In the 1989 book A Prayer for Owen Meany, author John Irving expresses through his title character the idea that nothing we do in life is ever wasted. Meany is an unusually small boy in possession of odd gifts and skills, including a piercing childlike voice, the ability to speak Vietnamese, and a perfected basketball shot, that come together in one climactic moment that saves lives and fulfills his destiny.  

Now, if anyone tries to teach me how to say “One bean and cheese taco, please” in Arabic, I’m taking notes.

District 8 Councilman Reed Williams feels the highlight of his last term was offering his 33-year experience in petroleum refining to advise Mayor Julián Castro on the the city’s waning commitment to nuclear energy. I met Williams at Joseph’s Storehouse Restaurant and Bakery on North St. Mary’s to find out exactly why he feels he’s at the right place at the right time.

In early February, State Representative Mike Villarreal began pushing a bill that could’ve handed the mayor of San Antonio the power to appoint three of SAISD’s seven trustees. But his initiative failed to gain any traction, largely because no other Bexar County legislator rallied behind it. Even Mayor Julián Castro distanced himself from the legislation.

Then the Democratic lawmaker endorsed single-mom Joy McGhee, board president of a troubled charter school, over 12-year San Antonio Independent School District incumbent James Howard in another effort to shake up the district's governance and pull it out of failure status. But McGhee lost badly May 14. (Villarreal's backing of former Councilwoman Patti Radle had a happier ending.)

Think he's giving it a rest? No way.

We’ve reached the point in the Texas Legislature’s biennial nail-biter when advocates for a sane and humane family-planning policy cross their fingers and hope for the best (not to be confused with duck and cover, which might seem like the more rational response). In the 82nd, "the best" would include the restoration of the more than $60 million in funding for exams, contraception, and other medical services for low-income men and women that was cut in the House budget. It also would include extending the Women’s Health Program, which provides similar services with a very generous nine-to-one match from the feds.

Harlandale High School on San Antonio’s South Side is the flagship school for the Harlandale Independent School District, and it boasts such luminaries as former U.S. Representatives Ciro Rodriguez and Frank Tejeda and actor Jesse Borrego from the hit TV show Fame on the who’s-who graduation list. Full of promise and noticeable improvement, the district just received top honors at H-E-B’s Excellence in Education Awards, and will soon swear in Velma Ybarra, the only female trustee on the seven-member school board.

Now I can’t get the theme song from Fame out of my head. Nice.

I met Ybarra at Don Pedro’s Mexican Restaurant on SW Military Drive to get the lowdown on the South Side cognoscenti.

A few months ago City Councilman John Clamp unveiled a draft plan to remake Harry Wurzbach Road (rechristened TAPS Memorial Boulevard) into what he calls “San Antonio’s first ‘Complete Street’.” In a February 18 press release, Clamp said the project “will integrate multi-modal transportation and be as friendly and safe for pedestrians and cyclists, as it is for drivers, and transit systems … [T]he project will include consolidation and burial of overhead utility lines, retrofitting old stormwater systems with innovative native landscape, traffic calming features, street trees, wayfinding and informational signage.”

The anticipated cost of the project is not yet known, but Clamp told the San Antonio Business Journal that funding is expected to come from the traditional mix of city, state and federal coffers. But as government dollars dwindle, the need to rethink funding mechanisms is reaching a critical point. The city should use this opportunity to recast the funding of local roads in ways that are more sustainable and equitable.

Justice costs money, which makes it an unattractive line item in this slowly recovering economy. Fortunately, lip service is free and so are volunteer committees, so for next to nothing, this spring Commissioners Court got to show an appropriate amount of concern over the quality of indigent defense in Bexar County.

Last December, prodded (in theory) by a state task force report and some unsavory coverage in the local paper, the Commissioners created a task force of their own, headed by former St. Mary's Law School Dean Bill Piatt and stacked, fatefully, with defense attorneys. The tendentious crew met several times between January and April. Last week they presented their arguments to the County — an omnibus package that includes every recommendation the group voted on, as well as dissenting opinions on several items and a “minority report” written by member Bud Ritenour. Following a bit of grandstanding on both sets of mics, the result was ... not much.