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For the record, ExPetersen later denied that he made that reference to me.
Where is the quote that I said what EzPetersen originally asserted I said? I never said minorities should be represented by minorities. To be clear, what I was referrring to is minority representation, period.
For clarity, the real question should be: is the claim of "Minorities should be represented by minorities" asserted by EzPetersen (and affirmed by you Mesmer) the same as "Minority representation" (what I said)?
Obviously not. Unless you assume it is..
_ _
I am trying to move the convo away from trivialities, and towards the OP's original premise about the result of 10-1. Anybody want to help?
I affirmed nothing - I have no opinion on minority representation on the city council and I believe it is too early in the process to predict what will happen. I am merely pointing out that you made a personal attack against someone, and that you owe them an apology.
It seems many people assume it will be an improvement. But many of those people define 'improvement' in very different ways. Will it increase the ANC influence? Decrease it? Will "developers" be more or less influential?
I used to think it would dilute the influence of the ANC (a good thing IMHO) but a friend much more directly involved in city politics and sharing many of my policy preferences, is quite concerned about it.
Not sure what the end result will be....
Let's pull it back out.
Personally, the method of creating the districting commission should tone down some of the gerrymandering a bit (let's hope) and leave districts that make sense. This should tone down the influence of the ANC, but it will always boil down to money at election time, unfortunately. This is going to give developers the most influence.
Like you said
"Not sure what the end result will be"
I think much of the concern and hand-wringing is around the thought that "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't" kind of thinking.
I think that those without deep pockets will have a chance to win elections. Going door to door in your district could have a huge impact.
I think there will definitely be more fiscal conservatism, which is great. I just hope there's no additional social conservatism to go along with that.
I think we'll see ward politics come into play. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I'll vote for your choo choo if you vote for reductions in impervious cover restrictions.
I think there will be more accountability in city government. Don't follow through on your promises? Go against the will of the voters in your district? Adios.
Finally, I think ImOnFiya started his weekend a bit earlier than the rest of us.
Where is the quote that I said what EzPetersen originally asserted I said? I never said minorities should be represented by minorities. To be clear, what I was referrring to is minority representation, period.
)
You said
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImOnFiya
The real losers may be hispanics and African-Americans (who through the Gentleman's agreement) had at least 1 representative at the council dais. Now, with central east Austin (78702) reaching the critical 50% white population mark (and large increases in 78741, Riverside area), it is not clear if current council members Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole or Mike Martinez will be able to maintain their appeal against a white challenger.
While it is true you never wrote the words "Minorities should be represented by minorities" I find it hard to read the above quote any other way - blacks and minorities will not have 1 representative on the council if there is no black or hispanic on the council.
There has been one asian on the council (jennifer kim) I specifically did not vote for her when her telemarketers tried to get me to vote for her because I am asian. Asians are rarely counted as a "minority" for purposes of liberal arguments (because they general disprove liberal talking points) which is why I put minority in quotes.
I would add that northwest austin is underrepresented on the council today because the council is made up mostly of central austin liberals.
It seems many people assume it will be an improvement. But many of those people define 'improvement' in very different ways. Will it increase the ANC influence? Decrease it? Will "developers" be more or less influential?
The move to geographic representation will have an effect. The status quo, with council coming from a narrow slice of the city, cannot possibly represent the variety of interests across the city. At the same time, the central Austin focus will not disappear, but will be diluted. As much as I would like it, there isn't a path to six votes that doesn't include the same group now in power. So this hand wringing over "developers" is misguided. There will also be a lower influence of money in every race, except the at large mayor.
Where the real difference will be is in the move from May elections, with historically low turnouts, to the slightly higher turnout November Election Day. It isn't a coincidence that the highest ever vote count was in the mayor's election in 1973 - when the city was 1/4th the size it is today.
The net effect should be a moderation on the nut jobbery that is today's norm. There will be a serious consideration of the differences between the demands across the city. Might not be a tectonic shift, but there will be change. For some, the thought of sharing power is cataclysmic. Not likely to be.
Coincidentally, the names of the 60 finalists for the Austin districts commission which will draw the 10 new geographic council representative districts was released today.
Two noteworthy observations made by observers:
#1. The list of names is heavily hispanic (ironic since a few months ago the auditors had great trouble recruiting minorities to sign up).
#2. Females make up the vast majority of names.
___
Why does these two (2) aspects of the committee matter? Because both hispanics and women lean heavily democratic in their voting habits. And as a part of committee's formation to assure fairness, as Friday's Statesman article states:
Quote:
Each City Council member will now have the opportunity to strike one name. Then on Wednesday, city officials will chose eight commission members at random from the remaining finalists.
Wanna bet city council staffers are researching the voting histories of potential finalists to see which ones are Republican or even worse, 'Republican activists'? Boom..bye bye, 8 potential GOP commission reps!
