Austin Council recall election re-ignited for 2021

Becky McMillian (center) gathers with volunteers this weekend.

On the heels of the creation of a new PAC to push for restoring public safety, another local political movement is already well-on its way toward bringing back the Austin City Council recall effort.

"We had 30 people attend our meet and greet on Sunday, so we could finally meet each other face to face, and we have 111 people signed up to volunteer so far who are serious about volunteering to undertake this task," said Becky McMillian, founder of Your Minute Is Up. 

"With community-led efforts before, we’ve only seen 50 to 80 people show support to volunteer throughout the several-months-long process. Within one week of making this announcement we are seeing volunteers pour in at a faster rate. That just goes to show how the community is really behind this! The fire in people’s voices and outrage is amazing! They want their city back, and for the council and mayor to be out of office."

We quote the inaugural press release from Your Minute Is Up below.

AUSTIN -- [...] The recall effort that got started by Our Town Austin at the end of 2019 got crushed by COVID-19, and their petitions became invalid. Your Minute Is Up is a fresh, community-based approach to the goal of placing a recall of the current Austin City Council (those left after the November election, that is) on the May 2021 ballot, with eager Austin citizens behind it. 

Trump Boat Parade in Austin brings in 1,300+ vessels, no serious incidents

Central Texas supporters of President Donald Trump showed up in force today with a Labor Day weekend flotilla of around 1,300 boats on Lake Travis, just outside of Austin.

Press coverage soon turned to "reports" of multiple boat sinkings, even being repeated in the New York Times. But according to eye-witnesses and Austin-Travis County EMS, one confirmed sinking this afternoon was not associated with the parade and with no serious injuries reported.

The Democrat-controlled Travis County Sheriff's Office tweeted that it "responded to multiple calls involving boats in distress during the Trump parade on Lake Travis. Several boats did sink" (emphasis ours). Replies to the tweet were disabled. An Austin American-Statesman photographer reported at least three vessels appearing to have been "swamped" in the somewhat choppy waters following rainfall in the area over the week, but these incidents appear to have been at the onset of the event and not en route and easily mitigated.

As a precaution, organizers arranged for an aquatic towing service to provide five boats, all monitoring VHF channel 21 as an assigned frequency for inter-craft communication. Participants to whom we reached out reported seeing no sinking boats on the parade route.

The event began with a prayer and singing of the National Anthem broadcast over the radio channel. At noon five parachute jumpers, among them three combat veterans, displayed flags and trails of red, white, and blue smoke. 

A "Keep Texas Great: Vote Trump 2020" banner was flown around Lake Travis throughout the event, with air cover by a vintage biplane and a World War II-era B-52 bomber piloted by members of the Commemorative Air Force.

A variety of waterborne vessels -- from small fishing boats to personal yachts (and, we believe, a pirate ship-like boat) took to the route between 12:20 and around 2 p.m. between Emerald Point and the area around Point Venture on the North Shore and back.

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Photo credit: Ray Ward, via Facebook