Serve the Servants

Last year, the appeal process for our property taxes was a three-part whipsaw of good cop/bad cop. Fortunately, the final say went to the good cop who came to the house and did a visual inspection, both inside and outside the house. She lowered the valuation dramatically. One would think that the folks at the tax office would consider that level of scrutiny an accurate way to determine the value.

When we got our tax appraisal this year, the value had gone up again, while I knew that the real estate market had been flat at best. In preparation for the initial hearing, I rarely do much research, though I have in the past taken in pictures of our rooms with 7 foot ceilings, etc. This time I checked the valuations of all of our neighbors on our side of the street. Down, way down! Everybody else's values had dropped from between $10,000 and $35,000 from last year.

So, with last year's visual inspection (assumed to be accurate, right?), and the neighbors' drop in value, I had a  case to make. I did not want to go to stage two, the formal hearing, which was a very adversarial, bad cop situation last year. Fortunately, the informal hearing people are good cops, willing to find ways to resolve the issue in your favor, if it can be justified.

After waiting in the crowded hallway for more than an hour, my name was called. I made my case to Ms. Reese, with the emphasis on the amounts by which my neighbors values had gone down. My goal was to keep my value the same as last year, not to lower it again. She punched up something on her computer that got pretty close to what I was looking for, then ran some other numbers that would be fatal to my case. We went with the first set of numbers, and she checked with a supervisor to make sure we could settle on keeping the value the same as last year. Why, yes we could do that, was the reply.

In 16 years, I've only appealed four times, so I don't do it for fun. It's not fun, but it is educational, interesting, and worth it when you win.
I've never been treated unfairly, or disrespectfully, by anyone while going through this process.

The current weather conditions inspired the use of this photo for today's blog entry.  I cannot wait for cooler, even cold, weather.

Peace,

JS4

About a Girl

In the final moments of July 4th, seven pounds and eleven ounces of wonderfulness was welcomed into the world. Our dear friend Tara provided the fireworks by bringing us Millicent Kathryn Kirkland, pictured below at about 36 hours old.

 

She is now several times older and 22% cuter (not scientifically measured).
Mother and daughter are healthy, happy, and one of them is getting plenty of sleep.

I am happy beyond words for Tara, and Millie is a joy to behold, for her family, and for those of us who share the kinship of friendship with Tara.

Peace,

JS4

Flashback to June

Summers of Jay, of course, begin the day after my last day of school. The plan for that first day usually involves sleeping late, and some sort of frozen beverage with lunch. This year the plan was an early alarm clock buzzer, followed by a day of travel. If I was going to break summer routine, there had better be a good reason. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands was our destination, so that's a good enough reason, right there. My mom and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in May, and wanted to renew their vows on a beach  in the Virgin Islands, where my sister Julie lives. No way were Carrie and I going turn down that invitation.  It was a quick and thorough break from school, and an easy place to move into relaxation mode. The first picture, I took as we glided along the bay after Julie had taken us out on a small boat to a nice snorkeling spot.

Weather-wise, June marks the beginning of hurricane season; not exactly ideal. We did get rained on, and the bugs were pretty vicious, too. We managed to get some sunny beach time, and snorkeling in the rain is remarkably pleasant, especially compared to sitting on a rainy beach. Plenty of fresh seafood, great burgers at Skinny Legs, and tasty home-cooked meals by our hosts, Julie and Ken, kept us fed and happy.

Barton Springs

My second job in Austin, circa 1992-1994, was as a counselor in the outdoor group therapy program that MHMR/Child Protective Services ran at Zilker Park. During the school year, we met from 3-6 p.m., but in the summer, it was 9:00 in the morning until 1:00, and included PB&J sandwiches three days a week. I was poor back then (not like now, 'cause I'm making teacher money, baby!), so that was free lunch, three days a week.

