Austin Dispatches | No. 188 | May 11, 2016 |
Austin’s power elite won a victory at the polls May 7 at the cost of
wrecking their self-regard and their public relations of about 20-odd years.[1]
Sure, the power elite defeated a ballot measure pushed by the pushy ridesharing
services Uber and Lyft, but backing established interests (taxi companies and
city bureaucrats) over the sort of progressive technology businesses that Austin
is supposed to represent, at least since I started
angling to work here, fully reveals the elite’s rhetoric as false.[2]
After Saturday’s election,
they can never credibly use it with the public again, now that we all know
they’re blinkered, big-government stewards – indistinguishable from their Rust
Belt counterparts – and in the most sclerotic and
conservative manner possible.[3]
Henceforth, every business or local dissenter who wants to do more than shake a
tiny fist at the status quo can make them pay for that strategic decision.[4]
Not that Uber and Lyft – the
service with the pretentious, effeminate pink handlebar mustache – didn’t have
their defeat coming.[5]
Their pollsters called so insistently I was tempted to side with the power elite
this once and vote against their ballot measure reducing city oversight. Either
that, or throw my support to whichever side wanted to make it worth my while, in
the form of a new car, which would still be cheaper than their campaigns.
[6]
“That was a joke,” I said after a long pause in a long questionnaire I
mistakenly agreed to answer one evening.[7]
Speaking of losers, The
Washington Post reports the GOP establishment, having failed to stump Trump, is
finally resigned to The Donald as its presidential nominee.[8]
Trump trumps so far in the
face of an unprecedented unified opposition from nearly every political
apparatchik and media member, regardless of partisan or ideological
identification. They’ve all taken a dump on Trump. For many, their loathing
transcends what should’ve been their delight at the predicted
demise of the Republican Party and the
conservative movement because of him.
Before the caucuses and
primaries, various pundits had already compared Trump to Hitler – the ultimate
insult, but normally ineffective with repetition. Then, having exhausted their
heavy rhetorical ammunition so early, they compared him to
Don Rickles, to Rodney Dangerfield’s characters in
“Caddyshack” and “Back to School,”[9]
and to Andrew “Dice” Clay.[10]
These pundits are supposed to be pop-culture savvy, even if their political
insight is shallow. Yet with their comparisons, they cast themselves as the
snooty foils you’re supposed to root against. To them I say: hickory dickory
dock, snapperheads.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders’
continuing victories prove Democrats are the socialists their detractors have
claimed since the New Deal.[11]
Hilary Rodham Clinton remains the putative frontrunner, if only she can remember
her husband’s formula: election first, then indictment.[12]
The Austin Chronicle
leadership has openly extolled socialism in recent issues, something I’ve never
seen from them in all my years of readership going back to 1994.[13]
This represents a new low in the already dismal thinking of Louis Black and Nick
Barbaro. It also means they’ve learned nothing from their last 50 years, even
though they don’t run the Chronicle or South by
Southwest that way.[14]
Unfortunately, all that
means a long respite from having to contend with advocates of explicit
socialism, dating from the fall of the Berlin Wall,[15]
is over, and the sensible among us have to dust off the voluminous
counterarguments, valid now as then, to shut up a new generation of thieving
idiots and their still-living predecessors who never learned the last time.[16]
Knowing what we do, we should be able to mount a
massive new White Terror against the likes of the Sanders supporter who
nearly backed her SUV into my car in the parking lot of a Central Market, then
fled in response to my slit-eyed glare and ability to manipulate my car horn to
produce atonal rage equal to ‘60s free-form saxophonists.[17]
Without even trying, these statists ruin others’ lives.
