Fast-paced forum offers candidates a chance to exchange one-liners

City Council Member and downtown developer Will Wynn was on his home turf at the Real Estate Council of Austin’ s candidate luncheon yesterday, with many of his supporters in the audience. His opponents could do little more than take swipes at the frontrunner in the Mayor’s race.

When panel moderator Dick Ellis offered each candidate in the Austin Mayor’s race a chance to question an opponent, Marc Katz, Brad Meltzer and Max Nofziger each took a swing at Wynn. Perennial candidate Jennifer Gale attended but was not invited to participate in the discussion.

Restaurateur Katz, who stressed his own business-like approach to the mayoral job, asked Wynn how he planned to answer the city’s problems when he was so obviously part of the Council that caused them. Wynn countered that the leaders in the room understood the complexities of the problems facing a growing metropolitan area. Wynn said his own economic strategies would be unveiled at the City Council’s work session on Wednesday.

Businessman Meltzer said he was willing to make a “no new taxes” pledge to Austin voters. Would Wynn be willing to do the same? And if not, where would he cut the budget during an $80 million shortfall? Wynn said, as a multiple property taxpayer, that he understands the pain of taxes but that “The no new taxes (pledge) is a political gimmick. I won’t do it. ” Wynn added that he wanted to maintain basic services and cut those that were non-essential.

Former Council Member Nofziger pointed out that Wynn was the candidate who had supported the light rail plan. Nofziger, who has his own mass transit plan, asked if Wynn had any ideas on how to improve transportation. Wynn responded that he, as chair of the commuter rail district, believed in addressing mobility. He supported moving freight traffic off of MoPac onto State Highway 130 and transforming MoPac into a commuter rail line.

“You cannot ask yourself a question,” Ellis noted when it was Wynn’s turn, which gave Wynn the windup for a pitch to Katz. He wondered aloud why Katz hadn’t ever voted, or even registered to vote, on community issues. How could Katz look at a group of committed, respected civic voters, he asked, and tell them the first vote he would cast in Austin would be for himself The audience applauded his response.

But Katz earned his own applause when he said he was embarrassed that he had never voted, but was now ready to take action. “I’m a leader, not a follower,” Katz said.

Other candidates offered their own zingers. Place 2 candidate Steven Adams said it was time to use the “ Capital Metro slush fund” to underwrite projects. Candidate Gavino Fernandez said he was looking at the budget deficit and wondering about accountability. “I smell a little Enron here,” Fernandez said.

Some challengers were more moderate. Place 5 candidate Margot Clark stressed the need to bring the clean energy industry to Austin. Brewster McCracken, the favorite of the business community to replace Wynn, said Austin should use Baltimore as a model to cut waste. Robert Singleton said the deficit was his top priority and stated his desire to offer incentives to business to use energy-efficient equipment. Candidate Carl Tepper said he sympathized with the need to train and retrain workers, but the city was not in a place to “promise the moon.” Place 5 candidate Scott Marks was not in attendance but put out a press release later in the day. Marks proposed a change to Austin’s zoning ordinances that would require developers to provide “workforce housing” in new developments or pay an impact fee to finance affordable housing elsewhere in the city. Marks said he supported the idea promoted at an Urban Land Institute luncheon this week.

Wes Benedict, a candidate for Place 6, now held by Danny Thomas, drew some applause when he said he opposed Smart Growth. Benedict said he, as a former business owner and engineer, did not see the point in shoving more people downtown in an effort to make downtown more successful. “I don’t think the way to make things better is to cram more people downtown before we have time to take care of the infrastructure,” said Benedict. “We need develop around Howard or Braker, instead of making people park two miles from downtown to go to a light-rail parking lot to get on light rail to then walk to their place of business downtown.”

Council incumbents stressed the wisdom of continued support for the current course. Council Member Raul Alvarez stressed a need to restructure government and look at $14 million in non-public safety overtime, while Council Member Thomas said he would continue to be honest and accessible to voters.

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored the event.

The election for the Circle C Homeowners Association (CCHOA) Board of Directors will remain on hold for at least two more weeks. State District Judge Jeanne Meurer agreed Tuesday to extend a temporary restraining order barring the election while she awaits further briefs from the parties in a lawsuit filed against the CCHOA by attorney and Circle C homeowner Bill Gammon. (See In Fact Daily, March 31, 2003.)

Judge Meurer heard arguments in the case in a day-long hearing that was originally scheduled to run just two hours. Gammon and CCHOA attorney Rick Gray outlined the remaining areas of difference held by the two sides over access to the association’s records, including an email list and the conduct of the election. Gammon, a supporter of would-be candidate Carl Kernodle, presented witnesses offering testimony about the procedure to nominate board candidates. Those witnesses complained that they had not been properly informed of the procedures and deadlines in accordance with association bylaws. Witnesses produced by Gray, including CCHOA treasurer Ken Rigsbee, countered that the board had only the best of intentions. “I want to assure fairness and accuracy,” he said.

Gammon is also seeking a precise accounting of the total number of votes possible in a CCHOA election. The association allocates votes based on property value. The system grants 100 votes to a property owner per $1,000 of property value. This would mean the owner of a $500,000 home would have more votes than the owner of a $400,000 home. However, the CCHOA board also placed a cap on dues and implemented a corresponding cap on the number of votes any one property owner could hold. Board members said this was done to be fair, so that property owners paying identical dues would have an identical number of votes.

Gammon complained that the limit unfairly boosts the voting strength of owners of lower-value vacant lots—who tend to be developers—and limits the voting strength of single homeowners. Gray, representing the CCHOA, told the judge the group was prepared to submit a tabulation of the number of votes once she decided whether the election should be conducted using the current system or one based purely on the assessed value of the property-owner’s lot, without establishing a cap. While the CCHOA Board of Directors would prefer the capped method, said Rigsbee, the board would not hesitate to follow the judge’s orders. “The board would like to conduct an election,” he said. “We’re here to determine which method should be used for that.”