On therapy days, an hour for work in the summer was spent swimming with the kids at Barton Springs. Glorious. As a symbol of nature in Austin, nothing tops Barton Springs. The water is cold and clear, and there is no place that feels more like Austin. 

When friends came into town with their kids last summer, we took them to Barton Springs. The two younger kids focused on the cold water, while the soon-to-be college freshman understood the cool factor, which included many college-age girls in bikinis.  

The pictures in this post are from what has become an almost annual tradition for me: A New Year's Day dip in the springs. It's supposed to bring good luck, but I think of it as more about washing away the old year, and a clean start to the new. This "swim" usually lasts only a few minutes, and then it's time to quickly dry off and warm up. That is me and our friend Tara in the picture below.

Tara wanted to swim in Barton Springs for her birthday last week. Couldn't pass that up, especially since Tara is something like 78 weeks pregnant right now. With record heat, the pool felt great, and it was easy to see why people flocked to this oasis back in the day when there was no air-conditioning.

Just before we left, a couple in their 30's (maybe their 20's, it's tough to tell when you're in your 40's) asked me to take their picture with Barton Springs in the background. I was delighted to help, because this was a couple that understood. They hadn't just gone swimming, they'd just gone swimming in Barton Springs, and they knew the difference.

Peace,

JS4

Waterloo, Part Two

Audience participation is a risky proposition anytime, but especially at an in-store performance when you are from out of town. The Rosebuds tried it, and pulled it off, by coming off the stage, down to the floor, and getting the crowd to move in close to them. The quartet from North Carolina has an indie sound that I didn't expect when I saw the acoustic guitar and violin. The violin was played with choppy strokes, like in a horror film score, and the slow, moody keyboards set the pace for most of the songs. It was the first time this summer that I had seen a band that I knew nothing about before the show, and I like the "no preconceived notions" approach that this provides. The Rosebuds skew younger than me, like they grew up on Death Cab for Cutie, but put their own non-jaded stamp on the sound. They played later that night at The Parish, and I hope they drew a good crowd.

Ruthie Foster brings a gospel soul flavor to her live shows. She's got a voice that would sound good if all she did was sing names out of the phone book. Turnout was good for this show, even though they did not have beer. This is a video from Waterloo performance from a couple of years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8YSyxox2Iw&feature=related

The Greencards used to live in Austin, and during their show they promised to move back, "someday."
They've got two new members, on guitar and fiddle. They used to be more of a bluegrass band, but they have evolved more into a pop-sounding group that happens to play bluegrass instruments. I thought some of the songs had a "Tusk" era Fleetwood Mac sound, but the new album is self-released so they branched out even more from a traditional sound. One song was a Latin-inspired, two-man instrumental with only the mandolin player, and the very talented new guitar player. The Greencards tour a lot, and if they ever make it to your town, it's a good time.
If you were alive in 1979, you shouuld watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5LHxvDyRHo

One more picture fron The Rosebuds.

This week featured in-stores on four of the five days of the week. Amazing. I'm so thankful to be able to see them all.

Peace,

JS4

Waterloo means music

Live music at Waterloo Records is a "Summer of Jay" staple, and Waterloo is keeping their end of the bargain with a steady schedule of performances. These shows are not just summer events for the store, but it seems like they have a busier lineup this time of year. Plus, it's a whole lot easier for me to get to 6th and Lamar at 5:00 when I'm out of school. There may not be much structure to my schedule on a daily basis, but I'll build my afternoons around getting there.

Everybody likes Matt the Electrician, and he shows up in the audience when his friends are playing their gigs. He seems like the kind of guy that would pay a cover charge to support other musicians, rather than get comped at the door. His song-writing is full of bouncy melodies and standard ballads. He played with a full band that included Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and a female singer that really helped round out the songs. Matt plays multiple instruments, including the banjolele in the picture, but he really benefits from having a backing band that fills out the songs without stepping on the lyrics.