Cultural Canapés
For Record Store Day, a
local merchant made some historically inaccurate claims in a Chronicle print ad.[18]
“…[A]n act of rebellion against billion dollar music corporations”? The industry
behemoths got that way through selling millions of units of pressed and grooved
polyvinylchloride platters decades ago.[19]
“It’s impossible to download vinyl for free”? Technically speaking, yes,
although that didn’t stop the industry and even musicians from fretting about
people copying records with blank audiotape cassettes in the early ‘80s.[20]
Speaking of which, HBO’s new
series, “Vinyl,” is bombastic, clichéd, sleazy, and not as talented or
impressive as it thinks it is. In other words, it’s a credible representation of
the rock music industry at its commercial zenith.[21]
A museum exhibition covering
art of the 1990s induced a Chronicle contributor into “blathering nostalgic”
because he “just saw an art show that romanticizes a period I am old enough to
remember.”[22] Welcome
to creeping age … kid.[23]
Austin Death Watch
A downtown street bum murdered a coed and tossed her body into Waller Creek, but the press prefers to promote the message that it’s wrong to be judgmental about street bums – excuse me, “the homeless.”[24] That kind of thinking lead to criminals getting out of control years ago.[25]
After years of firing or
suspending Austin cops, Police Chief Art Acevedo was himself reprimanded and
docked of pay by City Manager Marc Ott for violating policy by speaking publicly
about a recent police shooting investigation.[26]
The Central Texas Regional
Mobility Authority closed a lane of MoPac Expressway between 35th and
45th streets to build a toll lane. In other words, it impacts a
stretch of MoPac that already experiences slower traffic even under the best of
circumstances, i.e., no construction, rush-hour traffic or nearby collisions.[27]
To complete the trifecta, beginning work on a toll road alongside Highway 183
between Manor Road and Loyola Lane apparently necessitates closing an existing
lane on 183 for the next three years, according to the TxDOT office. Design
flaws require the City Council to consider another $7.5 million for the Waller
Creek Tunnel project, for a total cost of $163 million.[28]
The April 8 Chronicle
wrap-up of SXSW contains every criticism uttered against the event in Austin
Dispatches and then some. Black and Barbaro must’ve stiffed the reporter on some
tickets or something.[29]
After all my years in
Austin, forecasts of inclement weather prompted organizers to cancel outdoor
events, rather than struggle through thunderstorms.[30]
Neighborhood News
On March 18, I witnessed the
aftermath of a two-car collision at Stonehollow Drive and Gracy Farms Lane that
took out the corner bus stop. The drivers must not
be fans of mass transit. On April 7, I witnessed the aftermath of a collision
near MoPac and Braker Lane. On April 14, I witnessed the aftermath of a
multi-car smash-up along the flyover linking northbound MoPac with southbound
183. On April 28, I witnessed the aftermath of a collision near Metric and Boyer
boulevards. On April 21, I witnessed the remains of a collision at Metric
Boulevard and Gracy Farms.
On April 22, KTAE-AM
reported a collision at MoPac and Duval Road. The Statesman’s Traffic Web page
reported incidents March 21 at Stonehollow and Metric, at Braker and Kramer
lanes, and at Burnet Road and Esperanza Crossing; on March 22 and April 14 along
southbound 183 near Burnet, on March 22 at Parmer Lane and Lamplight Village
Avenue; on March 23 at Burnet and Brockton Drive, and at Metric and Bittern
Hollow; on March 25 at Loop 360 and MoPac; on March 28 and April 25 at Burnet
and Braker, on March 28 and May 2 at 183 and MoPac; on March 30, April 26 and
May 4 at MoPac and Parmer, on April 5 at Palm Way and Burnet, on April 7 at
Parmer and Scofield Farms Drive, on April 8 at Kramer and Burnet, on April 12
and May 5 at 183 and Burnet, on April 22 at Burnet and Longhorn Boulevard, on
April 25 near Burnet and Duval, on May 2 at Parmer and Tomanet Trail, on May 3
at Burnet and Rutland Drive, and on May 9 at Braker and MoPac.
From March 18-20, crews
closed the entrance and exit ramps to MoPac between Braker and Parmer to repave
the bridges over the Union Pacific Railroad and MetroRail lines. From May 6-8,
crews closed the entrance and exit ramps to MoPac between Parmer and Duval as
the mobility authority repaved MoPac.[31]
An April 26 thunderstorm
knocked out power to Austin Community College’s Northridge campus.
Two eateries, a bar, and an
event space have opened in the neighborhood.[32]
A game shop and a prenatal imaging service have relocated here.[33]
Home | Archives |
NOTES
[1] “Voters
Give Proposition 1 Thumbs-Down.” AAS 8 May 2016: A1.
[2] High
Tech Austin: Millennium Edition. Ed. Robert Lawrence. Austin, Texas:
High Tech Austin Annual, 2000.
[3] Garreau,
Joel. The Nine Nations of North America.
[4] AD No. 82n14
(Aug. 18, 2005); Hawkins, Lori, and Lilly Rockwell. “Austin Tech
Industry Debates Next Move.” AAS 10 May 2016: A1+; Hicks, Nolan, and Ben
Wear. “The Apps Go Dark As Uber, Lyft Leave.” AAS 10 May 2016: A1+.
[5] AD No. 178n17
(Nov. 6, 2014).
[6] MacKenzie,
Angus. “BMW 7 Series.” Motor Trend Jan. 2016: 123.
[7]
AD No. 186n46 (Jan. 31, 2016);
Barbaro, Nick. “Learning to Share.” AC 29 Apr. 2016: 14-15; Barbaro.
“Think Globally, Vote Locally.” 6 May 2016: 12; Black, Louis. “The
Problem With Prop. 1.” AC 29 Apr. 2016: 6; Kamp, Amy. “The Illusion of
Safety.” AC 6 May 2016: 11; Shaughnessy, Emile. “Austin Voters to Decide
Ride-Hailing Rules in Citywide Election May 7.” CIN Apr. 2016, Northwest
Austin ed.: 21; Theis, Michael. “A Lesson to Be Learned: Lobbying Gone
Wild.” ABJ 22 Apr. 2016: 4-6; Theis. “Ride-Sharing Rhetoric Heats Up
Over Prop 1.” ABJ 29 Apr. 2016: 16; Wear. “Prop 1 Undone by Ride-Hailing
Companies Threatening Tone.” AAS 9 May 2016: B1+.