..needless to say, expect fireworks from the mostly Republican-led Austinites for Geographic Representation on Monday morning!
Myth:
Groups supporting AGR:
Austin Gay and Lesbian Democrats
Austin Human Rights Commission
Austin Neighborhoods Council
Austin Tejano Democrats
ChangeAustin.org
Del Valle Community Coalition
El Concilio
Fluoride Free Austin
Gray Panthers
Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
League of Women Voters – Austin Area
LULAC, District 7
LULAC, District 12
Mexican American Democrats
Montopolis Community Alliance
NAACP – Austin
Southwest Key’s East Austin VOTA Campaign
South Austin Democrats
Austin Central Labor Council – Texas AFL-CIO
Travis County Green Party
Travis County Republican Party
University Democrats, UT-Austin
UT Student Government
AGR CD10-1 Advisory Committee: former Democrat state senator Gonzalo Barrientos, Austin NAACP president Nelson Linder, Travis County Republican Party Vice Chairman, Roger Borgelt.
Supporters of AGR: Dave Richards (former husband to Ann Richards and former general counsel, Texas AFL-CIO), Peck Young (campaign consultant to Governor Ann Richards, Comptroller John Sharp, Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage, Michael Dukakis & Bill Bradley campaigns for President), and David Van Os (three time Democratic nominee for statewide office, and civil rights attorney).
AGR CD10-1 Advisory Committee: former Democrat state senator Gonzalo Barrientos, Austin NAACP president Nelson Linder, Travis County Republican Party Vice Chairman, Roger Borgelt.
Supporters of AGR: Dave Richards (former husband to Ann Richards and former general counsel, Texas AFL-CIO), Peck Young (campaign consultant to Governor Ann Richards, Comptroller John Sharp, Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage, Michael Dukakis & Bill Bradley campaigns for President), and David Van Os (three time Democratic nominee for statewide office, and civil rights attorney).
So, when the city council eliminates 8 Republicans from the potential council district committee leaving the vast majority of eligible committee members whose basic composition would be more favorable to the Democratic party (women and hispanics), there will no complaints from AGR?
There won't be much difference: Austin Neighborhoods Council will control central, near south (north of Ben White Blvd), and central east Austin.
However, Republicans (who were the major financial backers of 10-1) will most likely gain seats in southwest and far west Austin.
The real losers may be hispanics and African-Americans (who through the Gentleman's agreement) had at least 1 representative at the council dais. Now, with central east Austin (78702) reaching the critical 50% white population mark (and large increases in 78741, Riverside area), it is not clear if current council members Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole or Mike Martinez will be able to maintain their appeal against a white challenger. Even though both Councilwoman Cole has largely focused on financial issues (city budget) and Martinez with public transportation (Capital Metro) which benefit the whole city, the Austin Chronicle [the most influential journal for white liberals] editorials have always been sanguine about their service with reader comments producing indirect assertions that the two didn't interact more with 'average' Austinites (hint, hint).
In particular, "old time" black and hispanic activists (Urban League, NAACP, El Concilio, PODER] are already starting to grumble that the indirect result of 10-1 (due to growth of whites in east Austin) may be no minority councilmembers as blacks have been moving out of the city altogether and the low level of hispanic voting which seems to only be increasing as the housing affordability levels force many Austinities to rent rather then buy.
Mind you, these old guard activists joined forces with sidelined Republicans to support 10-1. Now, many of these people [senior citizens no less] are charging that they were "fooled" by Republican activists into thinking they would wield great influence on the council-drawing board. Us "new guard" city activists tried to warn them - that they were more Republican voters in the city than they realized and that Republican voting district line members would reject any map publicly and in commission meetings which would favorable for a minority candidate - but they wouldn't listen...
No one fooled anyone. Minorities on the east side have been strongly advocating apportionment for at least two decades, maybe more. If they were "fooled" then they were very foolish since they've had 20+ years to consider the implications of this folly.
No, but the question was disingenuous (no problem, I'm Texas tough). But, to put the moniker of "as a minority"..please. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
If you were really a minority, you'd know what I was talking about..
Now back to 10-1, as Austinites we come from many different backgrounds. But if there is an election in a city of 825,000+ people and the result is all candidates come from a similar background, you're losing different viewpoints which could contribute to policy discussion which would be a loss for the entire city.
What people don't realize is that the upcoming council district commission is going to be trench political warfare between Democrats, Republicans, and Reform constituencies trying to play for all the marbles on City Council. Democrats seem resigned give Republicans their constituent-leaning areas, but Republicans seem prime to fight every area throughout the city where democrats have huge advantages. And democratic voters (especially on the commission) need to be aware.
There are no party affiliations on Austin city council elections.
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..needless to say, expect fireworks from the mostly Republican-led 