By obtaining a total number of possible votes, Gammon hopes to determine the minimum number necessary to establish a quorum at the group’s annual members meeting. He also hopes to establish procedures for proposing changes from the floor of the meeting instead of only through the board of directors or committees.

The most contentious issue of the day proved to be access to the CCHOA email list. While Gammon argued that access to the list was essential to communicate with members about the election, CCHOA representatives argued that they had promised to keep homeowners’ email addresses confidential. A representative of Full Circle Management, the firm hired by the CCHOA to handle day-to-day management operations and recordkeeping, testified that she routinely refused to disclose email addresses. However, she also said a computer security breach had likely resulted in the disclosure of some, if not all, of those records. She explained that the settings on the computer used to email members had been altered either through an online hacking incident or by someone who physically broke into the offices. That alteration allowed the recipient list for some mass emails to be visible instead of being suppressed.

Attorneys for both sides will have several days to submit additional briefs on the legal issues involved. Judge Meurer anticipates reaching a decision on the procedures for the election and the other issues by April 24.

Cultural vitality, support of small businesses vital, says Dunkerley

Council Members Betty Dunkerley and Will Wynn will be leading a presentation on recommendations from a three-committee citizen task force assigned to revive the city’s sagging economy while preserving Austin’s quality of life and “weirdness.” Dunkerley did not want to preview many of the things that will be said today, but told In Fact Daily that the group assigned to “Keep Austin Weird,” has created an inventory of the cultural assets of the city”—a first, she says. Not only will the inventory be a tool for the City Council when considering how to encourage cultural arts programs, she said, it will also be a tool for the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce to help market the city. Dunkerley noted that the group had inventoried more than 400 organizations, including “everything from Barton Springs Pool to the symphony . . . We were trying to get a baseline so we can measure, in the future, what we’re gaining and what we’re losing,” in cultural terms, she said. The group working on quality of life and cultural success is chaired by Randall Kempner.

Dunkerley, who has been on the City Council for less than a year but has many years in municipal financial management, said she was looking forward to what the other two groups, one chaired by economist Jon Hockenyos and the other chaired by Margo Weisz, would present. She said those groups were expected to give the Council guidance on how to help small businesses deal with city regulations. She noted that small businesses are expected to bring in most of the new jobs to the Austin area. As for large businesses, she said, the city might decide to offer incentives for expansion or relocation “based on the economic benefit we would receive in growth of new jobs.” She said the incentives, however, should be performance-based, instead of being based on a promise of future benefit to the city. Dunkerley said she also expects the group led by Hockenyos to reveal a plan to encourage new employers to hire Austinites, rather than moving people into the community.

Asked what might be in store for a planned cultural asset that backers have not been able to complete—the Long Center for the Performing Arts—Dunkerley said, “I am very supportive. I think it’s a big benefit.” The flurry of emails to the Council last week apparently was intended to tell the Council the city should help the Long Center. “If the city were to participate in it, I would like the city to concentrate on the smaller venues to be made available to our local arts groups. I’m particularly supportive of that part being built . . . We need to look at that and see what we can do. If the city did anything, I would focus on that.” The work session begins at 10am today in the Third Floor Conference Room of One Texas Center..

Marc v. Mark . . . The Marc Katz campaign put out a press release yesterday to say that mayoral candidate Katz would be meeting with members of UT student organizations at 8:30pm tonight at Louie’s 106, 106 E. 6th Street. The release said fellow mayoral candidate Will Wynn had also been invited “to attend and debate issues important to university students.” Mark Nathan, Wynn’s campaign manager, responded that his boss had not been invited and would not attend. He noted that Katz’ meeting might be in conflict with the Austin Neighborhoods Council Forum. James Cardona, Katz’ campaign manager, later told In Fact Daily there had been a miscommunication regarding Wynn’s invitation . . . A day full of press conferences . . . Mayoral candidate Brad Meltzer will hold a press conference at the Doubletree Guest Suites, 15th Street at Lavaca, at 9:30am today. He “will discuss the untimely, unnecessary and insensitive proposals by governmental taxing bodies to increase taxes on the citizens of Austin,” according to his press release. At 1:30pm, the Mayor is scheduled to hold a press conference with the members of his Committee for People with Disabilities and Goodwill Industries of Central Texas to announce plans for the upcoming Community Career Expo. That press conference will be in Room 304 of City Hall. The Mayor will also hold a press conference with the Tobacco-Free Austin Coalition at 6pm . . . More chances to hear the candidates . . . Beginning at 7am today, the will host a candidate forum at the UT Club. Tonight at 6pm, the Austin Neighborhoods Council will hold its candidate forum at Town Lake Center, 721 Barton Springs Road . . . Guerra celebrates 30 years . . . Jose I Guerra, Inc., consulting engineers, will be celebrating 30 years in business in Austin at their offices from 5-7:30pm tonight. The firm has also announced that Rick J. Guerra, Joe Hernandez and Joseph J. Luke, all professional engineers, are now shareholders in the firm . . . League opposes budget rules . . . The Texas League of Women Voters yesterday issued an unusual press release, announcing opposition to the proposed rules for the budget debate in the House of Representatives. The statement said, “If adopted, these rules would not allow members to increase the amount of the appropriations total without deducting the amount in another part of the budget and would prevent members from moving money from one Article in the budget to another. The state of Texas is in serious financial jeopardy. Members of the House must be able to vote to retain the current funding levels necessary for essential programs like CHIP ( Children’s Health Insurance Program), women's health care, and home health care for the frail elderly.”