Emma Long passed away today. she was the first woman elected to the Austin City Council. She was a Democrat and active for many years in local and state politics. In 1984 the City of Austin named the city park after her.
From the Austin American Statesman
Emma Long, the first woman elected to the Austin City Council and a political firebrand who fought for fair housing and better parks, died early Sunday morning, according to family members. She was 98.
From the AustinTreasures site
Mrs. Long became Austin's first city councilwoman in 1948. She served from 1948 to 1959 and again from 1963 to 1969 for a total of sixteen years. Long became known as the dean of council members. Called "quarrelsome" by her opponents and "unselfish and unrelenting" by her supporters, she fought utility rate increases, paved roads throughout the city, and blasted the male establishment for governing behind closed doors.
She claimed her defeat in 1969 was because she was in favor of open housing laws, at that time the radical notion that people should be able to live wherever they wanted.
I knew Emma Long, she was an old friend of my family and polital ally of my grandfather. my aunt and uncle were frequent guests at her famous poker games. I never really knew her that well but she always remembered my name. At the 1992 Travis County Democratic convention, Emma and my Aunt Louise ganged up on me for my support of Jerry Brown for president, and I thought they were crazy for backing Bill Clinton. They were right of course, those "greatest generation" Democrats knew politics and knew a winner when they saw one. Texas has lost another progressive giant today. She was 98.