five-Year Comprehensive Plan.

"That document is a very slow plan," says Troxell. "It does very little to address one of the gaps in the continuum of care -- the need for substance abuse treatment." Troxell says he's not laying down arms yet. Gauging by his record of rounding up protesters, the public hearing this week should be packed to the walls with Troxell-gathered participants. -- K.V.

That's My Meter

Everybody knows that visitor and tourist dollars are good for Austin's retail economy, so why should downtown employees be allowed to hog metered parking spaces all day and make shopping, dining, and sight-seeing less convenient for others? That's the question put to the council by the Downtown Austin Alliance, which wants to keep traffic hopping downtown by strictly enforcing an ordinance against "feeding" meters.

That idea doesn't sit well with AT&T employee Sidni E. Totten, who battles visitors every day for a parking space near her office at 909 Colorado. "As long as the city gets their money, what the hell do they care who parks where?" says Totten, steward of Communications Workers of America Local 6132. It's bad enough, says Totten, that employees working 10-hour shifts often have to find somebody to renew their meters for them because they can't leave work. But if the ordinance is enforced and street parking is limited to five hours, employees will be forced to move their cars mid-day.

At a July 24 council meeting, DAA Associate Director Lucy Buck said employees will simply have to park farther from their buildings. "There will never be enough parking for everyone to park right in front of where they want to go," she said. While Councilmember Jackie Goodman took issue with the assumption that employees are the primary source of parking problems, she proposed amending the ordinance to allow only one-time extensions on two-hour meters. That's little comfort to employees like Totten. The DAA wasn't too pleased with the idea either, since it essentially creates hundreds of four-hour meters. Nevertheless, the proposed amendment swung a 4-2 approval, but the measure will return to council for a required five-majority vote.

If the overall proposal is approved, the city will replace old meters with new electric meters that charge 75 cents per hour and accept debit cards as payment. Meanwhile, Totten says alternatives to street parking are either unavailable or unacceptable. AT&T employees do not like to use outlying parking lots because they say they are not secure and the 'Dillo does not service them late enough in the evening. Bus rides for some commuters are up to an hour long. Parking garages are more expensive than meters, and some are booked up solid. Goodman says she'll look into employee parking woes before the next vote on the proposal. So far, nobody has suggested using the anticipated $300,000 in additional revenues from the new meters to improve parking alternatives. -- K.F.

Mercantile Misery

Austin merchants adversely affected by street closures may see some relief the next time a music festival or special event closes traffic in their neighborhood. Complaints from Austin business owners last year prompted the city council to appoint a task force to come up with solutions, or at least a truce, in the long-standing conflict between promoters and merchants.

The 14-member group is proposing a set of changes to the non-construction street closure ordinance. Their recommendations include requiring promoters to submit an application at least 60 days prior to an event, pay a fee of $100 per street/per block/per day, acquire an 80% approval from business and residents on the street, and determine the number of public toilets necessary to accommodate the estimated attendance. Also, to minimize the impact on non-entertainment businesses, streets would not be closed more than four hours before an event and must be reopened by 7pm, even if the event lasts for several days.

Currently, a more relaxed city ordinance allows event promoters to close any Austin street for $50 per day with a 24-day advance notice; to provide no more than two portable toilets, and the option to charge all pedestrians entering the area, regardless of whether they are attending the event.

The task force also wants no more than 12 permits for street closures per street each year. "As Austin grows, we can expect the number of festivals to grow," says Shannon Sedwick, owner of Esther's Follies on Sixth Street and chair of the task force.

To be sure, just as the number of street festivals has grown, so has its impact on adjacent businesses. "Who is affected by street closures? Small businesses," declares task force member Richard Aleksander, who owns Aleksander Gallery. "When these streets are closed during the day, the nightclubs are not even open. Our regular clients lose contact with us."

The draft of recommendations was a compromise among the different interests represented on the task force. Still, not everyone is satisfied. Aleksander, for example, believes that merchant approval of a street closure should stand at 100%. "I am not personally happy with the document we have put together," Aleksander told councilmembers recently. "It does not help small businesses enough."

One of the most eye-opening issues brought to light at the task force's presentation to council is how some event promoters are able to sway business owners to approve the street closures. Apparently, those business that are deemed powerful enough to block the closures are appeased by promoters with cash. "I was paid $250 dollars," Aleksander admits. "Other businesses are influenced by payments in the thousands of dollars." Added Sedwick: "Those with the power are given the money." While the payoffs are not technically illegal, they do raise ethical questions since only select businesses are offered the money. When asked by Mayor Kirk Watson what the city should do about the payoffs, Aleksander didn't hedge. "Have them outlawed." -- W.C.