Crystal_Cotti's Blog

A lot has changed in Council Member Randi Shade's life between this week's council meeting and last week's...she gave birth! Shade didn't waste any time getting back to work. She had her daugther, Emily Austin Shade Shell Friday September 26 but less than a week later she's at city hall for this week's council meeting. Now that's one tough momma!

  I just left the Invesco Field and this is the first time I've been able to blog today because I couldn't connect to the internet inside the stadium.

  I arrived at Invesco about 2:30pm and waited six hours to hear Barack Obama's speech.  I was pretty sure after waiting that long there was no way he was going to live up to all the hype. But he did.

  Obama hit it out of the park, but after all, this is what he does best. Before Obama took the stage, we heard from Bill Richardson, Al Gore and Joe Biden. One of my favorite segments of the evening, besides Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder, was hearing from real people talk about why they support Obama.

  Teresa Asenap from New Mexico talked about how her grandparents never learned to read or write but she went on to earn a doctorate in education.  Pamela Cash Roper told the world how she worked hard to open her own small business but couldn't afford healthcare insurance. Barney Smith from Indiana described feeling like a failure after the plant he worked at for 30 years suddenly closed and outsourced his job. He had one of the memorable lines from the night saying "We need a president who puts Barney Smith before Smith and Barney.

  A crowd of General and Admirals who support Obama came out next to bolster Obama's case he has the experience and judgement needed for complex foreign policy decisions.  I understand the political importance of such a show of support but it was not one of the most inspiring moments of the evening.

  For me, seeing Obama's life story  played out in the form of a mini documentary right before he came out to speak was moving.  Like many watching,  I could relate to the influences his grandparents and parents had on him.  I kept thinking how much he would have liked to have had his mother with him, alive and well watching her son accomplish something no other African American has so far in our history.

  When Barack Obama finally took the stage, he spoke eloquently about the promise of America. That anybody can accomplish anything if they're willing to work for it. He talked about the need for a different kind of politics and showed a good example by not questioning his opponents patriotism or character. We can agree to disagree without tearing each other down.

  Both Democrats and Republicans would do well to follow this example.

  Hillary Clinton has shown herself to be a team player.  A few moments ago she made a motion to suspend the DNC rules and nominate Barack Obama by acclaimation.  Basically, Clinton delegates who were unwilling to support Obama will not have their votes counted.  Clinton's motion was passed by a two thirds vote of delegates although in all fairness, those who opposed the motion weren't really given the chance to be heard.

  The Democrats avoided a divisive and damaging roll call vote. It would have been a disaster if a significant percentage of delegates did not vote for the presumptive nominee, in this case Obama

  The fact that Hillary herself made such a motion shows she is doing all she can to unite the party behind Obama. This is probably one of the hardest things she's had to do considering how much she wants to be president.

  Perhaps her time will come.

  After four days of fun with my 19 month-old in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I'm on the road to Denver. It's a four hour trip south from where I was enjoying a vacation in the mountains with my daughter and husband at his uncle's ranch 25 minutes west of Steamboat.

  You might wonder why I would voluntarily choose to leave a stress-free vacation with my family to attend the chaotic work envionment at the Democratic National Convention. I'm asking myself that question right now. Here's the conclusion I've come to...it's history in the making and there's no telling when I might have a chance to be a part of something like this again. As a local television reporter, I've never had the opportunity to cover a national political convention. I'm curious about what it's like behind the scenes, what are my counterparts from different stations and markets going through to get their stories on the air? That curiosity combined with the opportunity to hear the first African American presidential candidate accept his party's nomination and to witness the first female presidential candidate be recognized for winning more primaries and caucuses than any other woman, was just too much to pass up.

Television journalists take a lot of hits for being too sensational and not substantive, some of that criticism is justified. But most of the reporters I know, myself included, have a burning desire to witness history, process it, find the inspiration and then share it with their viewers.

So for the next two days I'll be blogging about what I'm seeing, hearing and experiencing at the Democratic National Convention. I don't have a photographer, it's just me and my laptop. I hope after reading my entries you'll get a better idea of what it's like here, beyond the orchestrated prime time speeches and 60 second live interviews.

But don't worry, when the convention is over, I'll head back to Steamboat for a few more days of fun.

That's what City Manager Marc Ott has...somehow he and his staff have managed to freeze vacant positions and cut city services without having a negative impact on city services or so they say.

As newly elected Council Member Randi Shade points out, the only way that's possible is if the city was overstaffed to begin with. For the record, I don't doubt there was some fat in the Austin budget and Ott has already proven he's not afraid to cut it.

The most controversial proposed cuts are in road maintenance, libraries and parks in the form of 24 frozen vacancies.

But before we start targeting basic city services for the cutting block, shouldn't we look at pet projects first? City staff know what they are but none were mentioned in the proposed budget. Let's get those out in the public and then have a full discussion about which ones we can do without.

