From the Statesman's City Beat:
“Charity” the pig made an appearance at Austin City Hall this afternoon.
Lounging on hay inside a red cage, the 7-month-old Hampshire pig accompanied about 20 supporters of the Proposition 2 charter amendment that will go before voters in November.
The amendment, spearheaded by a group called Stop Domain Subsidies, would ban tax incentives for projects with retail components. It would also stop the city from making tax rebate payments for any existing projects, such as the Domain.
Brian Rodgers, founder of Stop Domain Subsidies, said the 7-month-old Hampshire pig represented “hog developers feeding at the public trough.”
The group said they gathered outside City Hall because the City Council was considering a $75,000 contract with the Vinson and Elkins law firm. The outside counsel would review the effect the amendment would have on the Mueller airport redevelopment.
City officials and outside legal counsel have warned that the amendment, if passed, could snare Mueller because there are retail components of that 711-acre mixed-use development.
Charity the pig didn’t seem to have much of an opinion on the matter. She mostly laid in the hay and snorted a bit. Munching on a strawberry popsicle appeared to be the highlight of her afternoon.
Cute. But our Council members ought to be impeached, then tarred, and then pelted with rotten, salmonella-contaminated tomatoes if they fail to investigate what SDS might do to Mueller. Or to any of the City's other bond or infrastructure commitments, for that matter.
Prognosticator-of-the-week award to M1ek.