Matt is pretty well known for his cover of Journey's "Faithfully." People kind of giggle when they hear him start it for the first time, but he plays it totally straight. The result is sweet and sincere, not a bit campy, and a reminder that an over-played, sappy love song can still be a damn fine song. I was going to link to a YouTube video, but I'm having techo-problems. Do it yourself, if you are interested, and watch or skip to the end, where the audience sings along.

Hey, look. Google/Blogspot fixed the glitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO1uxi82VQ

While trying to solve those problems, I lost my picture of Foster and Lloyd, and could only re-post it at the top of this entry.

Foster and Lloyd had a little success in the 1980's as a country duo, and then broke up, with Radney Foster gaining some acclaim as a solo artist, and Bill Lloyd falling off the face of the earth. Foster still has a terrifically smooth voice, and is more of a showman than Lloyd, who played lead guitar while his partner did most of the vocal heavy lifting.

Their new songs felt pretty tied down to a Nashville formula, and I was left wondering why they've gotten back together. I think they are both really talented, and capable of writing smarter songs (although they did manage to rhyme "innuendo" with "comprendo"), but the results are not greater than the sum of their parts.
Here's a video from their first career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGncA1BlQ8

This entry was written a couple of days ago, but The Blog Company was experencing difficulties, which appear to have been fixed. Yea.

Peace,

JS4

P.S. It appears that the tech problem was largely Blogspot's, and that my incompetence was overestimated, but based on a reliable history of techno-incompetence.

Election update

The numbers tell the story, but I'll tell you more than you want to know.
Kathie Tovo: 23,911
56%
Randie Shade: 18,594
46%
Turnout was higher than in the general election, but both candidates did well in that area. Tovo got 9,000 more votes than in the general, while Shade added 8,000 to her total.

Media coverage of this race merits a comment or six. Not surprisingly, the Statesman endorsed Shade, the establishment incumbent. As soon as the runoff began, and Shade worked to negatively define Tovo, the Statesman played up the negativity, without providing much balance to what were supposed to be actual news stories. Editorially, the Statesman went all out to make Shade voters believe she could come back and win. The topper (whopper) in this effort was written in their editorial on Saturday, election day:
"Usually, a runoff election draws fewer voters, and usually, a candidate trailing by 13 points, as Shade was when the ballots were counted on May 14, finds it impossible to catch up. The comments of people who monitor city elections closely range from 'Shade has more than closed the gap' to 'the race is too close too call.' For Shade, the surge represents a vindication of sorts."

Surge? Surge?? She closed a 13 point gap to a 12 point gap. That was a surge comparable only to a LeBron James fourth quarter surge against the Mavericks. Please. That editorial is what inspired this entire post.

I was also disappointed in the Chronicle's (Austin's weekly alternative paper) tepid endorsement of Kathie Tovo. Their political coverage is good, but their endorsement decisions betray their ever-closer-to-establishment status. I have a theory as to why they were not full-throated in their support for Tovo, but I don't want to get into that here.

I spent about half an hour at the victory party at Scholz Garden, and recognized a few people there, including a cab driver who had given me plenty of unsolicited advice on how to enhance the script we were using for get out the vote calls. When I ran into Chris, the volunteer coordinator, he looked exhausted and elated as I offered my congratulations. He said, "We couldn't have done it without you." Yes, my 200 or so calls made the difference in the 5,500 vote squeaker. Nice guy, needs some sleep.

I shook Kathie's hand (Yes, I'm sure we'll be on a first name basis now), and exited through the beer garden, where the Hot Rod Honeys, a local roller derby team, was having a fundraiser to finance their trip for a big roller derby event in Australia. The election celebration, and the roller girls' party were not officially related, but I love that they were at the same place, on the same night. In my Austin, it seemed like a perfectly natural pairing, like chips and queso.

Peace,
JS4

2011. We're back.

Welcome back.

A few people have asked if the blog would return, and while I would not say it's back by popular demand, a few requests/inquiries is all it takes for me to get sucked back in.

