Roger Duncan, historic Austin leader, retires

by: Chris Searles

Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 00:26 PM CST

In many ways Roger is responsible for motivating people like me to believe we can do more.

And he encourages it. Big thanks to Roger: a great leader and civil servant.

Here's wishing Mr. Duncan and his family a very happy and fulfilling retirement.

##

A recent video of Roger.

Hundreds of Texans Faced off Second Wave of Texas Coal Rush at Halloween events

by: Texas Sierra Club

Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 01:02 PM CST

There were 200 people in Dallas including speakers -- Representatives Carol Kent, Lon Burnam, Robert Mikloss, and Dallas Council Member Linda Koop.

There were 200 also in Austin including MC Ian Davis and speakers Representative Eddie Rodriguez, Austin Council Member and bike advocate Chris Riley (He stood up for the City's Climate Protection Agreement) and Dr. Kimberly Carter of Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility (She really nailed the seriously SCARY part of the Halloween message about Texas coal pollution).  

100 oeople came out in the sparking city by the sea, Corpus Christi where their Clean Economy Coalition is in a contested case hearing this week along with Sierra Club over the proposed and quaintly named Las Brisas, 'the Breezes' coke plant.  Corpus speakers included two physicians -- a family practioner from Aransas Pass, Dr. Lorraine Stehn, pediatrician Dr. Kevin Hopkings, Stacy Barrera, President of the TAMU-CC Young Democrats, former REpresentative Arnold Gonzales and Hal Suter of the Sierra Club.  

There was also 50 people rolling beyond coal in Beaumont and 35 in Alpine, Texas.
Calmly scared half to death about rising coal costs, health and environmental impacts of 12 new Texas coal plants http://www.texas.sierraclub.or... , they are taking action to stop the second wave of the Texas coal rush and promoting instead clean air, clean power, green jobs, and the availability of water in the future.

Coal Plant Pollution means Attainment of Federal Air Quality Standards Shot to Hell

"These 12 new coal plants are a significant jump to the 17 operating coal plants we already have in Texas," said Rita Beving with Dallas Sierra Club.  "Whether it's the nearby plants being built east of Waco or the one proposed as far away as Abilene, the wind carries coal plant pollution north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and will only exacerbate our ability to reach attainment."

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is currently in non-attainment of required federal clean air standards, as is Houston and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area.   Austin, San Antonio and the north east Texas area have early action compacts and are near non-attainment.  New federal air quality standards coming this Fall (70 ppb)will mean that several additional regions of Texas will go into non-attainment.

Many states around the nation have dropped plans for coal plants, letting Texas run far ahead in a horrible lonely lead in the opposition direction.  With Michigan trailing at only 4 proposed new coal plants, Texas has the largest number still moving in various stages of permitting  - contested case hearings, appeal, and construction.  With the grotesque rate of acceptance of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), a whole army of new coal plants could go online next year emitting their enormous tonnage of pollution as they rev up to a full-throttled, smog-spewing, global warming, lung-clogging, nerve-shattering, mind-numbing, and heart-stopping blast of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, and carbon dioxide.  See the fact sheet list of the proposed coal plants in Texas and the gory truth on their cumulative emissions numbers.

Human Health Impacts http://www.texas.sierraclub.org/press/newsreleases/HealthImpactsfromTexasCoalPlantPollution.pdf
Corpus Christi cardiologist, Dr. Greg Silverstein said, "In Corpus Christi, we already experience twice as much asthma as the state average. If the Las Brisas petcoke plant is allowed to go forward with the huge annual emissions of smog and smoke in their permit application, we
will see a significant increase of even more asthma in Corpus Christi and the surrounding towns.  I am concerned about my patients and all the people of Corpus Christi."

Coke is regulated similarly to coal and it emits the same nasty pollutants.  See just what effects coal and coke plants have on human physiology in the attached Fact Sheet.

Coastal Bend doctors of the Nueces County Medical Society and the Tri-County San Patricio-Aransas-Refugio Medical Society passed resolutions opposing the permitting of the hilariously-named Las Brisas (the Breezes) coke plant.   Corpus Christi citizens from all walks of life united across class, Hispanic and Anglos, men, women, children, and the elderly crowded into a room that couldn't contain their opposition at last February's preliminary hearing in which a large number of individuals and organizations including the Clean Economy Coalition and the Sierra Club received 'standing' for a contested case hearing which began today, Monday, November 2.  

Clean Energy Solutions and Green Jobs on the brighter side of the Dark Ages

"There are many reasons to oppose coal plants - they cost too much, make people sick, contribute to global warming, and use enormous amounts of water," said Eva Hernandez, Regional Organizer for Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "Another reason is that they are a huge dangerous diversion from the clean power and green jobs economy that Texas is so perfectly suited for and already leading."

