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April 28, 2004Early Voting Starts TodayBy Byron LaMastersI voted earlier today in the local municipal elections (ACC, AISD, Travis County Prop., and City of Austin Prop.). Early voting started today and will continue through May 11. The election date is May 15. The full list of early vote locations is here. If you're a UT student, there's no excuse not to vote. As usual, we can vote on campus in the UGL Lobby by the West Mall. If you haven't heard of any of the candidate, or don't know who or what to vote for, I offer my recommendations (these candidates / props. have all been endorsed by the University Democrats, Central Austin Democrats, Austin Progressive Coalition and Capitol City Young Democrats): (Partial repost from my endorsements on April 7) ACC Place 4: - Jeffrey Richard: Jeffrey is by far the best qualified and most experienced candidate in this race. He's also a Democrat with credentials that appeal to both the business and progressive communities. He served as the vice president of education on the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, and has a tremendous amount of experience in education working for 17 years with educational institutions in Washington D.C. and Austin. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Texas State University. ACC Place 5: - Rafael Quintanilla: He's the chair of the board and is unopposed. I don't have a particularly good reason to support him, but people that have been around Austin a lot longer than I have said that he's worthy of our support, so that worked for me. ACC Place 6: - Rodney Ahart: Rodney Ahart has worked in the legislature for State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) and State Reps. Helen Giddings (D-Dallas) and Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin). During his time in the legislature, he worked on higher education issues and is well prepared to work with the legislature as a member of the ACC board. FOR Collective Bargaining for Austin Firefighters: One of the referenda we will be voting on is whether to allow collective bargaining for the Austin Firefighters. Collective bargaining would require the city of Austin to meet in good faith with Austin Firefighters to negotiate their contracts. The process would be open and subject to public disclosure. Our firefighters work hard day and night to keep us safe. This is the least that we can do for them. FOR Travis County Hospital District: This is a simple issue of efficiency and fairness. The current Travis County Health Care Revenue System is convoluted and confusing. Creating a hospital district would make funding our county health care more efficient by simplifying the revenue process. More importantly, this is an issue of fairness. Currently, Austin taxpayers pay five times more than (non-Austin) county residents in taxes to support Travis County health care facilities, even though all Travis County residents have equal access to the facilities. The Hospital District would equalize taxes for all Travis County residents. It would bring in needed money into the system to prevent emergency room overcrowding and to extend the hours of local clinics. That's a good thing for Travis County. Posted by Byron LaMasters at April 28, 2004 12:18 PM | TrackBack
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Also, if you are like me and live in Del Valle ISD be sure to vote for Prop 3 to add Del Valle to the ACC District. Right now, if I want to take classes at ACC I have to pay about the same as UT- 62% more than ACC District Residents. Adding Del Valle ISD will let us go to ACC cheaper and the homestead exemption of $80,000 is actually higher than the median home value in the district- many won't pay ANY new taxes and even a $200,000 house will pay about $11 a month for thousands of dollars savings for their kids. So Vote for Prop 3 if you are in DVISD. Posted by: Andrew D at April 28, 2004 02:36 PMMore importantly, this is an issue of fairness. Currently, Austin taxpayers pay five times more than (non-Austin) county residents in taxes to support Travis County health care facilities, even though all Travis County residents have equal access to the facilities. The Hospital District would equalize taxes for all Travis County residents. If you honestly wanted fairness, you wouldn't call for the taxation of Travis County residents to pay for the healthcare services of others. Fair means each person pays what they owe, not each person being forced to cover the costs they had no hand in generating. If you honestly wanted efficiency in fixing emergency room overcrowding, you'd have no problem with hospitals charging for emergency room care at rates they wish to set for anyone who walks in asking for help. Free market prices work better in allocating resources. Posted by: Charles Hueter at April 29, 2004 09:49 AMI have to make a comment to encourage all of you to vote for Guadalupe Q. Sosa for ACC Board of Trustees - Place 6. She is a retired lady who worked for 20 years at the Department of Health and Human Services. She graduated from Our Lady of the Lake in S.A. and atteneded ACC. She has been the democartic precinct chair for a number of years and president of her neighborhood association. Most importantly, she headed the South Austin ACC Advisory Board. For more than 2 years, she diligently meet with her dedicated South Austin neighbors to bring an ACC presence into the neighborhood. Currently, the area in which she lives has the second highest ACC enrollment. She is working to increase enrollment in the Early College Start Program. She has earned the endorsements of the South Austin Tejano Democrats, Jackie Goodman, Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, Concerned Citizens for Education at ACC (or something like that) and was one vote shy of winning the endorsement of the South Austin Democrats (run-off between her and Ahart is 5/5/04). She has not worked in the legislature and doesn't have "big name" contacts, but she deserves a chance to represent the community over someone who might use the position to pad his or her resume or as a political stepping stone. AND she just got the Chronicle's endorsement! Way to go Lupe!! Posted by: AustinGirl172 at April 29, 2004 12:48 PMI'm happy to support Rodney Ahart for that seat. I was impressed with Guadalupe Sosa's resume, but much less so in person. At our endorsement meeting I could hardly hear her from 15 feet away. On the other hand, Rodney had great Democratic credentials, is a young guy who is better connected to the students and has some great ideas about how to improve ACC. He got my vote. Posted by: Byron L at April 29, 2004 10:27 PMYou are right, Lupe is very soft spoken, which does not been she cannot argue the issues. Case in point, the establishment of an ACC south campus. In this race, I am not going on connections and who can speak the loudest, but committment to the community and ACC. As The Chronicle states, she clearly stands out in this regard and has been dedicated to the cause for years - never missing a meeting or opportunity to promote the issue. Posted by: AustinGirl172 at April 30, 2004 09:25 AM
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