The Broadnax era begins
Also, what's the deal with Mackowiak & Watson?
Enjoy the weekend! I will see you on Monday. And please, drop me a line by responding directly to this email. With a few notable exceptions, I love hearing from readers.
T.C. Broadnax started his new job as Austin city manager Monday. In the very first sentence of a press release announcing his arrival, the boss of the 16,000-strong bureaucracy highlighted hiring a new police chief and getting a new police contract as top priorities for his administration.
"Other key priorities," the press release continued, "include emergency preparedness, affordable housing and addressing homelessness."
OK. Would have liked to see mobility and sustainability make the top five, but I'll take it.
The strange Mackowiak-Watson dynamic
And yesterday, Save Austin Now welcomed the new city manager to town with a lengthy statement urging him to "fully enforce" the homeless camping ban, to conduct an "audit" of homelessness spending and to boost police staffing.
What the press release proved to me is that SAN founder Matt Mackowiak, who is also chair of the Travis County GOP, either has a behind-the-scenes relationship with Mayor Kirk Watson or he wants to have one.