[8] Diaz,
Kevin. “Cruz Drops Presidential Bid After Rout by Trump in Indiana.” HC
4 May 2016: A1+; Kaplan, Thomas. “Kasich Ends Long-Shot Bid for
President, Clearing G.O.P. Stage for Trump.” NYT 5 May 2016: A16;
Rucker, Philip. “GOP Elites Resigned to Trump.” WP 29 Apr. 2016: A1+.
[9] AD No. 72n41
(Oct. 24, 2004); Martin, Scott. The Book of Caddyshack: Everything
You Always Wanted to Know About the Greatest Movie Ever Made.
[10] AD No. 48n32
(Mar. 10, 2003); Clay, Andrew “Dice” [Andrew Silverstein], and David
Ritz. The Filthy Truth. New York City: Touchstone/Simon &
Schuster, 2014.
[11]
Desrochers, Daniel. “Trump, Sanders Win Big.” Charleston (W.Va.)
Gazette-Mail 11 May 2016: 1A+; Woods, Thomas E. Jr. Bernie
Sanders Is Wrong. Topeka, Kan.: Tom Woods.com, 2015.
[12] Edelman,
Adam. “Bernie Beats Hil in W.Va., but She Still Nears Clinch.” NYDN 11
May 2016: 6; Micek, John L. “Hilary’s Lingering Email Problem.” The
Citizens’ Voice 11 May 2016: 15.
[13] Barbaro,
Nick. “In Defense of Socialism.” AC 25 Mar. 2016: 10; Black, Louis.
“Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory.” AC 8 Apr. 2016: 6.
[14] AD No.
140n42 (May 4, 2011).
[15] Buckley,
William F. Jr. The Fall of the
[16] Stéphane
Courtois et al. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror,
Repression, rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1999; Hayek,
Friedrich A. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism. Ed. W.W.
Bartley III. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1988; Kolakowski, Leszek. Main
Currents of Marxism: Its Rise, Growth and Dissolution, rev. ed.
Trans. P.S. Falla.
[17] AD No.
184n4 (Aug. 25, 2015);
Anderson, Iain. This Is Our Music: Free Jazz, the Sixties, and
American Culture. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2007;
Litweiler, John. The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958.
[18] The Sound
Gallery. “Why Buy Vinyl?” Advertisement. 15 Apr. 2016: 57.
[19] Campbell,
Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On, 3rd
rev. ed. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2012: 390.
[20] Daschuk,
Mitch, and James Popham. “Music Identities, Individualization, and
Ownership Shifts: Empowering a Litigious Paradigm of Copyright
Protection.” Music and Law. Ed. Mathieu Deflem. Bingley, U.K.:
Emerald Group Publishing, 2013:70.
[21] Pond,
Steve. “70s.” RS 20 Sep. 1990: 51; Schrodt, Paul. “How Vinyl Happened.”
Esquire Feb. 2016: 26-27.
[22]
Anderson-Ramos, Sam. “ ‘Come As You Are: Art of the 1990s.’ ” AC 29 Apr.
2016: 37.
[23] Eisler,
Dan. “A Pioneer in Retrospection.” E-mail to Frank Rossi et al. 15 Apr.
2016.
[24] Barragan,
James. “Church Fears Backlash Against Homeless Folks.” AAS 10 Apr. 2016:
A15; Easter, Makeda. “Campus-Area Homeless Face Backlash in Wake of
Haruka Weiser Murder.” AC 22 Apr. 2016: 22; Hoffberger, Chase. “UT
Murder Coverage Misses the Point.” AC 22 Apr. 2016: 22; Wong, Caleb, and
Mikaela Cannizzo. “APD Seeks Suspect in Continuing Investigation.” DT 8
Apr. 2016: 1-2.
[25] Cook,
Kevin. Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That
Changed America. New York City: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014.
[26]
Hoffberger, Chase. “Ott and Acevedo at Odds.” AC 6 May 2016: 18;
Hoffberger. “Ott Takes on Acevedo.” AC 29 Apr. 2016: 19; Plohetski,
Tony. “Acevedo Punished in Joseph Case.” AAS 27 Apr. 2016: A1+.
[27] Wear.
“MoPac Lane Closure Starts Sunday.” AAS 9 Apr. 2016: B1+.
[28] Lim,
Andra. “Waller Tunnel Costs May Rise to $163M.” AAS 11 May 2016: A1+.
[29] Curtin,
Kevin. “Welcome to the Terrordome: Sixth Street During SXSW.” AC 8 Apr.
2016: 50.
[30] Odam,
Matthew. “Weather Blamed for Canceled Fest.” AAS 21 Apr. 2016: B1;
Villalpando, Roberto. “Friday’s Forecast for Storms Leads Levitation
Fest to Cancel.” AAS 29 Apr. 2016: B1.
[31] Wear.
“Toll Project to Bring More MoPac Closures.” AAS 6 May 2016: B1+.
[32] “North
Austin.” CIN Apr. 2016, Northwest Austin ed.: 7; “Now Open.” CIN Apr.
2016, Northwest Austin ed.: 4.
[33]
“Relocations.” CIN Apr. 2016, Northwest Austin ed.: 5.