My endorsements

Posted on May 5, 2011 | 3 Comments

In case anybody cares.
Chris Riley is still the best choice in Place One. I have been disappointed in Chris’ unwillingness to push harder on many issues we share a similar position on but his votes are almost always what I would prefer for the urbanist/pro-transit agenda. (My disappointments also stem from him being unwilling to stop the Red Line from its inexorable process down the “kill the urban rail line in its cradle” track). His challengers are so unworthy of consideration that I don’t even think it’s worth discussing this race, and won’t.
Randi Shade is the clear choice in Place 3, for a variety of reasons – she’s fundamentally serious, as you can tell in her answers to Austinist questions (compare her one credible challenger here) and she’s pro-density for the most part. I wrote this piece on the questionable way this race has been framed yesterday. Don’t fall for the typical ANC tripe that they represent the average citizen. The average citizen is exactly who the landed gentry are keeping out of central Austin by fighting density.
I’d vote for anybody short of Jim Skaggs over Laura Morrison in Place 4. I’ve settled on K. Toby Ryan Hill largely because I suspect he has the best, although slim, chance. He’s dead wrong on parking, though – but I’ll yield on this issue to get the automatic ANC rubber-stamp off the Council if that’s what it takes.

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3 Responses to My endorsements

  1. Dan Keshet | May 5, 2011 at 2:11 pm |

    I appreciate you making your endorsements and laying out the reasoning and I’ve sent a few friends to your blog.
    I find city politics (here or anywhere) far more intimidating to get up to speed with than national politics, so very basic posts describing the framework of the issues in contention are always useful.

  2. Seanbrown8 | May 6, 2011 at 9:34 pm |

    Mike, hate to quibble with you – and I completely agree with the “anyone but Morrison” sentiment – but what about Eric Rangel for Place 4?
    http://www.austinpost.org/content/city-council-candidate-qa-place-4-eric-rangel
    For one thing, he’s the accounts-receivable manager of an auto parts business (real job).
    Also -
    “Anybody who knows about urban planning and city building, you start from the inside and work your way out. The line from Leander to downtown was a bad decision, because there’s no need for it. College students and young professionals downtown, there’s a need for it.
    They want to be able to walk two blocks, get on a subway or a rail and go to a football game.”
    He clearly has the right idea here more than the other Place 4 candidates.
    He is wrong on extending paid-parking hours downtown but he brings up the historic-homes designation as an important abuse.
    Well, anyway not a realistic candidate to win (is anyone but LM?) but I will vote for him.

  3. Seanbrown8 | May 6, 2011 at 9:35 pm |

    Sorry, meant to type “as an important abuse of fair taxation principles.”

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