Austin voters approve mobility bond proposal

For immediate release, City of Austin
Nov. 3, 2010

Austin full purpose residents have approved Proposition 1, a $90 million bond package that includes both short-term and long-tem investments that address City mobility issues.

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s vote total 91,721 (56.31 percent) supporting the issue and 71,154 (43.69 percent) opposing the measure. The City’s mobility priorities include investments in streets, sidewalks, bike paths, trails and transit infrastructure in all parts of Austin.

“I’m pleased with the outcome, and happy to know that voters have the confidence to move these important projects forward,” City Manager Marc Ott said. “We are working now to ensure that we can move quickly on these priorities, and begin construction on some projects in early 2011.

“I think everyone realizes that our mobility success is directly linked to our regional partnerships,” Ott said. “This bond gives us the opportunity to work with Travis County and the Texas Department of Transportation to get many of these projects under design or construction in the next 24 months.”

Canvassing of the votes by the Austin City Council is set for 10 a.m. Nov. 15 in Council Chambers.

For more information about the types of projects that will be funded by the bonds, checkwww.cityofaustin.org/news/mobility_bond.htm.

Proposition 1 provides relief at the “Y” in Oak Hill. From the Oak Hill Gazette…

Beki Halpin told the Gazette: “Proposition 1 offers Oak Hill a real opportunity to get something done to address the congestion at the ‘Y.’ We have been sent to the end of the line over and over again and now we have a chance to get something done in the next couple of years. It is impossible to know when the elevated toll road will be built, if ever. The economic climate is tenuous and highway construction money comes and goes like a mirage in the desert. But this bond money would be something we could count on to bring road improvements we have waited for, wished for and certainly deserved for decades.”

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Local resident Tom Thayer said: “I think [Proposition 1] is definitely good for Oak Hill. It provides money towards near-term intersection improvements on U.S. 290 West here in Oak Hill to hopefully provide some traffic relief before 2017 or whenever highway improvements will come from TxDOT. It provides money for preliminary engineering and planning for capacity expansion on MoPac, on which many Oak Hill residents drive. It also provides money for badly needed sidewalks along Brodie Lane. For bus riders, it will improve pedestrian and transit infrastructure along Guadalupe and Lavaca streets where the Oak Hill Flyer runs.”

Also, not 1 but 7 Mayors of Austin have come out for Proposition 1. From the Statesman…

Mayors Lee Cooke, Gus Garcia, Kirk Watson, Lee Leffingwell, Frank Cooksey, Bruce Todd, and Ron Mullen support Prop 1. Photo credit: Wells Dunbar, Austin Chronicle

Proposition 1, the City of Austin transportation bond proposal that initially generated little attention, in the past month has attracted considerable money for and against it. And today , a phalanx of former Austin mayors called for approval of the $90 million measure.

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Today , the last day of early voting, the push for the proposition picked up endorsements from the seven mayors who preceded current Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, from Ron Mullen in 1983 through Will Wynn, who finished his six years leading the city in 2009. Wynn, who Leffingwell said sent word of his support, was the only one of the seven not on hand for the City Hall announcement.

Support is widespread including drivers, pedestrians, trail goers, and cyclists. From The Daily Texan…

Davis said in a progressive city like Austin, where thousands of people commute to work by bicycle every day, the promise of alternative transportation is very strong.

“When you look at the greater issue, the roads-only approach doesn’t work,” Davis said. “We have to add additional options for getting people around the city.”

Eileen Schaubert, a League of Bicycling Voters board member, said the proposition is historic because it is the first time something significant is being invested in transportation projects other than the development of roads in Austin.

She said while the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 20 years ago, Austin’s sidewalk network is still not compliant.

“We need to complete our pedestrian trails and allow them to be usable by people of all abilities and ages. Our population is getting older and they won’t be able to drive in the same way, and we want them to stay active,” Schubert said.

Dear Friends:

I’m writing this letter to ask for your support for Proposition 1, the $90 million City of Austintransportation bond proposal on the November ballot. Here’s why:

1. Austin has a serious transportation problem that poses a major threat to our future quality of life. New census results confirm that we remain among the fastest-growing cities in America, while national surveys continue to show that our traffic ranks among the worst anywhere. If we fail to act now to fix our transportation problem, the hundreds of thousands of additional cars we can expect on Austin roads over the next two decades will unquestionably put the health, safety and well being of our entire community at risk.

2. The only effective long-term solution for Austin is to make EVERY kind of transportation work– driving, riding, biking, and walking. Yes, we need new and better roads, in all parts of the city. But we also must have a viable mass transit system – as well as a dramatically improved system of bike lanes, sidewalks and trails – all across Austin. Unless it gets easier to get around the city in new and different ways, we’ll continue trying to get around only in the same old way – the way that has us stuck in our current, enormous mess.

3. Voting for Proposition 1 is taking a step in the right direction. After decades of spending well over 90% of all our transportation dollars on roads alone, Prop. 1 proposes to spend 40% of these funds onother ways to get around. Some people don’t like that very much at all. I say it’s a good start. Benjamin Franklin said this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” I agree. Prop. 1 is the first thing we need to do differently to begin fixing Austin’s transportation problem – and, importantly, approving Proposition 1 won’t raise taxes.

As you may know, Proposition 1 is being opposed by a small but well-funded group led by a suburbanreal estate developer and comprised mostly of far right activists. But their “roads only” approach will NOT fix Austin’s traffic problem; in fact, it helped create it.

Fortunately, Prop. 1 has been endorsed by more than 35 local groups trusted by the Austin community– everyone from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Austin Alliance to the local Sierra Club chapter and the Travis County Democratic Party. I hope that you will join these groups in supporting Proposition 1.

Thanks for your time and consideration. This election, you have the opportunity to help change ourtransportation future, for the better. I hope that you will take that opportunity and vote FOR Prop. 1.

Sincerely,

Lee Leffingwell
Austin Mayor