Ok, over at Examiner I had to play nice. Here, I say what I want.

The summary for the tl;dr types: Austin created a Live Music Task Force to provide recommendations to maintain and improve our reputation as the Live Music Capitol of the World. A key recommendation was to create a city office specifically for that purpose, the Austin Music Office. The creation of the office is estimated to cost $330k and there was to be a vote by the City Council on June 18th. The vote was delayed after the police union threatened to withdraw its offer to defer or forfeit their 2010 raises, which will save the city $5 million.

The commentary/rant/whine: The police union comes off as whiners wielding too much power. Yes, of course police protection is important. More important than having a music office. But we’re not talking about a direct relation. No one is talking about reducing policing so we can have a music office. The sticking point is that the office will cost $330k, which is a pittance for a necessary step in the right direction. Music brings in a billion dollars a year to Austin. A billion. Yet the city doesn’t do much to support the industry the town is known for. Case in point, music gets lumped in with fine arts in the city government.

Police union officials pulled a lame stunt, informing the City Council of their disapproval mere minutes before the vote, threatening to withdraw their offer. They think we shouldn’t be spending the money when the city is expecting a $30 million shortfall. First, the money to pay for the music office probably wouldn’t come out of the general fund. Second, sometimes you have to suck it up in a down economy. Third, when did the police union get to decide how the city gets to spend money? $330k to sustain and, hopefully, improve a $1 billion local industry. An industry the city counts on to help set it apart from the rest of Texas.

(Y’all are going to love this) There are what, a million people in the Austin area? Tax us the 33 cents one time and let’s move on. You know what? Tax me at 100x the rate; I’ll gladly pay $33.  The police union can continue to whine about things and wield their raises as political capital, the city can have it’s music office,  musicians benefit, and the taxpayers are out 1.5 gumballs.

Disclaimer: I am not in favor of putting the burden on the taxpayer often, so don’t go there. The price is small and one-time, the return is big, and it sidesteps political panty-bunching. Music is important enough to Austin that we should willingly offer up our 33 cents.