Naked City

Austin buisnessman Manuel Zuniga may be hoping three times will be a charm if he decides to make his third run for Austin City Council next year. Zuniga is reportedly weighing whether to vie for the seat being vacated by Gus Garcia, who is retiring. Zuniga last lost a Place 5 council bid to Bill Spelman in 1997, and then promptly blamed his loss on "the power-hungry, racist, liberal, environmental political machine." Should Zuniga decide to run he won't likely be calling on elder statesman Garcia for his support. In an open letter written after his loss (published in the Chronicle's June 6, 1997, issue), Zuniga declared, "Gus is only a worker bee in the environmental machine." Meanwhile, interest in this race is growing by the day, as many folks in the "racist, liberal, environmental political machine" are rooting for Raul Alvarez, an environmentalist who's been active in a number of East Austin PODER-related causes ...

Activist Paul Robbins' yearlong endeavor of researching, writing, and compiling the annual Environmental Directory is about to bear fruit, with 128 pages of enviro-related factoids about our fair city. The ambitious publication, expected out in January, may contain some depressing news about what Austin is not doing for the environment, and what other cities do that we don't. Seattle, for example, spends $8 million per year on hazardous waste removal, and Sacramento has planted 600,000 trees since 1990. The directory holds an environmental report card, a new section on recycling, an expanded parks chapter, and an updated section on water conservation, green building, energy conservation, and a list of environmental groups. The book also contains a number of nifty charts and graphics this time around. Robbins drives himself to near exhaustion every year putting out the directory, almost single-handedly. "It took me a couple of days to believe it was really done," Robbins said this week after dropping the work off at the printer's. "It's quite a relief." ...

The last time opponents tried to stage a protest against the proposed Longhorn Pipeline project, the size of the crowd at the EPA-sponsored public hearing posed such a safety hazard the city had to cancel the meeting in the 500-seat auditorium of Bowie High School. Now, there's another hearing scheduled -- for 6pm, Jan. 10 -- and opposition organizers are hoping the anti-pipeline momentum hasn't diminished in the interim. At any rate, the new meeting place -- Palmer Auditorium -- has a seating capacity of 2,300, sufficient to house a rousing rally. The proposal to run gasoline from Houston to San Antonio -- via a pipeline that runs underground through South Austin and the Edwards Aquifer -- has fueled a bitter back-and-forth between opposition groups and Longhorn backers, who claim the anti-pipeline effort is bankrolled by Navajo, a competitor that doesn't want Longhorn siphoning off its West Texas market share. Opposition leaders don't deny Navajo's financial involvement, but argue that the argument boils down to two more important factors: safety and the environment...

If you're still fretting over what to get for the political junkie who has everything, how about a complete set of LBJ tapes? The Johnson White House Tapes offers hours and hours -- and hours -- of the former president in some of his most turbulent moments, as well as "the full range of [his] volcanic personality," as the press material states. The tapes should be available at your favorite video shop, but refer to http://www.whitestarvideo.com for details.