Why Randi Shade?

(Community Matters)

Dear Friends:

Today is the last day for early voting in the City Council place 3 runoff. Please vote to reelect Randi Shade. Early voting locations listed here.

As you know, Randi came in second during the general election race – significantly behind her opponent Kathie Tovo. Yet, we’ve seen this same spread before – Brewster was similarly behind Margot Clarke and in the runoff he defeated her 64% to 36%. As of yesterday, 20,196 voters had cast a ballot in the run-off election. That’s higher than the total cast in all of Early Voting in May — with one day still left for Early voting. The precincts turning out look favorable to Randi, but if I had to guestimate, I’d bet we’re no better than even, possibly a few hundred to a thousand votes behind. That’s why every single vote counts. Please, Please, Please take the time to early vote.

Why Randi? She’s the best. Seriously, the former UT Student Body President, Harvard Business School grad, high-tech startup entrepreneur (creating an internet site that raised money for nonprofits), Gov. Ann Richards staffer who launched Texas’ AmeriCorp, wife, and mom of two young children weighs all perspectives & opinions and makes her decisions based on what’s best for Austin’s long term interests balanced with today’s needs. Randi (and her wife, Dell executive Kayla Shell) is active in their Clarksville neighborhood association and she’s first-hand aware of the need to balance neighborhood and economic development interests. I was especially proud of the balance she struck in supporting the water treatment plant which ensures adequate drinking water for our next 50 years – she simultaneously required substantive progress, metrics and timelines for enhanced water conservation plans.

Why Randi over Kathie?

• Kathie Tovo has stated publicly several times that we spend too much on public safety. Kathie Tovo’s election will mean less police, fewer firefighters, and slower EMS response. Randi Shade has fought for more public safety money and will continue to do so.  When you call 911 you want it to work.  That’s why all three of the public safety associations have endorsed and are supporting Randi.  The AAS PolitiFact check rated Randi’s statements about this as mostly true – the qualifier being that Kathie has since the general recanted her calls for less funding.
• Randi has always been a voice of reason on the city council.  She listens to all sides of the issues, developers and neighborhood groups alike.  Kathie Tovo is supported by a small group of city hall activists, some of whom have brought lawsuits against the City and some of whom have pursued, at considerable cost to the community, un-needed and dangerous amendments to our City charter.
• Randi supports building our new water treatment plant, which City Council has already approved after careful consideration and extensive diligence.  Water Treatment Plant 4 will protect and secure our long-term water supply and help Austin prepare for the inevitable growth which this City and region will have in the years ahead. Kathie Tovo repeatedly stated that she was against WTP4, and much of her supporter base will continue to push her to try and stop it if elected. Stopping WTP4 will flush millions – in fact tens of millions – of dollars down the drain.  The costs of stopping this important project are immeasurable, especially given the favorable contracts presently in place.
• Randi has continuously supported efforts to create jobs and promote a healthy sustainable economy in Austin and to encourage sustainable development of the urban core.  Many of Tovo’s core supporters of city hall activists have tried unsuccessfully to stop the city from economic development efforts that have lead to thousands of quality new jobs in Austin the past few years.  And some of these same supporters have stated publicly that we need to INCREASE unemployment in Austin so we can slow growth.
• Randi has a common sense vision for the future and a common sense approach to protecting core services for Austin, especially public safety.  I believe that Kathie Tovo’s election will lead to a dangerous change of direction on council that will be the opposite of progressive – it will lead Austin backwards.

Even the recent email controversies provided a candid glimpse. As the Austin American Statesman noted, “Austin City Council Member Randi Shade can be blunt. She described a few people as “nuts” and “two-faced” in e-mails last year. But other e-mails reveal her as warm, deeply engaged in her work and frank about issues facing the council, such as a plan to build a $500 million-plus water treatment plant.” The nuts and two-faced email wasn’t sent from the dais, was in reference to a mutual friend and you’d probably consider it generous if you knew the context. Nevertheless, after reviewing hundreds of emails, the AAS and others describe Randi as thoughtful, fair, productive and great for Austin.

Robin Cravey, a longtime environmental leader and several friends of ours from the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy and other important environmental organizations support Randi as well, knowing that a healthy economy with balanced priorities including the environment, schools, dense urban development which preserves the unique characteristics of each neighborhood are the right way to preserve, enhance and share the best of Austin and Central Texas.

I don’t know Kathie Tovo but assume she’s mostly a good egg. She’s been volunteering in schools and neighborhoods for many years. We’ve had one exchange of emails about deceptive campaigning and campaign sign vandalism. She declined to ask her supporters to discontinue the vandalism and the misleading statements about Randi. Kathie’s even now on record distorting Randi’s position. While Kathie voted to impose historical zoning against an elderly neighbor’s wishes, she tries to diffuse that criticism (she and her core supporters believe historical zoning against homeowners wishes is a proper tool to use when existing guidelines and ordinances would otherwise allow for remodeling, renovation and/or demolition) by falsely claiming that Randi voted similarly. The nuance is that Randi voted as recommended by the historical zoning commission on a first reading and then insisted that the homeowner’s objections be addressed. Kathie continued supporting zealous, no-growth activists against this neighbor; Randi voted against the proposal. Lots of similar stories about Kathie’s evolved nuances on the Water Treatment Plant and economic development.

Anyhow, Randi’s who we need on Council – fair, experienced, balanced and human (yeah, of course she has her faults; don’t we all?)

Please join me and Steven in voting for Randi Shade.

Appreciatively,

Eugene

By the way, a wave of small, independent business owners coming out for Randi as well – Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse), live music venue owners, downtown independent businesses). I have Rob Lippincott’s (owner of Guero’s) permission to share an email he sent yesterday:

Robb Lippincott E-mail:

The story is, my partners and I, in the development to the north of Guero’s, after working with the neighborhood association for over a year, held a mutual press conference with them, announcing our agreement to getting a variance for the project. That was on a Thursday. On Monday we went to the planning board meeting to get the variance. We were approached by a lawyer BCNA had hired and she told us the neighborhood association had changed their mind and would be going for a postponement, which they got ( 90 days ). We found this out by reading the resignation letters of two of the members of the committee,  Kathie had called a ” special meeting ” of the committee, excluding the two who resigned, because she knew they favored us, and had a new vote to go for a postponement. She then got them to agree not to tell anyone about their vote till the variance board meeting so we could not try to negotiate further. The upshot was the association spent $10,000 on a lawyer and got a slightly worse deal from us. And we had to pay the bank for three more months of interest ( $18,000 a month as I recall ) and in that time also hurricanes Katrina and Ike ??? came through raising building prices so much my family had to get out of part of the development. Altogether very scummy in my estimation, especially so when you know that her husband’s architectural firm had been considered and then not hired for the project. She should have recused herself.
Hope I didn’t get too worked up, but reliving those exciting days of yesteryear gets me going.
Hope to see you soon,

—
Rob Lippincott
1400 S. Congress
Austin, TX  78704