Austin Fire Department
It's a dangerous job, the pay is low, and the hours are long and grueling. Nonetheless, the men and women at AFD have chosen to spend their days making Austin a safer place for the rest of us to live in, and for that they are truly among the city's heroes.
1621 Festival Beach Rd., 495-1450
www.ci.austin.tx.us/fire
Best City Service
David Powell Health Clinic
It's a banner year for our local angels who serve the HIV-positive community. Not only have you voted them the "Best of Austin," but 10 years after their founding, they've just recently moved into new digs as well; that means more room for this dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and support staff to provide a one-stop shop of services, ranging from social work to pharmacy to nutrition for 1,300 clients from across the city.
4614 N. I-35, 380-4300
Best Local Internet Startup
Charitygift.com
Some dot-com ideas are just silly, and some dot-com companies are just lame, but Charitygift.com is neither. By streamlining the process of honoring special people and occasions with a gift to charity, this startup used the Internet to take something that used to be tedious and made it easy. And the business side worked well enough for Charitygift to be acquired in July by Bay Area-based Charitableway.com.
701 Rio Grande, 477-4438
Best News Story
Texas Death Penalty
A story that keeps coming, over and over, that has thankfully not become routine. With everything Texan in the national spotlight, every time the lights go out in Huntsville, George W. looks just a little bit less compassionate. The fact that average folks are even thinking about the wisdom of the death penalty is cause for gratitude.
Best State Department
Texas Parks & Wildlife
Both this paper and the daily have recently run stories about "Texas parks in crisis," but what's remarkable is how good a state park system we do have, considering what kind of state government we have. From right here in the Austin city limits to the far corners of the state, TPWD lets everyone touch a bit of the real Texas.
4200 Smith School, 389-4800
Best Council Member
Daryl Slusher
Now that the sight of Slusher ducking, instead of throwing, bombs no longer shocks us, we can start to appreciate the many political roles played by our erstwhile former Chronicle comrade. Watson go-to guy or opposition firebrand? Smooth inside operator or populist reformer? In his four years on the City Council, the answer is "all of the above."
124 W. Eighth, 499-2260
Best Local Hero/ Legend
Lance Armstrong
There goes our hero: Lance. He graces many posters and billboards, exists in the hearts of Austin's citizens, and the whole world can hear his name and sigh. He beat cancer, won the Tour de France, and has had 46 international victories. We can admire him for his strength in the game and for his courage in his personal life. Best of all, he wholeheartedly accepts Austin as his family that embraced him through thick and thin. We embrace you back, Lance, again and again.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation, 1210 Parkway, 236-8820 or 800/496-4402
Best Nonprofit Group
Girlstart.com
These sisters are doing it for themselves. Since its inception in 1997, Girlstart (formerly known as Smartgrrls) has worked to empower girls all over the city to hone their skills at science, math, and technology with afterschool workshops, Saturday programs, and winter and summer camp retreats. You go, girls!
608 W. 22nd, 916-4775
Best Unsung Hero/Heroes
Austin's Nonprofit Volunteers
In this, our first year for this category, we find that readers voted overwhelmingly for those men and women focused on the public good, whose endless energy and tireless dedication keep certain issues and agendas from being back-burnered by the powers that be. You'll see that the list also includes some celebs and musicians to boot. Here's a short list of those who received multiple votes: Austin Free-Net, David Powell Clinic, environmentalists, firefighters, Save Barton Creek, Girlstart.com, Habitat for Humanity, Hollywood Henderson, hospice volunteers, Judge Jeanne Meurer, SafePlace, KVRX-FM UT student radio, Leslie Cochran, Austin PARD, schoolteachers, SIMS Foundation, Ray Benson, Reverend Kathy Russell, Sara Hickman, Shudde Fath, Richard Troxell, SOS, UT workers, volunteer nurses, Ted Whatley, Wildlife Rescue, and the Yellow Bike Project.
Best Local Eccentric and Best Local Scandal
Leslie Cochran
He's had a higher profile lately, what with his run for mayor and stint as a model for those ubiquitous dot-com ads, but don't let that worry you: Fame hasn't gone to Leslie's head. Most days, you can find Austin's favorite homeless transvestite out on Sixth and Congress; just follow the line of tourists waiting to take their picture by his side. And scandalous? Well, maybe his skirts leave too little to the imagination. But some would say that Leslie, the hairiest downtown drag queen to run for mayor in this publication's memory, was the best thing to happen to Austin politics in the past year. Hey, he didn't win 7% of the vote on his good looks alone.
He's on Congress most days and Sixth Street most nights ...
Best Local Visionary and Best Mover & Shaker
Kirk Watson
Say what you will about Da Mayor, he's taken a torpid Austin city government and made it sing, on the radical premise that City Hall can actually be vital and helpful and that when Austinites say they value our area's quality of life, they really mean it. If this doesn't seem visionary to you, then you weren't living here in the Eighties. And when the mayor moves, you better believe the ground shakes. Watson's reputation may be pocked with charges that he charges ahead too quickly and too often governs by fiat, not compromise, but when all is said and done, the mayor's legacy will most likely be a positive one: economic redevelopment, cleaner air and water, and a reputation as a consensus builder in a city long known for its divisive, and destructive, political battles.
124 W. Eighth, 499-2250
Best Effort to Improve Austin
Save Our Springs
SOS helped to pass the ordinance that protects water quality in Austin. They are also responsible for having the Barton Springs salamander recognized as an endangered species. We thank them for their perseverance and for making developers, local government, and citizens alike accountable for the use and misuse of Austin's waterways.
221 E. Ninth, Ste. 201, 477-2320
