End of Silence

At the Austinbloggers meetup last night, we relocated from FlightPath over to The Parlor due to lack of seating. The parking at The Parlor was worse because of a gaggle of Roy’s Taxi cabs that were double-parked throughout the North Loop shopping center. One driver asked me in broken english where “monkey” something was. Turns out he was looking for Monkeywrench Books. The Roy’s Taxi drivers were meeting to discuss their recent acquistion by rival Yellow Cab. Rumor has it that the driver compensation at Yellow is worse than at Roy’s. You can draw your own conclusions about the meeting’s location and its agenda.

Prentiss mentioned that he tried to use Roy’s because it’s local, but that they’re too unreliable. If you must use Yellow Cab, go for the Land Yacht. A friend took it last week and had nothing but good things to say about the experience. He may be in high demand at peak hours, though.

The police shooting of 18-year-old Daniel Rocha in June of last year has been big news around here. In doing a search for this post, I noticed that he even has a wikipedia page. The officer, Julie Schroder, was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by a Grand Jury in August. She was subsequently fired by Chief Stan Knee in November. Rocha’s family filed a lawsuit against Schroder a couple of weeks ago.

This incident on Monday night in my neighborhood is not going to help Officer Schroder. Schroder’s argument for shooting Rocha in the back was that she felt her partner was in danger of being tasered. It appears that the two officers that were tasered this week survived the ordeal just fine.

From what I’ve read, it’s clear that Schroder used excessive force. She should’ve been fired immediately, not after a long drawn out public protest. She should probably also face other consequences. The kid is dead. On the other hand, what’s up with people resisting arrest to the point that they’re able to get control of the cops’ tasers? Whether you’re being justifiably detained by a police officer or not, is it really going to help you if you fight? The end outcome for you is bad no matter how you look at it. You’ll end up with more charges against you at the very least and dead at the worst.

APD has had an increased presence in Southeast Austin for the past couple of years. They reorganized their command and control and opened a new substation to address the rising crime in the area, mainly north of Riverside. I attended a neigborhood meeting at Linder where they outlined some of the changes. Are these recent incidents a side effect of that increased presence? It’d be interesting to dig into some statistics to compare the Southeast region with other parts of the city over the past 2 or 3 years.

All four Alamo Drafthouse locations are hosting special screenings tonight for Valentine’s Day. There should be something for everyone. You can make your own inferences about why the Downtown and South Lamar events are sold out while the Village and Lake Creek events are still available.

Alamo Downtown: Love Bites: 80’s Power Ballad Sing-Along – SOLD OUT, but they’re doing it three more times.

Alamo South Lamar: Gone With The Wind Valentine’s Day Feast – SOLD OUT

MENU:

Amuse Bouche
Oyster on the half shell topped with fresh sliced garlic, a light grating of horseradish, basil chiffonade and a wedge of meyer lemon and a glass of champagne

Appetizer
Pecan and mustard crusted fried asparagus spears resting on a grit cake with a roast garlic sauce

Salad
Radishes are all that is left at Tara when they return
Slivered radishes tossed in a strawberry vinaigrette atop sliced avocado on a pillow of arugula topped with carrot hay

Entrée
The O’Haras eat the last chicken in Atlanta. We one up them by serving several pheasants.
Sage and Bacon wrapped Pheasant Supreme topped with sweet pepper relish and red eye gravy, Paired with buttermilk mashed potatoes and puree of mustard greens

Dessert
A Napoleon of Peach Mousse between layers of peanut brittle with chocolate sauce

Alamo Village: Valentine Feast – Like Water For Chocolate – Tickets are still available for both showings at $60 a pop.

The menu:
Crema de la Sopa de los Calabacitas con Romero
Quail en la salsa de Rose
Chile Rellenos en Nogada
Mexican Wedding Cake

Alamo Lakecreek: Titanic Valentine’s Day Event – Tickets are still available at $55 a pop.

Selections from the Last Dinner on the Titanic:

Oysters a la Russe
Fresh oysters on the half shell with vodka relish

Potage Saint-Germain
Pureed green pea soup with crème fraiche

Punch Rosé
Rose water and mint granita

Tournedos aux Champignons
Medallions of beef tenderloin with mushrooms and rich wine sauce

Chocolate Marquise with Orange Bavarian
Creamy chocolate confection topped with orange custard

Ok, so I’m a little late on this one. I spent most of the day yesterday dealing with a birthday party outing for 5-7 year-olds, something that takes a lot of time and energy.

The blogosphere has been having a field day with this story, of course. There’s just so many angles. There’s the Quayle-Bush-Cheney angle, which I settled on for my title. Making a joke that maybe he’s practicing for the next time he sees “Scooter” Libby. I like that one. Austinist went for the Clinton/Lewinsky face shot angle. Scoop Jackson points out that Cheney has crappy hunting etiquette and refers to some of the history of his victim, Austin lawyer, Harry Whittington.

Whittington’s having a year of ups and downs already. He was shot in the face and neck this weekend. A little over a week ago (February 4th), one of his buildings burned down, destroying the club in his building, which, honestly, has housed crappy dance clubs for as long as I can remember, and spreading to the building that housed KOOP radio, Sweatbox Studios, a legendary local punk/garage rock recording studio, and rehearsal/studio space for several Austin artists. That’s the second fire on that block in less than two months.

Last month, Whittington got a favorable decision in his many year long battle with the city over eminent domain and a property that he owned downtown. Here’s a copy of the Third Court of Appeals ruling in his favor from last summer. The Statesman details more of Whittington’s history in the GOP and Texas politics. A quick check of the appraisal roll shows that Whittington owns a couple of places next to Mount Bonnell, a favorite tourist destination with an amazing view of the lake and hills west of Austin, and two to three properties other than the one destoyed by fire downtown.

Eminent domain took center stage last summer because of a Supreme Court ruling; the most amusing result of which is an attempt to have a property owned by Justice Souter seized and turned into a hotel.

Update: These are damn funny.