I know, I know, I know, I promised no politics on this site. Picayune is meant to be an open letter to my friends but I had to take a jab back at this jerk for his rather ill-informed comment in the paper on November 26th. I would link it but then you’d have to give Austin’s sorry excuse for a newspaper your information to get in and then search for which letters I’m talking about.
The crux of this Republican crank’s letter was the recent renaming of the Congress Avenue Bridge to the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. Quite a mouthful and everyone will still remember it as the Congress Avenue Bridge or the Bat Bridge due to the two million flying rodents living under it. Yet it’s always something with people like this guy:
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Re: Nov. 16 article, “Bridge renaming honors Richards”:
The renaming of such a visible landmark needs careful consideration, and then it must go before the voters. Even the bats feel railroaded.
Name the new water treatment plant after one-term Gov. Ann Richards, in honor of her vocabulary and the stench of her liberal politics.
ALAN GARRETSON, Austin
Before I left for vacation, I felt I had to bitchslap the Grover Norquist surrogate for showing his partisan ignorance. I carefully chose my 150 words. How surprised I was to get an e-mail from the Austin “paper of record” requesting my permission. I called the toll-free number to give what I would allow to be listed. Of course, the allegedly liberal publication didn’t print the whole thing, they clipped my closing paragraph (highlighted in bold).
Tuesday, December 4, 2006
Re: Nov. 26 letter to the editor, “Consult with public first”:
In his invective aimed at former Gov. Ann Richards, it seems that the letter writer forgot that the public has had landmark name changes foisted upon them on other occasions. Ever heard of Hoover Dam? It used to be called Boulder Dam. My recent favorite is the Reagan Airport in Washington, even after he fired all the air-traffic controllers and made air travel less safe. Both of these were pushed through by Republican majorities, and the public didn’t have any say in it.
Too bad the unfinished Intel building is being torn down. We could’ve renamed it after George W. Bush for the second term he never really completed because he started running for president the day after his re-election.
STEVE MAGGI, Pflugerville.
I still think it was a good rebuttal despite the Statesman taking out what I felt was my coup de grace on the jerk. Ann was no saint and there were many policies of hers I disagreed with but the people of Austin were fond of her. I even admired her toughness and wit. Besides, she got a bridge while Bullock got a museum, Clements has a state building and Bush’s daddy has an aircraft carrier and the Houston Int’l airport. Maybe Alan should move to Dallas or San Antonio so he can spearhead Norquist’s project to rename everything after Reagan.
Here’s the link of my letter to let you know it really happened if you want to jump through the paper’s hoops.