Beside the Point

How can you tell the new year is almost here? Sure, the campuses are silent, and the in-laws have invaded, but I just got a more salient reminder in my inbox: a residential update from the "new urban village in the heart of the city," Mueller, announcing upcoming housing news in early 2007.

City Council's development-dense agenda will, for good or ill, begin to bear fruit next year, as long-gestated projects like Mueller finally come into full bloom. We'll see dirt moved on Block 21, an end (hopefully) to the Las Manitas/Marriott standoff, and the continuing infill housing explosion edge further out of its Downtown barriers. With bulldozers at Northcross and condos springing like weeds east of the freeway, we'll see neighbors fight for a greater say. We'll see ground broken on Water Treatment Plant 4 (maybe) and ask more questions about the city's future needs, as we balance growth with aquifer preservation. And we'll see how well council has learned from its turn-of-the-century mistakes as they strive to manage the unbound boom driving growth.

With municipal ambitions overflowing, it's an exciting time to be a council-watcher. We'll see Will Wynn's final reaches for a legacy and watch if they extend beyond the re-creation of Downtown. We'll see increasing initiatives and differences as the dais' likely mayoral candidates, Brewster McCracken and Lee Leffingwell, position themselves to rule after Wynn. We'll continue to see Sheryl Cole, Jennifer Kim, and Mike Martinez come into their own. And as the city manager's reign inches closer to its political expiration date, we'll see if Toby Futrell's influence continues to carry the same imposing weight.

I'd like to thank my valued team of co-conspirators, as we continue to chart council's stewardship of the city, issuing course-corrections where necessary: Publisher Nick Barbaro and Editor Louis Black; Editors Michael King, Cindy Widner, Lee Nichols, Cheryl Smith; and all of our accomplished writers. And especially all the readers and commenters at Chronic (austinchronicle.com/chronic), our burgeoning news blog where we'll continue to deliver news and opinion, updated and unvarnished. Come with us, as we draft a living history of the city we call home.