BACK BY DEMAND, and BREAKING WITH THE B's! City elections and the future of this blog.

It's been a while, yeah? Yeah. Left y'all so slowly yet so suddenly.

Here's the thing: I still love ever so many things that start with the second letter of the alphabet, but I've spent little time writing about them lately. Little time writing about anything, in fact. I've been rather wrapped up in the visceral these days, from the mundane to the thrilling and everywhere in between, but my poor literary brain's been on the slide. Haven't been reading as much as I should, and those promises I made about lurking in the shadows with notebooks were quickly broken. Ain't doin' anyone no good.

So, the deal: I'm gonna rear my balding head here once more, but the strictures of B-listing are going to be, well, less strict, in the interest of being anything at all. I'm not gonna make any promises about consistency of output, but, goddamn it, there's things worth saying, right?

Anyways, our dear friend/neighbor/cashier/catcher made an important request, so, without further ado,

THE PROFESSOR'S CITY ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS!

The longtime fans out there may remember my indignant disgust with the citizenry of Austin following last year's extremely under-attended municipal polls. This is, I've come to understand, a chronic problem. So, before we proceed, I cannot implore you enough, VOTE. Why?

Because voting at the local level presents the fewest boundaries to your vote actually counting. Because the decisions made by city officials impact your life in the most direct, immediate, and readily affected ways of any officials that you can vote for within the public sphere. Because our city is an incredibly dynamic one, with an exceptionally open form of government, and the winners on May 9th are going to be making decisions that shape it for years, if not generations, to come. Because if you love Austin so damn much, you really oughta show it.

On top of that, while the mayor's seat and four council positions are up for grabs, there are really just two contests that are far beyond formalities. The few ballots they hang on, however, make yours especially important. Don't waste it on waking up on the 10th and kicking yourself.

MAYOR: LEE LEFFINGWELL

Before I moved down here, a friend described the interesting political spectacle of a shoe-in named Will Wynn up against a token conservative and a couple folks of indeterminate gender. While Leslie neglected to throw his thong in the ring this time, the '09 line-up is just as interesting, and wildly further up in the air.

First, we have the fringe candidates. Self-described "liberal libertarian" David Buttross seems to fall considerably further into the latter half of that moniker. During the KUT forums, he could hardly answer a question without stating his eagerness to erect condos on the Eastside, and in an interview with Wells Dunbar of the Chronicle, he fell in line with our secessionist Governor Rick Perry's jaw-dropping reluctance to except federal stimulus dollars. This guy could not have picked a worse city in Texas to plant his platform. On the other end of the political spectrum is formerly homeless homeless advocate Josiah Ingalls. While he has done an excellent job of articulating the criticisms of the disenfranchised and the down-and-out, it's going to take more than righteous indignation to govern the city. I suspect Ingalls' intention from the get-go was more that of candidate-as-spokesman, and in that sense, his campaign has been about as successful as he could have hoped.

I very much wish I could discreetly sweep Carole Keeton Strayhorn into the "fringe" category, but nothing's ever certain with Grandma, surnames and party affiliations included. And, seeing as how she's been in charge of this town before, I'd urge you to go back up and look at all those reasons for voting one more time, unless you'd like one of the wackiest of all the cartoon politicians in Texas to be at the helm of this city.

So that brings us to the viable and sane choices, Brewster McCracken and Lee Leffingwell. Both current councilmen looking to take the seat at the head of the table, both with accomplished but flawed track records, Leffingwell and McCracken's platforms may seem difficult to distinguish, but their approach to the job is not. While the McCracken campaign made the poor choice of trying to somehow equate Leffingwell with John McCain early in the race, it's actually the older candidate who has proposed judicious, line-by-line budgetary decision making instead of ham-fisted, across-the-board expediency. Where McCracken sees Austin's wealth and fortitude relying on a handful of of big industries (entertainment, energy, and biotech), Leffingwell has stood behind the small businesses that make our city unique, and that will continue to employ its people whether there's another big boom or another big bust - his proposal for favoring locals when rewarding city contracts is clear, concise, and refreshingly relevant to the actual scope of mayoral influence. Perhaps most importantly, in a mayor/manager/council system that grants the elected executive relatively little power, McCracken has a flippant history of alienating constituencies and allies, while Leffingwell has forged consistent working relationships and earned the respect of both his partners and his opponents. Digging below the simple slogans and the big plans, it really does look like Lee's the man for the job.

PLACE 1: CHRIS RILEY

Perla Cavazos could have run in a lot of other races and won my vote. With an appealing platform, respectable endorsements, and excellent qualifications, I'd pick her in a heartbeat over more than one sitting legislator. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Randi Shade and Laura Morrison.) I really, really hope she runs again in the near future, and not against the candidate we've all been dreaming of.

But Chris Riley is the candidate we've all been dreaming of.

This is it. This is the councilman who is going to stand up for the things that you and me and everyone we know in this town believe in, and stand up for them on a mountain of knowledge and experience that's more than we could have ever hoped for from a truly progressive candidate. Imagine if someone who listened to all the great ideas that get tossed around about this town at bars and barbecues and bike rides actually knew how to make 'em a reality. Imagine no more.

Sure, it's hyperbole, but I know who you are, dear readers, and you need to know this. Whether you love riding your bike or just wish you could get around without owning a car, whether you think it's ridiculous that we ship our recycling all over hell's half-acre or wish you could earn a wage digging through it, whether you read City Hall Hustle every week or feel like the council doesn't do anything worth a damn, whether you love live music or the library, whether you remember when it used to be affordable to live here or got here recently enough to say it still is, this is your man. Vote for what makes this city so special. Vote for what could make it even better. Vote for Chris Riley.

PLACE 2: MIKE MARTINEZ

While he's facing only the most token of oppositions, Mike Martinez is still the most badass dude on the dais. From pushing for homes for the homeless where the neighbors didn't want them to launching internal assaults on the endless failures of Capital Metro, Martinez never hesitates to go to the mattresses. Shit, I'd be afraid to run against a fighter like that, too.

PLACE 5: BILL SPELMAN

'Cause who else is there, anyways?

PLACE 6: SHERYL COLE

I have to admit that, aside from her immediate and firm rebuke of Highland Mall's racially charged foolishness during the Texas Relays, I'm not terribly familiar with Cole's record. She seems to be, however, a fully functional member of the council, which is an awful lot more than voters could expect from ultra-libertarian also-ran Sam Osemene. Dude really teaches government at ACC? That's like deputizing Alex Jones to approve handgun permits.

So there you have it. Early voting's already underway at your nearest supermarket, but if you're the kind of person who likes waiting 'til the last second to do important shit, the last second's sometime on Saturday, May 9. If you tell me you didn't vote, I'm going to tell you to go fill the potholes on Speedway by hand, so don't forget.