Very rough notes taken as fast as I could, sorry about any typos, but wanted to get this out as fast as possible. – Marcus

Bethel Hall, St. David’s Episcopal Church, 7th and San Jacinto. 6pm-9pm

Candidates present – Brewster McCracken, Lee Leffingwell, David Buttross, Josiah Ingalls

Big crowd. Easily over 100. This is an extremely successful forum, just like the last.

All candidates will respond to every question asked from the audience. Good!

Opening statements:

Buttross – I own bikes, have done mountain biking and century road rides (ride for the roses). Not so much anymore because I have kids, etc. I’m a small business owner.

Ingalls – I have never owned a car and don’t want to for as long as possible. I’m a cyclist. I’ve been hit by cars many times, so I understand the risks involved. I’ve biked all over the state of Texas.

Leffingwell – I have a Marin hybrid mountain bike and I’m an occasional rider. I can show you my scar from my latest accidents. I’ve ridden to work in the past, live up on Balcones drive so it’s very hilly. I want to try it again but haven’t found a safe route as of yet. I appointed Allen Demling to the UTC (applause). I am on the CAMPO board and will work to make sure bikes are part of transportation mix.

McCracken – I’m a former bicycle commuter, just bought my 5yr old son a bike. Wants to dedicate 2012 bond on quality of life investments like bike infrastructure. I’ve commuted in central and west Austin, etc. Crossing MOPAC is horrible. This summer, if I win, we’re going to get to work on the planning for community’s needs for real bike routes in the city. N-S routes a priority. Bicycling is aligned with our community values. Wants to make Austin a world-class cycling and bike commuting city.

QUESTIONS:

1) Transportation User Fee: LOBV wants non-drivers to be able to choose changing this fee to go to bike and ped projects instead of car projects.

Brewster – I don’t think we should go for this specific of an approach.

Leffingwell – the TUF goes to preventive maintenance. It’s important for cyclists. Would prefer to continue using it the way it is. Need to increase the amount in this fee that go to maintain roads so we can reach a higher percentage of better-maintained roads.

Ingalls – incomprehensible answer about taxes. Wants to make sure all maintenance incorporates new bike lanes where we can.

Buttross – we need an E-W and N-S corridor in the city for cycling. Need to create some areas of town that are super bike friendly.

2) Is there potential to increase the number of blue collar and white collar commuter cyclists? How?

Ingalls – ban parking in bike lanes.

Leffingwell – we’re low compared to other cities across the country and we need to improve. I cosponsored Street Smarts. We have a commitment to increase cycling from that. I wanna be like Chris someday and not have to drive much.

McCracken – yes, build it and they will come. Our city is dangerous for cyclists right now. Link bond package to the comprehensive plan. ID where our bikeways are going to be. 2012 bond package. Fund our vision, not just platitudes. They have dedicated bikeways in chicago, NYC. Why can’t we do this in Austin?

Buttross – dedicate whole lanes to bike traffic on certain roads. Tough to do this during rush hour, though. Not sure the money can be found. Work with cyclists to find out how to best allocate the money we’ve got.

3) How should the city ensure that new developments are designed and built to encourage cycling, and how can we hold developers accountable for this?

Leffingwell – it’s current city policy that new devs incorporate cycling. Also policy with road maintenance. We have the SSTF plan, will cost $222 million. Seattle will spend $250 million. We need to make sure that whenever possible.

McCracken – one of the ways the bike ideas came out was because of my design standards that I wrote. Shower requirements and parking. Gave developers points for bike lanes, paths. We need a comprehensive way to approach this for connectivity.

Buttross – $220 million is a lot of money. We need to watch our spending. If we bankrupt the city we can’t have bike lanes. Look at all of this from an economic point of view, sometimes it will.

Ingalls – we need more accountability from our city contractors.

AUDIENCE questions

1) I train with Lance Armstrong, and things are getting worse and worse in this town for cycling in the past 15 years. LA is better than here! We have a culture problem. Got pulled over for something law enforcement was wrong about… how can we get correct training for them to know cycling law and support biking?

