An Open Letter from Mayor Lee Leffingwell
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
