Naked City

Austin's SafePlace has partnered with the U.S. Dept. of Justice on an $850,000 grant project to help crime victims with disabilities. SafePlace's Disability Services Program is a model for social-service providers around the country; the Austin sexual assault and domestic violence services agency will administer similar pilot programs in 10 other cities nationwide. -- M.C.M.

Austin police have released a report detailing the race of persons stopped on Austin's roadways in 2002, in compliance with the state's new racial-profiling law, passed last session. The report also has stats on pedestrian stops, though these aren't required by law until 2004. To view the report, which went to the City Council on Feb. 14, check out www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/downloads/racialprofilingmemofeb14.pdf -- Jordan Smith

After 61 years, the Johnson family is exiting the Austin media market. On March 3 Luci Baines Johnson announced that mother Lady Bird and the family of the late president have sold, for $105 million, a controlling 50.1% interest in the six-station LBJ-S Broadcasting Co. to Indiana-based Emmis Communications, which also owns Texas Monthly. Sinclair Telecable Inc., a Virginia firm owned by Johnson family friend Bob Sinclair, holds the minority share of LBJ-S, but Emmis has an option to buy them out in five years. Though larger than LBJ-S, Emmis, which owns 27 stations in eight markets nationwide, is still tiny compared to its Austin competitors -- Clear Channel owns over 1,200 stations, Viacom about 220 radio and TV stations. As it has done with Texas Monthly, Emmis plans a hands-off approach to the LBJ stations -- and says it will maintain their famous call letters. -- J.S. and M.C.M.

Browning-Ferris Inc. marked a rare moment in Austin history last week by making peace with a neighborhood group opposed to the company's recycling plant. The City Council signed off on the agreement Feb. 27, theoretically closing the book on a dispute between BFI and the North Austin Civic Association; the document outlines several operational conditions BFI must follow. The company had previously vacated its Bolm Road site in East Austin, where residents had suffered many years of blowing trash, heavy traffic, and a major fire that threatened nearby homes. In its new Northside location, BFI and the neighborhood group wrangled for about a year before reaching an accord. -- Amy Smith

Last week the City Council unanimously approved Fourth Street as the Downtown route of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, abiding by the wishes of both cycling advocates and city staff. The only potential holdout on Fourth had appeared to be Will Wynn, who has raised questions on behalf of Warehouse District businesses who want the bikeway to be routed down Third Street. Wynn says he will continue pushing for changes to the traffic patterns on both Cesar Chavez and Third. Council has yet to approve plans for other segments of the bikeway, a six-mile east-west corridor that so far has received $4 million in government funding. -- Lauri Apple

A planned road extension through Circle C Ranch has been a done deal for more than a year, but did anyone tell Circle C residents? Apparently the Circle C Homeowners Association didn't speak for everyone when it signed off (as part of the Stratus Properties agreement approved last August) on the extension of Escarpment Boulevard to State Highway 45. Today (Thursday), City Council is scheduled to approve a $2.1 million construction contract for the extension, although Circle C residents and the SOS Alliance are seeking a postponement. Residents say speeding traffic, and more of it, would be the ultimate outcome, and enviros suspect increased traffic on Escarpment would lend ammunition to efforts to extend MoPac and extend State Highway 45 to I-35. Some Circle C residents have mobilized in recent weeks, questioning whether the association's interests are directed more toward big developers than the residents who collectively pay $1 million in homeowners association membership fees. -- A.S.

"I'm not as conservative as my image," says wealthy businessman and three-time political candidate Manuel Zuniga, who on Monday evening opened his spacious Barton Hills home for a fundraiser to benefit Council Member Raul Alvarez. In his 1996 and 1997 council campaigns, Zuniga ran well to the right of eventual winners Daryl Slusher and Bill Spelman, while Alvarez is a hero to Austin's left for, among other things, his vote last summer against the Stratus deal. While Zuniga didn't agree with Alvarez on Stratus, or on the council's recent anti-war resolution ("I don't see it as a city issue," he says), he believes the first-term council member has "done a good job. He's intelligent, articulate, and concerned." With just two weeks left until the campaign filing deadline, Alvarez faces no challengers. Furthermore, his opponent in 2000, Rafael Quintanilla -- who lost to Alvarez by just 201 votes -- is supporting Alvarez now, which the council member calls "a nice gesture." Monday's event was sponsored by the Hispanic Business Leaders of Austin and included a guest appearance by former U.S. HUD secretary and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros. -- L.A.

State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, is expected to file legislation this week that would enable the long-in-the-making Central Texas Health Care District. At press time, members of the local Lege delegation were still reviewing the bill before its filing. A companion bill will be filed in the Senate, possibly under the joint sponsorship of Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, and Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. The proposed district would be uniformly financed by city and Travis Co. taxpayers. City residents currently pay a nickel toward public health care for every penny paid by county citizens. Austin is the only major city in Texas without a tax-financed health care district. -- A.S.