Bouldin Creek's very own Supreme Bubba (Jack Speer) and supporters from across South Austin and the larger metropolitan area, pulled off another great South Austin Culture Club event on June 13, 2001: The Luncheon Symposium on the future of South Austin.
Some 120 South Austin neighbors and friends attended the luncheon at the Green Pastures restaurant and experienced some of that South Austin Culture Club magic: live music by local musicians, great food and ambience, the discussion of important political and social issues, and some of the best humor in town. In short, it was a blast.
The Symposium, the third event organized by the
South Austin Culture Club
over the past 18 
months, brought
together former city councilmember Gus Garcia, current city councilmember
Beverly Griffith, and Austin Police Department Commander Charles Johnson,
to address the issues of development, crime and community policing, and
the future.
The event was too rich to completely do it justice to in this article, but here are some highlights:
Local musician Ronnie Dittmar (and the Cherry Tarts) got the luncheon into the right mood with a fine acoustic set.
South River City Citizens Neighborhood Association chair Clarke Hammond set the stage for the discussion by tweaking neighbors and politicians from North of Town Lake by reminding them that South Austin's "special" reputation has been cultivated for many decades.
Culture Club founder Jack Speer gave a passionate plea to preserve and grow all that is good in South Austin. That means stopping the possible (proposed?) widening of S. Lamar, S. Congress, and S. First -- which would destroy the pedestrian friendly nature of South Austin), and blocking developers from busting the 60ft height limits on buildings South of the river, to prevent downtown towers form destroying the single family residential core of our 'hoods. He also promised to move the Culture Club "beyond Bubba" (for those still offended by the old stereotype of that image).
Gus Garcia gave a history of Austin's growth and development and graded the city and its citizens on how it has handle its rapid urban growth. Calling Austin "an adolescent city that grew up too fast," he made this comment about those who were pushing more road building in the Austin: "When people complain about the fact that we don't have enough roads, I'll tell you one thing -- Dallas has an enormous number of roads-toll roads, all kinds of roads -- and one of the complaints that the Dallas Chamber of Commerce chairman had was that they don't have enough roads. I don't think that we're ever going to get to a point where we're ever going to have enough roads."
Beverly Griffith, a strong neighborhood supporter, like Gus, showed a great ability to combine hot issues, solid facts, and a stand-up comedian's sense of timing. Her answer to a question that was featured on Jack Speer's promotional invitation to this event "Will there
be a homeless center for ex dot-com executives in South Austin in five years" was "If there is you will be the last to know about it." Funny, painful, and very true. "Will South Austin be dominated by quirky people and wanna-be musicians, mixed with tattooed and pierced neo-hippies? Will the 50s retro hotels becomes the centers where kinky Austinites carry out the fantasies sought after in the Austin Chronicle's Variations ads?" Beverly's answer: "No. Not if S. Lamar, S. 1st and S. Congress are six and eight lanes. How are you going to grab a bite at the Taco Xpress at 65 miles an hour?" Ha,ha. Ouch.
Police Commander Charles Johnson, who apologized that he was not a public speaker, and deftly mentioned that he was not running for anything, more than held his own with a dry sense of humor as he talked about his efforts to make his South Austin sector a safer more neighborly place. In his closing remarks he gave the South Austin crowd the kind of information we love to hear.
Charles told the luncheon that he and his wife had moved to Northwest Austin, but didn't like it, because of the lack of personal interaction between neighbors. He said they would be moving back to South Austin as soon as they can find a house here. Welcome home Commander Johnson.
The luncheon ended, and South Austin Club members, friends and supporters stayed around and chatted with each other (and the peacocks) in the gorgeous grounds of Bouldin Creek's historic Green Pastures restaurant.