Buttross – riding on mopac and 71 is dangerous, APD’s job is public safety. They need to make mopac safe to ride on, have a bike lane/huge shoulder, etc. Might be good to outlaw 71 until a lane or something can be made.

Ingalls – cops don’t know, I’ve been pulled over lots of times. our current city govt needs to address this with APD.

Leffingwell – APD should be enforcing the law correctly. If they stop someone incorrectly, they may have been stepping in because they thought the behavior was dangerous. Future planning and retrofit for all roads should incorporate safe routes for bicycles.

McCracken – I’m sorry it happened. We have a larger problem, people die on 360. We are missing a lot of infrastructure. Public officials need to set an example that this is important.

2) Cycling as an option, majority of cyclists are really people who need to, they can’t afford anything else. Cycling is infrastructure.

Ingalls – it’s poor leadership.

Leffingwell – bicycle safety is a priority for our community. It can’t happen overnight, we have to continually work to improve that. 2012 bond – I propose we have a transport only bond as early as 2010, will include all forms of transportation. Let’s start this bond process early if we can.

McCracken – this is the first time Lee has said the word “bicycle” about his bond idea. We’re getting results out of SSTF already. Let’s implement SSTF fast as we can.

Buttross – would like to see a “green corridor” of bike and ped priority areas in the central city. We need more funds to put bike lanes on every street, can’t afford it right now.

3) Hill Abel: CAMPO – do you have ideas to influence or encourage CAMPO to consider bike needs in the central texas mobility plans? We don’t have good routes to the suburbs/bedroom communities.

Leffingwell – I’ve said bikes a lot in my bond program. CAMPO policy – 15% of funds go to bike and ped facilities?? What?

McCracken – I’ve voted for the 15% allocation many times. Need to put paths along the rail lines. Lesson from 360 – we didn’t adequately plan for safe bike facilities.

Buttross – every road can’t be bike friendly, we can’t afford it.

Ingalls – allocate more $$.

4) What will be cut because of budget shortfall, will biking be cut?

McCracken – what’s highest priority? pay raises for public safety buddies or city services?

Buttross – all politicians promise everybody, we don’t have the $$. Whatever we do has to make economic sense. It’s just like a road project.

Ingalls – don’t waste $$, we waste money all the time. Keep spending $$ on things that we messed up or don’t need.

Leffingwell – never said I’d support pay raise for police/fire but public safety is our highest priority.

5) Back to the TUF : why no?

Buttross – refuse to pay and organize for a matching grant or something, use people power.

Leffingwell – we can’t use TUF for anything but maintenance.

McCracken – as a general rule we don’t allocate tax $$ by individual preference.

6) Leslie Luciano: as of jan 2009, our fed leg has pushed through a commuter tax provision. Fairness in spirit, can we publicize this? can we provide the city benefit for hybrid vehicles also for bike commuters?

Ingalls – $20 isn’t fair. My job gives me a bus pass every month. We have to encourage more of this, but have to watch out for too many incentives.

Leffingwell – does think it should be publicized. All kinds of transportation solutions should be looked into and publicized. All city employees get free bus service and so does UT with students. State and County should be doing this soon. Private employers should also opt into this when it becomes available. Anything we can do to help alternative transportation we should, in order to help traffic congestion.

McCracken – I’m for it.

Buttross – Capital Metro has wasted so much money. Let’s just make it free for everyone until their ridership goes up. All other alt. trans should be emphasized too. Increase density and help downtown’s economy. We can’t pay for everything right now.

Closing Statements:

Leffingwell – this is my third forum with LOBV. I’ve paid attention and been a consistent worker and supporter of increasing bicycle facilities and safety. I cosponsored SSTF.

McCracken – I’ve learned from citizens. Not enough places for commuting and recreation. Bond election in 2012.

Buttross – election not about special interests, it’s about what’s best for the city. I’m an independent businessman. Get more organized and involved and then you’ll have power.

Ingalls – I’ve been a lifetime cyclist and I have a passion for bikes. I understand your problems because I experience them too. Can you represent someone if you’ve never been in their shoes?

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