Roll Beyond Coal is a project of Sierra Club's Climate Recovery Partnership and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.  In Texas, Sierra Club is fighting to stop new coal plants and clean up and phase out old coal plants. Sierra Club's environmental partners include our 14 Regional Sierra Club groups, lawyers on the Texas contested case hearings the Environmental Integrity Project, running buddies Sierra Student Coalition, Public Citizen, and a cast of dozens of awesome Texas organizations.

Slide show with photos from all rallies coming soon!  Stay tuned to Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club on Burnt Orange Report!

City of Austin Call For Roadway Safety Ordinance, Ban Texting While Driving

by: Matt Glazer

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 09:27 AM CDT

That debate has come to Austin.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez and Councilmember Chris Riley are sponsoring a City Council resolution calling for the prohibition of text messaging and internet use while driving.

"Studies make this very clear," said Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez. "And, common sense reinforces what we already know; using a phone while driving is very dangerous and is factor in many traffic incidents."

The City Council agenda item directs the City Manager to prepare ordinance to prohibit the writing, sending or reading of text messages, instant messages and emails or viewing the internet on a mobile phone or other portable electronic device.

"Multi-tasking while driving is not a good practice," said Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "With kids headed back to school we should all take this time to be very aware on the road and put an end to text messaging while driving."

The City Council resolution also calls on the City Manager to create an ordinance requiring a three-foot safe passing distance for vulnerable road users.

"We are a bicycling community. We need to immediately create a safer environment for bicyclists and other vulnerable road users," said Councilmember Chris Riley. "Let's share our roadways together, safely".

This is a smart, timely proposal.  Countless studies have already shown the risk of talking and driving.  Texting and internet use seem far worse.  Both require you to actually take your eyes off the road for long durations of time, and in a city that doubles in size every 20 years, our roads are getting too full to take these risks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has shown that text messaging while driving increases the risk of a crash or near crash by 20 times.

Already, Texas State law beginning September 1, will ban all drivers in Texas school crossing zones from talking on hand-held phones and texting.  

Feedback from Carole Keeton Strayhorn's Mayoral Campaign Kick-off

by: David Kobierowski

Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 00:30 PM CST

She attracted a ton of media.  

The room the picked was full.  At least 100 people.

One of her early lines from her speech was "this was not a journey I thought I'd ever take"...she got some laughs from that.

There was not a lot of diversity, mostly middle aged suits.  But there was a fair share of male and female.  I'd expert Carole to win a fair amount of women voters.

Here are additional notes/thoughts from the press conf.:

- Her campaign literature given to me says that she's a "trailblazer"..full of firsts, 1st woman pres of Austin School Board, 1st female Mayor of Austin...

- She's only using her 1st name "Carole" on her literature/bumper stickers.  I assume to help minimize the confusion from her 5 last names.

- She used the color blue for her campaign literature.  Interesting.  I asked her at the end of her press conference if she considers herself a "Progressive", but didn't really answer my questions and gave a canned response about "being for the people of Austin, a leader".

- She launched at a 4 1/2 year old North Austin business called BancVue. BancVue brands as "providing services to small community banks so that they can take on the the mega banks".  So it's clear to me Carole will go after the small businesses and try to brand as "small/local business person" respectively.

- She made a comment that "BankVue did not receive any subsidies"..  And had some laughs/claps in response.  I recall her son, Brad, attending and supporting the "Stop Domain Subsidies" (Proposition 2 in last election) press conferences, so I'd expect Carole to try to claim she's the "small/local business candidate".

- She had an assortment of supporters.  I assume, based on her supporters, this is where she'll be getting her money from:
- Real Estate
- Small Business/big business/all business
- Hi-Tech
- Lawyers (folks from UT Law were on her supporter's list, and her son Brad is an attorney)
- Possibly from Education.  I'm told she helped found ACC, and one of her supporters listed ACC in her intro
- Capital/finance groups/folks associated to these orgs

The issues/what she'll run on, based her preso, might be:
- Budget, Fiscal Responsibility
- Accountability
- Transportation/Infrastructure
- Law Enforcement
- She's a "leader", leadership
- Energized
- Helping to "get the vote out" (Carole said she had a 35% voter turnout during her term, compared to 11% election turnout 3 years ago).

During the huddled press conference, she commented about Austin being "$137M over budget". This was not clear, but it appears Carole is calling this a $137M shortfall because of unmet "expected" sales revenue received compared to their budget??  I need clarification on this.  I'd like to ask her what services she expects to cut from that $137M.

My guess is Carole will also try to leverage her experience with her original work on the Austin Tommorrow Comprehensive Plan, which was a major effort in the 70's, and will likely be a campaign issue this season.

Please comment on anything else y'all feel is critical for this race.  

As we do for every council race, we expect to air all of the Mayoral interviews and Austin City Council candidates on 91.7FM KOOP Radio between now and the May election.  Airing on our show "A Neighborly conversation, 12:00noon on Wednesdays.  Stay tuned.

Best,
David Kobierowski
91.7FM KOOP Radio