Big Box revenge on the West Side

In the Austin Weekly News,

Longtime aide to Cong. Danny Davis, Tumia Romero, will challenge Alderman Isaac Carothers of the 29th Ward in next April's city election. Romero is director of Public Policy and Programs and has worked for Davis for several years.

If economic development is the issue on the West Side, (and this challange a response to Carother's support for letting Wal-Mart develop the old Aburto Culver site) I'd refer Romero back to this response from her boss on the old hulk of a Post Office straddling the Congress expressway,

Robert Dallas, a former political advisor for Harold Washington and Jesse Jackson, and a former Republican candidate for office, said he would propose turning the old downtown post office at 420 W. Van Buren into a complex with a shopping mall, hotels, schools and a high-speed rail system. He said he would lobby Congress and the city for funding.

Davis said the U.S. first has to get out of Iraq before funding new projects.

"The United States is broke," said Davis. "We just spent $256 billion on the war. Anything is a good idea—as far as an idea—but we don’t live off ideas."

The whole history of the West Side is people succeeding with a few good ideas. Get down to it, you can't live without them. Dallas's thoughts on the Post Office and turning the old Brach's site into a entertainment district don't seem so shabby to me. They could fund quite a few livings I bet.