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- 1. 9 statesman.com FINAL EDITION • SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2007 • $1.60 N E W S
IN SPORTS: TEXAS FOOTBALL IN SPORTS: COWBOYS VS. TEXANS IN LIFE & ARTS: CAMPUS LIFE
YOUTH RULES
H
Who is the face of the Longhorns? Odds are
he’s an underclassman like Colt McCoy • C1
WORTHY GUY
Kirk Bohls says Houston coach Gary Kubiak
deserves rewards for team’s turnaround • C1
UT
UTCAPERS
From stolen bases to caped crusaders,
the University of Texas crime report is full
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL | WESTLAKE IS NO. 4 COMING WEDNESDAY | HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SPECIAL SECTION of laughs — and weirdness • J1
Condo market on firm ground?
The Monarch Spring The Shore 360
305 units 246 units 192 units
430 units
$229,900 $265,000 low $200,000s
$190,000 to
to $1.75 million to low to $1.35 million
$550,000
→ $900,000s ↓
←
→
Brazos place
74 units
Mid-$200,000s
to about Sabine Bridges
$500,000
↓ on Fifth on the
80 units
$190,000
park
105 units
to $509,900
$328,000
↓
to $776,000
↓
AmericAn-StAteSmAn photo iLLUStrAtion
With more than 1,400 condominiums being built in downtown Austin and nearly 3,200 more
planned for the next few years, experts and passers-by wonder: Is that too many?
SpiriTuAliTy eleCTiON 2008
For Florida
DOWNTOWN • DEVELOPMENT
Mother Teresa
herself asked: Democrats,
Is there a God?
Book reveals religious icon’s
personal struggle for faith
it’s move it
By eric Gorski
ASSociAteD preSS
Mother Teresa’s hidden faith struggle, laid
or lose it
bare in a new book that shows she felt alone
and separated from God, is forcing a re-ex-
State is told to delay primary
amination of one of the world’s best-known Jay Janner AmericAn-StAteSmAn or be shut out of convention
religious figures. Despite a national slump and tighter credit, developers of projects like 360, where Juan Reyes
The depth of her doubts installs wiring, say they’re confident about the Austin economy and buyers’ demand. By Adam Nagourney
could be viewed by non-
Developers and analysts say Austin
the new York timeS
believers and skeptics
as more evidence of the WASHINGTON — The Democratic National
emptiness of religious
could keep bucking national trends
Committee, taking the toughest line possible,
belief. voted Saturday to refuse to seat any Florida
But Roman Catholic
‘What do I scholars and supporters
Democrat at next summer’s presidential con-
vention if the state party does not delay the
labour for? If of the woman who toiled By Shonda Novak the next few years, end up with too many date of its 2008 primary to conform to the
there be no in Calcutta’s slums argue AmericAn-StAteSmAn StAFF units and too few buyers? party’s nominating calendar.
that her struggles make Several experts say the market is solid,
C
The committee gave Florida Democrats 30
God — there her more accessible and onstruction cranes and the shells fortified by healthy job, population and in- days to propose a primary date that adheres
can be no her work all the more re- of new buildings dot the downtown come growth. to Democratic rules prohibiting all but four
markable. Austin skyline. Developers tout the But some who have lived through boom-
soul — if “It shows that she latest high-rise condominium proj- and-bust cycles here and elsewhere caution
states from holding their primaries or cau-
cuses before Feb. 5.
there is no wasn’t a plaster of Paris ects, some with luxury units topping $1 that Austin isn’t bulletproof and that de- But Florida leaders, who seemed stunned by
Soul then saint who never had a million. But from Miami to Las Vegas, a mand for downtown condos, whose prices a nearly unanimous vote and the severity of
doubt about God or the real-estate slump has been dashing devel- can range from the $200,000s to $3.8 million, the punishment, said they doubted that they
Jesus You ultimate meaning of opers’ dreams. may shrink. could come up with an alternative.
also are not life,” said the Rev. Rich- And the question at Austin cocktail par- “The current environment reminds me of They said they were bound by the vote of
ard McBrien, a University ties is: Could downtown, where developers the summer of 2000, when a lot of projects
true.’ of Notre Dame theology have more than 1,400 luxury condos under
the Republican-controlled state Legislature,
which set the primary for both parties for
MOTHER TERESA professor and author of construction and nearly 3,200 planned for See PROJECTS, A6 Jan. 29.
“Lives of the Saints.” The vote by the rules and bylaws commit-
Writing in 1959 “This can only enhance
tee laid bare a sharp division between one of
her reputation as a saint- @ statesman.com/downtowncondos the most politically important states in the
ly person with people who Bookmark our interactive map to keep track of downtown condominium projects. country and a party that has been struggling
aren’t easily impressed with pious stories. to change its nominating calendar to accom-
Those who think otherwise have a lot of learn- modate its leaders, who object to the domi-
RENDERING CREDITS: bRazoS plaCE: L.m. hoLDer iii ArchitectS, chriStopher enright ArchitectS; ThE
ing to do about the complexities of life and nance Iowa and New Hampshire have enjoyed
MoNaRCh: rtkL; SabINE oN fIfTh: veriStUDio; SpRING: rAFii ArchitectS inc.; ThE ShoRE: wDg Architec-
about the nature of faith.” tUre inc.; 360: the preSton pArtnerShip LLc; bRIDGES oN ThE paRk: LArrY koLvoorD, AmericAn-StAteSmAn
See FAITH, A13 See MOVE, A15
priVATe uTiliTieS • cOrPOraTE TraNsParENcy
‘They are opaque,’
Members try to shed light on electric co-op customer Ric
Sternberg, with
wife Annie Borden,
customers, legislators find murky waters in dealing with pedernales said of Pedernales
Electric Cooperative.
Pedernales and
By Claudia Grisales directors, but it took a half-dozen phone calls.
Tri-County are alone
AmericAn-StAteSmAn StAFF Eighteen months later, Sternberg still doesn’t
have all the answers he sought. The experience among the state’s 10
Ric Sternberg’s troubles with Pedernales caused him to join a growing number of frustrat- largest co-ops in not
Electric Cooperative Inc. started with his phone ed members in forming PEC4U, a group fighting stating the districts
call one January day inquiring about the co-op’s for more openness in the co-op’s operations. their board members
“green power” program. “That’s their problem,” Sternberg said from his represent either on
Sternberg, a co-op customer who lives in a Round Mountain home. “They are opaque.” their Web sites or in
house partly built of straw bales, found that the Pedernales — with more than 216,000 custom- their bylaws.
program was too costly, complicated and “daunt- ers, the largest member-owned utility in the
ing” to sign up for, he said. Seeking to suggest country — boasts of its excellent bond ratings rodolfo Gonzalez
AmericAn-StAteSmAn
improvements to management, he tried to get
basic information about the utility’s board of See ANSWERS, A10
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