The summer break is over for Austin council members...their weekly marathon meetings resume this Thursday. And what better way to say "Welcome Back" than with the city manager's proposed budget.

Consider this round one of budget deliberations. This is Marc Ott's first proposed budget as the Austin City Manager so expect it to be under the microscope. After he makes his recommendations, city council members get to have their say. A few public meetings later, the council votes, typically in mid-September to approve the budget which goes into effect October 1.

This year the council has about a $25 million gap to fill. Ott has directed all city departments to cut $600,000 from their budget without significantly impacting city services. It will take some budget magic to accomplish that but so far Ott has been able to contain any significant opposition. A proposal to not fund the city's Housing Trust Fund is the only one to attract any outcry from the public. (Although  rumors are flying firefighters aren't happy about a proposal to close downtown fire stations on the weekend on a rotating basis...we'll let you know if that makes it into the final draft, it seems doubtful based on the political cost the city would face)

Alas, it seems social service organizations are more worried about not getting a 10 percent increase in city funding rather than any actual cuts. A concern like that doesn't seem to mobilize the troops the way cuts would so I'm predicting very few budget fireworks. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

Today Chief Art Acevedo caused a stir when he said Travis County is easy on criminals compared to Williamson County.  While this may offend some judges and juries, he's simply saying what most people think.  The criminal justice system in any county is a representation of the people who live there. Our values guide jury decisions to convict and the length of sentences. In Travis County, many pride themselves on being the liberal oasis of the state and the number of drug convictions reflects that.

Many criminal justice reformers complain our country's jails are too crowded as it is with minor drug offenders, while violent criminals are still on the streets. 

Crime is up in Austin but so far I have not heard a convincing argument that throwing more pot heads in jail for longer sentences will do anything to reduce crime in Austin.

This post has been edited by an administrator

It appears the Austin City Hall has a gnat problem. Specifically, the city clerk's office, although the pesky pests have made their way up to the Mayor's office as well.

Here's why...Austin Java has space at city hall and so does their dumpster. The gnats like whatever is in that dumpster. No surprise there, but because city hall is a "green building" there's all sorts of restrictions on the use of pesticides. The "natural" pesticide that is allowed isn't getting the job done, so the gnats keep increasing their force.

The city clerk's office is very close to the dumpster so they're feeling the brunt of the bugs. Some of the employees have brought fly swatters to work, what could be more natural then going after the nats with your own two hands?

Now that's going green!

But honestly, couldn't we bend the rules just this once and get some real pesticides? I even saw the gnats buzzing around when I had lunch at Austin Java this afternoon. Enough is enough.

Do something soon or else John Kelso will have a field day with this story.

Jennifer Kim is now a lame duck. She says she'll make the most of her remaining time on the Austin City Council, but don't expect much, Randi Shade will be sworn in June 25.

Shade won decisively Saturday night, winning more than 60% of the votes. It's safe to say voters fired Jennifer Kim and as we all know, when you get fired it's hard to use your former employer as a reference for your next job. What will Jennifer do next?

Jennifer herself says she'll stay in Austin and look for another job in public service. When asked if that meant running for another office, she said maybe.

If she's serious, then she should consider learning from the mistakes she made in her first public office. The first step in that process is admitting to herself she made mistakes. I've seen no evidence that she's done that. She should learn to become more of a team player instead of taking last minute stands that alienate her collegues. There's a difference between being independent and grand-standing.

The race for Austin City Council Place 3 is getting more heated every day.  The candidates aren't even taking weekends off when it comes to attacking each other.

The latest attack includes an anonymous robo call Jennifer Kim's campaign is now taking responsibility for. It  goes after Shade claiming she agreed to increase public safety funding in exchange for their endorsement, which she got earlier this year.  Shade calls the attack a blantant lie and that she only said she would do everything she can to increase the number of officers, firefighters and EMS workers on the streets of Austin.  Kim denied any involvement with the robo call this weekend when asked by a News8 Austin reporter .

Fast forward to Monday and Jennifer Kim is out sick and her campaign manager is stuck having to say 'yes' the robo calls were in fact part of their campaign.  That can't look good to voters. Even if Jennifer Kim was sincerely in the dark about the robo call, voters should question why she isn't more aware of her campaign's actions. If she knew about the robo call and lied about it on camera, that's just stupid.

I will raise this question about Shade...she says she made no funding promises to the public safety unions, but if she said she'd do everything in her power to increase the number of officers on the streets, how is that not a funding promise? Are all these new officers going to work for free? Not likely.

Like so many people these days, I'm always looking for ways to help the environment and my pocketbook. As gas prices climb higher and higher, I'm increasingly interested in the latter.
So I decided to start taking advantage of a Park and Ride near my home and hop on a Capital Metro Express Bus. The following describes my first day riding the bus. Scroll down to the end for a link to Capital Metro's website.