I finished my seventh(!) year of teaching in May. Summers off are an amazing benefit of the teaching gig, and I try not to take them for granted. People have stopped asking me if I'll be teaching summer school. Ha! Most of all, what summer allows is what I affectionately call, "The luxury of inefficiency." There are many things that I need to get done before mid-August. The list builds throughout the school year, and this is the time to take care of the list. But I can address those things at a pace that brings very little stress, and as much as I enjoy my job, having a couple of low-stress months is really sweet.

As I considered the blog this spring, I thought about the fact that I moved to Austin 20 years ago. I think this will be a common theme to my writing this year. Some of what I write will be memoir-like, looking back to record some of the events, even if the details are getting a bit fuzzy.

I love Austin, and I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I'd settled anywhere else. When a city doubles in population every 20-25 years, major changes are inevitable. One thing that has not changed since I moved here is the full-contact nature of city council elections. People may decry the low voter turnout, but there is no denying the passion and energy involved in city elections around here.

On Saturday, a run-off between faux-liberal Randi Shade and true-liberal Kathie Tovo will be decided. When Tovo nearly unseated the incumbent Shade in the general election without a run-off, I was surprised by Shade's weak performance. When I first moved to Austin, local elections were boiled down to "development/growth" vs "environment/quality of life/Barton Springs" battles. Even though the environmental/neighborhood voting bloc has generally controlled the city council, growth in a city like Austin cannot be stopped. "Smart Growth" became the pragmatic slogan, and center-left realism has ruled the day.

The battle lines of the Shade/Tovo race are a throwback to the early/mid 1990s in Austin politics. Back then, I was still learning about the electoral dynamics in the city. I voted for the environment candidates and hoped for the best. This year, I've got time to get more involved in such a race. On Memorial Day, I called the Kathie Tovo campaign to say that I wanted to volunteer. Guess who answered the phone? Yep, Kathie Tovo. Probably a million dollars will be spent on this race, and yet, there is small town feel to how leaders are elected in this city of more than 800,000. The candidate herself was answering the phone. Sign me up.

My critical role as a volunteer for the campaign has been to bug people with phone calls. The volunteer coordinator is ready for anyone that walks in off the street. I'd had a follow-up phone call, so they knew I was coming. When I made that call, the woman who answered the phone said to Chris, the volunteer coordinator, "We've got a live one." Other volunteers were occupying all the other rooms in the pleasantly spartan campaign office, so they put in a room that had a shower and a sink, and room for two small chairs. They not so originally called this "The Shower Room," and promised me that the acoustics would be awesome.

I had a script, and a list of names and phone numbers, which also included information about how often the people I would call had voted in recent elections. Nothing about who they had voted for, but clearly targeting regular voters in strong Tovo precincts. At least half of the calls resulted in messages left for people on their machines. With such a low percentage of people voting, pushing turnout is the key. I know that most people find these calls annoying. I know I find them annoying, but the professional campaign people seem to think it works. 14,000 people voted early in the general election, and 24,000 voted early in this runoff. The campaign people are wondering what those numbers mean, and they are keeping the hammer down, trying to keep the momentum strong until tomorrow's final vote.

I've been in the campaign office three times, and twice Kathie Tovo has been there, doing whatever a candidate does in the last week of a big election. She has been good about thanking volunteers, and taking the time to talk to people who are giving their time to support her run. One odd thing about this race is the public support that the mayor and other council members are giving the two candidates. I knew there were divisions on the council, but most of the members have openly chosen sides, trying to get, or keep, an ally on the council.

I have no idea how this race will finish. My prediction about how the general election would go was far from accurate, but Tovo's strong showing motivated me to get involved in the run-off. Cold-calling people was not fun, but getting to see some of the inner-workings of a campaign, while helping a candidate that I think will be good for Austin was worth it. Especially if she wins.



Remember, comments on the blog are not just welcome, they are mandatory.

Thanks for reading.


Peace,

JS4