8:10am - Leave my house
8:15am - Park my car at Jollyville Park and Ride at Great Hills Baptist Church
8:30am - Bus 983 arrives
9:07am - Arrive downtown
9:10am - Walk into City Hall (My office is at 10th and Congress but my beat is City Hall so I start most days there.)

The entire commute took me 57 minutes compared to 35-40min when I drive my own car. The fare is $1 each way, far less than what I would have spent in gasoline and I saved myself the stress of crawling through rush hour traffic on Mopac.

Here are the disadvantages. The bus was 10 minutes late arriving which made me 10 minutes late to work. There were no seats left so I had to stand most of the trip...not big deals but Express buses aren't an option unless you have typical work hours (8am-5pm, 9am-6pm) since that is when Express buses run. BTW, Express means there are fewer stops.

I'm not sure if I'll ride the bus everyday because my hours can be unpredictable and the 40 minutes I lose roundtrip by taking the bus is time I could be spending with my little girl.  But I'm glad to know the option is available.

As many of you, three city council races are on the May 10 ballot. I will be profiling each of the races and I want to know what you care about. What questions do you want answers to? Here are a few issues to get you thinking.

1) Traffic- Cars, Buses and Trains. What do you think will help ease congestion in Austin? What do you want to see from your council members? Mayor Will Wynn wants a rail election  this November which means taxpayers could be footing most of the bill of whatever is decided.

2) Renewable Energy- Austin's air is dirty and not showing signs of getting better any time soon. What kind of clean energy technology would you like to see the city invest in? Is requiring all homes be more energy efficient the answer?

3) Affordability - Austin ain't cheap. Between the 2006 bond election and rising home values, don't expect the cost of living to go anywhere but up. What should the city council do, if anything, to make it more affordable to live here?

Post your questions for the candidates to this blog or email me at crystal.cotti@foxtv.com

Well, I guess even city council candidates have a sense of humor from time to time.  Case in point, I got the below press release from Randi Shade's campaign on April 1.

Randi Shade Suspends City Council Race  
To Pursue Career In Roller Derby

Place 3 Challenger Shade Says Roller Derby Should Be Community’s Top Priority;  
Calls Incumbent Jennifer Kim “One Of The Best Council Members In Austin’s History”

Austin, Texas, April 1, 2008 - Austin City Council Place 3 challenger Randi Shade announced today that she has suspended her campaign to pursue a career in women’s roller derby, while praising incumbent Jennifer Kim for her good judgment and long list of accomplishments.

Shade made the surprise announcement this morning in front of Playland Skate Center, home of the Texas Rollergirls, saying she will try out for the “Hell Marys” roller derby team later today.

The press release goes on to sarcastically say Shade tried to call Kim to congratulate her on a job well done.

The two are opponents in the upcoming city council election May 10.  I thought this was pretty entertaining, but it would have been better if Shade had actually tried out.  When I called Shade's campaign to find out if this was a possibility, campaign staffers told me to keep dreaming.

Then I got a follow-up email making sure I understood it was only an April Fool's joke. I guess they were afraid I was taking the joke a little too seriously.

Why did the City of Austin pay $300,000 for an outside audit of public safety departments? I started asking myself this question yesterday during the presentation of the results.

The first thing I noticed was city auditors were doing all the heavy lifting, not auditors from the firm MGT. This outside consulting company was paid $315,000 to review best practices, performance measures, staffing, overtime policies, police oversight and cost trends. One of the most important questions the city council wanted an answer to was whether consolidating airport police, park police, city marshals and APD made sense. To answer this question, MGT used outdated cost estimates and decided it would cost the city too much and accomplish too little. But even after new information became available, MGT did not update their research. You'd think $315,000 would at least buy you that.

Further, most of MGT's recommendations are already being implemented according to new Chief Art Acevedo. And the Austin City Council decided to consolidate before the audit was complete.

So, why would the council approve $315,000 for an audit they probably won't even use? The answer is simple, politics.

This past Friday during our weekly "Austin in Focus Segment" one of my guests referred to the city of Mustang Ridge as a "Redneck Fiefdom".  This comment  was in response to a question about Charles Laws' use of a racial slur to describe a proposed immigrant detention center in an official meeting agenda.

Fox 7 received several negative calls regarding the fiefdom comment. And justifiably so. Categorizing an entire town for the poor judgment of one resident is not only unfair, it's wrong for the same reasons the initial racial slur was wrong. Both are demeaning and dehumanizing. Many will argue the word w#%back is worse than redneck. But does that really matter? Calling someone a redneck because they used a racial slur is like using violence to protest an abortion clinic.

Until we learn to resist grouping each other into meaningless categories and look past  stereotypes, we'll never see an end to racial, cultural and ethnic tension.

I'd like to offer a sincere apology to anyone who heard the fiefdom comment and took offense.